Protests, industrial strikes, municipal elections, the economy and the humiliation of Pope Shenouda III at Heathrow generated heated discussion in the press, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed The protest staged by opposition forces on Sunday hit the headlines. Both official and opposition papers focussed on the implications of the phenomena that suprprised Egypt. Many papers noted that it was a reminder of earlier incidents, such as the bread riots of 1977. And as the opposition and official newspapers usually report on two entirely different Egypts, the coverage of the strike was totally unlike one another. The pundits of the official papers concurred that the entire exercise was a fiasco. "A strike that pleased all parties: the security forces foiled demonstrations; the opposition succeeded without the participation of the Muslim Brotherhood, people stayed home fearing the violence," ran the front page headline of the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom . In much the same vein, Magdi El-Gallad, writing in Al-Masry Al-Yom, also used a provocative title to describe the groundbreaking events of the week. "For the millionth time there is absolute proof that the regime -- with its government, its security apparatus, its parties, its opposition and its Muslim Brothers -- is incapable of understanding the aspirations of the ordinary Egyptian people. It will never understand the Egyptian people," El-Gallad said. In a very different tone, the official papers were not in the least sympathetic towards those who "fomented trouble" and some hinted at conspiracy theories. Indeed, the daily official Al-Akhbar ran a headline: "The strike and the attempt to stir unrest failed." The paper went on to explain why and how. "Business was as usual in companies, schools, universities and government agencies and transportation," ran another headline. The daily liberal-oriented Nahdet Masr also ran a headline reading "6 April passed calmly: Mahala workers didn't go on strike, and 2,000 people sabotaged shops and attacked a train." The paper was not particularly interested in giving emphasis to the motives of the strikers. Writing in the daily Nahdet Masr, Mohamed El-Shabba reflected on the implications of the strike. "In [Sunday's] strike, there was something missing which has nothing to do with security measures or the authorities' position on the strike -- it is the culture of going on strike, which Egyptians did not have." He added that, "the government dealt nervously with the strike and reacted in an exaggerated manner, which is why the consequences of the strike were overestimated." Two days before the civil disobedience protest, President Hosni Mubarak paid a visit to the newly reclaimed area of Eastern Al-Owainat, where he conceded that the life of people had become challenging. "Our main task is facilitating the life of [ordinary] citizens, that has become extremely difficult," he was quoted as saying in the daily official Al-Ahram. "Increasing the salaries and wages [of civil servants] will not stop the increase in [commodity] prices," he said, blaming the crisis on traders. This brings us to the state of the economy and the manner in which the country's economic malaise was tackled in the press. In light of skyrocketing wheat prices, there has been a sudden interest in the strategic crop, which is the main source of food for the majority of Egyptians. "Egyptian wheat is at a crossroads," ran the headline of a feature in the daily business-oriented Al-Alam Al-Yom. "There is no option available to us but increasing local production and encouraging farmers to cultivate it," former prime minister Ali Lotfi was quoted as saying. Former minister of supply Ahmed Gweili was also quoted as saying: "the areas in which wheat is cultivated is not small, what is necessary increasing the productivity of a feddan." Domestic political concerns were predominant in the press. Another issue somehow relating to the disgruntlement of the population concerning the economy was the municipal council elections. This was an issue that preoccupied many pundits. "The municipal council elections are like any other elections... the [ruling] National Democratic Party wants to rule out the opposition," Osama El-Ghazali Harb, chairman of the newly established Democratic Front Party, was quoted as saying in the daily Nahdet Masr. Writing in the weekly cultural Akhbar Al-Adab, Hassan Abdel-Mawgoud reflected on the Dutch movie that sparked controversy last week, as well as the baptising by Pope Benedict of an Egyptian journalist. "Intellectuals see that the pope behaved in an improper manner, and the Dutch politician wants to drag us into a trap of hatred," he wrote. "Just as the Danish cartoon crisis abated, the new movie was released and the pope's baptising of people who were adopting other religions," he added. In the daily official Al-Gomhuriya, Galaa Gaballah came up with an eye-catching and provocative headline. "The danger is within us and not in the Dutch Fitna. The real battle is within us Muslims against those who slander religion in the name of Islam. They do not understand anything about Islam. They constitute the real danger to Islam," Gaballah said. On an entirely different note, the maltreatment of the aged and ailing head of the Coptic Orthodox Church at London's Heathrow Airport attracted considerable attention in the press. Commenting on the incident of the thorough search of Pope Shenouda III at Heathrow Airport on his way back from a short visit to Britain, Mohamed El-Baz criticised the way in which such a leading Egyptian religious figure was treated. The pope himself played down the incident. Writing in the weekly independent Al-Fagr, he opined that, "whether we agree or disagree with Pope Shenouda... it goes without saying that he is an Egyptian religious symbol representing millions of Copts," he wrote. "While on a mission abroad, he is not representing himself or the church... but representing Egypt as a whole," he added. "Therefore, when he is insulted, Egypt is insulted," he opined. The incident also ruffled the feathers of the daily Rose El-Youssef. "Boycott Heathrow Airport," ran a somewhat exaggerated front page headline. "The Foreign Ministry calls upon [Egyptian] officials to avoid travelling through the British airport since its officials mistreat [Egyptian clerics]. The ministry also calls upon the Ministry of Interior to thoroughly search British clergy as they did with Pope Shenouda," the paper reported.
