Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Benevolent dictator
South Korea has quickly become one of the world’s economic powerhouses. Growth of its real gross domestic product (GDP or the most common although imperfect measure of a country’s economic performance) was an average of 8% from 1962 to 1989. Interesting and quite relevant for Egypt today, the South Korean experience of rapid growth occurred …
Op-ed review: The economy of the revolution
Amr Khafaga Shorouk Newspaper Columnist Amr Khafaga begins his column stating that it is not strange that the current economic situation of the country is devastated. “Any true revolution is necessarily followed by economic disruptions,” Khafaga writes. He attributes the devastation to the fall of the ruling regime: “It affected the stability which was an …
Thou shalt celebrate
What happened on Saturday, marking the third anniversary of the 25 January Revolution, was simply surreal. Hundreds of thousands, as expected, were in Tahrir Square, celebrating. Posters of Defence Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi were all over the square, with people on live TV “pleading” for him to run for presidency. Any political analyst worth his …
What’s for Egypt to celebrate?
By Alessandra Bajec This Saturday, thousands took to Egypt’s streets to mark the anniversary of the 25 January 2011 uprising that led to the ouster of former President Mubarak. Against a backdrop of fireworks, chants, helicopters hovering over Cairo, as much as killings, arrests and detention of dissenting voices. While small pro-army crowds scattered around …
Where have all the young votes gone?
As I watched news coverage of Egypt’s constitutional referendum, I am constantly inundated with this urban legend that has surfaced following the polling regarding the absence of young voters. Interim President Adly Mansour has recently held a meeting with the youth to discuss this theme; around the same exact time, presidential political adviser Mostafa Higazy held a …
Are We There Yet? Reflections on Egypt’s Revolution Three Years Later
By Dr Ghada Chehade Having followed and written on the Egyptian uprisings since 2011, on the third anniversary of the (not yet realised) revolution, I find myself somewhat befuddled. And I suspect I may not be alone in my confusion. The Egyptian revolution originally began with calls for “bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity”. …
Op-ed review: 25 January questions, death by nostalgia
Wael Abdel Fatah Tahrir Newspaper Columnist Wael Abdel Fatah starts the article with the topic of yesterday’s bombing: “We were startled by the sound of the explosion. It was near us, at the heart of the city. The explosions have passed their normal borders and have reached everywhere. The sound echoed in all corners of …
Need to transition from informal to formal politics
By Adel El-Adawy We reach yet another 25 January anniversary, and Egypt is still not a vibrant consolidated democracy. Three years of political and economic instability has changed the mood in the Egyptian street. The significance of 25 January has been largely overshadowed by the popular 30 June Revolution. Today, many Egyptians yearn for stability, as they …
What are the challenges facing the democratic project?
Egypt is going through many conflicts due to more than just one division. These divisions stem from a need to identify the different social components so as to predict their political and social variables. These divisions seem to clash and intersect sometimes, since they usually champion different interests, yet people usually focus on one while …
Israeli pitches: A tale of racism, bigotry and double standards
By James M. Dorsey If Israeli football pitches are any indication, Israeli attitudes towards Palestinians do not bode well for US Secretary of State John Kerry’s Middle East peace efforts. The story echoing from the pitches is one of racism, racial superiority, bigotry, double standards and little sincere effort to address a key issue that …
One more anniversary
Another anniversary passes by, as Egypt remains stuck inside the loop of political transformations that began on January 2011. Much has changed since that Tuesday where a few thousands took to the streets defying Mubarak’s corrupt repressive state. Personally, I was one of those who left Tahrir Square that night with a clear decision in …
Dogged determination – a more sober Jan25
Three years ago, as a friend of mine puts it, everything seemed possible. The 25th of January uprising gave birth to a revolution, and the sky was the limit. Today, as the third anniversary draws close, the promises of Tahrir Square seem distant. Optimism over opportunities is replaced with incredulousness over madness, the inclusive nature of the …
The illusion of change
A new era has begun in Egypt: an era of stability and security, of safety and justice, of rights and freedoms, of women’s rights, children’s rights and rights for the disabled. An era of democracy has suddenly befallen on us on the eve of the landslide success of a Yes vote to a new progressive …
Consequences
So, the constitutional referendum, as expected, has passed with flying colours. Official results cite a turn out that’s over 20 million people who voted Yes for the constitution by 98%. It is again worth noting that the supreme majority of those who voted for the constitution didn’t bother reading it or care what was in …
Op-ed Review: Adly Mansour and social justice
The interim president’s future Abdallah Al-Sinawy Al-Shorouk Newspaper Al-Sinawy begins his article by explaining that Adly Mansour did not expect his current position as interim president. “He had not even officially accepted his position as head of the constitutional court when he was assigned [to be] the new president for Egypt, according to the 3 …
Is there any reason left to be bullish on Egypt?
After the dust cleared and the votes were counted for Egypt’s newest constitutional referendum, the interim regime cheered, announcing that the results represented “a clear endorsement of the roadmap to democracy, as well as economic development and stability”. Others were more critical, though perhaps fewer than might be expected were particularly public about their disapproval. …
Tunisia’s promising new constitution
The emerging Tunisian constitution is profoundly encouraging on multiple fronts, especially equal rights
Our duty to protect children
By Dr Cesar Chelala The trafficking of children is a widespread phenomenon that is causing enormous suffering throughout the world. It is estimated that 4 million women and girls worldwide are bought and sold each year either into marriage, prostitution or slavery. Over 1 million children enter the sex trade every year (although most are …
A referendum caught between supporters and traitors
By Wael Eskandar A referendum is meant to be a vote by the public whereby they can freely express their position on a certain political matter, but what is the point of a referendum when you’re only allowed to “freely” express one position but not the other? Enough has been said about the referendum to …
Random observations on Egypt’s referendum
On Wednesday, as the polls closed and results started pouring in, a big step in Egypt’s transitional roadmap was concluded. While it was a no brainer that the constitution was going to be overwhelmingly ratified by popular vote, the actual results of the referendum deserve to be analysed carefully, as they do paint a picture of …
Egyptians’ lives: Between reality and fantasy
By Mohammed Nosseir Egyptians live two parallel lives: the life of reality that they struggle through daily and a fantasy existence of which they dream, a fantasy that they feel is quite close to reality, but have never managed to reach. Although the gap between the two is large and constantly growing, most Egyptians don’t …
The square root of the Egyptian revolution
On its third anniversary, the Egyptian revolution may have come full circle back to square one, but it will eventually, perhaps decades from now, square the circle and deliver on its root promises of “bread, freedom, dignity” The word “revolution” perfectly encapsulates the events of the past three years. It is almost as if Egyptians …
For CyberSecurity Professionals, is the Concept of “Control” a Pipe Dream?
In fact, new research from IDC Government Insights finds that overall IT security spending by the US Federal government will rise from $5.9bn in 2012 to over $7.3bn in 2017.
Egyptian football fans threaten to revive stadia as battle fields
By James M Dorsey With multiple potential flashpoints coinciding, militant, street-battle hardened Egyptian football fans threaten to align stadia alongside the country’s universities as battle grounds against the armed forces and the military-backed government. The football support groups known as ultras have warned that they would disrupt Egypt’s newly revived league competition if spectators continue to …
Working on the ground – Part 3
In the previous article, I explored some of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party’s attempts at working on the ground. In this article, I will discuss some of the party’s promotional activities for the constitution. The party discussed voting in the constitutional referendum for about a month, and after both groups (pro and against the new …
On Egypt’s General Sisi
As the news has come in of Egypt’s military chief, General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, looking for a strong turnout in next week’s constitutional referendum as a mandate to run for president, a mixture of near hysterical praise and hostile cursing of him has intensified on social media. Al-Sisi’s supporters are jubilant that he is still alive and that …
On means and ends
On Tuesday, Egypt votes on the new constitution, which aims to show the world that 30 June has electoral legitimacy, and thus undermine the Muslim Brotherhood’s legitimacy as well. Given that the Yes campaign is on the streets, on TV, in the newspapers, all over the social media and in targeted text messages to phones, …
Egypt’s mafia fund
By Farah Halime A private equity fund launched by Gamal Mubarak managed to reel in millions of dollars of investment from Egypt’s elite, revealing the depths to which political and business connections ran as he began rising in stature in the late 1990s. According to a document obtained by Rebel Economy, Gamal Mubarak’s $54m Horus I Fund, …
The rise of civil society groups in Africa
By André-Michel Essoungou Under the glaring sun of a recent Monday, an unusual group of protesters marched on the streets of Kampala, Uganda’s capital. All dressed in black “to mourn the loss of Uganda’s public money through corruption,” as some of them pointedly explained to reporters. “Return our money and resign,” read one of the …
We The People
If things go according to plan, by this time next week, by the time I sit down staring at an empty screen asking myself whether it’s really worth writing about politics in Egypt anymore; by that time, Egypt will be celebrating its new constitution. The document that shall deliver the shiny promises of stability, security, …