Who Decides?: Western Knowledge and Arab Revolutions
Magid Shihade* | 19 Feb 2013
Celebrations in Libya. [Image via Diario El Tiempo, All Rights Reserved]Much of this piece was written more than a year ago, when debates and discussions focused on two questions: 1. the proper term to describe events in the Arab world – were they revolutions, uprisings, or a “spring?;” and 2. whether events in the region were genuine and indigenous,...Photo Essay: Egypt’s Presidential Elections
Nancy Elshami | 5 Jun 2012
On May 23-24, 2012, Egyptians went to the polls to participate in round one of voting to elect the country’s first president since the toppling of its autocratic leader, Hosni Mubarak, on February 11, 2011. The following photo essay from Muftah staff writer, Nancy Elshami, captures the atmosphere during and after the elections. (Photo credit: Nancy...A Turkish Model for the Arab Spring?
Aslı Ü. Bâli* | 29 May 2012
The uprisings of 2011 have transformed the Arab world. Long-standing regimes – such as those in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya – have fallen or been radically transformed; elsewhere countries like Yemen, Bahrain and Syria face profound domestic challenges. For non-Arab regional actors the impact of these events is less clear. The Israeli-Palestinian negotiations...Street Art and the Digital Age
Laith Ulaby | 28 May 2012
Arabic Street Art Exhibition in Frankfurt (Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sterneck) In a previous article from the Muftah Art+Culture page I profiled the growing interest in the high-end art scene, particularly in the Gulf states. Governments and private collectors are investing a great deal of money into both contemporary western art and traditional...Egypt’s Copts Face an Uncertain Political Future
Avi Asher-Schapiro* | 21 May 2012
Egypt's Coptic Christians at a protest march in Shubra, Cairo Photograph: Stringer/EPA During the eighteen-day uprising that toppled the Mubarak regime, the Coptic Orthodox Church urged its members to stay home. Yet, thousands of Egyptian Christians defied their leaders and joined the historic protests. A year and a half after the fall of the regime, with...Egypt’s Political Judiciary & Western Biases Toward the Arab Spring: A Twitter Roundtable
Francesca Recchia | 20 Jun 2012
Muftah’s Massoud Hayoun unexpectedly sparked an animated and spontaneous roundtable on Twitter. This is hopefully the beginning of a new @MuftahOrg tradition. A transcription of the debate follows. Massoud...Egypt’s Emergency Law Lapses After 31 years
Joseph Farag | 1 Jun 2012
"Dancing to the Tune of Revolution - No to Emergency Laws" Friday, June 1, 2012, marked the first day in 31 years that Egyptians would no longer live under draconian Emergency Laws instituted after the...Military Decision-Making During the Arab Spring
Daniel Steiman* | 29 May 2012
Protesters shout slogans against military rulers in front of Egyptian military police standing guard near the Ministry of Defense in the Abbassiya district of Cairo As the mass protests of the Arab Spring spread...Egypt’s Presidential Elections Are Only the End of the Beginning
Joseph Farag | 25 May 2012
* Updated Below The completion of Egypt’s first ever truly democratic elections yesterday, far from being the culminating end of the process begun when Egyptians first took to the street on January 25, 2011,...Art and the Arab Uprisings
Laith Ulaby | 21 May 2012
Poster of Bashar al Assad in the Old City of Damascus (Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oliverlaumann) There is no doubt that visual culture was a big part of the protest movements that swept across...
