HUMAN WRONGS WATCH

Human Wrongs Watch

By Shahira Amin*

Cairo, 23 January – Egyptian state TV –for decades the mouthpiece of the authoritarian regime– is an ugly towering block of concrete and steel overlooking the River Nile at Maspero in downtown Cairo. In the post-revolutionary era, it is a heavily fortified fortress surrounded by barbed wire and stone barricades.

**Photo: Muhammad Ghafar| Wikimedia Commons

Snipers can be spotted on the rooftop and terraces, and uniformed soldiers with machine guns stand guard outside the main entrances and exits. Corrugated iron gates have replaced the once-glass façade adding gloom to an already tense and inhospitable atmosphere inside the building which houses some 45,000 employees.

Upstairs on the fifth floor, a storm is brewing. Outside the main news studio, scores of employees of the main Arabic Nile News Channel are staging a sit-in, which they vow will continue until their demands are met. The demands include an immediate end to censorship and a set of reforms, which they say, are long overdue.

Human Wrongs Watch

By Ernest Corea* – IDN-InDepth News

Washington DC – As the January 23 deadline for the inauguration of Egypt’s first post- Mubarak People’s Assembly (parliament) approaches, the thoughts of politically conscious Egyptians must inevitably turn to the conundrums that lie beyond the recently concluded elections. Prominent among these is the role of the military as the country continues – or attempts to continue – its transition from oligarchic military rule to a nascent democracy.

**Credit: May Shaheen - Socialist Worker

President Jimmy Carter’s account of how the military views its place in the political structure confirms the crucial nature of this issue. Briefly, the military’s approach is: Yes, but. (Carter who was in Egypt as an election monitor had wide ranging discussions with key political figures.).

Al Jazeera reported that following his contacts with the leadership of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Carter said: “The military would like to transfer full control and authority to elected officials.” In his assessment, however, “the military wished to continue to have a political role.”

Carter explained: “When I met with military leaders, my impression was they want to have some special privilege in the government after the president is elected,” and added his own belief that “the military should be completely subservient to the elected civilian officials”.

There you are: Yes, but…

Human Wrongs Watch

By Foundation for the Future*

‘Egyptian civil society is in favor of a secular state in which religion has no direct influence on law and governance,” according to a survey of Civil Society Perception on the Transition, the Constitution and the New Democratic Institutions.

**Egypt's Renaissance by Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar | Wikimedia Commons

“Civil Society in Egypt is cautiously positive about the transition that has been happening in Egypt since the January [2011] Revolution. After taking part in the demonstrations that eventually led to the first free vote taking place in Egypt for decades, positivity seems to be the only correct response,” adds the survey “Six Months Later: Civil Society Perceptions of Post-Revolutionary Egypt”. 

“However, the signs of uncertainty are undeniable: demonstrators are still occupying Tahrir Square on a regular basis, the country is still under military law, and a reliable date for elections has yet to be agreed on,” according to the survey, which was conducted in August 2011 by the Amman-based Foundation for the Future (FFF) and published recently.

Beyond the very public signs of uncertainty, many members of civil society have their own personal reasons to display caution, it says. For some, the situation has not improved markedly. “They are still experiencing censorship, and fear public defamation and harassment at the hands of authorities.”

Human Wrongs Watch

By Shahira Amin*, Cairo

One year after the mass uprising that forced former President Hosni Mubarak to relinquish power, Egyptians are still waiting for comprehensive media reforms that would pave the way for democracy. The military authorities controlling the country in the transitional period have yet to loosen their tight grip on the media and purge Egyptian state media of corrupt employees.

**Image: the Eye of Horus. Author: Jeff Dahl | Wikimedia Commons

The media scene is more vibrant and diverse than it was under Mubarak’s authoritarian regime, but even after the launch of new private TV channels and publications, and the debut appearances of opposition figures on the small screen, some media analysts claim the reforms are not deep enough to effect tangible change.

“Red lines remain that cannot be crossed. In the old days Mubarak was the red line. Today, it is the ruling military council or SCAF,” [Supreme Council of the Armed Forces] says journalist Khaled Dawoud who works for state-sponsored Al Ahram.

From the outset, the interim military government issued directives for any media coverage of the military to be sent to the Armed Forces Morale Affairs Department for review before broadcast or publication.