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31st January 2011
A poem by Yahya Labidi
What is to give light
What is to give light must endure
burning, a man once said
Another man became the matchstick
that set a nation aflame
But fire, and its appetite, cannot be
calculated, like freedom
Injustice and desperation make men
combustible,… Read more
31st January 2011
The Mubarak regime still doesn't get it. Nothing illustrates its attitude more clearly than the decision yesterday to send F-16 warplanes roaring low over the thousands gathered in Tahrir Square, in the expectation that they would scurry away like frightened sheep.
Instead, the protesters stood… Read more
30th January 2011
Just a brief post to take stock of the situation in Egypt this morning.
President Mubarak is still clinging to what remains of his power. Yesterday, he appointed Omar Suleiman as his vice-president (a post that he had kept vacant for the last 30 years). At the very least, this suggests Mubarak now… Read more
29th January 2011
This is a guest post by Parvez Sharma
American television networks and an endless parade of mostly white men pundits (brought out and dusted off with their cobwebs) should take lessons from Al-Jazeera in live reportage, in not having pundits talk over the chants of a mass of humanity, in having… Read more
29th January 2011
With his plans to attend the Cairo Book Fair today regrettablydisrupted, President Mubarak will instead spend the day choosing a new cabinet to replace the one he dismissed on television last night.
But his sudden offer of "dialogue" after 30 years in power is not going to cut any ice with the… Read more
28th January 2011
This is a guest post by Parvez Sharma
Cairo is burning. So is Egypt. Twitter is exploding. Everyone seems to have an opinion – many who have never even been to Egypt but feel a strong sense of solidarity with the most remarkable revolution in a generation, perhaps. A revolution which importantly is… Read more
28th January 2011
This is a guest post by Parvez Sharma
Hosni Mubarak is 82 years old. He has been Egypt’s absolute ruler for three decades. He is America’s biggest ally in the Middle East. He has probably never really learnt how to use a computer. I cannot imagine that he tweets or even fully comprehends how this… Read more
27th January 2011
Al-Ahram's front page. Acknowledgement: The Angry Arab
In the absence of any noteworthy events in Egypt, the semi-official al-Ahram newspaper had to look further afield for its main front-page headline yesterday: "Widespread protests and disturbances in Lebanon". This is a classic example of… Read more
25th January 2011
In an article for The Atlantic, Alexis Madrigal, formerly of Wired magazine, takes a detailed look at the recent battle between the Tunisian authorities and Facebook – and how Facebook responded to it. He writes:
After more than ten days of intensive investigation and study, Facebook's security… Read more
25th January 2011
Kifaya – "Enough!" One man and the riot police in Cairo today
Well, who would have believed it? Today's protests in Egypt far exceeded my own expectations and, no doubt, the expectations of the organisers and the Egyptian authorities. The Mubarak regime, even if it's not headed for oblivion… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
