Latest in Tag: opinion Highlight
Latest in Tag: opinion
Militant football fans reassert their key role in protest with storming of Cairo stadium
By James M. Dorsey Militant, street battle-hardened football fans stormed a Cairo stadium in advance of the second leg of crowned Al-Ahly SCâs African Confederation Cup final against Ivory Coastâs SĂ©wĂ© Sport in a reassertion of the fansâ key role in protests against the regime of toppled president Hosni Mubarak and subsequent governments. The storming …
Will Mubarakâs acquittal push Al-Sisi in a specific direction?
The vast majority of people were struck with the impression that the judgment acquitting Mubarak was not simply a court ruling issued by an independent judge acquitting Mubarak from specific crimes, but instead served to acquit the personality of Mubarak and his regime in general. We all witnessed how Mubarakâs supporters celebrated the ruling, while …
Angry Saudi football clubs pinpoint Gulf labour market contradictions
By James M. Dorsey Mounting anger among Saudi football clubs at their subjugation to quotas designed to encourage employment of Saudi nationals and reduce dependence on foreign labour illustrates problems encountered by wealthy Gulf countries in balancing the contradictory demands of labour markets, often lopsided demographics, social contracts involving a cradle-to-grave welfare state that creates …
Egypt and Gulf security equations
By Khaled Okasha At the end of last week, a statement was issued by the King of Saudi Arabia announcing the Riyadh supplementary agreement, whose goal is to clear the air in the Gulf. He hoped that moving forward with the agreement would bring about cooperation, free of past disagreements. Just one day before this, …
Messiâs other side
By Dr Cesar Chelala When almost everybody thought that Lionel Messiâs best times were in the past, the Argentine player became the top scorer both in the Spanish and in the Champions League – an extraordinary achievement – proving again his exceptional qualities. There is, however, another side to Messi that is as remarkable and …
Gulf agreement on improved migrant worker conditions unlikely to end activist pressure
By James M. Dorsey Wealthy Gulf nations have agreed on measures to improve the working and living conditions of migrant workers who constitute a substantial segment, if not the majority, in a number of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. The measures constitute a bid to fend off more far-reaching demands by human rights …
Likely Qatar deportation of striking workers raises concerns
By James M. Dorsey Qatar is signalling the rejection of demands of human rights and trade union activists to grant trade union and collective bargaining rights to its majority migrant worker population with the detention and likely deportation of more than 100 predominantly South Asian labourers who went on strike to protest low pay as …
The camera and the gun: Khaled Abol Naga
By Amr Khalifa In Egypt, the Al-Sisi regime wants opposition pens dry and artistâs mouths shut. Many Egyptian viewers expected Khaled Abol Naga to be more reticent after recently saying âwe may soon need to be saying âleaveâ to Al-Sisiâ â those watchers couldnât be more wrong. In an interview where he held nothing back …
Will Al-Sisi reproduce the Mubarak regime?
Mubarakâs regime entered into decline when contradiction and conflict reached their peak among the ruling class and junta, as with what happened previously within the 1952 family. The contradictions and conflicts were the main motivation behind the transition from one president to another. This issue reflected primarily on the ruling classâ movement toward saving their …
Israeli raid on Palestinian football club signals dangerous hardening of battle lines
By James M. Dorsey A football brawl in Israelâs politically most loaded derby and an alleged subsequent raid by the Israeli military on the offices of Israelâs foremost Palestinian football club reflects a hardening of the Israeli-Palestinian divide as Israel debates legislation that would emphasise the Jewish national rather than the democratic nature of the …
What happened to Egypt’s NGOs?
Civil society groups continue to operate after registration deadline, despite challenges
Another way of ending FGM
By Dr CĂ©sar Chelala Female circumcision, also called female genital mutilation (FGM) is widely practiced in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East. More than 125 million women have been subjected to different forms of genital mutilation across Africa and in areas of western and southern Asia, and 2 million women undergo the procedure annually. …
The Bank of 20XX
It started with the ATMs because they broke many banksâ assumption that their customers transacted all their bank business in their own branch.
Terror at sea: Doomyat
By Amr Khalifa The Mediterranean turned red last Wednesday. What we know is far less than we should: eight Egyptian sailors are missing, five are injured, reported the Egyptian army, in a battle with âterroristsâ off the coast of Mediterranean city Domyat [Damietta], best known for its furniture. With each passing day, professional analysts and …
Has a transfer of power within the 1952 family led to drastic changes?
Power transition within the 1952 family occurs if the regimeâs crisis reaches an impasse and âchangeâ must take place to overthrow the president and the group or oligarchy surrounding him. This leads to new regime officials appointed and some policy alterations. Perhaps we recall that, at the peak of a crisis leading to a power …
Volleyball federation sanctions Iran in new assertiveness on womenâs sporting rights
By James M. Dorsey The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) has warned Iran that it would be stripped of its right to host the 2015 Under-19 menâs world volleyball championship if it bans women from attending matches. The warning signals a new assertiveness driven by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to make adherence to human, gender, …
Study asserts that controversial Gulf labour regime reduces global inequality
By James M. Dorsey With the absence of labour rights in the Gulf under fire as a result of Qatarâs successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup, Gulf states are likely to take heart from a recent study that asserts that authoritarian regimes in the oil-rich Middle East and China have contributed more to …
Weâre losing the war on terror
By Wael Eskandar Last week numerous country representatives congratulated Egypt on its progress in improving human rights over the years in the latest Universal Periodic Review held by the United Nations. It was disheartening to hear such comments at a time of the most sizable regression in human rights in Egyptâs modern history. It was …
Israeli ex-general critical of Netanyahuâs leadership
By Dr Cesar Chelala 106 former high-ranking Israeli members of the armed forces, police, and intelligence have called on Israelâs Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make a strong move for peace with the Palestinians. In a letter to the prime minister, the army and police officers said that Netanyahu should seriously pursue peace with the Palestinians …
Sinai: Buffer zone of mistrust
By Amr Khalifa When your skin is submersed in the azure blue of Sinaiâs waters, you would never imagine that trouble in the Sinai governorate lurks beyond the beach. Sinai, a piece of heaven on earth, known internationally for its superior diving and snorkelling, has become a hotbed of insurgency that has put the Cairo …
Sinai enters a new chapter
By Khaled Okasha The terrorist attack that took place in Karam Al-Qawadees , next to Sheikh Zuweid, will open a new chapter for the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula. Will 24 October represent the end of one era and the beginning of a new one marked by a process that is more violent and bolder …
Sponsorship of FIFA: a new front in Gulf political rivalry
By James M. Dorsey Lurking in the background of world football body FIFAâs talks with Qatar Airways to replace its Dubai rival Emirates as a sponsor is the escalating hostility between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as a result of their divergent attitudes towards political Islam. Officially, Emiratesâ decision to end its $200m relationship …
Thinking critically about Syriaâs refugee crisis
By Matthew Timmerman Lebanon recently announced it will further curtail the flow of Syrian refugees across its border. With these refugees numbering half the size of the countryâs indigenous population (by the governmentâs estimate), occupying 60% of the labour market, and the total cost of their accommodation estimated at $3bn – itâs a calculated decision …
Cairo: A problematic transport culture
By Josh Drake A friend of mine recounted an incident recently whereby their taxi driver, in the midst of a Cairo traffic jam, took a sharp unlawful turn down a one-way street in the wrong direction and then, at a low speed, hit an unsuspecting pedestrian who was walking along the centre of the road. …
School shootings and lone wolf attacks: Whatâs the difference?
By James M. Dorsey A recent school shooting in the US state of Washington and a lone wolfâs assault on the Canadian parliament in Ottawa are but two of the latest headline-grabbing incidents of home-grown violence. One had nothing to do with politics, the other is classified as a terrorist attack perpetrated by a jihadist …
Gag on media freedom victory for terrorism: Egyptian journalists
Hundreds of Egyptian journalists have signed an online statement released Sunday rejecting a recent agreement between the editors in chief of several major Egyptian newspapers, in which they vowed to support the governmentâs anti-terrorism rhetoric. The journalists condemned âthe repudiation of freedom of opinion and expressionâ inherent in the agreement between the newspaper editors, calling …
Kurdish football team sparks Swedish FA ire over battle for Kobani
By James M. Dorsey When Ramazan Kizil established Dalkurd FF, one of Europeâs most successful immigrant football teams, in a remote town in northern Sweden, he dreamt of one day raising the Swedish and the Kurdish flag alongside one another in a European championship. These days, Kizilâs goals are more immediate: aiding embattled Kurdish fighters …
Sisiâs plan: New print of the same edition?
We must begin with the questions that concluded my last article: Is Al-Sisi building a vision? Can we predict this vision based on his current positions? What are the resemblances between this vision and that of former president Gamal Abdel Nasser? Before we try to answer these questions, we must keep in mind Al-Sisiâs performance …
A failure of democracy and human rights
By Dr Cesar Chelala It is a sad day for democracy when 12 Nobel Peace Laureates write a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to close one of the darkest chapters of recent US history by acknowledging, and then rejecting, the âflagrant use of torture and other violations of international lawâ that had been …
Searing saw: Sinai
By Amr Khalifa âEgypt is undergoing an existential battle.â That booming sound you heard was tantamount to a declaration of war by Egyptâs president Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi. âThere will be bloodâŠthere will be a price to pay,â said Al-Sisi after a day of devastating attacks in Sinai on the Egyptian army that saw at least …