Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: Army

The Egyptian Army in the 1967 War

A lecture delivered on 6 May 2020 in the EUME BERLINER SEMINAR The Six-Day War of 1967 is a pivotal event in the modern history of the Middle East, and its ripple effects continue to shape events in the different countries of the region to the present day. Of all the belligerent countries that participated in this war, Egypt was the most deeply affected. The war left 10,000 dead, one tenth of the fighting force, in addition to 15,000 wounded and captured. The entire Sinai Peninsula, 6% of Egypt’s total area, was lost. More than 80% of military materiel was…

2 Comments

Q & A with the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies

Published on the website of the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies on February 5, 2016 Khaled Fahmy is the 2015–2016 Shawwaf Visiting Professor in Modern Middle Eastern History at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. His research interests lie in the social and cultural history of modern Egypt. He has been conducting research in the Egyptian National Archives for the past twenty years on such diverse topics as the history of law, medicine, and public hygiene. Since the outbreak of the January 25 Revolution, he also has been a regular contributor to Egyptian and international media. What courses did…

Leave a Comment

On fascism and fascists

Published in Ahram Online on July 21, 2013 In focusing on the Muslim Brotherhood’s fascist tendencies do we not risk losing sight of the largest elephant in the room — the perils of army intervention in the name of protecting liberty? In March, I wrote an article here in response to an article written by Wael Abbas, author of the blog Misr Digital, in which he had warned of the threat of a spread of armed militias belonging to different groups, from the Brotherhood to the Ultras to thugs, expressing apprehension at what he viewed was the rise of militarism…

Leave a Comment

Who is afraid of the National Archives?

Published in Ahram Online on June 16, 2013 Intellectuals and the new director want the National Archives to be run by the army. Their reasons may differ, but that institution does not need tighter security, but rather to open its doors to the public The current dynamics at the Egyptian National Archives are truly peculiar.A few days after the minister of culture sacked a number of high-ranking ministry officials, and after he had involuntarily uttered telling words in his meeting with the staff of the Cairo Opera House, in which he said, “I was given instructions that must be followed,”…

Leave a Comment

The army and the constitution

Published in Ahram Online on December 22, 2012 Egypt’s draft constitution fails to achieve a key prerequisite of a democratic future for the country: civilian supervision of the army “This constitution is a model of world constitutions. In fact, humanity has yet to reach the rights and freedoms enshrined in this constitution.” This is how Hussein Hamed Hassan, a member of the Constituent Assembly, described the draft constitution which is being put to referendum now. I don’t know which planet Hassan lives on, and I will not compare his constitution with others from around this world. I will only focus…

Leave a Comment

The Battle of the Camel, February 2, 2011

Interview with The Real News Network on February 2, 2011 Press here to listen to the interview Transcript: PAUL JAY, SENIOR EDITOR, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Paul Jay. In Cairo today, President Mubarak made his next move. Hundreds if not thousands of thugs suspected to be on the payroll of either the police or the internal security in some form or another attacked peaceful protesters in Tahrir Square and other parts of Cairo. Now joining us from Cairo to describe today’s events and what’s happening now is Khaled Fahmy. He’s professor and chair of the Department…

Leave a Comment