Current Analysis Scholars of Egypt Protest Crackdown on Freedom of Expression November 18, 2015 President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Arab Republic of Egypt Ahmed al-Zind Minister of Justice, Arab Republic of Egypt Sedky Sobhy Minister of Defense, Arab Republic of Egypt Yasser Reda Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States (Author not identified) • 6 min read
Current Analysis Release Hossam Bahgat UPDATE: Hossam Bahgat was released from detention [http://www.madamasr.com/news/update-hossam-bahgat-has-been-released-not-clear-if-charges-still-pending] at midday Cairo time on November 10. It is uncertain whether the charges against him are still pending. We will post further updates as warranted The Editors • 2 min read
Current Analysis Hope Canal A truck cruising down Qasr al-‘Ayni Street dressed as a blue papier-mâché boat. A belly dancer clad in a silver lycra dress and a blonde wig, upper body undulating out of the window of a white sedan. Tahrir Square, lit up like a local wedding, crowded with thousands, their faces painted red, white a Heba Gowayed, Mona Oraby • 5 min read
Current Analysis Sisi and Suez On July 26, 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. With this action, the young Egyptian president was catapulted to world prominence as a recognized leader of the Arab nationalist and Non-Aligned movements of the time. The nationalization secured for Nasser a reputation for resolute a Timothy Kaldas • 3 min read
MER Article "A Beast That Took a Break and Came Back" Aida Seif al-Dawla is a psychiatrist whose fight for citizens’ rights and dignity in Egypt has taken many forms since her days as a student activist in the 1970s. In 1993, she founded the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, of which she remains executive director Lina Attalah • 10 min read
Current Analysis Matariyya, Egypt's New Theater of Dissent On June 6, two police officers will stand trial for torturing Karim Hamdi, a 27 year-old lawyer, to death on a cold February evening inside the Matariyya police station in eastern metropolitan Cairo. The identities of the officers are protected by a gag order, but the widely publicized images of the Amira Howeidy • 16 min read
Current Analysis Letter of Support by Colleagues and Personal Friends of Emad Shahin For those familiar with even the barest facts of the case, the provisional sentence of Emad al-Din Shahin to death seems appalling. Professor Shahin is a widely respected and accomplished academic who has taught at Notre Dame, Harvard, Georgetown, the American University in Cairo and George Washingt (Author not identified) • 3 min read
Current Analysis Repression and Remembering in Kent and Cairo Yesterday was the forty-fifth anniversary of the day [http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/05/45th_anniversary_of_kent_state.html] when Ohio National Guardsmen fired 67 rounds of live ammunition into a crowd of peaceful protesters at Kent State University. The crime took 13 seconds. The tra Joshua Stacher • 3 min read
Current Analysis Fear Makes Everything Possible It is a time in Egypt when it is not welcome to write something serious that addresses serious issues. Everything borders on the ridiculous. Rhetoric has shifted to a medieval or primal state where basic values are being revisited. Is it OK to discard human rights [http://timep.org/commentary/pope-t Wael Eskandar • 2 min read
MER Article The Everyday in Ramlat Bulaq Walking through the alleys of Ramlat Bulaq, an old working-class neighborhood in northern Cairo close to the banks of the Nile, I encountered an 11-year old girl playing in front of her house with other children her age. She stopped me and said, “Do you know ‘Amr, the man who was killed? He used to Omnia Khalil • 5 min read
MER Article Reexamining Human Rights Change in Egypt Over five tumultuous years in Egypt, the independent human rights community moved from a fairly parochial role chipping away at the Mubarak regime’s legitimacy, one torture case at a time, to media stardom in 2011, and from fielding a presidential candidate, who won over 134,000 votes, in 2012 to fa Heba Morayef • 11 min read
MER Article Rebels, Reformers and Empire For 20 years leading up to the uprisings of 2010-2011, Egypt and Tunisia suffered the ill effects of neoliberal economic reform, even as the international financial institutions and most economists hailed them as beacons of progress in the Arab world. For ten years preceding the revolts, workers and Karen Pfeifer • 21 min read
