Egypt
Arab atheists: A demonised minority
October 2021 – Atheists are widely misunderstood by many Arabs and Muslims. There are those who believe us to be Satanists or that we have no moral compass and are debauch degenerates. But understanding and sympathy are growing.
Remembering Jewish Arabists and Arab Jews
June 2021 – In these polarised times, the social, political and cultural influence and fluid identities of Arab Jews and Jewish Arabists is largely forgotten when it should be commemorated and celebrated.
February 2021 – A decade after Egyptians rose up against Hosni Mubarak, the counterrevolution appears victorious in the political domain. However, under the radar, a social revolution is in motion.
February 2021 – Events following the fall of Hosni Mubarak reveal that the Egyptian regime is on the path to self-destruction.
January 2021 – Unable to extinguish the ideas awakened by the revolution, the Egyptian military has focused its efforts on violently and brutally crushing almost every form of open dissent. This is an extremely dangerous and reckless game.
Ancient Egypt: A pyramid scheme that worked
January 2021 – Spanning some three millennia of recorded history, Ancient Egyptians built a state to last. What was behind this success and what can we learn from it? Quite a few surprising lessons, in fact.
Beyond belief: Arab atheists and their quest for acceptance amid intolerance
June 2020 – Atheists are amongst the most marginalised and persecuted minorities in the Arab world. Despite the risks atheists face from the state and vigilantes, atheism has become more visible and vocal in recent years, leading to greater public understanding and tolerance.
The demographic dimension: The role of population growth in the Arab uprisings
January 2020 – Decades of unprecedented population growth have played a significant role in Arab regime repression, the two main waves of revolutions that swept the region, and the fierce counterrevolutions that followed.
Arab exiles: Fleeing nightmares or chasing dreams
October 2019 – When Arab revolutionary dreams turn into anti-revolutionary nightmares, the fortunate ones find safety abroad. But with exile comes unprocessed trauma, guilt, fear, dealing with xenophobia and painful yearnings for home.
Mohamed Morsi's ghost will haunt Egypt for a long time
June 2019 – The death in court of Mohamed Morsi completed the incarcerated former Egyptian president's unlikely metamorphosis from mediocre mundanity to mythical martyr whose political ghost will inspire generations of radical Islamists.
Prisoners of our guilty consciences
July 2018 – The intensifying crackdown on the media and civil society in Egypt leaves Egyptians who are out of the country feeling powerless to help and guilty about the freedoms they enjoy.
When discrimination takes the biscuit… bake cookies
July 2018 – A group of entrepreneurial Egyptian women with Down's Syndrome have proven that the only handicap they suffer is a financial one as they seek to expand their successful baking business.
Egypt: When the opium of football sharpens the pain of existence
July 2018 – Instead of acting as a pain killer for a traumatised country of heroes treated like zeroes, the World Cup has provided a painful reminder to Egyptians seeking escapism of just how desperate their situation is.
Podcast: Baladi – from bread to dance
June 2018 – Baladi is one of those elusive Arabic words that can mean different things to different people at different times.
The drinker's guide to Ramadan
June 2018 – Ramadan is the time of year when hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world abstain from food or drink. But one group of fasters suffers a special variety of thirst this time of year: Muslims who drink alcohol.
May 2018 – Arab audiences are not ready for the return to music of a pop superstar who became a Salafist extremist and allegedly took up arms against the Lebanese state.
Egyptian atheists: Caught between Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
May 2018 – Atheists in Egypt have been enjoying greater public acceptance, but their increased visibility has also resulted in controversy, shrill panic and a growing tide of prosecutions.
February 2018 – While the Egyptian regime battles for its survival, Egypt itself may not survive as a viable state, as it faces a ‘plague' of potentially crippling environmental, economic and social challenges.
March 2017 – Women's liberation is generally believed to have started in the West but the roots of female emancipation go back millennia, to ancient Egypt.
Egypt's Christians in the cross-hairs
December 2016 – The bombing of St Peter's Church in Cairo exposes the growing vulnerability of Egypt's Christian minority and the increasing mainstreaming of extremist Islamist discourse.
Sisi's fridge and Egypt's frosty economy
November 2016 – A gaffe by Egypt's president about his refrigerator reveals just how much Egyptians have cooled towards Sisi and his chilling economics.
Gamal Mubarak's get-rich-quick scheme
November 2016 – How can you make a return that is 12,000 times greater than the initial “investment” in under a decade? Ask Gamal Mubarak.
The folly of the Arab world's nuclear energy dream
June 2016 – Investing in nuclear energy makes no economic, geostrategic or environmental sense in the Arab world. Renewables will provide the only sunny future.
Egypt's economic paradox: Income equality v wealth inequality
June 2016 – Despite having one of the world's highest levels of income equality, Egypt's wealth gap is growing to become one of the widest. What is behind this paradox?
June 2016 – The idea that Egyptians are docile sheeple who need a pharaoh to shepherd them is a myth that dates back to the not-so-ancient times of the Nasser era.
Giulio Regeni is the tip of Egypt's police brutality iceberg
May 2016 – Many Egyptians find the allegation that the Italian student was killed by Egypt's notorious security apparatus chillingly plausible. Italy must shed its former enthusiasm for the Sisi regime.
April 2016 – Hopes are that devaluation will resolve Egypt's dollar crisis, but the situation could spin out of control without a global currency for international trade.
One man's terrorist is another woman's lover
March 2016 – The surreal “lovejacking” of an EgyptAir flight adds a new dimension to the western image of the Arab man: the hopeless romantic and dedicated lover.
March 2016 – The world is paying the price for Boutros Boutros-Ghali's foiled attempts to reform the United Nations into an effective force to resolve conflicts.
Podcast: Egypt's cartoon villains and heroes
February 2016 – The battle between Egyptian revolutionary and counterrevolutionary forces is being played out in caricature.
February 2016 – The removal of Hosni Mubarak was likely the proudest moment in Egypt's recent history, yet, five years on, some Egyptians miss the deposed dictator.
February 2016 – Tahrir may have been pacified for now, but the revolution is still playing out in Egypt's economic and social squares.
Sexual harassment, Islam and the politicisation of women's bodies
January 2016 – Sexual harassment in Cologne and elsewhere is not about Islam. It is about the patriarchy and the politicisation of women's bodies.
January 2016 – The Mogamma, that high temple of Egyptian bureaucracy, will be shut down. Welcome as it is, this will not solve the underlying problem of “el-routine”.
November 2015 – My interrogation at the Egyptian border about my journalism and opinions is not about state security, but the insecurity of a paranoid state.
September 2015 – Tribalism and sectarianism afflicts Western societies too. So why is that they seem to be tearing the Middle East apart?
A utopian refuge for refugees?
September 2015 – Can an Egyptian billionaires vision of turning a Mediterranean island into a just republic for refugees help solve the refugee crisis?
August 2015 – Suez Canal II is not about economics. It is a symbol of how President Sisi is supposedly navigating Egypt through narrow straits towards modernity.
عن تجربة اليونان المؤلمة ودروسها لمصر
يوليو 2015 – يوجد الكثير من الدروس المستفادة لمصر من أزمة اليونان الحادة
Omar Sharif: Actor without borders
July 2015 – The late Omar Sharif was living, breathing, walking proof that there is nothing inherently irreconcilable between the Middle East and the West.
One year on: Gazans feel the pain of being abandoned by Egypt
July 2015 – Although the Israeli siege of Gaza hurts more materially, the Egyptian blockade is more painful emotionally. It is also counterproductive.
Egyptian Jews and love triangles
July 2015 – Despite outlandish conspiracy theories, a Ramadan TV drama about Egypt's lost Jewish community is not a missive to Israel but an ode to pluralism.
A Riche chapter of Egyptian history
June 2015 – For a century, Café Riche was a microcosm of Cairo's bewildering contradictions, and a “refuge from the pain of loneliness” for intellectuals.
May 2015 – The sentencing to death of former president Mohamed Morsi is the latest chapter in Egypt's comedy of terrors that could push the country over the edge
The tip of Egypt's snobbery iceberg
May 2015 – The replacement of one snobbish justice minister in Egypt with another who believes judges are lords and masters shows how deep elitism runs.
May 2015 – Failing to acknowledge the legacy of slavery on all our modern societies makes the present an unnecessary slave to history.
Dispelling the curse of the Nile
April 2015 – Conflict between Nile basin countries has been averted. But unless effective action is taken, a water war remains a distinct future possibility.
The self-fulfilling prophesy of the Sunni v Shia myth
March 2015 – Like in Syria and Iraq, the conflict in Yemen is not sectarian. But political profiteers and jihadists are turning it into a self-fulfilling prophesy.
January 2015 – Revolutionary disappointment in Egypt has concealed the ongoing social revolution whose shifting sands are likely to result in a political earthquake.
Freedom of repression in Egypt
Januay 2015 – The Republic of Tahrir revolutionaries dreamt of an Egypt of freedom, but the only thing that seems free these days is the value of human dignity.
Egypt's centuries-old leadership vacuum
December 2014 – Decades of authoritarianism and centuries of non-indigenous rule have led to a shortage of effective native leaders in Egypt, derailing the revolution.
Sexual harassment and the medina
November 2014 – In Egypt, sexual harassment is a largely urban phenomenon fuelled by a sense of male powerlessness, insecurity and unrealistic gender ideals.
Save the Nile Delta, President al-Sisi
September 2014 – Egypt would be much better off saving the sinking ship of the Nile Delta instead of building a white elephant Suez Canal II.
Israel and Egypt's insane alliance against Gaza
August 2014 – Despite Egypt's mediating role, it is no impartial broker on Gaza. It shares Israel's view that Hamas can be crushed and suffocated into submission.
June 2014 – Bad as things are now, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, despite his dictatorial tendencies, may unwittingly preside over Egypt's transition to democracy.
يونيو 2014 – قصص من أروقة العدالة المصرية تشرح لنا كيف يمنح القانون المصري الحصانة للفاسدين.
Egypt's next president is a… Jew?!
May 2014 – What do conspiracy theories that the mother of Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi is a Jew say about the Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers propagating them?
مواجهة الفساد والعدالة الانتقالية
ابريل 2014 – يجب تطوير تصور العدالة الاانتقالية ليشمل الجرائم الاقتصادية لان فساد نظام مبارك لا ينفصل عن ممارسات أخرى كانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان وتزوير إرادة الناخبين.
Gaza's forsaken and forgotten people
April 2014 – Gaza's humanitarian disaster and the rising tensions there are forgotten by the world. Principle and pragmatism demand an end to the blockade.
The Arab world's rebels without a god
March 2014 – In Egypt and other Arab countries, the atheism taboo has been broken. Atheists are rebelling against the status quo and demanding to be seen and heard.
The antidote to Egypt's sexual harassment epidemic
March 2014 – The cure for Egypt's sexual harassment crisis is to liberate society from outdated and toxic gender ideals and to rethink notions of “honour”.
Sexual harassment: Undressing naked prejudice
March 2014 – To those who believe the way a woman dresses invites harassment, hear this: she is not to blame – her harassers are.
Gunship diplomacy, rockets and Gaza's forgotten tragedy
March 2014 – The other tragedies make it is easy to forget Gaza. But with a humanitarian crisis and rising tensions, it's time to end the Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
March 2014 – In just a single decade, Egypt has lost more than $20 billion in trade mispricing alone, not to mention other forms of tax evasion.
Egypt's return of the “noble” outlaws
February 2014 – Three years after a revolution against Mubarak-era cronyism, fugitive tycoons are scrambling to buy back their freedom… at knock-down prices.
The square root of the Egyptian revolution
January 2014 – The Egyptian revolution is fatally wounded but it is far too soon to sound the death knells. The dreams it unleashed are impossiblee to contain.
Can Egypt start a new chapter of Middle Eastern history?
January 2014 – The new constitution says Egypt is a “gift” that will “write a new history for humanity”. Should neighbours welcome or fear greater Egyptian influence?
January 2014 – In Egypt, both the military and the Muslim Brotherhood accuse each other of being American stooges while discreetly courting Washington.
Is atheism Egypt's fastest-growing ‘religion'?
October 2013 – Despite the risks, more and more atheists are coming out of the closet in Egypt, emboldened by the revolution's ethos of freedom and dignity.
اكتوبر 2013 – رغم عدم الإعتراف بهم، الملحدين ايضاً اولاد بلد ويجب على الدولة والمجتمع ان يعطوهم حقوقهم
Egypt's revolution in the breaking
October 2013 – Although Egypt has been eclipsed on the Western media radar, it remains caught in a deadly bind between popular jingoism and religious demagoguery.
The Arab-Israeli war of narratives
October 2013 – On the 40th anniversary of the 1973 war, Egyptians and Israelis still cannot agree on the conflict's name, date or outcome.
September 2013 – Competing myths have emerged around the Raba'a protest camp. But it was neither a terrorist den nor a gathering of freedom and democracy lovers.
Egypt's underground sisterhood
September 2013 – Egyptian women are under attack from a failing patriarchy. But what is overlooked is that they are fighting back through grassroots emancipation.
Egypt's rebels who lost their cause
September 2013 – Can the political alliance between Tamarod and the Egyptian military last, especially as the movement turns on the army's benefactor, Washington?
August 2013 – With the prospect of reconciliation a long way off and to prevent civil war, Egyptians need to form a united front against all political violence.
Confessions of an Egyptian infidel
August 2013 – Though never officially recognised, atheists and agnostics have always been part of Egypt. Society now needs to grant us our right not to believe.
Egypt's false state of security
August 2013 – Handing Egypt's security services a licence to repress the Muslim Brotherhood will return us to the police state the revolution worked to overthrow.
Egypt and the West: the liberal-Islamist paradox
August 2013 – Why do some Western liberals committed to democracy, gender equality and minority support a president and movement that respects none of these?
Egyptian rebels with a cause… and effect
August 2013 – The dedication and success of the Tamarod rebellion against President Morsi is awe-inspiring, but the movement's current trust in the army is worrying.
Democracy is (still) the solution
August 2013 – In Egypt, neither Islamism nor jingoism is the solution. We need is a visionary founding document, and the stillborn 1954 constitution fits the bill.
Egypt explained… in five YouTube videos
July 2013 – A child's vision of freedom, infamous last words, street democracy, loving men in uniform, and men in hijabs. Seeing Egypt through Egyptian eyes.
July 2013 – Unlike eye colour and skin tone, religion is not hereditary. This reality must be reflected in Egyptian identity documents and personal status laws.
July 2013 – Events in Egypt are not just a conflict between Islamists, secularists and the military. It is a fundamental clash over conflicting ideas of “freedom”.
‘If we go away… but if you stay' – a duet by the Egyptian army and people
July 2013 – In a classic political duet, General Sisi sings ‘If we go away', while the Egyptian people respond with ‘If you stay'.
Nawal El Saadawi: “I am against stability. We need revolution.”
July 2013 – Renowned author and feminist Nawal El Saadawi believes that her fellow Egyptians “must pay the price for freedom”.
A manifesto for Egypt's future
July 2013 – As Egypt risks another disastrous transition, it is time to create a unique model for Egyptian democracy. No president, no parties, direct democracy.
July 2013 – The millions on the streets, not dressed in khaki, democratically ejected Mohamed Morsi. Now it's time to remove the military from Egypt's politics.
The Middle East's sinking leadership
June 2013 – From Egypt to Turkey, Middle Eastern uprisings have not only been leaderless but have even been a rebellion against the idea of leadership itself.
فى الفلك: حوار ثوري مع جاليليو الصغير
يونيو 2013 – تعالى أسألك سؤال مجننى، يا جاليليو. أزاى القانون يمنع الناخب اللى عليه أحكام أنه يمارس حقه ويدى المرشح اللى أدين فى قضايا أغتيال أوأرهاب الحق أنه يترشح
May 2013 – A shop called Hitler in Egypt raises some uncomfortable questions about Arab perceptions of the Nazi dictator.
Intimate strangers in a splintering world
April 2013 – Multiculturalism is enriching and as easy as child's play. But as the winds of intolerance blow harder, it may become a liability for my son and his generation.
De paradox van de Egyptische revolutie
April 2013 – De Egyptische revolutie was een geval van collectieve en spontane genialiteit. Maar dit succes in het verkopen van de opstand kwam op een prijs.
The reel story of Egyptian Jews
March 2013 – In telling the story of Egypt's vanished Jewish community, a new documentary sheds light on a forgotten chapter of history.
كيف يمكن لنجاح الثورة المصرية أن يُفشِلها؟
مارس ٢٠١٣ – استطاعت الثورة المصرية من خلال قوة الصورة إلغاء الصور النمطية التي كانت قد ترسخت في الأذهان وتكونت عنا، و لكن هناك ثمن لا بد أن يدفع في المقابل
Tahrir Square: For the sake of the forsaken
February 2013 – For ordinary Egyptians, Tahrir is now a terrifying black hole, but for its marginalised occupiers, it is a liberator from political and social tyranny.
Reading between the lines of the Middle Eastern media
February 2013- Despite its bottom ranking in the Press Freedom Index, the Middle Eastern media is freer than it appears at first sight.
The naked truth about Egypt's body politic
January 2013 – One young woman's daring nude protests are unlikely to emancipate Egyptian women, but will they actually hurt the cause of freedom and equality?
Egypt's rebels without a pause
December 2012 – The failure of Egypt's new leaders to address the needs and aspirations of young people means the revolution will not stop until there is real change.
News of revolution (part III): Televising the life and death of an Egyptian president
November 2012 – Anwar Sadat was the first Egyptian leader to exploit television's propaganda power – and even his assassination was unwittingly televised.
Disempowering Egyptian citizens
October 2012 – Despite its democratic aspirations, Egypt's draft constitution excludes millions of Egyptians from enjoying full citizenship.
News of revolution (part II): Voice of the Arabs or Nasserist mouthpiece?
October 2012 – The Voice of the Arabs steered Egypt from isolationism and towards a pan-Arabist vision in which Nasser was the anointed leader of the Arab world.
News of revolution (part I): How the nascent print media gave birth to Egyptian nationalism
September 2012 – The spread of print media in the 19th century played a profound role in shaping modern Egyptian nationalism and its quest for full independence.
Minority voices in Upper Egypt
September 2012 – A publisher in Luxor who happens to be Christian shows how Egypt's majority and minorities, despite growing tension, share similar dreams and fears.
The Mubarak regime's legalised robbery
September 2012 – Since the ‘Mubarak mafia' were not outlaws but were the law, proving that Egypt's lost billions were ill-gotten is an elusively difficult challenge.
Egypt's needs are human, social and educational, not religious, says Islamist MP
August 2012 – Member of Parliament for Luxor AbdulMawgoud Dardery believes religion is a “personal issue”, and government's job is to focus on collective challenges.
Egypt without the hype… and away from Cairo
August 2012 – Contrary to the distorted and Cairo-centric media view of Egypt, Egyptians have an extraordinary breadth of views about revolutionising their country.
اغسطس 2012 – يعتقد ساسون سومخ، الشاعر والكاتب وصديق الأديب المصري الراحل نجيب محفوظ، ان الأدب يتسامى على السياسة
Half a day with the ‘last Arab Jew'
August 2012 – Sasson Somekh, critic and friend of the late Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, believes literature transcends politics and can bridge cultures.
Israel and Egypt's other revolution
July 2012 – The creation of Israel sparked a revolution in Egypt, and Nasser, the legendary champion of the Arab cause, once sought peace with the Jewish state.
July 2012 – Living behind the ‘Zion Curtain' reveals how alike Israelis and Palestinians are and how ordinary people must build common ground on this shared land.
July 2012 – My father's secret police file reveals that my newly wed parents were right to flee Egypt. But I'm grateful for the liberation of “exile”.
July 2012 – In Egypt, beards have gone from indicating piety to symbolising political affiliation. Police neutrality requires officers to remove their facial hair.
Egypt's Mursi and the risk of friendly fire
July 2012 – By courting his rivals, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi could turn former allies into foes and bring to the fore the divisions among Islamists.
The paradox of military-backed civilian rule
June 2012 – Supporting a military dictatorship to impose secular ideals is paradoxical and will only perpetuate and entrench the presence of the deep state.
Egypt: from revolution to evolution
June 2012 – Egypt's next president likely to be against the revolution, so revolutionaries must forge a viable opposition and push for social and economic change.
Egyptian presidential election: Anti-revolution v counterrevolution
June 2012 – Should Egyptians side with the anti-revolutionary military old guard or the counterrevolutionary Islamist vanguard when choosing their next president?
Revolution: the ‘third way' in Egypt
June 2012 – With little representation in official politics, Egypt's revolutionary forces must continue to create a political third way on the streets.
Egyptian presidential election: A young revolutionary's voting dilemma
May 2012 – Should a young revolutionary seize his last chance to vote for a president or is the true struggle for radical change in Egypt on the streets?
From the Chronikles: My plan for a democratic Egypt
May 2012 – With the right president, Egypt could rid itself of nepotism and inequality to become a prosperous and egalitarian society.
Egyptian presidential election: Who should the revolution vote for?
May 2012 – Egyptian revolutionaries dream of electing a president who emerged from Tahrir square, but should they vote for pragmatism or principle?
Confessions of a would-be Egyptian revolutionary
April 2012 – Returning to Egypt for the first time since the revolution, an expat desktop rebel discovers the inspirational, the troubling and the simply bizarre.
Egypt's Nubians: damned by the dam
April 2012 – Half a century after the inundation, Nubians may finally gain recognition and redress for the loss of their homeland.
Egypt needs fundamental, not fundamentalist rights
April 2012 – Egypt's new constitution should focus on democracy, equality and human rights, not religious identity or military budgets.
February 2012 – Despite the general Arab decline in the press freedom rankings, the region's media have, in many ways, actually become freer.
Detained Egyptian musician vows: “I will not be silenced” about police brutality
February 2012 – Mohammed Jamal, the lead singer of the popular Egyptian indie band Salalem, tells The Chronikler his story about a night of hell in police custody.
Egyptian football violence: Between hooliganism and state thuggery
February 2012 – The deadly battle of Port Said may be another attempt to make a return to a police state the most attractive option for Egypt.
Egyptian revolution: the first year in review
January 2012 – To mark the first anniversary of the Egyptian revolution, a number of writers and activists to assess the first 12 months and look to the future.
Defining Egyptian democracy: “Not like America and not like Iran”
December 2011 – Provincial Egyptians believe that moderate Islamists can construct an Egyptian model of democracy that respects their traditions and identity.
Secular Egypt: dream or delusion?
December 2011 – Is Egypt on the road to theocracy or will it manage to build a secular, pluralist democracy?
November 2011 – As millions of Egyptians cast their first democratic vote in decades, recent upheavals confirm that Egypt's military is the biggest threat to freedom.
Egypt's middle-class cyberheroes
November 2011 – Social networking and blogging voices the dreams and aspirations of the young and middle-class in Egypt, leaving other groups as marginalised as ever.
Egypt: a country raped by its guardians
November 2011 – Dear generals, you are like a therapist abusing rape victims, so don't be surprised when Egyptians revolt against your cruelty.
October 2011 – Jailing Egyptians for insulting religion and the military goes against the revolution's spirit, and violates people's secular and sacred rights.
Opposing the Egyptian opposition
October 2011 – The ornamental ‘official opposition' in Egypt is as dangerous as the authoritarian regime itself.
The danger of an elected dictatorship in Egypt
September 2011 – The army is giving Egyptians a stark choice: choose freedom and endure anarchy, or choose stability and put up with us.
September 2011 – Although designed to instil loyalty to the regime, Egyptian schools have been breeding grounds for rebellion and revolt.
Egypt and Israel: cold peace or cold war?
September 2011 – Relations between Israel and post-revolution Egypt are proving tetchy – but ordinary people hold the keys to peace.
September 2011 – Recognising the good qualities of the other side can be a first step to healing Arab-Israeli wounds.
Confessions of a ‘self-hating Arab'
August 2011 – Only self-hating Arabs and Jews can save the Middle East from itself.
August 2011 – Egypt's independent media have earned their revolutionary stripes, while the state's mouthpieces have simply switched allegiance to the ‘new emperor'. But which model will endure?
August 2011 – The Arab uprisings are not just about democracy and dignity. But with domestic and global economic crises, how likely are they to deliver on bread and butter issues?
Egypt, Israel and Palestine: towards the promised land of peace?
August 2011 – It is high time for Israelis and Palestinians – with grassroots support from Egyptians – to unlock their latent people's power and forge a popular peace.
Indiana Hawass and the pharaoh's curse
August 2011 – Zahi Hawass may liken himself to Indiana Jones, but the minister of antiquities is one artifact of the old regime Egyptians want to live without.
From Arab spring to summer of love in Egypt?
July 2011 – The Egyptian revolution awoke hopes of a new era of gender equality and of greater sexual liberty. But how likely is Egypt to have its own summer of love?
No revolution for Egyptian women
July 2011 – Despite the political earthquake that has rid Egypt of its patriarch-in-chief, attitudes to gender remain largely the same. Now women must stand up for their rights.
Atheists: Egypt's forgotten minority
July 2011 – Egyptian atheists and religious sceptics are a minority that exists in reality but not in official statistics.
Hostility to the West may shape Egyptian politics
June 2011 – Islamists and Arab Socialists share a history of clashing with foreign influences.
The fall of Egypt's symbol of progressive Islam
May 2011 – Joining itself with an authoritarian regime caused harm to the millennium-long history of al-Azhar University.
Egypt's counter-revolutionary bogeyman
May 2011 – Fear of retaliation from the old regime shouldn't be used to limit Egyptians' hard-won freedoms and attack peaceful protesters.
March 2011 – Egyptians will no longer tolerate paying for the state-run newspapers that peddled Hosni Mubarak's propaganda.
Should Egypt's next president be old guard or vanguard?
March 2011 – Amr Moussa is very popular with Egyptians, but should Egyptians play it safe with the best of the old guard or choose someone from the vanguard.
March 2011 – In addition to withdrawing from the political front line, the army must also leave justice to the legal system.
The Muslim Brotherhood: empowered by its weakness
March 2011 – The revolution in Egypt succeeded because it had no Islamist face, and the Muslim Brotherhood has benefited from maintaining a soft presence.
February 2011 – The time is ripe to crystallise a creative vision for Egyptian democracy, one that can perhaps be used as a model by other Arab countries.
February 2011 – There are Jews who refuse to succumb to fear and would like to extend their warm congratulations to Egyptians on the occasion of their revolution of hope.
February 2011 – The Egyptian revolution could usher in freedom to the Middle East, but Arabs and Israelis must break free of the chains of prejudice, history and fear.
Diary of Dictator M, aged 82¾: fight, not flight
February 2011 – In the second leaked extract from his secret diaries, President M is enraged by what he sees as an unpresidented act of cowardice and treachery.
From political revolution to social evolution
February 2011 – To truly succeed, Egypt's revolution needs to trigger a profound evolution in every strata of society.
Political idealism triumphs over Egypt's cruel political reality
February 2011 – The power of an idea proved stronger than tanks, water cannons and bullets.
February 2011 – By toppling their dictator, Egyptians have made history, but now they need to ensure that this revolution does not become a footnote in their history.
Open letter: Mubarak, we loathe you
February 2011 – Mr Mubarak, you have the extraordinary knack for snatching mediocrity from the jaws of greatness. But the Egyptian people will write their own future.
Dispatch from Tahrir: Fighting Egypt's petty dictators
February 2011 – Outside the utopian bubble of Tahrir, petty dictators are filling the security void.
Why Mubarak shouldn't stay until September
February 2011 – If Mubarak's security apparatus tightens its grip on power, Egypt will turn into a North Korean-style dictatorship.
February 2011 – A democratic Egypt will not go to war with Israel, but for the cold peace to thaw, Israel must ends its occupation.
February 2011 – Egyptians' lavish burial spaces offer comfort to relatives – while 1.5 million less fortunate Cairenes live among the dead.
Diary of Dictator M, aged 82¾: a panicked call for Tunisia
February 2011 – In the first leaked extract from President M's diaries, he calms an alarmed fellow dictator in Tunisia.
The death throes of Arab dictatorships
February 2011 – Will the unfolding popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt lead to the region's dictators falling one after the other like dominos?
February 2011 – Tunisia's revolution will spread the scent of its jasmine to oppressed nations all over the region.
America's missed opportunity in Egypt
1 February 2011 – There's no reason to believe that the uprising will bring radical Islamists to power – so why isn't the US supporting it?
Mubarak: the life and times of a dictator
February 2011 – To grasp the enormity of the change undergoing Egyptian society, it is well worth considering that the majority of Egyptians have never known another president than Hosni Mubarak.
February 2011 – The imminent fall of Egypt's dictator should embolden Egyptians, especially the young, to deal with the mini-Mubaraks holding Egyptian society back.
Baksheesh and social tipping points
January 2011 – Egypt's ‘baksheesh' culture helps poor people get by and maintains relative social peace, but it encourages subservience.
Egypt's regime of self-preservation
January 2011 – Muslim-Coptic tension is just one aspect of a wider turmoil that will worsen until real democracy takes hold.
December 2010 – It's true that football divides Egyptians today, but it also, paradoxically, unites them on so many other levels.
توجهات جديدة للنزاع العربي الإسرائيلي
ديسمبر 2010 – تتجاوز القضية الأخلاقية لصالح زيادة التفاهم في أهميتها قضية انتهاك حقوق النشر، حسب رأي الصحفي خالد دياب، رداً على قرصنة ترجمة رواية مصرية مشهورة إلى العبرية
December 2010 – Egypt is certainly the gift of the Nile, but the great river could become east Africa's curse. What are the chances of a future ‘water war'?
December 2010 – Animal rights activists are calling for global vegetarianism, but the Middle East is not ready to sacrifice its meat-eating lifestyle.
Novel approaches to the Arab-Israeli conflict
November 2010 – Despite infringing on the author's copyright and wishes, the unauthorised Hebrew translation of a bestselling Egyptian novel highlights how the word can help blunt the sword.
The Arab myth of Western women
November 2010 – Unflattering as some Western stereotypes are of Arab men, Western women also get a bad press in conservative Arab circles.
Egypt hires PR firm to revamp its image
November 2010 – A picture is worth a thousand words, but a doctored picture is a scandal that can be worth a thousand articles to cover.
November 2010 – Some in the west are more likely to believe in elves in Middle Earth than in Arab men in the Middle East who are secular and do not oppress women.
Egyptian government fears a Facebook revolution
November 2010 – Talk of banning Facebook is only the surface of a greater crackdown on independent media by an insecure government.
October 2010 -‘Catholic' education thrives in Belgium, but the decision between principle and pragmatism is not easy when choosing a school.
Egypt's heartless economic growth
October 2010 – Economic growth in Egypt has mainly benefited the well-off, with many of the poor falling off the tightrope of the poverty line.
A battle for the soul of every Egyptian
September 2010 – Converts have become pawns in Egypt's increasingly bitter standoff between Muslims and Christians.
‘Collaborator!' – a charge that has plagued Egypt
September 2010 – Egyptians are routinely accused of being in league with foreign forces, from the US to Iran, but this propaganda is wearing thin.
قرارات المحاكم الأخيرة في مصر وإسرائيل تُظهِر مدى الشك الذي وصل إليه اليهود والعرب الإسرائيليين
September 2010 – Arabs and Israelis tend to view personal relationships that cross the divide between them with suspicion, perhaps because individual love has the power to undermine collective hate.
A shop window on Egyptian history
September 2010 – The buyers of Harrods are reportedly planning to take over Egypt's oldest department store, Omar Effendi, whose story mirrors Egypt's modern history.
Religious freedom at stake in Egypt
August 2010 – If you don't fast during Ramadan in Egypt, lie about it; hide it. Otherwise, you might land in jail.
Make Ramadan torture-free in Egypt
August 2010 – It's Ramadan, but the Egyptian police continue to practise brutality and torture. This year, they should set a better example.
I say you want a revolution, Egypt
July 2010 – Activists in Egypt should look to the hippy movement of the 1960s for a successful model in bringing about long-term social change.
July 2010 – Egypt's pavillion at the Shanghai Expo 2010 misses the mark of modernity and dwells excessively on the country's ancient past.
July 2010 – Egyptian police and a decades-old emergency law stand in the dock of public opinion following a young man's alleged murder.
Love and loathing in the Middle East
June 2010 – By calling Egyptians who marry Israelis traitors, Egypt has betrayed a group of vulnerable people who are guilty of little more than loving across enemy lines.
May 2010 – Following the lead of Islamists, Egyptian Christians are trying to ban an award-winning novel because it ‘insults' Christianity.
May 2010 – Jordanian journalists believe they do not enjoy enough freedom – a malaise shared with the rest of the Middle East. But why?
April 2010 – Sexual harassment in Egypt is leading to calls for gender segregation. But is hiding women really the solution?
April 2010 – The Egyptian government looks to overhaul its bread subsidy system, but experts warn of a possible popular backlash.
April 2010 – In multicultural families, deciding on where to raise your child is no easy matter and has profound implications for the future.
Egypt's uneasy political truce
April 2010 – Egypt's secularists and Islamists agree on one thing: Mubarak must go. But when he does, how long will they stand united?
March 2010 – If exaggerated rumours of President Mubarak's death become fact, where will the end of his one-man show leave Egypt?
Egypt's online struggle for democracy
March 2010 – In Egypt, political advocacy is being sparked online, on sites like Facebook, but there is significantly less room for movement in Egypt's real world than in its virtual world.
Splitting Egypt's political atom
March 2010 – Can Mohamed ElBaradei's campaign for the Egyptian presidency save a country close to political meltdown?
March 2010 – The Camp David accords between Egypt and Israel remain controversial, but Arabs and Israelis can draw lessons from Anwar el-Sadat's quest for peace.
February 2010 – For a new generation of young Egyptian artists, music is not just about love.
February 2010 – Christians across the Muslim world use ‘Allah' to refer to ‘God', so why has this led to violence and controversy in Malaysia?
Egyptian football's pious turn
February 2010 – The national team is increasingly flaunting its Muslim religiosity. Where does that leave Christian, let alone secular Egyptians?
My plan for a democratic Egypt
January 2010 – With the right leadership, Egypt could rid itself of nepotism and inequality to become a prosperous and egalitarian society.
January 2010 – Israel is building a new anti-migrant barrier along its Egyptian border – leaving Mubarak's regime with one problem fewer.
Should America fear a democratic Egypt?
January 2010 – The depiction of Egypt as a country of religious fanatics who await a breeze of freedom to turn Egypt into a radical regime is far from accurate.
January 2010 – A Saudi journalist is demanding that women be given the right to four husbands. Should equality mean monogamy or polygamy for all?
December 2009 – The British are famously reserved, but so are the Belgians. Let's break the ice and make the public sphere more friendly.
December 2009 – Prominent Muslim Brotherhood member Kamal Helbawy talks about his research and ending the misconceptions that tie terrorism to Islam.
November 2009 – Much as we'd like our children to hold the same things dear as we do, we should have enough faith in them to let them choose their own belief system.
November 2009 – Reckless journalism is held responsible for the violence and tensions following the Algeria-Egypt World Cup playoffs.
Closing the ‘hijab murder' file
November 2009 – The life sentence imposed on Marwa al-Sherbini's killer shows that European Islamophobia exists but is not institutionalised.
Algeria and Egypt play political football
November 2009 – Preparations for a World Cup showdown are getting heated, but does the animosity between Algeria and Egypt run deeper?
November 2009 – As the singer prepares to visit Egypt, Christian and Muslim fundamentalists agree: Beyoncé is the root of all evil.
October 2009 – Egyptians are slowly overcoming their fear of authority, but old habits die hard.
التسوية الفلسطينية عبر الصندوق الانتخابي
قد حان الوقت لمحمود عباس أن يذهب بكرامته وفتح المجال للشعب لكي يقررعبر صندوق الاقتراع
Palestinian reconciliation through the ballot box
October 2009 – To break the destructive deadlock between Fatah and Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas should step down as Palestinian president, call immediate elections and organise referenda on the future course of the Palestinian struggle.
October 2009 – New attempts to address the divide between Egypt's Muslims and Christians must be supported, not undermined, by the state.
October 2009 – For many Egyptians, tip-based and street jobs are their only means of survival.
September 2009 – The ‘Chinese hymen' may make pre-marital sex safer in a patriarchal society but a woman's honour should not lie between her legs.
September 2009 – From fashion tips to adult breastfeeding – rulings by some clerics range from the eccentric to the downright bizarre.
Is Mubarak really a force of stability?
September 2009 – Providing more legitimate access to power should be the way to guarantee security and stability in Egypt.
September 2009 – Police in Egypt are using Ramadan to target secularists. The government must do more to protect individual liberty.
September 2009 – Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosny's bid to be the chief of the UN's cultural wing has aroused suspicion among liberals and conservatives alike.
Covering heads and veiling poverty
September 2009 – In Egypt, Hijabless women are becoming a shrinking and marginalised minority who have to keep their bare heads down.
انكمش عدد النساء المتبرجات (غير المحجبات) وصاروا أقلية مهمشة في مصر
The Arab Republic of Investment
August 2009 – Egyptians should not be too harsh on poor Gamal Mubarak. He's bound to become the president of the many entrepreneurs and professionals and not of the few who live on less than $2 per day.
July 2009 – Egyptian outrage at the brutal murder of Marwa Sherbini, the ‘hijab martyr' is understandable. But If Egyptians want better justice for Muslims in Europe, then they should demand more justice for non-Muslims at home.
Egypt: Power has already been transferred
July 2009 – What the speculation over political succession in Egypt overlooks is that Gamal Mubarak has effectively taken over the reins of power from his father already.
July 2009 – Despite its dislike of the Ahmadinejad government, Egypt fears the spread of the Iranian protest contagion to its own borders, but why are Egyptians not showing any symptoms of the ‘Iranian flu'?
What's love got to do with it?
June 2009 – For Egyptian marriage offices, the search for profit has replaced the search for a perfect union.
June 2009 – Rather than encouraging people to make moral choices, religious groups in Egypt are imposing their values by law.
The Middle East must look to the future
April 2009 – A secular society confines religion to the spiritual sphere where it belongs, and leaves worldly affairs to human resourcefulness.
April 2009 – An outward appearance of Islamism disguises the increasingly secular reality of some Arab and Muslim societies.
March 2009 – Rumours of deadly SMS messages are symptoms of a worrying trend in Egypt – the unstoppable rise of superstition.
January 2009 – Rafah, a city divided between Gaza and Egypt, and between war and peace, prays for the opening of the border crossing.
December 2008 – In Egypt, getting married has young people all tied up in knots.
September 2008 – Egyptian women have broken their silence on sexual harassment and are demanding the right to go out in public unpestered.
August 2008 – The world isn't short on wacky theories about Egypt's greatest monuments. The reality is less fun, but more illuminating.
The Egyptian revolution inspire the whole world ,It will take time to get over these problems