Latest in Tag: politics Highlight
Latest in Tag: politics
29 high school students among 114 detained on revolution anniversary: AFTE
AFTE calls on prosecutor general to release the “innocent” detained students
Car bomb wounds 3 civilians in Egypt’s Sinai: security
AFP – A car bomb targeting a bus carrying Egyptian soldiers wounded three civilians in the restive Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, security officials said. An explosives-laden car was detonated by remote control near government buildings in the town of Rafah, on the border with the Palestinian Gaza strip, they said. The blast went off around …
On being Karman and Hamzawy
We live in strange days where events change at dizzying velocity and people’s stances change even faster. Voltaire once noted; âOpinion has caused more trouble on this little earth than plagues or earthquakes.â In one of those troublesome opinions, women rights activist, self proclaimed revolutionary and Nobel Laureate Tawakkol Karman caused a stir recently through …
The Arab World: History of Revolts and Global Nexus
By Fadi Elhusseini In the fractious, conflict-rife Arab world, described for a long time as immune against democratic transformation, revolts have snuck in, toppling some regimes and shaking the thrones of others. Almost three years have passed since the advent of the Arab Spring and statesmen and decision-makers have been trying to analyse these historic …
Egyptâs elections draw near amid unrest
Violence sweeps country as charismatic general waits in wings
EBRD hiding head in the sand on Egypt democracy
By Kuba Gogolewski Individual rights, gender equality, freedom of religion, freedom of thought and opinion, freedom of press, the right to go on strike — all these and other rights and freedoms are enshrined in the new constitution that Egyptians voted overwhelmingly in favour of. But do these words turn Egypt overnight into a democracy? …
Op-ed review: Marrying into Al-Sisiâs family
Ezzedine Choukri Fishere Al-Masry Al-Youm Newspaper Columnist Ezzedine Choukri Fishere chose to create an analogy for the current political scene in Egypt, with each political entity becoming a family, similar to the mob families seen in action movies. In the analogy, Egypt is a small village made of farmers and peasants. âWhen there was a …
Is Al-Sisiâs nomination settled?
I write this on the evening of Monday, 27 January and I still believe that Al-Sisi has not made up his mind on nominating himself for presidency. I wondered if this thought was due to what I read from the current political scene or is it what I am hoping for based on an accurate …
Turkey PM to visit Iran to expand ties
AFP â Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due in Tehran Tuesday evening, as both countries seek to expand economic ties and hold talks on the Syrian civil war, an Iranian official said. Iran is a main ally of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, while Turkey supports the rebels seeking to oust Assad, and relations …
Stuck
On 24 January Egypt was rocked by a number of explosions all over. Al-Qaeda offshoot âAnsar Beit Al-Maqdisâ, claimed responsibility, and the Ministry of Interior acted accordingly went and ambushed leftist activist Nazly Hussein at the Maadi Metro station on the 25th and charged her of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Nazly, she …
Death of a nationâs conscience- A revolution isolated
By Wael Eskandar Setting aside miracles, something about the story of Jesus seemed incomprehensible to me when I was younger. I found myself wondering how people were so willing to cheer on Jesusâ crucifixion although he had done nothing but preach values of goodness. After three years of preaching, he was smeared and condemned to …
Benevolent dictator
South Korea has quickly become one of the worldâs economic powerhouses. Growth of its real gross domestic product (GDP or the most common although imperfect measure of a countryâs 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 …
Are We There Yet? Reflections on Egyptâs 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 âbread, freedom, social justice and human dignityâ. …
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 yesterdayâs bombing: âWe 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 …
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 Mubarakâs corrupt repressive state. Personally, I was one of those who left Tahrir Square that night with a clear decision in …
Dogged determination â 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 womenâs rights, childrenâs 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 …
Op-ed Review: Adly Mansour and social justice
The interim presidentâs 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. âHe 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 âa clear endorsement of the roadmap to democracy, as well as economic development and stabilityâ. Others were more critical, though perhaps fewer than might be expected were particularly public about their disapproval. …
Tunisiaâs promising new constitution
The emerging Tunisian constitution is profoundly encouraging on multiple fronts, especially equal rights
Abu Zeid denies resignation after feud with Al-Ahly club board
El-Beblawi blocks sports ministerâs decision to disband Al-Ahly club board
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 youâre only allowed to âfreelyâ express one position but not the other? Enough has been said about the referendum to …
Random observations on Egyptâs referendum
On Wednesday, as the polls closed and results started pouring in, a big step in Egyptâs 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 …
Egyptiansâ 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 donât …
On Egyptâs General Sisi
As the news has come in of Egyptâs military chief, General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, looking for a strong turnout in next weekâs 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-Sisiâs 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 Brotherhoodâs 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, …
The turning point
Deep inside, one must feel it even if one hesitates to admit it: the whole 25 January hoopla is long gone. The only thing left of 25 January is its largely undisputed international allure, which is ironically the only legitimising factor that both former President Morsi and the now ruling military paid lip service to. …
Rights groups condemn ‘exploitation of children’ for political purposes
Two groups express concern regarding two separate incidents of child exploitation