Published in Ahram Online on April 10, 2013 Art and poetry, more than politics, express the true spirit of the Egyptian revolution, which cannot be concealed or silenced Scene I: Tuesday, 25 January 2011 at 7pm. Place: Tahrir Square. I had gone to Tahrir nearly two hours earlier to check on my sister. She had beaten me there and had succeeded in foiling an attempt by security forces to arrest her 15-year-old son. After I had made sure that she’d go home, and after I’d lied to her telling her that I, too, would go home, I joined a crowd…
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Published in Ahram Online on March 31, 2013 A critical eye on three palaces: the Plazzo Reale in Italy, Holyroodhouse in Scotland and Abdeen Palace in Egypt In the past two months, circumstances allowed me to visit three royal palaces, two of which were abroad, and the third in Egypt. I found myself assessing comparing and lamenting the miserable condition of Egypt’s palaces and museums. Palazzo Reale The first palace was the Palazzo Reale in Milan, Italy, a grand palace which was built in the late 18th century, and is located by the famous Duomo in Milan. I had visited this…
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Published in Ahram Online on March 24, 2013 Without forcing those who committed bloody deeds against their people to recognise their guilt, countries will fail to progress to democracy or a brighter future Patricio Guzman focuses on the past, on light and on hope. Guzman is a Chilean documentary film director who over the past decade has directed many short films about astronomy, astronomers and observatories in Chile. His films are deep, intelligent, sad, and make us think not only about stars and galaxies, but also about what takes place on this earth and what lies within. The films are…
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The Muslim Brotherhood does not have the power to rule Egypt as the Nazis did Germany, but what it can do — and appears to be doing — is by failure open the way for an even graver dictatorship Last August, Wael Abbas, the writer of the well-known blog “Misr Digit@l”, wrote a perceptive article in Al-Badeel newspaper documenting the emergence of armed militias, whether Muslim Brotherhood or Ultras, or thugs or everything in between. He observed that these militias are merely the tip of the iceberg, and what is still submerged indicates a fascist hue that tinges Egyptian state and society.…
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Published in Ahram Online on March 10, 2013
Egyptian and Gulf universities are in danger of violating academic freedom under the pretext of protecting national security
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Published in Ahram Online on March 1, 2013 Failing to reform the police, which was a basic demand of the revolution, will be detrimental to the rule of President Morsi In mid-1861, Said Pasha, the ruler of Egypt, issued a Sovereign Decree to all police chiefs replacing the penalty of beating with imprisonment. Accordingly, regulations were issued stating that since “penalties in the form of beatings of some criminals are intended to once and for all discipline those who commit crimes and sins, and serve as a deterrence to others, while keeping in mind effect without harm, we have decided…
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Published in Ahram Online on February 24, 2013 The fate of forensic medicine in Egypt is illustrative of a wider collapse of state institutions Egyptians worked hard to build in the modern period In December 1877, a woman called Om Ibrahim went to the Alexandria police station to report that her son, Ibrahim Al-Masry, in his 30s, was missing. In her report, she said that she had accompanied her son to Alexandria a few months earlier when he arrived to look for work. Eventually, he found a job at a tailor’s shop owned by a Jew called Hanin Astafan, whom she…
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Published in Ahram Online on February 16, 2013 Just who is destroying the state, Mr Minister? The justice minister’s claim that police reform would destroy the state is groundless. It is those who excuse torture that will bring Egypt to collapse On 26 January, a few hours before the sentencing of defendants in the Port Said Stadium case, Alaa Abd El Fattah — one of the first bloggers in Egypt and courageous human rights activists who paid a high price for the triumph of truth and justice —appeared on a television programme. Abdel-Fatah was arrested in 2006 in demonstrations demanding…
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Published in Ahram Online on February 9, 2013 Nothing protects national security more than responsible citizenship, critical to which is freedom of — and access to — information There is a famous story that is probably more fiction than fact about how Military Intelligence in the 1960s was excessive in its censorship of the media, to the extent that it objected to publishing an article reporting a drop in the availability of canned sardines on the market. Their objection was that while the writer did not mean to divulge military secrets, putting this information in the public domain could benefit…
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Published in Ahram Online on February 2, 2013 President Morsi, his group and government, have failed to resolve Egypt’s present crisis, and have deepened it. And while the opposition flounders, only the youth of the revolution can be relied upon. On 28 January 2011, the Friday of Rage, I walked with my friends on a long march from Mustafa Mahmoud Mosque in Mohandiseen towards Tahrir Square. For nearly one hour we chanted what eventually became the slogans of the revolution: “Bread, Freedom, Social Justice” and “Peaceful, Peaceful.” When we reached Galaa Square we were met by legions of State…
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