Republican US Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln invoked Jesus Christ when he said in June 1858 that ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand.’ Lincoln’s radical campaign speech against slavery, racial discrimination and violence may have lost him a Senate seat – Illinois legislators voted to send pro-slavery Democrat Stephen Douglas to Congress instead – but […]
Memo to Self on International Women’s Day
Memo to Self: Remember to stop on this International Women’s Day and consider your contributions to this world, and prepare to contribute more. Sounds simple, especially to those in my generation of American women who ‘just got on with it’ and confidently marched into university and the workforce on the wide shoulders of the women […]
المعركة المهملة للثورة المصرية
عزيزي القارئ، أعلم أن تلك السطور ستكون ثقيلة على عينيك وعلى ضميرك ولكنني أطلب منك تقبلها وأتمنى أن تكون دافع لك للتحرك. أسترجع دائماً مقابلتي مع صحفي مصري يعيش في لندن حين شرح لي كيف إن الدولة المصرية الحديثة منذ بدأها محمد على هي محتكرة النخبة الحاكمة وصانعتها في الأساس منذ إرساله للبعثات التعليمية إلى […]
Brand Mandela: Erasing the Radical
This month’s extensive international news coverage of Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy stands in stark contrast to the coverage accorded to the recent death of another extraordinary 20th century leader: Võ Nguyên Giáp, the 102-year-old Vietnamese general who humbled three world powers and a rising fourth. Giáp died in Hanoi on 4 October 2013. While […]
Egypt: Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Joker
The scene in Egypt is nothing less than a complicated mess: there are several forces, shifting alliances, political stagnation, mass frustration, a failing economy and conspiracy theories. The country is simply a boiling pot. What is the way out? To find a solution, one must first identify the players and the main problem. The King […]
Egypt’s ‘Rocca the giraffe syndrome’
A giraffe named Rocca died last week in the Giza Zoo. One of the stories about its death is that it banged its head until it died, committing suicide. The current Egyptian political scene suffers from the same syndrome: various players banging their heads against the wall, committing political suicide, and unfortunately killing every chance for […]
يناير ويونيو وخيارات الغد
كنت قد كتبت مجموعة من التغريدات وطلب مني البعض وضعها معاص في تدوينة واحدة وها هي: 1- أياً كان ترتيبة 30 يونيو اتعملت إزاي، حكم الإخوان كان حكم فاشي وكان لازم نخلص منه لأنه مستحيل كان يدي فرصه لحد غيره يحكم، وشفنا بعنينا. 2- بصراحة يوم 30 يونيو نفسه كان فيه أعداد أكتر من يوم […]