Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
Snippets from a fun society
On June 26th, four days before June 30th, I was driving home to Heliopolis passing by Ghamra, when the following took place in 60 seconds: The driver of the car in front of me suddenly got his arm out, which had a gun, and proceeded to shoot three times in the air, before swerving and …
More than 700 million worth of positive signals in Egypt
The ‘Egypt Support’ Fund, the 306306 account, has exceeded EGP 700m according to Ashraf El-Araby, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, in the less than two months since its creation. Two other similar funds had been established since the start of the January 25th Revolution in Egypt with comparatively little success in fund raising. I …
Egypt’s new political map
By Nervana Mahmoud The political map of Egypt is slowly changing. As events continue to unfold following June 30 and then the July 3 coup, there are emerging new realties that may have an impact the future of the country for years to come. Currently, however, there is nothing definitive or clear. First, the ongoing …
Out on a limb
By Philip Whitfield Once upon a time a crocodile was snoozing on the banks of the River Nile. Along came a spritely gazelle. She’d spotted a bunch of cherries on the opposite side. How to get across? One crocodile in sight indicated more dozing. “Wake up, Mr Crocodile,” she pleaded. The crocodile opened one eye …
Revenge of the Sisi
Deep State? Don’t give them too much credit; their danger is much simpler than that
Egypt 2013: What can you tell?
By Fadi Elhusseini Genuine democracy requires practice and partnership, and cannot be realised aloof from people. Mobilising crowds to replace the ballot box is very dangerous as the lust for power and authority can be cast in popular demands, and gain proforma legitimacy. In order to put forward a truthful analysis, one should call a …
Syria
It could be that by the time this article goes to press, a strike has already taken place on Syria by a conglomerate of forces, led mostly by the US and France. It could be that it has not. The decision to do it, one way or the other, is beyond the purview of the …
Whom does the United States Support?
Following 30 June, Egypt has been awash with conspiracy theories. An interesting one aims to answer the infamous question: Whom does the US really support in the Egyptian debacle? Supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi as well as the current regime are accusing each other of heavy reliance on the US; such assertions border on …
Lies my teacher told me
The title is originally sociologist James Loewen’s. In 1995, Loewen published his book Lies My Teacher Told Me, closely and carefully chasing historical inaccuracies that the high school educational system is so full of. Issues like slavery, the relationship with the natives and how national heroes are sort of custom tailored. To make a long …
What are the political factions currently operating within Egypt?
All political systems throughout the world must include large, dominant political parties, and small, opposition parties. These parties must be rooted in legitimacy and capable of engaging in dialogue regarding the foundations of political life and the relationship that exists between citizens and the state. Such dialogue is successful when it is rooted in specific …
Editor’s letter: Unsustainable return of Mubarak’s state
Hosni Mubarak is out of Tora prison and placed under “house arrest” in a military hospital in Cairo. Some Egyptians take this development to the extreme and pessimistically claim Mubarak is back to power, which is definitely more of a desperate joke than anything else. Simply, both politically and physically it is unfeasible to even …
Mohamed ElBaradei and Egyptian politics can’t see eye to eye
By Mohammed Nosseir Mohamed ElBaradei, who recently resigned as interim vice-president ending his political career in my opinion, had been the most controversial Egyptian politician in the last few years, and will remain a debatable figure for a good time to come. ElBaradei, who had intended to live his life after retirement away from politics, …
Here to inform…
When the television was invented back in the early 20th century, many people believed that they had finally found an effective method to eradicate ignorance all over the world. Enthusiasts believed that children would learn from their homes, and the public would become better informed about the issues that governed their lives. While most people …
Egyptian opinion on sit-in dispersals: Finding truth in reported facts
A recent poll suggests that 67% of Egyptians are “satisfied with the manner” in which security forces dispersed the sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square. Meanwhile a different poll suggests that 79% of Egyptians believe the “massacres” on 14 August were “crimes against humanity”. These two polls seem to be presenting contradictory facts about …
The Muslim Brotherhood’s fate: An Algerian explosion or a Turkish resurrection?
By Nervana Mahmoud October 6, 1981 _____ the distance between my home and the bakery was no more than a few hundred metres, yet it felt like an endless journey. The vibrant streets of Cairo were reduced to a deafening silence, as if everyone has disappeared. My mother and I were totally unaware that President …
Truth or dare
By Philip Whitfield Truth trumps fiction. According to some Muslim Brothers it’s time to dump Morsi and dump on General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi. Remember this bit of Brotherhood balderdash? “We’re not seeking power. We just want to build this country.”It was mind-boggling mapping Morsi’s mendacious malarkey. Nowadays it’s caliginous charting the Brotherhood’s course. Did you …
Why Egypt’s pound is not strengthening
By Farah Halime, Rebel Economy Take a look at this chart, which the Central Bank of Egypt has been proudly parading this month: It shows how the pound’s official price, controlled by the central bank, has been appreciating slowly since the overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. If we were to take this graph at face value, …
The Arab Spring: An implosion of historic proportions
By Ralph F Georgy When the Egyptian people rose, in what can only be described as a spontaneous and unprecedented show of collective displeasure with the status quo ante, to remove a dictator from power, the world witnessed the unmediated power of freedom emerging from centuries of control and manipulation. This power, densely compact and …
Syrian children pay the heaviest price in war
By Dr Cesar Chelala The numbers of Syrian children affected by the brutal war ravaging their country are truly disheartening. According to UN agencies, one million children, three-quarters of them are under 11, have had to flee their country since the conflict began in 2011. “This one millionth child refugee is not just another number. …
Turmoil in Egypt: Learning lessons from the Philippines
By James M. Dorsey With Egypt deeply polarised politically and religiously, kick–starting a political process capable of bridging divides and creating an inclusive democratic process seems a distant prospect. It will ultimately depend on the likely shrinking over time of the military’s popular base and the government’s realisation that it needs the United States and …
ElBaradei Exhumed
After his recent untimely resignation, it is fair to say that we have seen the end of Egyptian law scholar and diplomat Mohamed Mustafa ElBaradei’s career in public service. Now, in the eyes of different people, ElBaradei is seen to be as much of a prodigy as he is seen to be a traitor. We …
BLOG CORNER: The violent birth of a sit-in
Charlie Miller and I were on our way to catch the tail end of the clearing of Nahda Square when we heard reports of clashes in Mohandeseen. We adjusted our course and sped off down Batal Ahmed Abdel Aziz Street only to see a cloud of black smoke at the intersection ahead. Our driver decided …
Collective punishment and competing collateral
Blood and burned churches. These are the lasting images in Egypt over the past week. Out of context, each are abhorred and condemned by most. However, the unprecedented levels of violence in the country have not only desensitised many Egyptians to such images, but have sparked arguments as observers take parts of the images to …
Raping the Nile
By Ahmed M. El Ashram and Amgad Hegazy As the events in Egypt continue to weigh upon us, we are confronted by an increasingly disturbing impasse that has serious implications possibly beyond Egypt and its troubling fate. It may be true that the democratic experiment in Egypt has been prematurely aborted. But whether the …
For Mohamed Ibrahim, the clock is ticking for his removal…
In case you are not familiar with who Mohamed Ibrahim is, he is the current Minister of Interior in Egypt, and a disgrace. He was appointed by former President Mohamed Morsi in the middle of the constitutional crisis in order to turn a blind eye when the Muslim Brotherhood’s thugs were sent to attack and …
Talking Box by Ziad Akl
So the ridiculous bipolarity continues; the army-Muslim Brotherhood conflict still very much shapes the perceptions of Egyptians. But what’s been happening this last week is beyond ridiculous, beyond inhuman and beyond sad. Suddenly, all standing political actors stopped representing humanity. Both the army and the Brotherhood are locked in a hatred-fuelled circle that springs out …
Football militants put their mark on Egyptian protests
In a perverse way, the ultras’ dilemma is not dissimilar from that of the Brotherhood, writes James M Dorsey
Curfew crashers
“To the streets” they bray, while proudly sharing their triumphant testimonies of insubordination on social media.
Choices
Things in Egypt are moving quite quickly. It has gotten to the point where if one stops keeping up to date for an hour, one finds that a fundamental shift has just taken place – again. With that in mind, I am keenly aware that in the space of time it takes for me to …
Who is responsible for violence within Egypt?
Before the dispersal of the sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Al-Nahda squares, something resembling a consensus was being reached amongst Egypt’s democratic forces, which acknowledged that neither of the two was peaceful. This consensus was based off a series of clues and supporting evidence received from human rights organisations pointing to the fact that torture …