On Egypt’s Press Day, which marked the 10 June 1995 victory in abolishing Mubarak’s stifling Press Law, both the Press Syndicate’s Freedom Committee, and the Front for Defending Journalists and Freedoms announced a protest to condemn arbitrary dismissals from media institutions and imprisonment of journalists, in addition to demanding fair wages and syndical protection for all journalists.
On Egypt’s Press Day, which marked the 10 June 1995 victory in abolishing Mubarak’s stifling Press Law, both the Press Syndicate’s Freedom Committee, and the Front for Defending Journalists and Freedoms announced a protest to condemn arbitrary dismissals from media institutions and imprisonment of journalists, in addition to demanding fair wages and syndical protection for all journalists.
Numerous preparations preceded the protest and were conducted in coordination with the Digital Journalists’ Union and several civil rights lawyers. The protest came to express the disgruntlement at the deteriorating economic and social conditions suffered by the Egyptian Journalists. A social media campaign hash tagged #jounalists_protest_10_June was also launched by the protest’s organizers, but the expected participation was estimated at merely 800 tentative participants.
***
A disagreement within the committee and its supporting campaigns occurred over who would write the memo to be submitted to the attorney general, in addition to several discussions over the possibility of referring to the syndicate’s legal committee. Eventually, the issue was resolved in favor of the civil society institutions which were able to be a substitute for the legal committee, the members of which do not exceed three lawyers – one of whom is over his retirement age.
At 11:00 AM, only four members of the Journalists Syndicate’s Council and one rights lawyer formed a delegation and headed to the Attorney General to submit 13 reports of demands including a health release of journalist Youssef Shaaban who was tried and jailed weeks ago on charges of ousting the Brotherhood regime.
Another report demanded the release of photojournalist Shawkan, who spent over a year and a half in detention without charge, in addition to releasing Mohamed Ali Hassan and Hassan Kabbani and other detainees imprisoned under the so-called preventive detention.
***
The families of the detained journalists were the first to attend at the syndicate hoping that such a protest would constitute a pressure for the release of their loved ones. Most of them were dressed in costumes which enable any passerby to acknowledge that they are the wives of the imprisoned brotherhood journalists. They were standing together in the syndicate’s lobby expressing their hopes of releasing their husbands while their children played around them. One of the ladies was working on fixing some posters of detained journalists and banners calling for their release. Ironically, one of the posters was to journalist Youssef Shaaban who is on trial on charges of overthrowing Mohamed Morsi’s rule. On the other side of the lobby’s wall was Shawkan’s picture with a sign reading: “Shawkan is not a Muslim Brother.”
***
The journalists arrived with the news about international and Arab solidarity with their protest. The organizers experienced a state of tension with the increase of the global solidarity, as over 34 trade unions and Arab as well as Western unions announced their solidarity with the protesting journalists.
Additionally, photos of journalists who participated in the strike at their media institutions were posted all over the internet which shocked the protest’s organizers who feared their day would experience a shortage in participants as has been the habit of trade union movements. Solidarity announcements kept increasing to the point where Al-Ahram newspaper announced on its website its solidarity with the journalists’ demands and their protest against which the government earlier launched a fierce media attack.
***
As the numbers increased, the protest’s organizers held a conference in which the detainees’ families and children participated and the dismissed journalists from media institutions (including Alalam alyoum, Shorouk, Youm 7 and Albayan) had the chance to speak.
However, several dismissed journalists were reluctant to participate in speaking about this issue as they hope, in light of the deteriorating economic conditions, to reach a future attempt to negotiate with their employers.
***
Media outlets did not stop taking pictures of the protest. Some journalists finished their reports about the event and joined the protest themselves. “Partisan-press figures avoided participation including Khalid Dawood (candidate for the presidency of the Constitution Party) and Moataz Shenawi (Media Spokesman of the Socialist People’s Alliance Party) and many others, which was applauded by the organizers who were keen that the protest would express syndical demands rather than political ones.
***
On the sidelines, the detainees’ children participated in the event with their drawings of trees, flowers and clear skies. Yousef, son of Ibrahim Aladrawi, wrote “My dad is a hero,” under his drawing.
***
A rally was organized and joined by an unprecedented number of participants. It is worth mentioning that since 30 June 2013, few journalists have participated in the syndicate’s rallies, signaling a significant change amongst journalists.
Three syndicate board members took part in the rally whereas head of the syndicate Yehia Qalash stayed inside, surrounded by media outlets and (verbally) attacked by the partisan journalists who have been protesting near his office for nearly a month.
Qalash objected to some of the slogans raised at the protest, especially those opposing the military rule, despite the fact that they were not raised by journalists rather by the detainees’ families and journalist Ahmed Gamal Ziayda who spent two years in jail under el-Sisi without being tried, until he was eventually released.
***
Despite the great number of participants in the rally, it was not as organized as the rest of the day’s events, as some dismissed journalists, who insisted on chanting “The army and the people are one hand quarreled with those who chanted “Down with military rule.”
It was also ironic that some of the journalists who opposed the slogan of “Down with military rule” were the same ones to chant “Capital Journalism, corruption has spread.”
As the day came to a close, it was deemed an unexpected success. However, its impact on the management of media institutions, as well as the regime, remains a mystery.
