Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Kills on Wheels: unusual story of empowerment
Kills on Wheels was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
This Little Father Obsession: searching for an identity
This Little Father Obsession was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
Mimosas: a holy fool’s journey across Moroccan landscapes
Mimosas was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
The Train of Salt and Sugar: an odyssey of bitter and sweet
The Train of Salt and Sugar was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
Together For Ever: growing emotions
Together For Ever screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
Kills on Wheels: looking for a hero
Kills on Wheels was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
Lipstick under my Burkha: politicising the very female body
Lipstick under my Burkha was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival
Egyptians’ dilemma: our singularly inward-looking focus
Imagining that the entire world revolves around Egypt, combined with our belief that we are always right, has kept Egyptians from coming to terms with universal political dynamics, leaving the entire population trapped within the boundaries of their unique—and false—convictions. Egyptians are “living in a shell” that they have built up around themselves and as …
Meeting Fidel
As a young medical student in Argentina, I had been fascinated by Fidel Castro and his rebel combatants. I followed with interest their advance from the mountains to the plains to the capital city of Havana. I longed to visit the island but the US blockade made it extremely difficult to travel to Cuba. Then, …
The missing keyword in the fundamentalist mindset
“Situations vary dramatically from country to country. It would be foolish to take a one-size-fits-all approach and barrel forward regardless of circumstances on the ground,” said Hillary Clinton in her Keynote Address at the National Democratic Institute’s 2011 Democracy Awards Dinner. This quote reveals a lot about a cornerstone concept that fundamentalists, radicals, and extremists …
Middle Eastern unrest: dimensions beyond religion
Given the current Middle Eastern scenario, one may reasonably hold the argument that the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East owes its burden equally to the Machiavellian Anglo-American policies in the region and the harrowing failure of the Muslim majority governments or leaderships in the Middle East to rationally respond to those challenges. But are there …
Conscription: what is it good for?
This article neither responds nor is even remotely interested in the televised report broadcast by Qatar’s Al-Jazeera about conscription or compulsory drafting in the Egyptian army. This goes back to many reasons, but foremost because the virus only infects the body that suffers from weak immunity. I argue that the immunity of Egypt, of both …
From an overly dramatised performance to distraction: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them disappoints the audience
The movie fails to meet the height of expectations set by fans of its predecessors
Equality for women can reduce world hunger
Giving women the same tools and resources as men, such as financial support, education, and access to markets, could reduce the number of hungry people worldwide by up to 150 million. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and other humanitarian agencies estimate that 925 million people across the world are undernourished. Of this number, …
Violence against women: hesitant legislatures and societal obstacles
The world is celebrating the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women through the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. Just a week ago, 15-year-old Reem Magdy, Egypt’s wrestling world champion, left this world after her father beat her, pushing her to jump out of a fast-moving car and die on …
Congratulations, we have 2 million newborn Egyptians every year
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has announced that the population of Egyptians inside Egypt reached 92 million on Thursday at 8:00pm. CAPMAS stressed on 5 June that the population reached 91 million, which means that the recent increase has taken place in less than six months. It is worth mentioning that …
Social safety nets can be a lifeline for victims of pound flotation
I decided to swim against the tide that accompanied the flotation of the Egyptian pound, the rumbling flood of comments on social media networks and opinion articles that filled newspapers and websites. Everyone is talking about the flotation and cuts to fuel subsidies, some people understand what they are talking about while others are driven …
Hamilton v Trump
“Apologise!” was president-elect Donald Trump’s conclusion of two messages he wrote to the cast of Hamilton, one of the most successful Broadway musicals in recent times. He was thus responding to the incident in which actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays former vice president Aaron Burr, addressed the audience of the show. At the end …
Qatari soft power efforts: two steps forward, one step backwards
Efforts to leverage Qatar’s 2022 World Cup hosting rights to create the soft power the Gulf state needs to punch above its weight and ensure a sympathetic hearing in the international community in times of emergency operate on the Leninist principle of two steps forward, one step backwards. Take events this month as an example. …
The NGOs law—what’s next?
The draft of the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) law, which was initially approved by parliament a few days ago, cannot be read without linking it with the historical, political, and social contexts surrounding it. These contexts can explain the wide-spread debate triggered by the law, and the conflict between a parliament that insists on passing its …
Ideas on how Egypt could liberate its traffic congestion
Aimlessly cruising with a private vehicle in a country like Egypt should not be a personal decision, where citizens lose hours in commuting, which leads to increasing pollution and consuming significant amounts of partially subsidised fuel. The chronic problem of Egypt’s traffic congestion constitutes of drivers’ misbehaviour accompanied by no real penalties, using a large …
Part II: Could integration prevent radicalisation of Muslim youth?
The largest mosque umbrella organisation in Germany, the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (known as DITIB), has had its ups and downs since its foundation in 1984 in Germany as a branch of the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate. While DITIB remains closely interlinked with the Turkish religious authority Diyanet in terms of finance, staff, and organisation, it claims to manage …
Qatar calls into question its sincerity in pushing World Cup-driven reform
For much of the last six years since winning the hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar appeared to be taking a slow and torturous path towards some degree of reform. Yet, in an increasingly conservative world in which human rights are put on the backburner, fears among rights and trade union activists that …
Part I: Could integration prevent radicalisation of Muslim youth?
Radicalisation is a phenomenon that has been striking not only in parts of Asia and Africa but also in the heart of Europe. While the number of Muslims in Germany is estimated by 4.7 million (5.8%), 70% of the almost 900,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in recent years are believed to be Muslims. It is undeniable that there is …
Opinion: Trump, the anti-Obama for Africa
Africa expects nothing good from the new US President Donald Trump – quite the reverse, writes DW’s Claus Stäcker.So far, Africa has barely existed for Donald Trump.
Opinion: No place is sacred for ‘Islamic State’
The ‘IS’ attack on a Sufi shrine in Pakistan shows once again the group’s indiscriminate choice of targets.
The number of millionaires in Egypt
How many people possess more than $1m in Egypt? According to the Credit Suisse global wealth data report of 2015, Egypt has 23,000 millionaires in comparison to 12,000 in Morocco, 35,000 in Qatar, 60,000 in UAE, 70,000 in Turkey, 85,000 in Israel, 180,000 in India, 350,000 in Spain, 1 million in each of China and …
President-elect Trump deserves a chance
Free and fair elections are one of democracy’s main pillars as is the smooth and peaceful transfer of power. America has chosen and, whether one approves of that choice or not, it should be accepted and respected both at home and abroad. It is no secret that I wrote an op-ed in August 2015 backing …
Do Egyptians love their country, their president—or are they self-centered?
“I am willing to die for my country” declare many Egyptians to convey the extent of their love for their country. Another group of citizens believes that an alternative way to express patriotic sentiment is to continuously heap praise on the president. I certainly don’t intend to question the integrity and honour of any …
What a Hillary Clinton victory would mean for Egyptian women
Can a woman winning the White House change history for Egyptian women? Over the past year, I have been addressing this question with female Egyptian intellectuals in Cairo. Before discussing the intellectual women’s view of the US election, it is worth keeping in mind that only around 28% of Egyptians go to university. So most of the …