The Egypt Independent Says Farewell in a blaze of Glory

Coming up on about a week now, it was announced throughout the world that Egypt’s main independent English language news source, Egypt Independent, was to stop publication. 

This loss is particularly painful for me. I wrote several editorials for the Egypt Independent, and it was an important location for me both physically and intellectually during the Revolution and beyond. I am heartbroken .. . . 

American news outlets such as New York Times and the Wallstreet Journal spoke of the media outlet positively, citing that as it’s name suggested, was the country’s only true independent voice that reflected the expression of the revolutionary voices (Stack, 2013). In the last four years, Stack explains, the staff chronicled the waning days of the Mubarak regime, the outbreak of revolution in their own country and across the Arab world, military rule and most recently the administration of the first democratically elected Islamist leader of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi. The staff, which has been notably critical of the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government, believes that it was shut down by the self-censorship of its sister paper Al-Masry Al-Youm (Habib, 2013). Investors of the paper and the sister company’s chairman, Abdel Moneim, cited financial difficulties for the reason of the closure and has not commented about the accusations that the closure was political. The Muslim Brotherhood also declined to comment on the situation (Habib, 2013). Egypt Independent is the second independent English-language publication to shut down in Egypt in the past year as The Daily News Egypt abruptly closed after a seven year run when investors also claimed unbearable financial losses (Stack, 2013).

On April 23, 2013 the latest edition of the paper, in fact it’s 50^th edition, was sent to the presses and Al-Marsy Al-Youm “pulled the plug”, which the outlets editor in chief Lina Attalah stated she believed it was due to the editions’ scathing critiques of not just the government, but criticism of the parent company’s management and self-censorship (Habib, 2013).  Since President Morsi has taken office, the prosecutor general has summoned several journalist on charges of “insulting” the president. The administration is accused of intimidating reporters and inciting violence against them (Habib, 2013). This is not the first major incident of censorship or confrontation between the two media companies. In late 2011, Egypt Independent then referred to as- “Al-Marsy Al-Youm English Edition” broke partially away from its then-parent company as its content was “squashed” for being too critical of the government. During this confrontation, Egypt Independent announced the break and expressed they felt the revolution was incomplete and the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule was increasingly heavy handed. Supporters of the newspaper expressed their dismay of the recent closing. “After the revolution there was a flood of people who expressed what they wanted…but we’re beginning to see that this change wasn’t real and that we were fooled,” said Habiba Effat, 22 year old from Cairo (Habib, 2013).  

In a short statement called “Egypt Independent 2009-2013” the news outlet explained that they were not going down without a fight and pushed their last issue online and in PDF format.  The explained that this issue continued their standards of critical journalism, discussing issues that reflected the county’s challenges as well as those facing Egyptian media.

“Four years after the birth of Egypt Independent, the management of Al-Masry Media Corporation has informed our editorial team that our print and online news operation is being shut down. Because we owe it to our readers, we decided to put together a closing edition, which would have been available on 25 April, to explain the conditions under which a strong voice of independent and progressive journalism in Egypt is being terminated. The management, however, withheld the printing of this edition. While the print house received the final proofs on 23 April, management ordered a last-minute stoppage after scrutinizing the issue’s content. In keeping with our practice of critical journalism, we use our final issue to reflect on the political and economic challenges facing Egyptian media, including in our own institution” (Egypt Independent, 2013)

The articles in the last edition were understandably full of anger but also reflection. The staff spoke about the vision of the paper that denoted a commitment to professionalism and civil rights. They explained they were trying to be more than a “mouth-piece” for the state and the political parties (Stack, 2013). Attalah and other Egypt Independent discussed the closure via social media. Attalah that she considered one of the key questions for professional journalists to be, “How do we become active mediators as opposed to silent vehicles of information?” (Stack, 2013). Attalah promised that her staff would continue their work in some new form and that their leaders had not seen the last of them.

More news on the shutdown

The Death of Egypt Independent  

Goodbye Al Mary Al Youm

Egypt Independent's 50th and Final Edition

Public Mourns Loss of Egypt Independent

                        


Tahrir peaceful and protest growing

I have a friend in from town. He is going to the Egyptian Museum today. The tour guide, Waleed, went to Tahrir this morning, and says it is peaceful, and crowded. He participated in the January 25th Revolution. He said we should expect close to one million people in Tahrir by the end of the day. People are streaming in from everywhere.

Waleed and my friend were in Fayoum yesterday, and they said the people there are opposed to the military.

Luxor Lately

Article first published as Luxor Lately on Blogcritics.

Luxor (the ancient city of Thebes) is a beautiful city of approximately 500,000 people. The streets are clean and broad. Horse drawn carriages and donkey drawn carts share the streets with slow moving vehicles. The Luxor Railway station is sparkling, decorated in the typical red granite of Egypt, with impressive bas reliefs drawn from the many temples in the area.

Words do not do justice to the grandiosity of the Luxor temple. The columns are several stories tall. The statues and hieroglyphics have lasted for over 3000 years. What building built today could last that long?  The near absence of rain certainly helped to preserve the temple and its statues, but one can only marvel at the ancient Egyptian mastery of engineering. In late April, the reformed Egyptian Antiquities Council announced that a 3400 year old statute of King Ahmenhotep III was unearthed in Luxor.

The main Luxor temple was unusual in that it first housed a temple for ancient Egyptian Gods. Then, a church was built on the Temple grounds. Later, a Mosque, which is still operational, was built on the ruins of part of the temple. For a period, both the Mosque and the Church operated simultaneously within the temple grounds. There is a lesson regarding peaceful coexistence of multiple faiths inside that temple.

In Upper Egypt, remnants of the old regime still cling to power. In late April. violence erupted between supporters of the old National Democratic Party, and the January 25 Revolution Youth Coalition during a rally for Amr Moussa , Secretary General of the Arab League and a potential presidential candidate for Egypt. Moussa has pledged to prioritize the region of Upper Egypt.

I asked my guide to tell me how the government of Luxor has been functioning since the Revolution. My guide Khaled lives in Luxor with his family. The Governor of Luxor, Samir Farag has been replaced by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Allegedly, Farag is implicated in the corruption of the Mubarak era.  The SCAF has replaced 14 out of 26 regional governors since the revolution. In mid April, hundreds of thousands of protesters demanded the speedy trial of Mubarak and the replacement of governors he had appointed. The SCAF made the decision to replace these governors one day after the massive protest. As Khaled pointed out, the head of the snake has been removed, but the body is still there, and writhing, with enough venom in it to do damage. He said that in Luxor, electricity and water are functioning, but many government services are barely being attended to.

While in Luxor, I saw many many signs with the photo of a beautiful young girl about my daughter's age: five years old.Apparently, she has been abducted. According to Al Masry Al Youm, two children have dissapeared from their homes, and several child abductions have been attempted. Apparently, Luxor has been plagued by a state of lawlessness in the past few months. As I mentioned, one of Mubarak's moves to thwart the revolution was to pull the police from the streets. A small number of police are back on the streets, but according to my tour guide Khaled, they are not really doing their jobs lately.  The Local People's Council has warned of a continuing deterioration of security in the area, and has asked for more police to be deployed, to combat thuggery and thievery.

Changes are coming to Upper Egypt in this post-revolutionary period, and Luxor, as the nation's tourism capital, will be an important part of this change. In a good year, as many as 11 million tourists can pass through Egypt, and the vast majority of them will make a stop in Luxor. This is a city to watch in the coming months as Egypt moves tentatively toward democracy.

An Evening at the Souk

Article first published at Blogcritics. Photo of Khan al Kallili bazaar by Leo LaPorte.

Some of everyday politics is to be found in the market. Today was my day off. I went to have a dinner at an expatriate restaurant at the local market with a university colleague. The market, or souk, is the heartbeat of the community. If politics are going smoothly, as they are today, all the shops are open well into the evening. The market bustles. Men outdoors gather around a large screen TV to watch the latest soccer match. Women and children buy groceries and pick through the gorgeous vegetables displayed on the sidewalk. Music plays. Young women pass by in hijab, tight jeans and high heels, modest, yet provocative at the same time. My colleague and I walked to a small stand, and inhale one of the most delicious glasses of lemonade I have ever drunk. "Ishta" I say, with a thumbs up sign."Shukran." Delicious, thanks. The proprietor smiles broadly.

I did not see any tanks on the way to the souk, but inside the souk was a large truck with an open canvas back filled with soldiers in camoflauge. On the whole, I suppose their presence represents security, but in a country that is actually ruled by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, their presence also highlights the absence of democracy, and the utter absence of the pro-Mubarak police forces.

I remember the worst days of the Egyptian Revolution, probably February 2nd and 3rd, when I huddled in a Sudanese neighbor's house with my three children. My children loved this tense time, playing with Samira and Hamid's five children, ranging in ages from 12 to 6 months. The parents hunched worriedly around BBC World, trying to determine what was going on in this, our host country. The next day, I moved my children to Kenya, where they remain today, to their grandma and a bit of safety.

A bit over a month ago it was then. A phone call was impossible, and the souk, which today seemed so vibrant, was nearly closed, with only a few bread stores open, and lines stretching around the block for provisions. My thoughts lie with the Libyans who much be experiencing terrible food shortages. At the end of the evening, my taxi driver, Emad Ghoneem, takes me to a neighbouring area called Tagamoo. We pay some money inside of a nondescript looking corner store, and get back into the taxi to wait. The proprieter George brings me the desired contraband, a bottle of white wine. I return to my beautiful apartment, and pour the much anticipated glass of wine.  It is dry, and delicious, but leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste. Like the Egyptian Revolution, it has not yet matured

The Muslim Brotherhood

Feb 21, 2011

I am beginning my research on who, or what, the Muslim Brotherhood is. This not an area I intend to publish on. I just want to have an informed opinion.

What I know right now is that they were a banned opposition party under Mubarak. They were the most organized opposition movement. My students tell me that the Slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood is "Islam is the Answer." However, they have said that they will not field a candidate for President in the upcoming elections. The MB has formed a new political party called the Justice and Freedom Party. Elections are expected to be held in Egypt in September.

Conventional wisdom is that the Muslim Brotherhood is not polling more than 20% of the Egyptian public. Egypt is the most modern, and the most secular of the major Arab states. Women pay a key role at all levels in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood did not organize the protests on Tahrir Square, nor did the Brotherhood actually endorse the first round of protests, and only joined them belatedly. Their slogans, say my students, were no where in evidence. The youth of Egypt led the Revolution, not the Brotherhood. Rob L. Wagner argues that the Brotherhood does not have the support of Egypt's youth.

The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in1928 by Hassan al Banna. The Brotherhood has been banned in Egypt since 1954. Notably, the Brotherhood denounced violenced years ago.  The Brotherhood won 88 seats in Parliament (20%) in the 2005 elections.  Mubarak saw the Brotherhood as a threat, and cracked down on the organization in 2005.
 
Now, Mubarak has stepped down, the parliament has been dissolved, and the constitution has been suspended. It appears that the Armed Forces is in favor of amending the constitution, which would allow the Muslim Brotherhood a new shot at legitimacy. A panel of experts drawing up changes to the Egyptian constitution will include a member of the Brotherhood.

Many fear that the Brotherhood will turn Egypt into an Islamist state. However, many characterize the Brotherhood as "moderate." The question is whether the Brotherhood truly supports multi-party democracy, or would prefer a theocracy, such as currently rules Iran.


References:
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentPrint/1/0/5956/Egypt/0/Muslim-Brotherhood-expected-to-win-legality,-lose-.aspx
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/world/middleeast/16brotherhood.html?ref=egypt&pagewanted=print
http://www.foregnpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/14/think_again_egypt
http://mideastposts.com/2011/02/02/why-the-west-should-not-fear-the-muslim-brotherhood/
http;//english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/201129214579... 
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/15/133759039/muslim-brotherhood-wild-card-in-egypt-power-game

AUC Faculty Committee for the Defense of the Revolution

Last night (Wednesday, February 16, 2011) a meeting was held of all faculty who wanted to provide support for the Revolution. The meeting was held at the Zamalek Hostel of AUC. The meeting consisted of about 120 faculty, staff and students from the AUC campus. The meeting was convened by Amr Ahmed Shalakany of the law department, Sherene Seikaly of the Department of History, Malak Rouchdie from SAPE (soc-anth).

A rather long list of suggestions was made of how we could support the revolution. I shall write them here for historical purposes, but I do not blame you if you get bored reading. But there are some amazing ideas in here, (and then, some less amazing ones. . . )

1. Open Tahrir Square Campus of AUC
2. Convene a Truth and Reconciliation Committee and provide amnesty for leaders who participate.
3. Do NOT provide amnesty for leaders.
4. Start a long term AUC publishing series
5. South African Truth and Reconciliation model does not apply to Egypt. Egyptian atrocities should never be forgotten.
6. How as an AUC community can we react.
7. Use Tahrir Sq, campus of AUC for organized talks and debates on topics such as how elections were forged, and torture.
8. Form a student association in Egypt. There is one in Brazil.
8.a Open up a dialogue with other Cairo universities.
8b. Create a mural on the science wall.
9. Volunteer at AUC initiatives.
9a. Document the revolution with pictures.
10. University of Cairo meeting tomorrow morning (Thursday the 17th)
10a. Open our AUC library to the public.
11. Support the community.
11a. Educate the youth.
11b. Undergraduates teach the average egyptian.
12. AUC should work on eradicating illiteracy in Egypt.
13. Document human rights abuses during the revolution.
14. Community Based Learning.
15. AUC has an international advantage.
15a. US AID to the New Egypt should be socio-economic, not military.
15b. AUC needs to use its academic power and its student power to support the revolution.
*16. Each department should have a follow up to see what specifically it can do in terms of initiatives to support the revolution.
*17. The Internet should never go out again. AUC should buy its own VSAT (Very small aperture terminal)
*17a) AUC students should train citizens to combat electoral fraud.
18 AUC students should go out into Egypt to give an unbiased account of the revolution.
*19) (Dr. J) mobilize AUC alumni. Make corporations exercise true social responsibility.
19a. More freedom of information.
20 (Rami Qubain) group to encourage toursim aggressively in Egypt.
21. Work closely with faculty in national universities.
*22. Train election monitors at AUC.
*23. Use equipment at the journalism department.
*23a. Create podcasts about elections and constitutions. Simply information.
*23b. Create community service announcements regarding elections and voting, and the constitution. (WMB Note, these were used to GREAT effect in Kenya in our recent constitution process)
24. National clearing house website for volunteers. Pool resources.
*24a. Build system, offer solutions. Don't just tear down the system.
25. Teach people to be proactive.
*26. Create an independent people's radio station not owned by the government or a foreign country. This should be FM, and hosted by AUC. (WMB Note. Most American universities in the US have these and they are a GREAT resource)
27. Utilize continuuing education at AUC to educate the public.
28. Bring Tahrir Square to AUC-create a free speech corner
29. Collective job security(?)
30. Create a faster communication tool that does not need to be screened by University higher ups.
31. Create a job matching web site.
31a. Improve research funding.
32. Train people for elections.
33. Hold workshops on the ethical responsibilities of different professions.
34. Create crisis management forecasting for Egypt.
34a. AUC should partner with NGOs.
*35. Hold constitutional convention sessions at AUC.
36. Stop the ongoing harassment of journalists.
36.a Hold AUC trustees responsible in truth and reconciliation.
36b. Make classes open to auditors.
37. AUC should be less top down. It should be more open. We need more faculty input.
*38. (Dr. W) Look to African continent, particularly SA, Kenya and Ghana, for guidance on the process of democratization.
39. Tahrir Book fair on campus.
*40. (Dr. J) Committees need to be formed a) ICT b) educational outreach c) educational skills d) university to university outreach.
41. Three groups, research, speakers, organizers (for what?)
42. Look into internal university offices for corruption.
*43. Work on tourism in Egypt.
44. Give workers in Egypt a bit of pride.
46. Mobilize communities with the social development fund(?)
47. Egyptian Archives committee to document the revolution. what is the specific role of AUC? (?)
48. Re FM radio station. It is a good idea, but currently the radio station is being crushed.
48a. prevent sexual harassment in the post revolutionary period.
49. AUC needs to embrace the open university concept.
50. Help Arab youth in the middle east to repeat the gains made in Egypt.
51. Support Palestinians who cannot get back into Egypt and are stuck at the airport (?)
*52. Workshops on how to conduct elections.
*53. Awareness campaigns for democracy.
54, Support and sustain "New Egypt" behaviors, like civility, volunteerism, common defense.
55. Document the Revolution outside Tahrir Square.
56. Mobilize NGOs from other Governarates, not just Cairo.
57. (From the floor) Thank you for organizing this meeting! It was great.
(in process)