Archive: egypt
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
25th January 2011
Today is national Police Day in Egypt. It marks the occasion, 59 years ago, when police in Ismailia refused to surrender to British forces and 41 of them died in a three-hour battle. Their act of heroism is officially commemorated every year on January 25.
But since 1952 perceptions of the Egyptian… Read more
1st January 2011
A bomb exploded outside a church in Egypt last night. The Egyptian health ministry says at least 21 people were killed and 43 injured. The interior ministry had earlier put the death toll at seven.
Initial reports blamed a car bomb, though officials are now suggesting it was a suicide bomber.
The… Read more
31st December 2010
"If it was happening in Iran instead of Tunisia, it would be on the front pages of all the newspapers." Complaints of this kind about coverage of the Tunisian uprising keep appearing on the internet – many of them suggesting that editors around the world are protecting Ben Ali's regime from… 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
