Category: Facebook posts

Posted on Facebook on February 27, 2013 Tomorrow I was supposed to got to Dubai to attend a one day workshop on Sunday in which the Alexandria Trust was expected to launch “al-Fanar“, a new publication devoted to the state of higher education in the Arab World. However, given the recent decision by the government of the UAE to deny entry to Prof. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen of LSE, the whole launch was cancelled.  Dr. Ulrichsen was supposed to give a paper on Bahrain in a conference organized by the American University of Sharjah in collaboration with LSE. He had earlier…

Posted on Facebook on February 18, 2013 Words I delivered today in Samer Soliman’s memorial service at AUC. Remembering Samer Soliman Samer was the very essence of duty, compassion and hope. During the ten short years I have known him, he was a beacon of inspiration, a sober, confident voice in times of distress and anxiety. Way before the outbreak of the January Revolution, Samer was constantly writing about social justice, about religious tolerance and about the need for immediate reform. He was a founding member of al-Bosla, one of the more incisive independent periodicals that offered a desperately needed…

Posted on Facebook on February 5, 2013 Earlier today I went to a meeting in the Ministry of Justice to discuss a new draft law for freedom of information. I had spent the past two days studying the bill, and even though I thought it was a bad bill, falling far short of what I think we deserve in Egypt after our revolution. I did my homework and went with an open mind expecting to push for more openness. I met with my friends Nagla Rizk, Hossam Bahgat and Amr Gharbeia in the meeting hall and were all looking forward to a fruitful discussion. However,…

Posted on Facebook on December 13, 2013 Eight reasons why the legitimacy of Saturday’s constitutional referendum is already compromised: 1. The referendum is being conducted in extremely divisive atmosphere. Only last week 9 people were killed when two rival groups clashed in front of the presidential palace. Recriminations and counter recriminations are being fired at each other every day. What inflames matters further is that this was not simply a fight between two opposing groups each with its own political leaning and/or ideology. Rather, this was a clash between peacefully demonstrating opponents of President Morsy who were camping in front…

Posted on Facebook on November 1, 2012 My opening words in “The New Arab Debates” hosted yesterday by Tim Sebastian and having as my opponent Mohamed Salmawy. The motion was: “This House believes democracy has had a disappointing start in Egypt”. Salmawy was for the motion, and I against. Before the debate, 70% voted for the motion and 30% against. After the debate, 56.43% voted for the motion and 43.57% against. in other words, I managed to sway 13% to my position by the end of the debate. Ours is not one of those colored revolutions that will be over in a few…

Posted on Facebook on March 21, 2012 The reasons for my call for a boycott of the German University in Cairo and declining to attend the conference on “Downtown Cairo” due to be held at GUC on 24 and March 25, 2012: I believe that the university, any university, must be an open place where everyone has the right to express their opinion without threat or intimidation; this right, furthermore, should not be limited on campus to a certain place or time. Providing a climate that is conducive of intellectual and academic debate at the university is conditional upon the…