Viewpoints

Tales of the welfare state and our old house

What happens when housing, water, and education are no longer rights, but products? In Egypt’s march toward full commodification, survival itself has a price tag.

Mohamed Gad_ 24-8-2025

Tales of the welfare state and our old house

Latest stories

The road to sectarianism begins with the kuttab

Viewpoints_

When kindergartens move into mosques and kuttabs make a comeback, Egypt isn’t just reviving tradition. It is redrawing the boundaries of citizenship, one child at a time.

Ishak Ibrahim_ 18-8-2025

The road to sectarianism begins with the kuttab

Individualism and Violence| The myth of individual salvation

Viewpoints_

When individual resistance fails, only collective action can dismantle systemic injustice. This last piece calls for solidarity as the antidote to the myth of individual salvation.

Mohamed El-Agati_ 17-8-2025

Individualism and Violence| The myth of individual salvation

The danger behind moving bins

Viewpoints_

From the streets’ familiar cry for spare coins to the state’s relentless “change-fever,” Egypt’s New Republic has turned petty exactions into a governing principle.

Ezzat Elkamhawi_ 16-8-2025

The danger behind moving bins

Is Egypt hooked on Israeli gas?

Viewpoints_

Israel-Egypt gas deal could deepen Cairo’s reliance on Tel Aviv, raising political, security, and energy risks that critics say outweigh potential economic benefits.

Amr Adly_ 13-8-2025

Is Egypt hooked on Israeli gas?

Individualism and Violence| Who will side with the loser?

Viewpoints_

When solidarity gives way to spectacle and faith becomes a commodity, individualism reshapes justice, religion, and resistance—leaving the weakest unheard.

Mohamed El-Agati_ 11-8-2025

Individualism and Violence| Who will side with the loser?

Israel’s ‘boys’ from Bashir Gemayel to Al-Golani

Viewpoints_

From Bashir Gemayel to Al-Golani, Israel’s “boys” are reminded of their place, first with insults, then with airstrikes. A story of colonial contempt and regional submission.

Basel Ramsis_ 6-8-2025

Israel’s ‘boys’ from Bashir Gemayel to Al-Golani

Individualism and Violence| Constructing imagined identities

Viewpoints_

From social exclusion to imagined identities, this piece explores how modern individualism fractures community and fuels alienation under today’s capitalist order.

Mohamed El-Agati_ 22-7-2025

Individualism and Violence| Constructing imagined identities

Why a Muslim woman from New York supports Zohran Mamdani

Viewpoints_

For a Muslim woman from New York, backing Zohran Mamdani isn’t about identity or ideology—it’s about survival, solidarity, and the city she calls home.

Lina Gamal Eid_ 21-7-2025

Why a Muslim woman from New York supports Zohran Mamdani

Individualism and Violence| Capital does not trickle down

Viewpoints_

Despite promises of trickle-down wealth, capitalism entrenches inequality, fueling isolation, alienation, and class-driven violence from Cairo to Buenos Aires.

Mohamed El-Agati_ 17-7-2025

Individualism and Violence| Capital does not trickle down

The president is in the dark!

Viewpoints_

A rent law uproots millions as Parliament flips overnight. Is the president unaware, or orchestrating a final act to reclaim his “savior” image?

Basel Ramsis_ 16-7-2025

The president is in the dark!

Lapid's playbook: Arab allies for Israel's ‘dirty work’

Viewpoints_

Lapid's new plan offers Arabs incentives to suppress Palestinian resistance—outsourcing Israel’s “dirty work” while reshaping the region under Zionist terms.

Mohamed Bassal_ 10-7-2025

Lapid's playbook: Arab allies for Israel's ‘dirty work’

Egypt’s education was once a right, now a ransom

Viewpoints_

In Egypt, daughters die for an education once promised as free, while elites thrive. But history reminds us, it wasn't always this way. It doesn't have to be.

Nawwara Negm_ 9-7-2025

Egypt’s education was once a right, now a ransom

Walls between us| Possibilities for and with Palestinians

Viewpoints_

Palestinians in '48 territories are caught between Israeli occupation & Arab abandonment. Their struggle against erasure demands recognition.

Basel Ramsis_ 3-7-2025

Walls between us| Possibilities for and with Palestinians

The return of the baltagiya?

Viewpoints_

Thuggery in Egypt is neither new nor random — it’s a systematic, state-enabled tool of repression embedded in daily life, politics, and global security strategy.

Omnia Khalil_ 30-6-2025

The return of the baltagiya?

My crime: Managing a media website!

Viewpoints_

Nora Younis's testimony on her 2020 arrest reveals her ordeal & the ongoing fight for independent media in Egypt, where journalism persists despite arbitrary charges & censorship.

Nora Younis_ 24-6-2025

My crime: Managing a media website!

No happy ending after US strike on Iran

Viewpoints_

Trump’s strike on Iran’s nuclear sites may redraw the region’s map, but risks sparking a broader war that could engulf the entire Middle East.

Khaled Dawoud_ 23-6-2025

No happy ending after US strike on Iran

Individualism and Violence| Discrimination etched in childhood

Viewpoints_

Class divides, once bridged by education, are now entrenched by multi-tiered systems and fragmented media. This fuels individualism, isolation, and deep-seated inequality.

Mohamed El-Agati_ 15-6-2025

Individualism and Violence| Discrimination etched in childhood

New Nationality: Citizen of the Compound

Viewpoints_

The new cities are now old while ultra-new cities are becoming home for an ultra-elite class. But for those who live in /ˈkaɪ.roʊ/ and visit Al Qahira, are they still Egyptians?

Khaled Dawoud_ 12-6-2025

New Nationality: Citizen of the Compound

Mama Nawal and the bloody business of education

Viewpoints_

Billions amassed by education mogul, El Degwi, ignite a debate: is education a right or a business? The saga highlights the stark contrast between public need and private profit.

Nawwara Negm_ 11-6-2025

Mama Nawal and the bloody business of education

Walls Between Us| Their enemy within

Viewpoints_

Arabs racing to normalize ties with Israel give a false image of Arab public opinion, while anti-Zionist Israelis expose this to the world.

Basel Ramsis_ 10-6-2025

Walls Between Us| Their enemy within

El-Sisi, Alaa, and Laila: The media and the final act

Viewpoints_

As Laila Soueif nears death on hunger strike, Egypt’s press stays silent. Will they cover her fate—or a pardon for her son, Alaa Abdel Fattah?

Basel Ramsis_ 4-6-2025

El-Sisi, Alaa, and Laila: The media and the final act

Individualism and Violence| When society disappears

Viewpoints_

As inequality deepens, isolation grows. Has individualism fractured solidarity, turning communities into spectators and society into strangers?

Mohamed El-Agati_ 3-6-2025

Individualism and Violence| When society disappears

Electoral law and the danger of normalizing silence

Viewpoints_

With elections approaching, Egypt retains a closed-list system that critics say stifles pluralism. Why was there no real push for reform from political actors or parties?

Mohamed Bassal_ 28-5-2025

Electoral law and the danger of normalizing silence

Al-Sharaa’s calculus: Normalization at what cost?

Viewpoints_

Will Ahmed al-Sharaa agree to give up 15% of Syria’s territory to satisfy Donald Trump, who is eager to be photographed at a peace treaty signing between Tel Aviv and Damascus?

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 24-5-2025

Al-Sharaa’s calculus: Normalization at what cost?

A president alone

Viewpoints_

Hamstrung by reliance on US and Gulf handouts, El-Sisi's intervention on Palestine at the Baghdad summit will remain hollow without giving a voice to the Egyptian people

Basel Ramsis_ 23-5-2025

A president alone

The Damanhour wake-up call Egypt can’t ignore

Viewpoints_

Citizens, educators, lawyers and the state alike must draw lessons from this case of child sexual assault. Failure to heed them makes further sectarian eruptions likely.

Ishak Ibrahim_ 21-5-2025

The Damanhour wake-up call Egypt can’t ignore

Walls Between Us| The mind and conscience of the enemy

Viewpoints_

Is "No Other Land" director on the same path shaped by Pappé, Shohat and Sivan—a break with Zionism toward a shared struggle where not all Israelis are enemies. Some are partners.

Basel Ramsis_ 16-5-2025

Walls Between Us| The mind and conscience of the enemy

Who protects the poor in their fight for Palestine?

Viewpoints_

Nicaragua’s recent legal actions reveal the complexities of international support for Palestine and highlight who truly stands with the powerless in Palestine’s fight.

Mohamed Bassal_ 15-5-2025

Who protects the poor in their fight for Palestine?

Walls Between Us| Fame or victory for Palestinians

Viewpoints_

Side by side on the Oscars stage, a Palestinian and an Israeli achieved a historic win for the first time. Maybe fame isn’t the price of defeat. Maybe it’s how walls begin to fall.

Basel Ramsis_ 13-5-2025

Walls Between Us| Fame or victory for Palestinians

Against women’s work: Social media panders to fragile masculinity

Viewpoints_

Social media fuels a war on working women, masking fragile masculinity as morality while blaming women for economic collapse instead of confronting real power structures.

Ahmed Sayed Fathy_ 6-5-2025

Against women’s work: Social media panders to fragile masculinity

Editorial| Al Manassa in English: Claiming the Right to Be Heard

Viewpoints_

We do not promise you neutrality. We are not above the fray. We are in it, sleeves rolled, searching for clarity in the rubble of euphemism & spectacle. What we offer is integrity.

Al Manassa_ 3-5-2025

Editorial| Al Manassa in English: Claiming the Right to Be Heard

When the sea becomes a gated society

Viewpoints_

We gave up the city's spirit for a dreamlike beach, an elite space where the sea has become a class barrier that welcomes only the privileged few.

Alaa Khaled_ 3-5-2025

When the sea becomes a gated society

Reining in the UAE: A key to ending Sudan’s war

Viewpoints_

As Sudan’s war rages on, one foreign power fuels the fire. From gold smuggling to arms deals, the UAE’s role isn’t just strategic—it’s a central obstacle to peace.

Husam Osman Mahjoub_ 2-5-2025

Reining in the UAE: A key to ending Sudan’s war

When thought is no longer taught

Viewpoints_

Once a space to explore meaning, ethics, and they way of life, philosophy is now gone from Egypt’s schools. What are we losing when we stop asking the questions that shape us?

Chadi Gamal_ 2-5-2025

When thought is no longer taught

One breath of home in Gaza City; then back to exile

Viewpoints_

Climbing over the ruins of my home, I sought any trace of life. Amid the wreckage of 40 years, I found it—green seedlings breathing where everything else had died.

Salem Elrayyes_ 27-4-2025

One breath of home in Gaza City; then back to exile