Monday’s papers: The aftermath of Morsy's declaration

[DJKeefy]

Almost all local newspapers highlight the massive stock market plunge on their front pages Monday. In the third largest single-day drop since January 2011, the country’s stock market lost LE29.3 billion of total market capitalization Sunday.

State-run Al-Ahram simply states that this is the biggest plunge in 22 months, and is the effect of “deep political division” on the streets after President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration, which he announced Thursday and which gave him several new powers. The paper quotes Mohamed Omran, chairman of the Egyptian Exchange, as saying that the market would not close under any circumstances. Past experience has shown that closing the market has a more adverse effect on investor sentiment.

Privately owned Youm7 leads with the headline “The stock market is collapsing ... and the country is on a volcano,” saying that the clashes in Tahrir Square are the main cause of the market plunge, and that protesters were hit by birdshot in Tahrir. The paper adds that 35 political parties continue to demonstrate against the constitutional declaration and are calling for a million-man protest tomorrow.

State-owned Al-Akhbar goes with the same sentiment. “The stock market collapses,” it states in bold red, referring to yesterday as “Black Sunday.” The paper attributes the losses to “deep political division” as well as the ongoing sit-in by protesters in Tahrir and different governorates. Privately owned Al-Watan also dubbed yesterday as “Black Sunday in the stock market” on its front page.

The front page of independent daily Al-Tahrir states that the “pharaonic” constitutional declaration has crushed the stock market, leading it to lose LE29 billion in one session. The front page refers to Morsy as a pharaoh and accuses him of splitting Egypt, against a backdrop of a photo of protesters running from Central Security Forces toward Tahrir. Another photo shows protesters standing around a huge block of letters on the floor where “Leave, Morsy” was written. The word is reminiscent of the 25 January uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak — a multitude of protesters all over the world had held signs that demanded Mubarak “leave.”

Practically the only local newspaper with no mention of the stock market plunge whatsoever is the Freedom and Justice paper, known as the Muslim Brotherhood’s mouthpiece. The paper leaves out all mention of the collapsing economy, and instead focuses on calls for a “million-man protest” tomorrow, organized by the Brotherhood, to support the president’s decrees. The protest will be held in front of Cairo University, while those who oppose the decrees will be protesting simultaneously at Tahrir.

Freedom and Justice continues to contradict most other papers by bluntly stating on its front page that “Courts continue to operate normally; the calls to strike have failed.” The Judges Club had called for courts to strike in response to Morsy’s constitutional declaration, which immunized his decisions from judicial oversight. Judges said Morsy’s decree is a violation of judicial authority. The club’s head, Ahmed al-Zend, called for courts to suspend their work.

The paper maintains that courts around the country have not responded to these calls, despite reports that courts in different governorates, such as Alexandria, Damanhour and Minya, suspended work for the second day Sunday.

Al-Tahrir reports that the calls for courts to suspend their work in protest of the constitutional declaration have been quite effective, with full strikes in effect in seven different governorates, while seven other governorates have proceeded with partial strikes.

Even Al-Ahram, long referred to as the government mouthpiece, concedes that except for a certain few, most courts and prosecutors have suspended their work in protest of the constitutional declaration, while adding that the Lawyers Syndicate also disagrees with the latest presidential decrees, and that lawyers are willing to join the courts’ strike. Sameh Ashour, head of the syndicate, announced that it too would be joining demonstrations in Tahrir.

Al-Akhbar’s front page shows a photo of a disgruntled woman looking into the camera, with her two young children smiling shyly next to her. The caption reads, “Woman and her children upset because son’s case has been postponed due to the judges’ strike.”

Meanwhile, state-run Al-Gomhurriya dedicates a substantial piece of its front page to news about mass sexual harassment in Simon Bolivar Square. It reports that a woman who was “dressed in revealing clothes” was assaulted by hundreds of men in broad daylight Sunday at noon. The men reportedly chased after the woman and managed to rip off her green pants, the paper reports, until others stepped in and managed to get her into the nearby Mugamma administrative building in Tahrir Square, and locked the doors to keep the mob away.

Egypt’s papers:

Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt

Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size

Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run

Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run

Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned

Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned

Al-Watan: Daily, privately owned

Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party

Youm7: Daily, privately owned

Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned

Al-Sabah: Daily, privately owned

Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party

Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned

Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party

Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party

Source: http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/mo ... eclaration

[Horus]

And yet we still get the Luxor political pundits telling us that nothing is wrong with Egypt and it is the 'tourists' who are ill informed, head and sand come to mind.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Personally I think it had to do with that one seller in the Souk in Luxor who sells t-shirts. He apparently got a bit aggressive with a few tourists couple years back and now word has spread to other tourists about the globe. DAMN that seller! BUT other than him all is totally well and fine in Luxor and nothing could be further from the truth that there is even one iota of discontent in the land.............

When the good old stock market starts to plunge it creates ripples worldwide and is as good a barometer as any that all is not well in the world. Business is pretty astute and if they get so much as a whiff that something / anything is on the horizon that is going to affect their money they'll pull and run. Isn't like there are not emerging economies elsewhere that will return them a profit. And PROFIT is what it is all about for business.

[Horus]

And of course a few 'long term tourists' know better than the stock market

[LovelyLadyLux]

For sure knowing the economic trends are always the forte of long term tourists. They also excel at interpretations of the stock market, mutual funds, commodities - probably know all except the price of PORK BELLY given the restrictions of pork in Egypt.

Right now here the predictions are that interest rates etc are not going to rise for about 2 more years. Even this prediction WILL have ramifications for Egypt. We're a global economy now. One hiccup anywhere can affect $$ five countries over. Just the way of the world.

I think, generally, most of the world aka average guy or gal on the street isn't really paying attention to what is happening in Egypt. They heard snippets and pick up generalities and thus formulate their impression of a country. As vacation time approaches they think a little bit more about where they're thinking of going and everything they picked up since their last vacation will be recalled and mulled over. Egypt has and has had lots of bad press. Even if all was chugging along well most people will need lots of time to forget all the happenings of the past few years and most are going to be real unwilling to take their hard earned money and then spend it on a holiday to a place that might not deliver. Makes no mind that right now anything Morsi says is highly unlikely to impact your Red Sea Resort vacation - point is people are getting the sense Egypt isn't stable.

Those of us who do pay closer attention are probably pricking up our ears really high given all of Morsi's announcements. Those who are really really really listening are the Money Gurus and the more Morsi takes for himself the more he is going to push away everybody else (tourists, expats, investors - you name 'em) in droves.

[Horus]

As you say 99% of people do not really care that much one way or another, it is just another holiday destination. How many people want to sit and weigh up the pros and cons of a countries politics before deciding to holiday there? All you want to hear is “its good value” and “it’s a safe destination” you make that decision based upon your own observations and not on the opinions of someone who just wants to maintain their own privileged way of life or sell you their villa before the **** hits the fan and they move on. So the bottom line is that people read the news, they watch TV and they are not all philanthropists who want to put up with hassle and insults in order to support poor people, they go where they are welcome and there is unlikely to be any problems with their holiday which may have been booked many months in advance, not everyone goes at the drop of a hat which seems to be a common misconception.

[LovelyLadyLux]

I'd also be thinking that the actual age of the tourist plays a BIG role. Cruise ships have quasi age group definitions in that some cater to families, young people (who want to party 24/7), older folks and they tailor what they offer accordingly. Even resorts are tending to do this - in other words - tourism is a dynamic ever changing commodity to be managed. Marketing research is big business too as they are looking at the demographics, the likes, dislikes etc and using this info to shape the tourism world. Kinda doubt Egypt has been doing this at all. Egypt has tourist resources - pyramids/history and the Red Sea resorts - sure there is LOTS in-between but I'm talking generalities and bigger picture here. All I ever see in marketing is the same old picture of the pyramids and a turban'd guy sitting on a camel. Am not sure even this is being aggressively put forward and now that Morsi is making waves I think this will push Egypt further down the totem pole of destinations.

Word of mouth is also an extremely important tool.

Now - let me see - WHAT comes to mind right now when people - just the average Joe on the street - is thinking about his next holiday and thinks about Egypt? Hmmmm let me see - Oh yeah and I can hear it now......."Hey Hun - lets grab the kids and go see the pyramids next week" (I think NOT)

[Horus]

Well based upon some post we read elsewhere bookings are down and cancellations are the norm since he made his announcement so that says it all. People are voting with their feet and no amount of conciliatory or patronising posts to the opposite will make any real difference, people make up their own minds on what they see for themselves and most people are politically savvy enough to figure it out for themselves. A first time visitor holidaying with children for example is not going to be swayed so easily into visiting, whereas the single couple may be more blasé about it all. A multiple visitor may still decide to still go if they are on a cruise or not going near any large cities such as Cairo, but if they had say children or grandchildren accompanying them then that may well change their minds. An older couple who may have done it all and seen it all may have no problems with the ongoing politics just as long as there is no actual civil unrest at the time, but they are very likely to reconsider if they think they will be the focus of abuse or insults for just going about their own business. So it is all very complex, but what is certain though is that people make up their own minds and contrary to the preconception that most visitors are not as informed as themselves, in fact these visitors are probably more astute than they ever will be and only time will tell.