Latest in Tag: opinion Highlight
Latest in Tag: opinion
Review: Commentaries still overwhelmed with Shari’a Friday
Following reports of clashes between Islamist and liberal protesters in Tahrir Square last Friday, columnists continue to write about the persistent request to apply Islamic jurisprudence in Egypt. In a similar framework, more than one writer has explored the constitutional article that relates to Al-Azhar, asserting that views of prominent Sheikhs will be taken into …
Investment and our bipolar administration
Drops of tax “reforms” have been percolating from the cabinet to the public over the past few days, leaving the latter surprised, bewildered and anxious as to what’s yet to come. Wednesday the government approved a progressive income tax and variety of taxes on the securities market. Yesterday, a one per cent bump in sales …
Not a question of morality
Ever since the ousting of Mubarak and the rise of the Islamic elite represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis and other groups, the question of morality has always been on the table. The Islamists, like any other political force that identifies itself with religion, believe that the root of all ills of society is …
Review: Shari’a Friday and draft constitution consume columns
The debate over Shari’a Friday protests has led many writers to deplore the extent of Islamic jurisprudence’s presence in the draft constitution. More than one writer has pointed fingers at the Muslim Brotherhood, accusing them of delaying the constitution writing as they are still unprepared for parliamentary elections. Other columnists have dedicated their pieces to …
Judging a woman by her cover
Adel Heine’s weekly column
Editor’s letter: Mubarakonomics
Remember people chanting “Bread, freedom and social justice” twenty months ago? Remember how brilliant it felt summing up all what we needed in a Post-Mubarak Egypt? How does this same and exact slogan feel to your ears now? I guess quite kitsch. Simply, too much shouted and no steps ever taken towards its realisation. Mubarak’s …
Morsy faces choice, militancy or moderation?
The militant ambush on a police patrol in North Sinai bears the hallmarks of the Al-Qaeda terror group. Not only did the gunmen who carried out the attack raise black flags bearing the Muslim declaration of faith on them “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his Prophet,” but they also chanted Allahu …
Once Again: What about the relationship between America and the Muslim Brotherhood?
Those believing that the Muslim Brotherhood act according to American interests, as agents of the United States whom have pledged to carry out whatever is dictated to them, are wrong. Personally, I believe that if the Muslim Brotherhood has indeed adopted American policies and positions, it is not due to the Muslim Brotherhood being an …
Defeatism cannot be allowed to overcome Syria
“Today our revolution enters its toughest stages and the cruelty of the regime against our people is proven limitless.” For all the issues that the Egyptian revolution has yet to resolve, Egyptians did not pen the above words. Representatives of the Local Coordination Committees in Syria did, and even as Egyptians have continued to be …
From the other side
Judges and the Rule of Law
Rebel economy wrap
Libya’s drop in the ocean, aid to Syria, Egypt tender delays, UAE central bank
We will not be silenced
Do the Muslim Brotherhood and our president intend to imitate oppressive regimes and scare us into silence?
Letter to the president
Dear Morsy, Like many Egyptians, I was looking forward to your government’s attempt to implement its decision to close down shops at 10pm, out of the sheer comic value it would’ve presented. I set up an observation post in front of my building in Roxy Square, chairs, Shisha and all, to get a front row …
Review: Trouble in Sinai, the prosecutor general and the Constituent Assembly
 The main topics overwhelming opinion pages are the recent incidents in the Sinai and the seemingly never-ending discussion on the draft constitution. In some commentaries, some writers question the political independence of the prosecutor general, noting that whoever opposes or supports him simply makes a mess of his judicial position that theoretically stands free of …
Rebel economy wrap
“Renaissance” Bank Account, Centamin Troubles, UK-UAE Ties
Kuwait hit by Arab spring
The Arab world was taken by surprise when 150,000 or so Kuwaitis took the small country’s streets in protest on 21 October. The protest was mobilised against a new electoral law designed to reduce opposition, which was passed by the emir without parliamentary approval (as parliament was dissolved). The Kuwaiti political experience is regionally exceptional …
Review: Columnists amplify criticism of Morsy’s Assiut speech
President Mohamed Morsy’s Assiut speech continues to occupy opinion writers in Egypt. Several writers analyse his intention to ask for more money for his Nahda (renaissance) project. Commentators scrutinise Morsy’s meetings with ex-rivals to discuss corruption and social justice. The president’s job is to implement, not threaten Emad Al-Din Hussein Al-Shorouk Hussein discussed President …
Towards liberating the energy market
The petroleum ministry is in its final stages of sanctioning the importation of natural gas by the private sector of the hydrocarbon industry. Many questions come to mind as to the consequences of such move, considering the absence of information to clarify the mechanisms by which the government is proposing to implement this policy. Why …
Review: Columnists debate political Islam, religious speech and harassment
The expanding phenomenon of sexual harassment attracts the attention a one columnist this week, who cites the large number of police reports against harassers between 10 and 15 years old. Other op-eds explored the rigid religious speech of the imam who preached to Morsy in Assiut on Friday. Back to Al-Ghannouchi of Tunisia and …
The floods of Cairo
The US may have captured the market on submergence this week, but I would have you know that Egypt can inundate with the best of them. From the ancient times, where the yearly rise of the Nile waters spelled either wealth or disaster, up to the present day, Cairo is regularly swamped by different currents. …
Is Turkey immune from radical Salafism?
By Nervana Mahmoud Turkey is a unique Muslim nation with a distinct history, geography, and political progression. It has never been occupied, and its contemporary path has evolved differently than that of its Muslim neighbors. Turkey has a strong secular establishment and is mostly governed by secular laws. Turks are proud, moderate Muslims who follow …
The price of broken promises
This week I am in Houston, Texas. I am here to give a talk to students of journalism, at the opening of the Sam Houston University Global Center for Journalism and Democracy, about the situation in Egypt post- revolution. This isn’t my first visit to Texas. I was here eight years ago as an Egypt …
Off with their heads!
A video of Egyptian self-proclaimed cleric Sheikh Saad Arafat went viral on Monday, showing one of his religious “lessons” on Al-Rahma channel, a self-described Islamic channel. In the video he deals with sexual harassment as follows, “even if you [the woman] are face-veiled, you are the reason for harassment for going out of your house …
Does the Islamists’ rise to power achieve American interests?
In light of the lack – and at times absence – of information, accurate political analysis has become extremely difficult to come by. Hence, we can say without any exaggeration that efforts of analysts in our country rely upon guesswork and whatever information has been scattered and spread as rumours, which find their way the …
Review: Draft constitution overwhelms Egyptian columnists
The issue of the Constituent Assembly and its two versions of the draft constitution occupy many Egyptian columnists. Several writers scrutinise the drafts of the most important document, and others list a number of suggestions to make the document ready for public referendum. The third party of the Constituent Assembly Diaa Rashwan Al-Masry Al-Youm …
The First Egyptian Revolution
The first Egyptian revolution lasted 141 years, with the people, in the end, demanding the return of the monarchial rule
Review: Human rights, police brutality and Salafis
Various issues have occupied considerable space in Egyptian columns. While some commentators criticise the staunch determination of Salafis to impose their own interpretation of Shari’a, others reject the sympathy expressed by some of Egypt’s intelligentsia with the alleged anti-Islamist coup d’Ă©tat in Tunisia. The incident of the brutal detainment and humiliating treatment of the political …
From the other side
Confession, Apology, Compensation
Mobs use violence to keep women away from Tahrir
The mob attack on France 24 Correspondent Sonia Didri near Tahrir Square last Friday as she was reporting on the protests is both shocking and disturbing. It’s disturbing because the mob violence phenomenon appears to have become a trend in the “new” Egypt. The assault on Didri is the latest in a wave of sexual …
Has the balance of power shifted within Egyptian political life?
Ever since 25 January 2011, Egypt has been searching for a new balance. For, the revolution, like any other revolution, replaced the existing balance with a new one. The transitional phase that follows any revolution is the phase during which the powers that had participated in the revolution clash with each another in order to …