Although Egypt is a political powerhouse in the Middle East, its foreign policy hardly reflects that. Under its longtime president Hosni Mubarak, Egypt receded into a long phase of quietism and withdrawal. Mubarak is gone, but "Mubarakism without (...)
Egyptians are summoned to vote on the country's draft constitution -- which, technically, introduces “amendments” to the suspended 2012 constitution -- on 14and 15 January. The draft charter expands the privileges of the military and the judiciary, (...)
One year after the dramatic ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, many Egyptians now look retrospectively at the jubilation that followed his resignation with pain and bitterness. "We made a big mistake by leaving Tahrir Square," they (...)
More than twenty years after she passed away in 1990, Nasser's family have agreed to publish his wife's memoir, revealing rare photos and a glimpse into an unknown side of the first Egyptian President
Zikrayat Ma'ahu(Memories with Him) by Tahiya (...)
"In reading a text, one must open it out both to what went into it and to what its author excluded." Edward Said
On May 30, Daily News Egypt printed an article in its commentaries page entitled "In Defense of Reason, Not Israel" in which commentator (...)
If political regimes can be compared to movies, then Mubarak's Egypt was like an uneventful long one whose unanticipated thrilling end offered a delayed consolation to its disgruntled audience. After three decades of lifeless politics, the final, (...)
"When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right." (Victor Hugo)
In politics, industry, trade, sports and even fashion, a "revolution" is loosely defined as sudden or dramatic change. In the popular consciousness, there are two common (...)
Abdel-Monem Abu El-Fotouh: shahid 'ala tarikh al-haraka al-islamiya fi misr, 1970-1984 (Abdel-Monem Abu El-Fotouh: A Witness on the History of the Islamic Movement in Egypt, 1970-1984),Hossam Tamam,Cairo: Dar El-Shorouk, 2010. pp.142
On a cold (...)
CAIRO: Egyptians feel so bitter today as they see their country, an ancient civilization and a political powerhouse in the Middle East, sink into poverty and underdevelopment at home and nearly recede into irrelevance regionally and internationally. (...)
CAIRO: Political scientists usually refrain from being drawn into the notoriously slippery forecasting game. Politics is a multi-faceted process, and the various types of interactions among the different players and variables in any historical (...)
CAIRO: Khaled, the elder son of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel-Nasser (ruled 1954-1970), has an interesting story to tell. One day in the 1960s, the then teenage Khaled joined his father on a private car ride. Unintentionally, a crowd of (...)
Referring to Gamal Mubarak earlier this year, a senior editor at the distinguished London Review of Books wrote that "he may be the only person who is more widely disliked in Egypt than his father." After ten years in the spotlight, the (...)
It was the summer of 1967, immediately following the Six Day War when an Egyptian PhD student was having coffee with a friend, also Egyptian, at a café in Kurfurstendamm, Berlin's main boulevard.
The tightly packed café allowed for casual (...)
"We started big, and we remain big" is the clunky, self-praising but deceptive slogan used by Egyptian television to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its establishment. Egyptian TV is now 50 years old, an occasion loaded with countless memories (...)
In Part 1 of this special interview with controversial political scientist and writer Norman Finkelstein, best known for his 2000 book “The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering” (published yesterday, July 28, 2010) (...)
Einstein once said: "Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth." Among the few scholars who dared to question the authority of the biased US intellectual community's vision of Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict is political (...)
The return of Mohamed ElBaradei to Egypt and his readiness to challenge President Hosni Mubarak in the upcoming presidential elections was like throwing a pebble in the stagnant waters of Egyptian politics. It stirred political debate, mobilized (...)
CAIRO: Press coverage of South Africa has been boosted to an all-time high thanks to the country's hosting of the 19th FIFA World Cup. Documentaries and media reports broadcast round the clock on the world's major TV networks do not only refer to (...)
The Egyptian regime is a master at exposing its own weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It commemorated the 50th anniversary of the construction launch of the High Dam in Aswan by erecting an underground metal barrier along Egypt s border with Gaza. By (...)
For Egyptians, there's no place for optimistic forecasts for 2010: the start of a new year and a new decade is sadly overshadowed by a sense of stagnation and immobility.
Years, decades and centuries are not just there to measure time. They are (...)
I often wonder why any Egyptian would condone the sickening torture inflicted on suspects in police stations, especially if these suspects are charged with crimes such as child molestation or rape. I often ask myself how people can so readily (...)
CAIRO: The football-mania that preceded and followed the Egypt-Algeria match in Sudan for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers started with hostile internet and media campaigns, and developed into rioting and stone-throwing of players and fans, then (...)
As important as the heated debate about who rules Egypt after Hosni Mubarak is, it must not overshadow some more crucial questions, such as: How will Egypt be ruled in the post-Mubarak phase? And how will its political and legal systems look (...)
CAIRO: The worst thing about the current debate over niqab (face veil) is that it gives the impression of a "healthy and "free society that openly discusses all contending views of its most pressing problems.
This is an illusion. Neither is niqab (...)
CAIRO: The defeat of Egypt's longtime Culture Minister Farouk Hosni in the bid to head the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) commanded the attention of Egyptian intellectuals for the past few weeks. Indeed, (...)