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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Posted on Facebook on March 8, 2013 OK, some friends asked that I update them with news from La Scala’s production of the Flying Dutchman that I just saw. I have never written about opera, given that I am a novice, but given the amazing production, I thought I’d give it a try. Well, the night truly belonged to Terfel. He simply commanded the stage, both by his sheer physical presence and his voice. I watched him closely, and he is just so sure of himself, he didn’t have to move; just a small gesture for his finger would cause your…
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Posted on Facebook on March 8, 2013 I’ve often wondered what is it that impresses me most about Mohamed’s photos? Is it their subject, their composition, their colors, or their characters? I remember well the first time I saw these pictures on his albums on Facebook, browsing through hundreds of photos taken of India, Sardinia, and of many European and Egyptian cities. By then, I had known Mohamed for more than four years, but suddenly while browsing through these images I felt as if I was getting to know him for the first time, for I was suddenly discovering…
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Posted on Facebook on March 3, 2013 Yesterday, I visited an exhibit held in Milan commemorating the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan. Named “Constantino, 313 d.C” and held at the Palazzo Reale in Milan, it is truly an amazing exhibit. The curators have amassed together an incredible amount of artifacts from more than 100 museums, most of them from Italy, it is true, but there are also very precious pieces sent from France, Britain, Germany, Austria, Serbia and the US. The exhibition centers around Constantine’s conversion to Christianity and focuses on the text of the Edict of Milan…
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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…
Leave a CommentPosted 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…
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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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An interview with AUC on the subject of my new book, Bodies of Law: Science, Religion and State Formation in Modern Egypt
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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…
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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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