Egypt’s three peoples
At the very beginning, prior to the revolution and the internet, Hosni Mubarak was sitting on the throne of political power and Islamists held onto social power; and while the National Democratic Party dominated politics, Islamists were in charge of the streets. No-one recalls this fact in Egypt right now. No longer do people remember the “Islamic
2015-03-20
Egyptian Novelist and Translator
|
ar
At the very beginning, prior to the revolution and the internet, Hosni Mubarak was sitting on the throne of political power and Islamists held onto social power; and while the National Democratic Party dominated politics, Islamists were in charge of the streets. No-one recalls this fact in Egypt right now. No longer do people remember the “Islamic Awakening’s” penetration of Egyptian cities during the 1980s; nor do they remember the prevalence of Islamic dispensaries or the increase of Islamic televangelists. Satellite television preachers first emerged dressed in loose robes before being joined by suit-wearing televangelists, while women television preachers first showed up with the full veil but were later joined by those wearing fashionable headscarves and a bit of light make-up, too. This testifies to the ability of Islamic preaching during the 1990s to transform itself into a stylish, seductive notion capable of attracting the youth.
In the meantime, no-one thought of Mubarak as a debatable figure. There was a litany of controversial issues such as Israel, corruption, openness, privatization, and the U.S. Mubarak, however, was not among them. This remained the pattern during the 1990s and the beginnings of the current century.
In 2008, the number of people living in informal settlements or slums in Egypt grew to 15 million; the equivalent of 40% of the urban population in Egypt. In fact,...
With their competitive advantages, namely their low prices, the materials produced by the military establishment’s factories have topped sales in all Egyptian governorates, revealing the growing economic influence of the...
Under the pretext of the weakness and flaccid structures of the state's civil institutions and their inefficiency compared with the military establishment and its various agencies, Egyptian President Abdelfattah el-Sissi...
In 1910, Degania Aleph was founded on the Sea of Galilee. The first Jewish socialist kibbutz and cooperative inside Palestine, Degania was succeeded by tens of agricultural and industrial kibbutzim....
Few years before the revolution, free verse poetry was perceived in Egypt as a sign of change in the poetic atmosphere. I once heard the late Egyptian poet Hilmy...
On 14 August, 2013, the Sadat metro station that leads to Tahrir Square was indefinitely closed following the dispersal of the protests in Raba’a and Nahda Squares. The Sadat...
