Religious controversies dominated the press this week, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed Illiteracy, ignorance and superstition are the three most damaging features of contemporary Egyptian society. They are the source of all ills. And, unfortunately unscrupulous religious authorities make political capital out of this sorry state of affairs. Columnist Ragab El-Banna writing in the daily Al-Ahram was highly critical of the contribution of Al-Azhar, the most influential Islamic religious institution in the country, to making gullible superstitious rant the most prominent characteristic of contemporary Egyptian society. "It is precisely because of religious illiteracy that people are prepared to believe anything that charlatans propagate. They speak in the name of Islam, and ingenuous and unsuspecting religious illiterates believe the humbug," El-Banna warned. He questioned what the purpose of the 40,000 preachers of Al-Azhar really is. "Al-Azhar has failed the people," he lamented in one of the most scathing criticisms of Al-Azhar in recent times. He stressed that it was time to remedy the situation. "Thought is more powerful than the bullet. If the religious institution [Al-Azhar] fails to end religious illiteracy and ignorance, and protect the minds of Muslims from this virus which is more lethal than cancer, then what are we to do?" he asked. The religious theme continued to dog the pundits. El-Sayed Abdel-Raouf writing in the daily liberal-oriented Nahdet Masr about the recurrent Coptic-Muslim clashes, ominously warned about the dire consequences of religious intolerance in the country. "This generation of Muslims and Christians has seen an unprecedented amount of [inter-sectarian] violence and terrorist acts, some of which were directed at the entire society and some at Christians in particular." The daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom published the platform of the Muslim Brotherhood. "The state is based on Islamic sharia, and the country has Egyptian, Arab and Islamic affiliations based on institutions and the setting up of national projects like the nuclear programme and development of Sinai." The political motives, goals and objectives of the movement came under intense scrutiny. Their policies seem contradictory. On the one hand they want to "apply the rules of Islam to tourists" while "promoting private business." The programme emphasises that no radical economic changes were in store. According to their platform, the Muslim Brotherhood is pretty comfortable with the world economic order. Indeed, it hopes to integrate Egypt further in the global economy. There is apparently no contradiction between globalisation and Islam. However, they do make concessions to the public fury over rampant corruption and therefore vowed to introduce "anti-corruption laws and encourage direct foreign investments." Domestic political issues also occupied a niche in the Egyptian press this week. Talk about a cabinet reshuffle still puzzles pundits. Abbas El-Tarabili, writing in the daily mouthpiece of the liberal-leaning Al-Wafd Party, criticised the government's ambiguity. El-Tarabili in Al-Wafd , warned that better the devil you know. "[It's better] to have a government we know, despite its failures, than a new government that tries new [policies] on us," El-Tarabili wrote. Meanwhile, the opposition Al-Ahrar hosted many politicians and pundits to assess the performance of the current government. Rifaat El-Said was quoted as saying that the government ministers had sold off the country. He was highly critical of the privatisation policy adopted by the government. "The ministers who are responsible for economic policies have sold the country cheaply," El-Said. Indeed, the economic policy of the government came under intense criticism from a wide spectrum of writers and political commentators. Wahid Abdel-Meguid, for one, was quoted as saying that there is no point in changing ministers just for the sake of change. What is needed, he insisted, was a radical change in economic policies. "Changing faces without amending policies is just a patchwork," Abdel-Meguid was further quoted. In much the same vein, Wahid El-Oqsori, was quoted as saying that the government should embark on radical political reform and not just focus on who is in charge of the various the ministerial portfolios. "No real change in the National Democratic Party's governments has taken place for several years." And Hussein Abdel-Razeq, senior member of the opposition Tagammu Party, was quoted as saying: "Amending policies calls for transfer of power among political parties." The grizzly question of police brutality was tackled by several writers and commentators in the press this week. Indeed, the pundits were severely critical of the police and security forces human rights records. The heavy-handed methods used to extract information and the wide use of torture in prisons was vehemently condemned in the papers, especially the opposition papers. They all agreed that the security forces and the police must not get away with such deplorable acts. The weekly independent Sawt Al-Umma filled several pages with stories about people tortured by police officers. One headline ran "We don't want a republic [crushed] under police boots". The paper mentioned "new terrifying cases of torture." Indeed, Sawt Al-Umma cited specific cases where individuals suffered gross human rights abuses and were victimised by the security forces and the police. The paper published accounts by aggrieved citizens in different parts of the country who allegedly were subject to torture at the hands of the police. The editor-in-chief, Wael El-Ibrashi wrote, "I call upon police officers to rebel against the orders to torture people that they receive from their superiors, even if they pay the price of doing so by being sacked from their jobs." The paper also dealt with the bribery scandal in which two officials in the Ministry of Culture were involved. Hamdi Hamada in Sawt Al-Umm wrote, "The public is always surprised by a corruption case that involves a bribe and the culprit is always a close [aide] to a minister... The elegant Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni gets out of every scandal wittily because of his fluency in replying to the criticisms levelled against him." Last but not least, there was some criticism of America and Americans because they seem to be throwing their weight about. They behave as if they run the country. An incensed Gamal Zaida writing in the daily Al-Ahram warned of the dreadful consequences of American arrogance and insensitivity to local sensibilities. In an open letter to the American ambassador in Cairo Zaida was especially critical of Washington's Middle East policy. "You might have noticed to what extent the image of the United States has changed in Egypt and the Arab world after your [country's] troops invaded Iraq. You might have noticed the extent of hatred the Egyptian and Arab streets entertain towards the American administration's policies that are intruding in every aspect of our life, starting from trying to interfere in educational syllabuses and ending with trying to impose Bush's view of political reform." Zaida progressed a step further, pointing out that the Americans treat Egyptians with contempt. That, he said, was unacceptable behaviour. "We also cannot stomach the ugly image you created in one of the most beautiful districts in Cairo -- Garden City -- by turning it into a military camp... I'm sorry to say that your administration can threaten us with its display of unmitigated might, but cannot build bridges of peace with nations." The American security arrangements surrounding their embassy in Garden City symbolise the presumption and insolence with which they display their military might. Indeed, the inhabitants of Garden City pay for the imperial policies of the superpower.
