EGYPT: Egyptian Female Cartoonist Pokes Fun at Fundamentalists

March 29-31, 2013 by MEDEA BENJAMIN

One of the women who spoke at the Women’s Assembly during the World Social Forum in Tunisia was not a political activist, but a cartoonist. Dooa Eladl is 34-year-old Egyptian woman who calls herself a Muslim anarchist. Her work appears in the prominent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm She has become one of Egypt’s best-known political cartoonists, in a field completely dominated by men. (One of her humorous drawings is a portrait of herself marching to work, her hair tied to the mustaches of four of her male colleagues.)

EGYPT: All Unionized and Nowhere to Go

January 8, 2013

Decree 97 of November 25, 2012 went virtually unnoticed in the political upheaval following President Morsi’s November 22 constitutional declaration which granted him almost dictatorial powers. Decree 97 amended the law regulating trade unions and removed all office holders of the state-sponsored Egyptian Federation of Trade Unions (ETUF) over 60 years old. They are to be replaced by candidates who received the second-largest vote tally in the 2006 national union elections—widely considered exceptionally corrupt. In August 2011, the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration certified their invalidation and dissolved the ETUF’s executive board.

Egypt in Light of the Iranian Revolution

December 31, 2012

The Restoration of a Dictatorship?

The new constitution submitted to referendum by Mohamed Morsi, the president of Egypt elected with the support of the Freedom and Justice party, i.e. the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, in addition to its properties of attacking working-class achievements as well as women’s and minorities’ rights, is preparing the legal ground for the Brotherhood to seize the whole political power in the country. The powers proposed for the president in the constitution, not subject to any supervision, are leading Egypt toward dictatorship.

EGYPT: Say “Yes” to the Revolution

Dec 21 2012 by Mohamad Adam

Dear Mom and Dad,

I hear you are going to vote “yes” on the draft constitution. But because I know you well, and I know you only stand up for what is right, I would like to tell you a short story and make a small request.

EGYPT: Egyptian anarchists speak

The following statement was released by Comrades from Cairo Egyptian anarchists) on October 30, 2012.

Brothers in the Hood: Egypt’s Soft Powers and the Arab World

10 Dec 2012  by Amro Ali

A Jordanian Islamist recently expressed his disappointment: “Egyptians are not giving President Mohammed Morsi a chance!” I responded, “Would you be this forgiving had Hamdeen Sabahi, a secular Nasserist, issued a decree that gave himself exceptional powers?” Silence. Irrespective of Morsi “rescinding” those powers, the continuing theatrics matters to a larger, if at times unacknowledged, constituency.

EGYPT: Mahalla workers rise up against Mursi’s constitutional decree

29 Nov 2012  by Hisham Fouad from Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists

Once again the 20,000 workers at Misr Spinning in Mahalla have taken the lead in challenging the Egyptian regime. They have rejected president Mohamed Mursi’s constitutional amendments and the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.

EGYPT: Things are getting weird in Egypt

An odd alliance between pro-democracy activists and Mubarak loyalists is raising eyebrows. Who is playing who?

JORDAN: Cash Crisis, Arab Ferment Threaten Jordan’s Stability

Anti-government protesters shout slogans during a demonstration following an announcement that Jordan would raise fuel prices, including a hike on cooking gas, in Amman on November 13, 2012. The placard read ‘Empty bellies do not know of belonging and loyalty.’ Violent protests that shocked Jordan this month have mostly subsided, but unprecedented chants for the ‘fall of the regime’ suggested a deeper malaise in a kingdom so far spared the revolts reshaping the Arab world. (Reuters Photo/Muhammad Hamed)