A young journalist at one of those up-and-coming weeklies came up to me the other day and asked with serious concern: “Mr Mohamed, where is the Writers’ Union? Why haven’t we heard of any sit-ins, demonstrations, or protests organized by it? Don’t you have any demands from the government?
He then took out a copy of another newspaper and pointed to a big reportage.
“As you can see in this report, last month alone there were seven sit-ins, five demonstrations and protests, and three strike threats, but none of them involving the Writers’ Union. What on earth has happened to the union?
“Had you ever heard of sit-ins, protests or strikes by writers before? I asked.
“That wasn’t a time of demonstrations, but now everyone is either protesting or on strike except you, why? he said.
“Because we are neither workers nor students, I said. “Our methods are different from workers’ protests or students’ demonstrations. Each group has its own way of achieving its goals and each has its own means of expressing its stances.
“The yardstick of success in the end is not whether you went on strike, but if you have realized your rights. And if you compare between the Writers’ Union in the past and today, the difference is not that in the past they used to take to the streets and now they don’t, but that in the past their demands would only have been met that way, while today they know how to get what they want.
With a challenging tone in his voice, the journalist said, “And what exactly were the demands that have been met?
“If you don’t know the answer to that, I said, “then you have not been following up on the issue and have not done the necessary research any reporter must do before questioning his sources. If you had been following up properly you would have realized that our demands are no different from those of other groups which had no other means than to go on strike or to stage a sit-in.
“Do you mean a wage raise? he asked.
“Writers don’t get a government salary to ask for a raise, I said. “But they receive a pension from the Writers’ Union. Therefore we demanded financial support from the government for a new pensions fund we have proposed that should be self-sufficient and will be able to generate an increase in writers’ current pensions.
“We had gone straight to the Prime Minister with our proposal. After almost two years of negotiations, without any strikes, he agreed to the necessary support and issued a memo to the Finance Ministry to release the specified funds. Although the ministry kept procrastinating for two years, we never stopped demanding that the Prime Minister’s decision be implemented, until we received a letter from the Finance Ministry indicating that previous support received by the Writers’ Union was sufficient and that the amount agreed upon with the Finance Ministry will not be made available.
“That was the last straw. But still we did not go on strike or hold a demonstration. Instead, we brought the matter to the attention of the President. Without getting into too many details for your publication that is constantly seeking demonstrations, strikes and sit-ins, within a few weeks, we received a call from the Finance Ministry telling us that the said fund is ready for us. We apologized for the two-year delay in picking it up and said that we were prepared to do so as soon as possible. Within 24 hours, the entire amount was transferred to our bank account. So why on earth would you want us to go on a demonstration or a protest?
“If you hadn’t told me this whole story, I would have answered by saying that you should have gone on strike so that the President would intervene the way he did in the case of the Mahallah workers and the Real Estate Tax employees, said the journalist.
“The Writers’ Unions’ case proves that the President intervenes when a certain right is at stake, not when there is a strike or a sit-in, I said.
“Those are fine words, he said, “but they don’t make good headlines. Then he went on his way.
Mohamed Salmawyis President of the Arab Writers’ Union and Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo.
