Latest in Opinion Highlight
Latest in Opinion
30 June: Once upon a time in a Brotherhood
A big day awaits the Muslim Brotherhood on 30 June. Sometimes when I look back at the events of the past two years, I realise how well-prepared the Muslim Brotherhood was. Since the Brotherhood was certain Hosni Mubarak’s regime would not compensate it for refraining from joining demonstrations, the Islamist group moved on to their …
Football threatens to spark protests as Iran goes to the polls
By James M. Dorsey Iranian Supreme Leader Sayed Ali Khamenei has more to worry about in the run-up to Iran’s presidential election than ensuring that a sufficiently malleable candidate emerges as winner. Tuesday’s crucial victory in Iran’s 2014 World Cup qualifier against Lebanon raises the risk of potential celebrations turning into anti-government protests. That risk …
Editor’s letter: Is Egypt on the verge of a civil war?
Since the launch of the Tamarod campaign about two months ago, the term “civil war” has been used frequently by both mainstream and social media, the political elite and various other segments of society. I’ve been wondering if this was a natural overreaction by a society that has a history of rejecting internal violence, where …
What are the ingredients and background of the Salafi movement in Egypt?
In the previous article, I covered the first segment of the Islamist movements in Egypt, which was the political Islamist parties, and it centred on the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, I will go into detail regarding the second segment, the religion-based Islamist parties. The religion-based Islamist parties are what we call Salafis. We call them the …
Erdogan falters as society advances
By Lewis King The recent political upheaval across Turkey has generated an unprecedented volume of media coverage that has drawn international attention to the underlying social and ideological differences that divide Turkish society and politics. Many actors emphasise this ideological divide in order to galvanise their bases, thus ensuring that these divisions continue to play …
The Islamisation of a culture
For 23 years, Egypt’s cultural scene was in the hands of Farouq Hosny. One can write volumes on the man, rumours mixed with truths until his reputation was completely ruined. What we do know though is that he was a lousy painter; he painted like a six year old and yet he was able to …
The Egypt-IMF loan negotiation: The soap opera continues
Watching Egypt’s negotiation with the IMF for a proposed $4.8bn loan has been like watching a daytime soap opera. New characters are added to the main plot while old characters fade into the background, but the storyline remains largely unchanged. Every episode introduces a bit of new drama with no resolution of the main conflicts …
Alternatives
After a stellar week in Egyptian foreign policy, with both a fiasco of a national security meeting regarding the non-threatening Ethiopia Grand Renaissance Dam and a disturbing court ruling against NGO workers, people have once again shifted their focus to National politics, specifically the 30 June demonstrations. Expectations are flying high on the side of …
Lessons in impunity
It’s been a rough few weeks for heads-of-state the world over. In America, Obama faces a growing list of infractions, any one of which would have been campaign killers nine months ago. In much of the Europe, administrations continue to struggle to justify austerity that has yet to fully jumpstart most economies, and more often …
Turkey, the Arab world, and the myth of moderate Islamism
By Nervana Mahmoud For years, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Erdogan was generally considered an example of “moderate Islamism”, a loose label that was generally based on a comparison with other Islamist dictatorships, like Iran, or with the various semi-secular autocratic regimes that dot the Arab and Muslim world. There was never a comparison with a …
Fried Rice
By: Philip Whitfield Of all the poker players I’d want to cut the cards Barack Obama ranks First Dealer. We both spent 20 years in Chicago. So we know to keep our hands in full view. I was taken aback when he appeared to cave after Republicans scuppered his choice to succeed Hillary Clinton in …
Running with women
Being a feminist almost always involves criticism of male thinking or male domination and this makes sense. In many ways, we are still a male-dominated society; we are not free nor are we truly equal, not yet. Even in first-world countries, women are still paid less than men and professions objectifying women, such as prostitution …
Farag Fouda; assassination of the word
Twenty one years ago Egyptian thinker and philosopher, Farag Fouda was assassinated in front of his NGO, the Egyptian Society for Enlightenment at the hands of a radical Islamist group, Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya. He was shot with a machine gun in front of his son. He was shot because he was deemed an “infidel” by the …
What’s really wrong with Morsi
The one year anniversary of Mohamed Morsi’s election is approaching fast. From a substitute candidate to a very controversial president; Morsi remains one of the revolution’s big surprises. During the 18 days back at the square, we had a strange sense of certainty that there could be no president from the Muslim Brotherhood. I even …
The Egyptian Teddy Bear!
It irks me so much how some of us Egyptians are sometimes very casual in the ways we infringe on other people’s feelings while becoming overly sensitive when it comes back to haunt us. It is what we call Karma. You get what you give, whether bad or good. However, we seem to think of …
Egypt: Securing energy supplies
Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (Egas) awarded eight licences for gas exploration on 16 April and said it would potentially be offering at least 10 more this year.
What is the political map of the Islamist movement in Egypt?
The number of “Islamic” or “quasi-Islamic” parties has officially reached 12. The parties can be categorised into three groups: the first are “political” Islamist parties, the second are “religion-based political” Islamist parties, and the third are the “radical” Islamist parties, or rather of radical backgrounds. At the heart of all these parties is the Freedom …
Tahrir’s lesson for Taksim: Police brutality unites battle-hardened fans
By James M. Dorsey If there is one lesson Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan should have drawn from the popular revolts that toppled four Arab leaders and sparked civil war in Syria in the last two years, it is that police brutality strengthens protesters’ resolve and particularly that of militant, street battle-hardened football fans. …
Editor’s letter: Low budget presidential thriller
During a disastrous meeting at the Presidential Palace on Monday with the objective of handling the threat of Ethiopia’s project building a massive dam on one of the Nile’s main tributaries the Blue Nile, some of Egypt’s “top politicians” came out with a number of solutions, hysterical enough to start a war that can easily …
A Farce
A farce. That is all I can say about the NGO trial verdict that was delivered on 4 June in post-Mubarak, present-Morsi, still-not-revolutionary Egypt. Here is the verdict, plain and simple. Guilty. Didn’t hear that right? Guilty. Every single defendant on trial in the NGO court case that has been dragging on for more than …
From Gezi Park protests to public solidarity
By Dr Mustafa Ozbilgin The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has launched various urban development projects across Istanbul. These plans lacked prior consultation with public users and key stakeholders. Remarkably, the AKP government planned to build a shopping mall on the site of Gezi Park, the only public green space with many established trees, …
While the world succeeds in battling poverty, Egypt fails
By Iris Boutros Between 1990 and 2010, nearly 1 billion people were pulled out of extreme poverty globally. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving global poverty between 2000 and 2015 has been achieved five years early, surpassing the progress seen in achieving any of the other MDGs. This week, key politicians and officials …
Regarding the dam
For the past few weeks Egyptian society and media have been hysterical over Ethiopia’s construction of its Renaissance Dam. The public was suddenly bombarded with the notion that Ethiopia will turn off the water faucet on Egypt and that this is an issue that threatens both our national security and survival as a nation. The …
Trickle down
By Philip Whitfield To be sure, strife seldom strikes separately. Universal healthcare in Egypt heralds a sick society. Damming the Blue Nile threatens small farmers. Lifting Syria’s arms embargo perks up poison-pusher Bashar Al-Assad. Somebody has to not do what they have openly claimed they would do, says Jonathan Spyer, a respected researcher. Western carpetbaggers …
Op-Ed review: Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam
Since last week, the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been on the minds of many journalists and columnists. Two writers ponder what should be done to solve the potential crisis between Ethiopia and Egypt. We were surprised and did not understand Fahmy Howeidy Al-Shorouk Newspaper Columnist Fahmy Howeidy, who frequently expresses his …
The day after the ‘Rebellion’
By Taher El Moataz Bellah After the minor uprising against the Muslim Brotherhood on 24August 2012 failed to mobilise public support, the Islamist group was relieved by the low turnout of demonstrators. However, eight months of deteriorating economic conditions and unfulfilled promises paved the way for Tamarod, (“Rebellion”), a leaderless movement, in gathering more than …
Watching Egypt crumble
An acquaintance several weeks ago was in shock, “I got my daughter a bicycle which she parks on the street. Last night I found an old man trying to break its lock. I couldn’t believe it!” Confronting the petty thief, the old man fumbled, cried and apologised telling my friend that he needs the …
A personal story with the police
On my way back home from a friend’s house on Friday night I was wondering what I would write my article about in a few hours, since I usually write on Saturday mornings. Well, I was handed the topic out of the blue. What I am about to tell you took place between Friday night …
Escape from ‘Generica’
There isn’t anything more saddening on the Egyptian political scene than the loss of value that we are being thrust into. Our debates remain at a superficial level never meaning to scratch the surface. Everything around us seems to be generic. I call it “Generica”; a land where everything is topical, every piece of news …
UEFA decision on Gibraltar opens prospects for Kurds
By James M. Dorsey A decision by European football body UEFA granting Gibraltar the right of membership potentially opens the door to Kurdistan to seek association with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in a move that would acknowledge demands for increased autonomy and the possible shifting of national borders in the Middle East as a …