The Muslim Brotherhood/Sectarian Issues. Egypt | Jadaliyya. Egypt's Emergent Passive Revolution. One and a half years after the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian revolutionaries returned to the streets in the first half of June 2012. The huge crowds that filled public squares throughout Egypt defy those accounts that reduce the revolutionary uprising to a naïve effort that is inadvertently paving the way for the usurpation of power by “Islamic autocrats.” While the polarization of Egypt’s political community across Islamist-secularist divide is evident, interpreting the dynamics of Egyptian politics through the prism of this divide proves highly limiting. More than just a spat between Islamists and secularists, the new Egypt reflects a three-fold division between partisans of the revolution, counter-revolutionaries, and “passive revolutionaries”—self-proclaimed revolutionaries whose commitment to advancing revolutionary objectives is tenuous.
The Threat of Passive Revolution The Constitution Drafting Process and the Retreat of Revolutionary Battles. ''I'm Getting Arrested,'' Therefore I Exist! It was in the early morning hours of 13 March 2012 that Egyptians on Twitter were alerted by a message sent from fellow tweep Mostafa Sheshtawy’s phone. He had been picketing at the German University in Cairo’s (GUC) strike. In the SMS, the activist said he was being arrested. Startled by the news, fellow activists passed the message around. It was received and re-tweeted by many fellow tweeps, most of whom do not even know him as Mostafa, identifying his location and expressing concern about his fate. For an hour, the message was distributed widely, with everyone participating in spreading the news; identifying when and who spotted him last; wondering where he might be taken (National Security in Downtown, or the Military Prosecution in Nasr City), based on the SMS sent from his phone; and arranging to contact lawyers who would set the legal wheels in motion.
For instance, the revolutionaries’ campaigns were more progressive/daring, colorful, and unexpected. The Complicity of Cairo’s Press | The Majalla. A new dawn was heralded following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, but has anything changed for Egypt’s fourth estate? Freedom of the press is frequently cited as a just cause for popular protest and an ideal cherished by those attempting to speak truth to power.
Egypt’s revolution demanded no less, but are Cairo’s newspapers and media outlets any better off under the Military Council? A protester in Tahrir square holds up a newspaper that declares 'The flower blooms in Egypt', in February 2011 A few days before Christmas last year, and just after another wave of deadly rioting had erupted in Cairo following the first round of parliamentary elections, an Egyptian newspaper ran a front page splash that was as impressive as anything produced recently by a major Western publication.
Behind a stark red, two-inch high headline shouting “Liars” was an enormous photo showing Egyptian military police assaulting a helpless girl. The picture was taken during a clash in Downtown Cairo. Alastair Beach. New regime, same propaganda. May 14, 2012 by Shahira Amin As Egypt prepares for presidential elections in less than two weeks’ time, the country is on the brink of chaos. Tensions have been brewing for more than a year and the patience of Egyptians is wearing thin. They yearn for stability and many feel betrayed by the country’s de facto military rulers who have held power since Mubarak was toppled in February 2011. “The ruling military generals who promised us stability have only delivered brutality and repression,” complained 24-year-old activist Tarek Ali at a protest two weeks ago outside the Defence Ministry in Abbasia.
The violent confrontations between pro-democracy activists and security forces that have erupted sporadically during the transitional period have been the focus of local media, but once again there has been a stark contrast between the independent media coverage of the deadly violence and that shown on Egyptian State TV. Ghosts of Conflicts Past. Egypt Unwrapped As Egyptians celebrate their own battle for democracy, another bygone conflict slides deeper into history. Cairo War Memorial Cemetery Deep in the heart of Cairo’s Heliopolis, an old colonial suburb of sugar loaf domes and neo-Arabian town houses, is an oasis of calm inhabited only by the dead..
“Here lies H.E Fisher, former private in the East Kent Regiment.” He died on June 14, 1943, at the age of 29. In the row behind lies the body of lance corporal R. Belshaw. “To all the world just a man,” reads the inscription on his bone-white tomb. All in all there are 1,830 bodies lying beneath the clipped, green turf of the Heliopolis War Cemetery – the vast majority killed by illness or accidents, according to a regional manager for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Andrew Fretwell. Most were British – 1,092 in total. There are curiosities to be discovered too. And then there is the plot of a lone Italian. Many, however, felt far less accommodating. Alastair Beach More Posts. In Disappointing Transition, Analysts Say Mubarak's Verdict Mocks Justice. The only trial that has taken place against one of the fallen dictators of the Arab revolutions ended today. The verdicts in former President Hosni Mubarak's trial may have symbolic importance for the region, but many feel they have mocked the hundreds of martyrs who died fighting against a thirty-year-old repressive and corrupt regime, analysts said.
Conducted in a transitional period that has been presided over by an unaccountable military body, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Saturday's verdicts highlight the trial's lack of transparency and will have a regressive impact on security sector reform. The outcome may also swing voters ahead of the presidential election runoffs in two weeks, the analysts added, though how the influence will play out is unclear. An Imperfect Process "The fact that [Mubarak] has been sentenced to life is in itself a milestone in the region. Questions still linger about how the sentencing works.
No Serious Reform Election Impact. The Pharaoh's Legacy - By Steven A. Cook. Hosni Mubarak is dead, or very close to it. The Egyptian state news agency MENA reported that the former president was pronounced clinically dead after having a stroke on the evening of June 19 -- a statement that was quickly denied by a member of the ruling military junta, who clarified that Mubarak was nevertheless in critical condition. Whatever the case, Mubarak's final moments in a military hospital in Cairo would not be what many Egyptians had in mind when they sought justice and revenge for those who suffered at his hands. No doubt, his supporters would have preferred the pomp and circumstance of a state funeral honoring a man they believe was a transitional figure who had placed Egypt on the path of prosperity and even democracy.
For better or worse, Mubarak's predecessors, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat were larger-than-life figures who accomplished big things, whether it was nationalization of the Suez Canal or negotiating peace with Israel. MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/GettyImages. WWII's Explosive Legacy. Egypt Unwrapped This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Battle of El-Alamein.
But for many of Egypt’s Bedouin Arabs, the celebrations will be somewhat muted. Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill pays a visit to the El-Alamein area, on August 19, 1942 in the western desert. (AP Photo) The four Bedouin Arabs made a sorry sight as they limped and hobbled their way into the room earlier this month. First up was Khamis Ali Ibrahim, a father-of-seven, who had his left leg blown off while farming in Egypt’s western desert wilderness. Finally came Fayez Ismail, who now wears a prosthetic limb following an explosion when he was travelling through the desert on safari. The incident involving Fayez happened when he was in the desert 30 miles south of the Mediterranean town of El-Alamein – a clue as to what happened to all four men. The British were fighting to prevent Hitler’s forces from seizing Egypt, and with it a gateway to the Middle East’s copious supplies of oil.
Alastair Beach. The Myth of Egypt's Liberal Constitution. In the years leading up to January 2011, Egypt’s past often appeared as an admonishment to the present. While their invocations of history assumed many forms, critics of the Mubarak regime became particularly enthralled with the so-called “liberal era” that followed the revolution of 1919. Secularist liberals saw the interwar decades as a golden age of political freedom, religious tolerance and cultural efflorescence. Political conservatives reinvented the Egyptian monarchy as a model of strong leadership not marred by the moral decrepitude and corruption of Mubarak’s presidency. And even some Islamist groups recognized these years as their own moment of emergence before Nasser’s brutal crackdown. It is thanks in no small part to these rosy depictions that various political actors have in recent weeks pointed to the 1923 Constitution as a possible source of guidance for the current drafting process. In the event, this prediction proved overblown.
Egyptian Panel Examines System To Block Online Pornography. Customers use computers at an Internet cafe in Tehran May 9, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi) Author: Al-Masry Al-Youm (Egypt) Posted May 19, 2012 On May 17 [2012], the Egyptian Parliamentary Commission for Transport and Communications discussed a report prepared by one of its delegations to evaluate the UAE’s system for blocking pornographic sites. Summary⎙ Print An Egyptian parliamentary commission sent delegates to the UAE to evaluate their system for blocking pornography, suggesting that Internet censorship might find its way into law.
Mohammad Gharib reports that because Internet blocks are easy to evade, parliament must weigh the pros and cons of enacting such legislation. Author Mohammad Gharib Posted May 19, 2012 Translator(s)Sami-Joe Abboud Users can circumvent the block by using either an encrypted proxy service or satellite system. Amer commissioned the parliamentary committee to visit the UAE and evaluate their system for blocking pornographic sites. The Regime Strikes Back | The Majalla. Will Egypt’s first free elections be a total sham? The upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt are facing the first major obstacles to accomplishing their high aims. The parliamentary vote will hopefully be the first free and fair elections in Egypt since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak.
Political groups including the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) are threatening to boycott the election—reminiscent of the Ikhwan’s November 2010 boycott, in which they lost the bulk of their representation in parliament—unless a disputed law is amended immediately. A protester peers through a gash in a poster in Cairo A contested law aims to ensure broader representation in the parliament by restricting large parties like the Muslim Brotherhood to only two thirds of all possible seats and reserving one third for independents. Elections are due to begin on 28 November.
The new laws could ensure that the former ruling party will be well represented in the next parliament. Egypt’s future: The generals’ slow and unsteady march to democracy. Egypt's Other Revolution: Modernizing the Military-Industrial Complex. The Egyptian military produces a staggering array of manufactured goods: kitchen cutlery, flat-screen televisions, agricultural and household chemicals, refrigerators, industrial machinery, railway cars, and election booths.
And while many of the military’s factory webpages make a concerted attempt to promote their wares, the careful observer gets the feeling that the production of air conditioners and gas stoves has superseded the production of guns and ammo. Although the military has been co-producing weapons systems in its factories under license from Western arms manufacturers for decades, the production lines and maintenance facilities constructing and modifying American M1A1 tanks, British armored vehicles, French Alpha Jets, and Chinese versions of Soviet MiGs are remnants of agreements originally signed in the mid-1980s and early-1990s, initiated by the now-deceased former Field Marshal (and staunch US ally) Mohamed Abdel Halim Abu Ghazala. Have Weapons, Will Export. Egypt’s Headless Revolution - Omar Ashour. Unlike Egypt’s revolts of 1882, 1919, and 1952, the revolution of 2011 is leaderless. That was a source of strength during the overthrow of Mubarak’s dictatorship; now it is a source of weakness.
CAIRO – “The man who taught me to sacrifice my heart for Egypt is dead,” said Vivian Magdi, mourning her fiancé. Michael Mosad was killed in the Maspiro area on October 9, when an armored vehicle hit him during a protest called to condemn an attack on an Egyptian Church in the southern Aswan region. The protest left 24 dead and more than 200 injured – a higher toll than that taken by the so-called “Battle of the Camels,” when former President Hosni Mubarak’s security forces and armed thugs attacked pro-democracy protestors in Tahrir Square at the height of the revolution.
Now, Tahrir Square is once again the scene of clashes. “This is January 25 all over again!” Screamed a friend, as he barricaded himself in the square. To continue reading, register now. Subscribe Register Already have an account? Egypt’s Revolutionary Coup - Shlomo Ben-Ami. The Arab Spring was never expected to be a linear process, or a Middle Eastern version of Central Europe’s non-violent democratic revolutions in 1989. Egypt, where the military's hijacking of the revolution has reignited mass protest, is a case in point. MADRID – How revolutions unfold depends on many factors, including a country’s socio-economic structure, its particular historical traditions, and sometimes the role of foreign powers. So the Arab Spring was never expected to be a linear process, or a Middle Eastern version of Central Europe’s non-violent democratic revolutions of 1989. Egypt is a case in point. The structure of revolutions in non-industrialized societies has almost invariably comprised a succession of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary waves.
To continue reading, register now. Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer. Subscribe As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free. Register Already have an account? One cheer for the Egyptian elections. The preliminary results of the first round of the elections in Egypt for the new constituent assembly were both predictable and sobering. The strong showing of the Muslim Brotherhood was virtually inevitable. They've had at least 30 years’ head start on almost everybody else since being in effect decriminalized by Anwar Sadat. Their Freedom and Justice Party is by far the best organized in the country. Anyone surprised by this result has been sleeping through recent Egyptian history.
Naturally, the liberal parties fared badly. Secularists and liberals have not had time to create effective party organizations that can actually win elections. This is inevitably going to take a great deal of time, effort and public education. In Tunisia, the secular groups mainly focused their campaign on what is bad about the Islamists rather than articulating a clear vision for the future. It's not that this won them many new friends.
So, it can only be one cheer for the Egyptian elections. SCAF vs. the Street | The Majalla. Apology Not Accepted | The Majalla. Egypt's Military Learns its Lesson. The Army and the People Were Never One Hand - By Max Strasser. Pageantry, Military Myths, and Egypt's “Daddy Complex” Call the Generals' Bluff - By Sherif Mansour. Revolution Revived: Egyptian Diary, Part One | Online Only. Revolution Revived: Egyptian Diary, Part Two | Online Only. The Second Republic of Tahrir - By Ashraf Khalil. Scenes From Egypt's Unfinished Revolution - Alan Taylor - In Focus. It's Still Mubarak's Egypt - By Steven A. Cook. The Egyptian Military Wins Again. Shared Values. Ports of Call | The Majalla. Cracks show in post-revolution Egypt « UNCUT. Cairo Looks to Islamabad. Is the Egyptian-Israeli Relationship Over?
Egyptians v Saudi Arabia: it's all got rather messy | Magdi Abdelhadi. Egypt's Presidential Front Runner Takes a Hard Line on Israel. The New Inquiry - The Revolution That Wasn't. Adam Shatz · Whose Egypt? · LRB 5 January 2012. A World of Possibilities. Mohamed Beltagy, Egypt’s Human Bellwether. Bruised but defiant: Mona Eltahawy on her assault by Egyptian security forces | World news.
Victory for women protesters subjected to “virginity tests” Military court hears evidence in Egyptian “virginity tests” case. Egypt: Military Impunity for Violence Against Women. A Milestone for Egypt | The Majalla. Who'd be a Woman in Egypt? Shirin Ebadi: who defines Islam? Ultra Violence - By James M. Dorsey. The Beautiful Game and the Blame Game | The Majalla. Egypt’s Second Half | The Majalla. The Abbaseya violence and the revolutionary impasse in Egypt.
What's Left of Tahrir Today. In Egypt, Lamentations Over a Lost Revolution. Losing Egypt. Egypt: the people demand the downfall of the system. Egyptian Protesters Vow To "Complete the Revolution" What Happened to My Revolution - By Sarah A. Topol. January 25th and the Egypt the Revolution Has Made. Egypt’s Revolutionary Narrative Breaks Down - Lauren E. Bohn. I is for Insurrection | The Majalla. Egypt’s Hijacked Revolution. Four Steps to Save The Egyptian Revolution. The Family That Revolts Together | Bidoun Magazine. What do Egypt’s Generals Want? - Omar Ashour. Egypt's generals wait in the wings as the revolution turns messy | World news | The Observer. Egypt: New Law Keeps Military Trials of Civilians. April 6: Genealogy of a Youth Movement. Bringing the Revolution to Campus: An Interview with March 9 Activist Laila Soueif. This is Not 1954. The true price of Egypt's freedom - Africa - World. Nile Journey. Recalling the Past: The Battle over History, Collective Memory and Memorialization in Egypt.
"Egypt’s Broken Economy" by Mohsin Khan. The Egyptian Revolution and Neo-Liberal Economics (Video) Political Estrangement, Legal Challenges Hamper Labor Movement. "What We Owe Egypt" by Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson. Egyptian Leaders Fail to Defend Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia. Egypt's Working Class and the Question of Organization. Egypt’s uncertain road to prosperity: economic challenges to long‐term stability. Entrepreneurs of the revolution: jockeying for livelihood and security in post-Arab Spring Cairo. Credit Egypt.