Egypt

Country: Egypt

Riyad Mahrez of Algeria scoring against Nigeria in the semi final of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (photo: Getty Images/AFP/J. Soriano)

Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt

Politics casts a long shadow

This evening, Algeria will play Senegal in Cairo International Stadium in the final of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Joseph Hammond takes a look at how the football championship has unfolded for Egypt and its relevance for the country, which was not originally slated to host the competition at allMore

Qantara dossier: Football Egyptian football star Mohammed Aboutreika: Bridging a deep divide Egyptian football: Sun god, star, Mo Salah Moroccoʹs football star Mehdi Benatia: No defence against an own goal Iran at the 2018 FIFA World Cup: Battling on several fronts Marwa Zein's "Khartoum Offside": Football, film and freedom in Sudan

Poster advertising the Atteyat al-Abnoudy Retrospective in Berlinʹs Arsenal Cinema

Retrospective of Egyptian film director Atteyat al-Abnoudy

Advocate of the people

The Egyptian filmmaker Atteyat al-Abnoudy gave a voice to those people the state had forgotten – and preserved their pride and integrity. Her work provides a picture of social injustices in Egypt since the 1970s. By Christopher ReschMore

Atteyat al-Abnoudy retrospective in Berlin's Arsenal Cinema Interview with director Tamer El Said: "In the Last Days of the City": Between light and dark Egyptian film-maker Youssef Chahine: The great visionary of Arab cinema

Egyptian author and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz on 20 October 1988 in his favourite cafe "Ali Baba" on Cairoʹs Tahrir Square (photo: picture-alliance/Bildarchiv)

Previously unpublished work

Naguib Mahfouz' "The Quarter"

Last year, Egyptian critic Mohammed Shoair made an unusual and thrilling announcement: the discovery of never-before-seen stories by Egyptʹs only Nobel laureate for literature, Naguib Mahfouz. Filed in a cardboard box in the possession of Mahfouzʹs daughter, this slender trove of texts has now yielded "The Quarter". By Marcia Lynx QualeyMore

Remembering Naguib Mahfouz: ″A wave of light on an infinite ocean of darkness″ Naguib Mahfouz's influence on Arabic literature: In the shadow of the master The 100th anniversary of the birth of Naguib Mahfouz: The Egyptian seismograph

Symbolic image of ʹthe civil versus the militaryʹ: a man protests against the referendum on the constitution in front of a statue of former general Abdel Moneim Riad, in Cairo, Egypt (photo: Reuters)

Military dictatorships in the Middle East

The real enemies of the Arab Spring

For people in the Arab world to be able to throw off the yoke of military rule, a new balance must be struck between political and social forces and the military. Though it is now years since the Arab Spring, this goal still seems a long way off. By Ali AnouzlaMore

The role of Egypt′s armed forces: A military empire Political crisis: Sudanʹs deadly counter-revolutionary militia Tyranny in the Islamic world: Keeping the tribe alive

Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor, currently imprisoned (screenshot: YouTube)

Political activism in the Gulf

The UAEʹs policy of zero tolerance

The repression of political dissidents such as Ahmed Mansoor belies the UAEʹs well-publicised attempts to brand itself as a promoter of tolerance, argues Joe Stork. Yet the West's staunch ally in the Gulf has little to fear in the way of criticismMore

Political crisis: Sudanʹs deadly counter-revolutionary militia The Gulf monarchies and the Arab Spring: Counter-revolution in the Gulf DW in-depth: German arms feeding the Yemen conflict UAE foreign policy and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi: Hardly a ruler in waiting

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Social utopia on the Nile?

Sisiʹs new breed of Egyptians

According to the Egyptian government, Egypt is once again experiencing a great civilizational awakening. A campaign aimed at producing a new multicultural identity has been launched, but the progressive slogans mask a more sinister agenda. By Joseph CroitoruMore

The personality cult of Egypt's former president: Nasser is everywhere Egyptʹs political future: Generalissimo Sisi President Sisi and Al-Azhar: Wresting religious authority from the Grand Imam

Cover of Susannah Heschelʹs "Jewish Islam" (published in German by Matthes & Seitz; source: SWR)

Book review: Susannah Heschel on "Jewish Islam"

Jewish Orientalism?

In her book Susannah Heschel investigates the role of Islam in the emergence of a Jewish identity and seeks to pay tribute to the academic legacy of Jewish-German scholars of Islam of the 19th and 20th centuries. But the romantic narrative of a somewhat different kind of Orientalism has its pitfalls. By Ozan KeskinkilicMore

Muhammad Asad: A Jewish Lawrence of Arabia Tom Reiss: On the trail of Essad Bey: The transformation artist Essay by Adania Shibli: Recalling Edward Said's thought today

Arabic calligraphy decorates tiles in Granadaʹs mosque, Spain (photo: picture-alliance)

The demise of Modern Standard Arabic

Tongue-tied Arabs

It is one of the most important Semitic world languages. One of the six official languages of the UN. The language of Ibn Arabis – and of the Koran. And yet Modern Standard Arabic is not very popular with native speakers. Why? Mona Sarkis has some of the answersMore

Arabic in Latin script: Lost in Arabic The Arabic language: A better understanding Interview with literary translator Hartmut Faehndrich: "What I don't see is an on-going interest in Arabic literature"

Human rights under Sisi

Egypt's open-air prison

Egyptian authorities have arrested thousands in a crackdown on dissent, even its most benign forms. And some former prisoners are finding that they are not really free despite having been released. Ruth Michaelson reports on the case of a female Egyptian activist from CairoMore

Egypt's presidential election: The defamation game Abducted civilians in Egypt: The disappeared After the release of Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah: Freedom of expression at an all-time low

Islamic scholar and writer Stefan Weidner (photo: private)

Interview with Islamic scholar Stefan Weidner

Thinking outside the Western box

In interview with Rachid Boutayeb, Stefan Weidner complains that even the most critical thinkers of Western tradition have practically never looked beyond their Western horizons. Islam, Indian religions and philosophies of non-European cultures are virtually absent from this thinkingMore

Non-fiction: Stefan Weidner on the future of the West: Next-level cosmopolitanism Non-fiction: Pankaj Mishra's "Age of Anger": The embittered majority Qantara dossier: Globalisation

Libyaʹs General Khalifa Haftar emerges from a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, November 2016 (photo: Reuters/M. Shemetov)

Russian involvement in Libya

Backing Haftar to the hilt?

The rumours that Libyan General Khalifa Haftar has Kremlin support are as consistent as his advance on the country's capital. In Syria, Russia has flexed its military muscles – but it isn't yet showing its cards on Libya. By Emily SherwinMore

Civil War in Libya: What is Russia really up to?Internecine struggles: Libyaʹs free for all Khalifa Haftar's role in the Libyan civil war: The fight against political Islam

Demonstrators in Algiers protesting against Bouteflika in February 2019 (photo: picture alliance/dpa/F. Baticha)

Elias Khoury on the Arab Spring 2019

The re-birth of Tahrir Square

Ask what happened to the spirit of Tahrir Square and we find the reply in the Maghreb. Today Tahrir Square is in Algeria, in Sudan, and in many other places besides. Perhaps the secret of the Arab Spring lies not in its victories or its defeats, writes Elias Khoury, but in its ability to liberate people from fearMore

Tahrir Square's democracy activists: The forgotten heroes Alaa Al Aswanyʹs novel "The Republic As If": Elias Khoury salutes Al Aswanyʹs courage

Maverick and enfant terrible of the Arab film scene: Youssef Chahine (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Egyptian film-maker Youssef Chahine

The great visionary of Arab cinema

Obsessive, argumentative, yet well ahead his time artistically and in terms of the subject matter his films addressed: 11 years after his death director Youssef Chahine remains a lodestar for the emerging Arab independent film scene. Christopher Resch explains whyMore

Youssef Chahine: "Chaos": Sympathy with the upright citizens of Egypt Interview with Youssef Chahine: "Tenderness has disappeared"Obituary: Youssef Chahine: A cosmopolitan envoy of freedom

During a demonstration on Tahrir Square in Cairo on 3 June 2014, a man holds up images of the Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and former president Gamal Abdel Nasser (photo: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih)

The personality cult of Egypt's former president

Nasser is everywhere

Hagiography on the Nile: the cult of Gamal Abdel Nasser continues to spread, in part because it serves the purposes of Egypt's incumbent president. By Joseph CroitoruMore

Arab nationalism and political Islam: Secularism – ″the other option″?Egyptian historian Khaled Fahmy on the Six-Day War: The Arabs′ Groundhog Day Repression and legitimation in Egypt: The world as al-Sisi sees it

Supporters of Egypt's army chief General Abdul Fattah al-Sisi hold a poster of Sisi in Tahrir square in Cairo, on the third anniversary of Egypt's uprising, 25 January 2014 (photo: Reuters/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany)

Egyptʹs political future

Generalissimo Sisi

Proposed amendments to Egyptʹs constitution will enshrine the militaryʹs position above the state by giving it greater legal means to intervene against elected governments and prosecute political opponents. Egypt is set to become a military dictatorship in name as well as deed. By Maged MandourMore

Repression and legitimation in Egypt: The world as al-Sisi sees it Justice under Abdul Fattah al-Sisi: The law′s an ass Egypt’s new cybercrime law: What Sisi sees

From left, exhibition co-ordinator Heba Farid, artist Huda Lutfi, curator Shiva Balaghi, and artist Sherin Guirguis (photo: Sherin Guirgis)

Inauguration of the AUC Tahrir Cultural Center

Manifesting the unseen

New work by Huda Lufti and Sherin Guirguis explores the poetics of revolution and repression at a pair of exhibitions marking the inauguration of the Tahrir Cultural Center at the downtown campus of the American University in Cairo. By Mahmoud Saber and Jacob WirtschafterMore

Portrait of the Egyptian artist Soad Abdelrasoul: Creating her own universe The Egyptian artist Ali Abdel Mohsen: The natural pessimist The cultural scene in Egypt: Creative artists are the motor for change

Country: Egypt

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