MER Article Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation P. J. Vatikiotis, Nasser and His Generation (New York: St. Martins Press, 1978). Black Saturday -- the burning of Cairo on January 26, 1952 -- was a signal of the impending breakdown of the ancient regime. When Cairo went up in flames, so too did the last vestiges of authority held by the tradition Selma Botman • 1 min read
MER Article Gran, Islamic Roots of Capitalism Peter Gran, Islamic Roots of Capitalism: Egypt, 1760-1840 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979). Eric Davis • 6 min read
MER Article Egyptian Communist Party Communique: "The Elimination of All Voices Opposing the Treaty” An Egyptian Communist Party was first established in the 1918-1920 period, but was not active again until after 1939. In this period, through the late 1950s, there were several communist organizations, the principal one being the Democratic Union for National Liberation. Following the 1952 revolutio (Author not identified) • 6 min read
MER Article A Very Strange Peace Rarely in history has a peace settlement seemed so dismal. The Treaty of Washington between Egypt and Israel was signed on March 26, 1979. Since then there has been little excitement in Egypt about this new era in the nation’s contemporary history. There were several more or less spontaneous gatheri Marie-Christine Aulas • 10 min read
MER Article Poems for the Women of Egypt The Future and the Ancestor The dead’s right grain ls woven in our flesh within the channels of the blood Sometimes we bend beneath the fullness of ancestors. But the present that shatters walls, banishes boundaries and invents the road to come, rings on. Right in the center of our lives liberty Nazik al-Mala’ika, Marzieh Ahmadi Ooskwi, Andrée Chedid • 1 min read
MER Article The Cares of Umm Muhammad Nagya Muhammad al-Bakr -- known as Umm Muhammad, mother of Muhammad -- is 37 years old and works as a hospital attendant in the Heart Institute in Imbaba, Cairo. She is married to Bayoumi ‘Abd al-Baqi and has eight children. This interview, excerpted and translated from the Arabic by MERIP editor Ju Nagya Muhammad al-Bakr • 13 min read
MER Article Textile Workers of Shubra al-Khayma Dire material necessity is increasingly forcing Egyptian women to take up wage labor. Job conditions are poor, pay is low and social sanctions are heavy. Women make up 12 percent of the Egyptian industrial workforce, concentrated in textiles, food industries and pharmaceuticals. In textiles, an impo Mona Hammam • 18 min read
