Women's protection in Turkey
Bombing the heart of the family?
Ava Homa's "Daughters of Smoke and Fire"
Living with the sting of hatred
COVID-19 on the Nile
One Egyptian's dream of a brave, new, post-coronavirus world
COVID-19 pandemic in Libya
Conflict and coronavirus – Libyan women pay the higher price

Women's protection in Turkey

Bombing the heart of the family?

Turkey signed up to the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention, which aims to protect women from violence. Conservative forces in the country, however, are calling for Turkey's immediate withdrawal, claiming the traditional family is in danger. By Pelin Unker and Daniel Derya BellutRead more

COVID-19 pandemic: Coronavirus breeds domestic violence in TurkeyWomen in Turkey: Ankara turns a blind eye to femicideErdogan′s Turkey: Eroding Ataturk's legacy

Book review: Ava Homa's "Daughters of Smoke and Fire"

Living with the sting of hatred

While "Daughters of Smoke and Fire" – Kurdish author Ava Homa's heart-rending debut novel – is about Leila, a young Kurdish woman, coming of age in contemporary Iran, the portrayal of a minority's struggle against oppression and assimilation transcends the personal. Richard Marcus read the bookRead more

Ava Homa speaks at the United NationsKurdistan: The future of a people: Good Kurd, bad KurdNon-fiction: Joey Lawrenceʹs "We came from fire": A tribute to the Kurds

COVID-19 on the Nile

One Egyptian's dream of a brave, new, post-coronavirus world

For decades, Egypt's successive governments have neglected to provide adequate support for science and culture. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the coronavirus crisis were to lead to a change of heart and policy, asks Khaled al-KhamissiRead more

COVID-19 on the Nile: The curse of coronavirus – Egypt, a nation gripped by fearCOVID-19 in North Africa: Corona proactivity in Tunisia, trivialisation in EgyptIn Dialogue: Khaled Al-Khamissi – Stefan Weidner: The Arab Spring

COVID-19 pandemic in Libya

Conflict and coronavirus – Libyan women pay the higher price

War was ever a man's game. In Libya, where political rivals have been fighting it out for years, the needs of women have all too often been overlooked. Yet the country is going to need everyone’s contribution, argues Asma Khalifa, if it is to survive the upcoming changesRead more

COVID-19 and Arab economies: Facing the Middle East's perfect – corona-induced – stormWomen in Libya: High hopes brutally dashedFemale activists in Libya: Fighting against regression

Politics

Egypt's pyramids and the Sphinx spectacularly floodlit (photo: DW)

COVID-19 on the Nile

One Egyptian's dream of a brave, new, post-coronavirus world

For decades, Egypt's successive governments have neglected to provide adequate support for science and culture. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the coronavirus crisis were to lead to a change of heart and policy, asks Khaled al-KhamissiMore

COVID-19 on the Nile: The curse of coronavirus – Egypt, a nation gripped by fearCOVID-19 in North Africa: Corona proactivity in Tunisia, trivialisation in EgyptIn Dialogue: Khaled Al-Khamissi – Stefan Weidner: The Arab Spring
King Salman (left) and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (photo: picture-alliance/abaca/B. Algaloud)

Impact of COVID-19 on Saudi Arabia

Shaking the House of Saud to the core

The economic backlash of the corona pandemic already means dramatic consequences for the Saudi royal family. But what happens when it becomes too expensive for them to fulfil their part of the social contract and the Saudi people rebel? An analysis by Karim El-GawharyMore

Rentier economies and the clean-energy transition: Cashing out – Saudi Arabia’s radical new oil strategyCOVID-19 and Arab economies: Facing the Middle East's perfect – corona-induced – stormPolitical transformation under Mohammed bin Salman: Saudi Arabiaʹs perilous pivot
Facebook presents supervisory body for controversial content | Tawakkol Abdul-Salam Karman (photo: Imago Images/CTK Photo/K. Sulova)

Oversight board appointee faces online smear campaign

Facebook, Tawwakol Karman and Arab cyber-bullying

Appointed to the Facebook oversight board, Yemeni Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman has faced hostility from Arab state media and social media users, who accuse her of Islamist ties. By Kersten Knipp & Ismail AzzamMore

Interview with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkul Karman: "We need to bring back the Arab Spring!"Turkeyʹs Middle East exiles: Istanbul – the Arab worldʹs beacon on the BosphorusA year to the day: The infamous murder of Jamal Khashoggi
Anti-government protests and attacks on banks in the Lebanese capital Beirut (photo: Getty Images/AFP/M. Tahtah)

Social unrest in Lebanon

Beirut – currency chaos, exploding prices and burning banks

In Lebanon, the local currency has slumped to a record low, people are losing their jobs and the price of food is skyrocketing. Despite the threat posed by the coronavirus, hundreds are taking to the streets in protest. Julia Neumann reports from BeirutMore

Beirut on the brink: Regardless of corona, Lebanon is at economic breaking pointA toxic combination of sectarianism and rentierism: Lebanon's perfect stormSocial inequality in the Arab world: There is no state in Lebanon
more Politics »

Society

Demonstrating for women's rights in Istanbul (photo: dpa/picture-alliance)

Women's protection in Turkey

Bombing the heart of the family?

Turkey signed up to the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention, which aims to protect women from violence. Conservative forces in the country, however, are calling for Turkey's immediate withdrawal, claiming the traditional family is in danger. By Pelin Unker and Daniel Derya BellutMore

COVID-19 pandemic: Coronavirus breeds domestic violence in TurkeyWomen in Turkey: Ankara turns a blind eye to femicideErdogan′s Turkey: Eroding Ataturk's legacy
Author and activist Kubra Gumusay (photo: Imago)

Non-fiction: Kubra Gumusay's "Sprache und Sein"

Beyond the linguistic pigeonhole

In "Sprache und Sein" (Language and Being) the activist Kubra Gumusay critically examines the function of language – the narratives that reflect and determine the realities of human coexistence, which classify and empower individuals while also curtailing their rights. It is all about privilege, stereotypes and exclusion. By Melanie Christina MohrMore

Muslim bloggers in Germany: Creating a counter-public to traditional mediaGermany and Islam: "Muslims are already German"Debate on Muslim identity in the West: Constructing the self, constructing the other
A displaced woman from Tawergha protests in downtown Tripoli, Libya (photo: DW/K. Zurutuza)

COVID-19 pandemic in Libya

Conflict and coronavirus – Libyan women pay the higher price

War was ever a man's game. In Libya, where political rivals have been fighting it out for years, the needs of women have all too often been overlooked. Yet the country is going to need everyone’s contribution, argues Asma Khalifa, if it is to survive the upcoming changesMore

COVID-19 and Arab economies: Facing the Middle East's perfect – corona-induced – stormWomen in Libya: High hopes brutally dashedFemale activists in Libya: Fighting against regression
A health worker from an aid organistation walks through Kutapalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar wearing a hazmat suit (photo: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Rahman)

COVID-19 and Bangladesh's Rohingya refugees

Cox’s Bazar coronavirus case – the first of many?

With the first COVID-19 case having been detected in the Kutupalong Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, aid agencies are warning that without additional resources, there will be a public health catastrophe. By Rodion EbbighausenMore

Bangladesh locks down Rohingya refugees' district amid pandemicCox's Bazar, Bangladesh: Fatima, the Rohingya, tells her storySyrian refugees in Lebanon: More scared of starving than of coronavirus
more Society »

Culture

Iranian Kurdish author and activist Ava Homa (photo: Sam Attar)

Book review: Ava Homa's "Daughters of Smoke and Fire"

Living with the sting of hatred

While "Daughters of Smoke and Fire" – Kurdish author Ava Homa's heart-rending debut novel – is about Leila, a young Kurdish woman, coming of age in contemporary Iran, the portrayal of a minority's struggle against oppression and assimilation transcends the personal. Richard Marcus read the bookMore

Ava Homa speaks at the United NationsKurdistan: The future of a people: Good Kurd, bad KurdNon-fiction: Joey Lawrenceʹs "We came from fire": A tribute to the Kurds
Palestinian author Sahar Khalifeh (photo: private; source: Facebook)

Book review: Sahar Khalifeh's "Passage to the Plaza"

It's all a question of timing

When Sahar Khalifeh’s "Passage to the Plaza" appeared in English this year, thirty years after its initial publication, it seemed out of sync – too late and too overshadowed by the coronavirus. Yet perhaps this is just the right time: its locked-in world of curfews and domestic violence speak to 2020 as much as it did to 1990. By Marcia Lynx QualeyMore

Who is hidden beneath the burka? An appeal to the WestLecture by Sahar Khalifeh: "Caught between Western oppression and Islamic fundamentalist suppression" at the Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS University of LondonInterview with Palestinian American writer Susan Abulhawa: ″Literature is a facet of society″
Iranian author Shahriar Mandanipour (source: author’s Facebook profile)

Book review: "Moon Brow" by Shahriar Mandanipour

The angels of war

Over ten years after the publication of "Censoring an Iranian Love Story", Shahriar Mandanipour's latest novel, "Moon Brow", is now available in German translation. This is a story about the loss of youth, the horrors of war and a land in the iron grip of dictatorship. By Gerrit WustmannMore

Book review: Nava Ebrahimi’s "Das Paradies meines Nachbarn": The scars of warInterview with the Iranian writer Abbas Maroufi: ″Self-censorship is the worst″Contemporary Iranian literature: Reading outside the box
"Holy Quarter" installation and presentation by Monira al-Qadiri, 2019 in Munich's Haus der Kunst (photo: Maximilian Geuter/HdK)

Kuwaiti artist Monira al-Qadiri

In awe of the cosmos

With "Holy Quarter" by Monira al-Qadiri, Munich’s Haus der Kunst gallery is showing a work by one of the Gulf region’s most significant contemporary artists, in an exhibition that runs until the beginning of June. By Claudia MendeMore

Arts and culture in the Gulf region: The end of toleranceAn Arab reading of the Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum: Tea with the bogeymanInterview with Malaysian artist Nadiah Bamadhaj: Freeing the body from conservatism
more Culture »

Thousands facing hunger and homelessness in Lebanon

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses across the country, Lebanon’s economy was in dire straits. At the end of 2019, 45 percent of Lebanese were living in poverty, according to the World Bank. Soon that’s estimated to become more than 75 percent.More

Online magazine Mada Masr

"Yesterday's cartoon" by Andeel (source: Mada Masr)

The Egyptian online magazine "Mada Masr" is a progressive independent medium that was founded after the Arabellion in 2011. It publishes news, commentaries, essays and photo galleries in English and Arabic.More

Indian author Arundhati Roy: "Coronavirus exposes infirmities, weaknesses, prejudices"

Acclaimed author and political activist Arundhati Roy addresses the coronavirus pandemic and the Indian response. On the post-pandemic world, she tells us that if we were "sleepwalking" into a surveillance state before, we're now "panic running".More

"Anwar R was part of Assad’s oppression system"

Defendant Anwar Raslan arriving in court in Koblenz, Germany (photo: AFP/T. Lohnes)

Statement given by Wolfgang Kaleck, general secretary of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights on the ongoing Syria torture trial in Germany.More

HRW details IS group’s "abyss of horror" in northern Syria

Human Rights Watch released details of a mass grave in Al-Hota gorge in northern Syria, in a report published on 4 May. The NGO said that the so-called Islamic State (IS) group was responsible, and has called for further investigations into this pit of death.More

The COVID-19 pandemic: neither turning point nor overall determinant in Syria

Devastation in Idlib (photo: Getty Images/O. H. Kadour)

In war-torn Syria, the coronavirus pandemic is most likely to turn out to be one of a number of intervening factors affecting co-operation formats, military strength, power balance, and prospects for stabili­sation.More

Reporters Without Borders: 2020 World Press Freedom Index

Reporters Without Borders: 2020 World Press Freedom Index (source: rsf.org)

This year's World Press Freedom Index demonstrates the great personal risk journalists are exposed to in many countries around the world. Added to the expected dangers of reporting from dictatorships and increasingly brazen authoritarian regimes, countries with democratically elected presidents are also presenting increasing problems.More