It has been ten years since widespread protests erupted in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Libya and Yemen, in addition to smaller-scale ones in a few other Arab countries, with the protests as a whole being collectively named the Arab Spring.
The immediate (...)
Unrest and upheaval plague many countries in the Arab region. Yemen and Libya are racked by violent conflict and political rifts, and Algeria is still in the throes of a political crisis. However, the political turmoil in the Levant is worse and (...)
We have a problem with some influential Western news outlets that cover affairs in Egypt in a selective manner and present them in a negative light.
These outlets do not seem to possess an alternative method that would work towards a better (...)
Egypt's new minister of culture has embarked upon a campaign to end the domination of secular intellectuals over Egypt's cultural life. Coming from the outside of the circles of leftist and liberal-secular intellectuals, the appointment of Alaa (...)
I usually go to Friday prayers at a mosque near my house that was built about two years ago. The Salafi tendency of the group in charge of the mosque was obvious the first time I went there; I liked that because they focused on virtuous conduct and (...)
Student union elections at universities are one of the best products of the 25 January Revolution. It doesn't matter who won or lost in these elections, what is important is that students at Egyptian universities are finally able to contest free (...)
I agree to regulating the right to demonstrate and strike and disapprove of criminalising it. Regulating the right to strike is more important than merely deciding its hours; it includes the location, number of participants, duration, the sponsors (...)
Egypt is in revolution and Japan is in calamity. Those killed in Egypt were no more than 1,000 at the worst, but the dead in Japan are more than 9,000 and a similar number are missing, their fate unknown. The disaster in Japan cost the country $300 (...)
Under the previous regime, the political scene in Egypt was divided between the National Democratic Party (NDP) on the one hand and all other political forces on the other, leaving it polarised between the regime and the opposition. The regime was (...)
Anyone who is keen to have life return to normal as soon as possible should approve the proposed constitutional amendments. The revolution is a success, erasing tyranny and social injustice; like any revolution it was like an earthquake that shook (...)
What occurred over the weekend at State Security headquarters is, by any measure, a catastrophe. These headquarters house files and information which was gathered illegally during an era when politics, the state, political parties, professional (...)
A remarkable statement was issued by the spiritual leaders of Egypt's churches about Article 2 of the Constitution, urging for it not to be amended and supporting a democratic civic state.
Article 2 was amended by President Sadat in 1980 to state (...)
I and many others have called for parliamentary elections to be postponed for a few more months in order to give the new political parties emerging since the January 25 Revolution enough time to prepare. Our argument is that elections within the (...)
I send a salute of reverence, respect and appreciation to the youth who contributed to the march on 25 January, and everyone across Egypt who responded to their call. I will not discuss the ideas and visions and plans of the youth because there are (...)
Demonstrations have continued for the second day, though the number of protestors has dropped. There was some violence in yesterday's marches, but the police maintained a firm grip without the use of excessive force.
Protestors have displayed a (...)
Yesterday's protests were extraordinary: Egyptians were able to express themselves but the country maintained security and public order. The message is clear, and ought to propel us into a new phase of indispensable reforms
Yesterday was a landmark (...)
Mohamed Bouazizi, the young Tunisian man who set himself on fire after a contemptuous female police officer tried to stop him from selling vegetables even though he could not find other employment, has become part of history. His suicide sparked (...)
When Zein Al-Abidine Bin Ali told the Tunisian people in his last speech on Thursday that there would be political and social reforms in response to the message the people had sent him, it was already too late. The people's demands and appetite for (...)
There are massive demonstrations against price hikes, unemployment and the high cost of homes in Tunisia and Algeria. Similarly, non-party activists in Jordan are planning protests on Friday for similar reasons. Conditions in Tunisia are the worst (...)
It was a magnificent sight at most churches in Egypt on the Coptic Christmas Eve. The tens of Egyptian Muslims who joined their Christian countrymen to celebrate inside andoutside churches did so on personal initiative, in love of the country and (...)
How does one strengthen national unity? Is it by changing the general mindset to make it more open, forgiving and accepting of the principles of equality and pluralism? Or is it by changing the laws so as to legally guarantee freedom of worship and (...)
The terrorist attack on Saints Church in Alexandria targets Egypt as a whole, not only Egyptian Copts. Coptic Christians are part of Egypt and anything or anyone who harms them harms the entire country. Egypt is not the country of Muslims alone or (...)
New security hazards will definitely emerge while current sources of threat might develop new dynamics, warns Gamal Abdel-Gawad Sultan *
Identifying challenges to Egypt's national security in the coming decade is not a subject for speculation. The (...)
Though exceptions may arise now and again, the prevailing political reality in Egypt is one of marked responsibility towards the nation that embodies Egyptian politics on the whole. This was especially apparent during the recent parliamentary (...)
The Saudi Ministry of Education is investigating six private schools for girls on charges of breaking the law. The six schools have participated in sports competitions for girl students, thus violating Saudi laws which prohibit girls from engaging (...)