By Rania Al Malky
CAIRO: First, a disclaimer: As a journalist and an editor for the past 13 years, my commitment to freedom of thought and speech is unshakable. But does this mean that I don’t often question the limits of this freedom? Clearly not.
Where does freedom of expression end and incitement to hatred, xenophobia and violence begin?
Since the seismic events that have swept across Egypt over the past six months, we have faced a huge challenge of what to cover amid the multitude of voices, coalitions, groups and parties that cropped up literally overnight: If we must make a choice, whose story do we report?
The concern of appearing to be biased towards one group or the other has been a topic of many newsroom discussions and in order to avoid being labeled, we’ve been very careful about covering currents that are far removed from the views that dominate the newsroom, to the extent that we are sometimes criticized for it.
A few days ago I received a document in my email inbox from an organization that calls itself “Sawasia Law Center.”
The word “sawasia” in Arabic means “equal”. Titled “Friday of the Silent Majority: Legitimacy First,” the circular addressed the Egyptian masses and Egypt’s “honorable revolutionaries” who care about their country’s safety. The author of the email identified himself as one of the “silent majority” who have been “taken hostage by a minority” that does not represent “the people” and accused those who have called for continued protests in Tahrir of “creating rifts between the people and the armed forces”. He then called for a counter-protest in Roxy, Heliopolis, on Friday.
I did not take issue with the email, even though I disagreed with the position, until I read their demands. And to prove my commitment to free and fair reporting, and since the list of demands were preceded by an aggressive rebuke of “biased” media that has failed to cover the views of the “silent majority,” I decided to dedicate this editorial to their list of eight demands so “the people” can decide for themselves whether they reflect the “majority.”
1. To reiterate our commitment to the results of the referendum which supports the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and rejects suspicious calls for drafting the constitution first and replacing SCAF with a presidential council.
2. To support the return to normalcy and criminalize all those who obstruct productivity through protests and sit-ins.
3. To support the fair trials of all those implicated in corruption cases in ordinary courts without allowing pressure or terrorism from any groups to influence the outcome.
4. To specify the names of the real martyrs of the Jan. 25 Revolution and where they died in order to distinguish between them and those who were killed during attempts to attack police stations, so we can honor only those who deserve to be honored.
5. To probe any organization, individual, coalition or movement that has received foreign funding, find out what the funds were used for and subject all those implicated in any illegal activities to strict military trials.
6. To implement legislation that would criminalize any media outlet that is spreading false rumors and lies.
7. To expose those who opened the prisons during the uprising and killed the valiant policemen who sacrificed their lives to protect their posts in what can only be described as a violation of Egyptian sovereignty.
8. To hold accountable all corrupt police officers as well as support the majority of honorable policemen in order to speed up the return to safety in the Egyptian street.
The cherry on top was the epilogue to what I believe is an unconscionable list of demands that combine incitement to hatred with a call for violating basic human rights through military trials, discrimination between “real martyrs” and “thugs” and sly accusations of treason against “agents” who receive foreign funds.
In its final words, the document implored the ruling SCAF not to leave Egypt “prey to agents and traitors” and to open the doors for civilian support so that millions would help the Egyptian army fight the said “agents and the traitors.”
Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that most people who decided to join the Roxy protesters did not realize how these demands subvert every single reason why this popular revolt happened, news from Roxy, has confirmed all suspicions that this group simply represents another point of view.
The so-called protest, according to Daily News Egypt reporters on the scene, was more like a xenophobic gathering of a few hundred self-absorbed citizens, brain-washed by conspiracy theories. Some protesters even threatened to “slaughter” those in Tahrir whom they described as the “Jewish enemies” and incited violence against presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Laureate who was decorated with the highest Egyptian medal of honor in recognition of his service to this country.
Our own video journalist Ian Lee who was covering the event was accused of carrying a fake press card and his colleague, DNE video reporter Farah Saafan was called a traitor for working with him.
Daily News Egypt has been covering protests not only since Jan. 25, 2011, but for the past five years and this is the first time this newspaper has encountered this degree of aggression and incitement.
This is not the reason why we had this revolution. This is not why hundreds were killed on the streets.
My advice to the Roxy protesters: please continue being the “silent majority.” Incitement and violence have no place in the new Egypt.
Rania Al Malky is the Chief Editor of Daily News Egypt.
