All posts in Politics

TOURISM AND THE REVOLUTION

By | December 31, 2011 | Egypt, Politics, Travel | No comments
The White Desert, between Farafra and Bahariya oasis, western Egypt. By Michael Hoefner, Wikimedia Commons.

By Islam El Shazly

It has been a little over 11 months since the January 25, 2011, ignited to culminate into the ouster of one of the worst rulers in the Arab world in modern history, Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, right on the heels of his brother-in-arms Bin Ali from Tunisia.

A lot has changed since then, some to the better, and some to the worst. We’re not going to get into either of them; they both have long lists.

What we’re going to be talking about is something that has managed somehow to divide the people, mostly triggered by a media that still plays by the pre-Mubarak days of divide and conquer for the sake of the person who is in charge at the time, SCAF (Supreme Council of Armed Forces) at the moment. That something is “Tourism”. Read more…

SYRIA: BILAD AL-SHAM

By | August 24, 2011 | Politics | 1 Comment
Syria. the Revolution 15.03.2011. By, Yusuf Muhammad (scape14897), Flickr.

By Islam El Shazly

In 1260 CE the Mongol horde under Hulagu ravaged Syria, The Great Mosque and the Citadel of Aleppo were razed and most of the inhabitants were killed or sold into slavery.

In 1400 CE Timur, also known as Tamerlane or Timūr-e Lang, the Turco-Mongol conqueror, invaded Syria, sacked Aleppo then besieged and captured Damascus. The Umayyad Mosque was razed and most of the inhabitants were massacred, the rest were sold into slavery. The lucky ones were the artisans; they were spared and sent to Samarqand, the capital of the Timurid Empire. The unlucky ones had their heads piled up in a field outside the north-east corner of the walls, where a city square still bears the name burj al-ru’us, literally “the tower of heads”. Read more…

THE LIONS OF LIBYA

By | April 23, 2011 | History, Politics | No comments

Libyan opposition flag with tags generated from (http://feb17.info/). By Mohammed Shamma.*

February 17, 2011. It was Libya’s turn to rise against the sociopath that has been ruling them for the past 42 years, Qaddafi’s time is almost over, and soon, insha’Allah, he will be joining his brothers Bin Ali and Mubarak in the trash bin of history.

The day of the Libyan uprising has arrived. Read more…

Alexandrian Graffiti

By | March 25, 2011 | Egypt, Politics, Travel | No comments

by M. Butcher

We have all seen it in our travels, on the sides of the road, on bridges, buses, and overpasses. Almost everywhere a spray can may reach. As with art, graffiti is subjective, what some consider to be art, others consider it to be trash. Our modern idea of Graffiti has changed and we are seeing more beauty in the designs on the street.

Graffiti is the name given for images or letters scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any method on public property. Graffiti and graffito come from the Italian word graffiato meaning scratched. It has existed for long time going all the way back to Ancient Greece and even the Roman Empire. Read more…

WALK PROUD. WALK LIKE AN EGYPTIAN.

By | February 20, 2011 | Egypt, Pax Islamica, Politics | 3 Comments

Opposition supporters wave flags amid the crowd in Tahrir Square in Cairo February 9, 2011. Egyptians counted the economic cost of more than two weeks of turmoil on Wednesday as re-invigorated protesters flocked again to Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand President Hosni Mubarak quit immediately. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

by Islam El Shazly

For the first time in history a revolution has been organized as a public event with an open invitation, more like a date between two lovers, the time and the place was known almost two weeks in advance. Without further confirmation, people from all over Greater Cairo started converging onto Midan Al-Tahrir – Tahrir Square – and it was not just left at that, people started gathering at major squares in every governorate in the country. A new day was dawning on Egypt. A new era that no one saw coming. The date was January 25, 2011. Read more…

TUNISIA THE GREEN

By | January 15, 2011 | Politics, Video | 1 Comment

The flag of Tunisia. By gablackburn, Flickr.

By Islam El Shazly

Since Tunisia gained independence from France and it has been known all over the world as a beacon of freedom and economic stability in the Arab world; it was more liberal than Lebanon and with a stability that Lebanon cannot achieve in the near future.

But that was an illusion, the “freedom” that Tunisia enjoyed was not real. The stability it revelled in masked a different reality. When France moved out, they left behind a group of people bred to rule in favour of their masters in Paris. Read more…

MASR – THE PEOPLE

By | January 12, 2011 | Egypt, Politics, Travel, Video | 1 Comment

Egypt: Partly submerged palms above Nile dam, Upper Egypt. Lantern Slide Collection, Brooklyn Museum.

By Islam El Shazly

The people of Egypt are for the most part gentle emotional people, they have been deprived of their right to participate in the way this great country is being governed. From the time of Mohammed Ali Pasha, through the British occupation then the calamity that was the Coup d’état of 1952 and its disastrous after-effects, the people have not been able or allowed to voice their concerns about their country. Read more…

THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

By | June 3, 2010 | Politics | No comments

Surah Al-Israa (The Night Journey). Also known as The Children of Israel.

by Islam El Shazly

Everyone has been following the news lately, and they have been following one thing Freedom Flotilla; unless of course they were otherwise following something more important such as soccer or the latest Star Academy.

A refresher; Freedom Flotilla carrying about 679 peace activists from over 50 different countries, Prominent passengers include some European MPs, and writers and journalists.

The Cargo included toys, school supplies, wheelchairs, medicines, food, clothing, cement, prefabricated homes, paper, and water purification tablets. “There is not even a razor, knife or jack-knife on board,” one of the organisers said, referring to the non-threatening nature of the cargo. Source

Read more…

LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ

By | May 21, 2010 | Politics | 2 Comments

The Loss of Freedom. Courtesy of Aidan McManus, Flickr.

by Islam El Shazly

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT.

France, Star Vega, May 21, 2010

Arab countries’ leaders from the Atlantic to the Gulf call the French president Nicolas Sarkozy and demand he shuts down the Cannes Film Festival, the French Riviera, and the collective district of Paris for being anti-Islamic and anti Semitic. The French President jumps at the command and orders the military to descend on the aforementioned areas and arrest everyone in them in preparation to banishing them to the mines for being un-French and rude. The Arab world also puts a ban on anything hyphenated with French-.

Read more…

WHAT’S IN YOUR BLOOD?

By | March 2, 2010 | History, Pax Islamica, Politics | 6 Comments

The true melting pot of nations.

by Islam El Shazly

Over the last few months a feud was ignited between two Arab and Muslim countries, Egypt and Algeria; with each calling the other everything in the book of hatred that had previously been saved for the worst of enemies. The flames fanned by shady tabloids on both sides to a point that is very close to calling for outright war. All over a silly little sport called football (soccer), and later on for a handball match.

Finally people like Jamal Abdul Nasser and Ataturk have something to be proud of, their dreams of disunity and nationalism has finally come to fruition. Their poison finally achieving what the decades of French and British colonialism could not accomplish.

Both are Muslim countries, and somehow each wanted Allah on their side for each match, which is as stupid as anything I ever heard. Utter disrespect for Allah subhanahu wa ta3ala.

Read more…

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