Viewpoints

Editorial| Ten years of survival

As the world marks Press Freedom Day, Al Manassa celebrates ten years of survival and independent journalism, and calls for the release of our colleague, cartoonist Ashraf Omar

Al Manassa_ 4-5-2026

Editorial| Ten years of survival

Latest stories

The Gulf wants solidarity, but on whose terms?

Viewpoints_

Gulf anger at Egypt says less about official coordination than about a deeper unease with Egyptian public sympathy for any force checking Israel.

Khaled Dawoud_ 8-4-2026

The Gulf wants solidarity, but on whose terms?

Qom, Al-Azhar and a fractured language of unity

Viewpoints_

In the eyes of Qom, Al-Azhar’s latest stance disrupted more than rhetoric; it unsettled a carefully tended language of Islamic rapprochement.

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 7-4-2026

Qom, Al-Azhar and a fractured language of unity

Female MPs and the political pageantry of ridicule

Viewpoints_

Gendered ridicule turns women politicians into bodies, jokes or scandals—anything but political actors with speech, agency and claims to power.

Hoda Fayek_ 2-4-2026

Female MPs and the political pageantry of ridicule

The Nightmare of Harassment in Schools| On those who grew up too soon

Viewpoints_

Children’s testimonies are finally breaking the silence on sexual abuse in Egyptian schools, and forcing hard questions about protection, accountability and reform.

Tamer Abu Arab_ 31-3-2026

The Nightmare of Harassment in Schools| On those who grew up too soon

Iran’s next test: Life after the Supreme Leader

Viewpoints_

Khomeini built a revolution on charisma. Khamenei turned it into a system of control. What comes next for Iran?

Mina Fouad Tawfik_ 25-3-2026

Iran’s next test: Life after the Supreme Leader

Gaza and the US-Israeli international fascism charter

Viewpoints_

Washington’s intervention at The Hague reframes genocide itself, revealing a wider struggle over law, accountability and global order.

Mohamed Bassal_ 18-3-2026

Gaza and the US-Israeli international fascism charter

Egypt’s fuel crisis and the cost of endless "exceptional circumstances"

Viewpoints_

From pandemic excuses to regional wars, the state’s justifications for price hikes are wearing thin. Seven reasons why the latest fuel increase is pushing Egyptians to the brink.

Ammar Ali Hassan_ 16-3-2026

Egypt’s fuel crisis and the cost of endless "exceptional circumstances"

The illusion of security: Why the Gulf cannot lead the Arab world alone

Viewpoints_

Five years after the “Gulf moment” was proclaimed, war with Iran and Israel’s expanding ambitions expose the limits of Gulf leadership and the fragility of US security guarantees

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 16-3-2026

The illusion of security: Why the Gulf cannot lead the Arab world alone

A wall too far: Why a church expansion sparked clashes in Helwan

Viewpoints_

Residents gathered to defend a church expansion they said was needed for a growing community—until bulldozers arrived and a ten-minute confrontation erupted.

Mohamed Napolion_ 15-3-2026

A wall too far: Why a church expansion sparked clashes in Helwan

The five winds beneath Israel’s wings

Viewpoints_

Israel’s current expansion is less a story of strength than of collapse around it—regional failures, American force, Gulf wealth, and the exhaustion of the old “resistance” order.

Mohamed Naeem_ 10-3-2026

The five winds beneath Israel’s wings

After Khamenei, who stands in Israel's crosshairs?

Viewpoints_

Behind the strike on Khamenei lies a doctrine decades in the making—one that seeks to force Iran to its knees and redraw the region’s balance of power.

Mohamed Bassal_ 5-3-2026

After Khamenei, who stands in Israel's crosshairs?

The eternal minority: January, Gen Z, and the myth of generations

Viewpoints_

From millennials to Gen Z, the same alienated minority reappears—romantic, celebrated, incorporated, and ultimately sidelined by the politics it seeks to shape.

Amr Abdelrahman_ 2-3-2026

The eternal minority: January, Gen Z, and the myth of generations

The creeping shadow of Israeli cartography

Viewpoints_

History shows that maps enter the imagination before they are realized on the ground. Without a forceful counter-narrative, the "Promised Land" is becoming a political reality.

Tamer Abu Arab_ 1-3-2026

The creeping shadow of Israeli cartography

Mubarak's great escape

Viewpoints_

The failure of "January justice" was the inevitable outcome of violent swings between constitutional and revolutionary legitimacy, leaving the window for real reckoning to close.

Mohamed Bassal_ 25-2-2026

Mubarak's great escape

January's children: Men and women in purgatory

Viewpoints_

January shattered symbolic structures and altered the consciousness of rulers and ruled. For those who were children then, it remains a central event in a world governed by fear.

Mohamed Naeem_ 24-2-2026

January's children: Men and women in purgatory

Freedom of belief: In word but not in deed

Viewpoints_

State institutions narrow freedom of belief to Muslim-Christian harmony and curbing incitement, denying the right to openly declare, practice, or express one’s faith, or lack of it

Ishak Ibrahim_ 17-2-2026

Freedom of belief: In word but not in deed

Old paint on new walls: The curious case of the cabinet reshuffle

Viewpoints_

From secret selections to rapid parliamentary nods, the new reshuffle reveals a ruling elite prioritizing narrative and image over the grueling work of repairing national substance

Ammar Ali Hassan_ 16-2-2026

Old paint on new walls: The curious case of the cabinet reshuffle

Gen Z & the Revolution| American echoes, Egyptian wails

Viewpoints_

We live in the same shack of repression, sparring like roosters and celebrating hollow victories. Hatred is a luxury we cannot afford when everyone’s life is precarious.

Mohamed Elsayed Eid_ 11-2-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| American echoes, Egyptian wails

Gen Z & the Revolution| Why I chose the state

Viewpoints_

Why do I support the current regime’s stance toward January? Because I prefer a half-state to no state at all. I prefer a clear, even difficult trajectory.

Ahmed Elshahat_ 11-2-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Why I chose the state

Isolating Israel and the “counter-engineering” of the Middle East

Viewpoints_

Egypt–Turkey rapprochement has unsettled Tel Aviv, signaling a shift toward regional “counter-engineering” aimed at containing Israel’s project to dominate a fractured Middle East.

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 10-2-2026

Isolating Israel and the “counter-engineering” of the Middle East

Gen Z & the Revolution| Reckoning with the rot

Viewpoints_

Growing up in the womb of the counterrevolution, I watched the burial of January. But revolutions don't succeed overnight; they pave the way for a longer experiment.

Omar Magdy Soliman_ 10-2-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Reckoning with the rot

Gen Z & the Revolution| Lessons from the road to Palestine

Viewpoints_

My first relationship with politics passed through my mother’s body. She is Palestinian, living in exile in Egypt, cut off from her land and her family.

Lama Kareem_ 9-2-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Lessons from the road to Palestine

January 25 and the long shadow of unanswered justice

Viewpoints_

The justice track of January quietly mutated into a mechanism for rehabilitating Mubarak-era figures and easing them back into public life.

Mohamed Bassal_ 8-2-2026

January 25 and the long shadow of unanswered justice

The mirage of January 25: When freedom came last

Viewpoints_

January 25 emerges as a political mirage: an uprising constrained by the July 23 system, where freedom’s low priority shaped later defeats, repression, and regression.

Bahey Eldin Hassan_ 3-2-2026

The mirage of January 25: When freedom came last

The 1952 Cairo Fire: What burned, and who lit the match?

Viewpoints_

The Cairo Fire was not a mystery or a conspiracy. It was a popular uprising that burned the old order—and was later buried under layers of denial.

Mohamed Naeem_ 2-2-2026

The 1952 Cairo Fire: What burned, and who lit the match?

Gen Z & the Revolution| Speak, and be seen

On the fifteenth anniversary of the revolution, after listening to one another for a long time and taking turns indulging in nostalgia, we chose to listen to the future.

01/28/2026 - 17:50

Gen Z & the Revolution| Speak, and be seen

Gen Z & the Revolution| A generation taken off the will

Viewpoints_

Can a revolution that isn't passed down still be called a revolution? Seif El-Din Ahmed reproaches the "wounded" generation for locking the door to history on their children.

Seif El-Din Ahmed_ 28-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| A generation taken off the will

Gen Z & the Revolution| Not all battles were public

Viewpoints_

Too young for politics, but too old for innocence: Wafaa Khairy reflects on growing up in Upper Egypt and why the "real" revolution must start in the home, not just the street.

Wafaa Khairy_ 28-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Not all battles were public

Gen Z & the Revolution| The children of open wounds

Viewpoints_

A personal reflection on growing up in the aftermath of Egypt’s revolution. Inherited defeat, enforced silence, and a wound passed down to a generation too young to choose it.

Sara Alsahary_ 27-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| The children of open wounds

January 2011: Glory that cannot be repeated or replicated

Viewpoints_

From Orabi to Jan. 25, Egypt’s revolutions rise generation by generation. A reflection on broken dreams, rebuilt imagination and what the next uprising will inherit.

Ismail Alexandrani_ 27-1-2026

January 2011: Glory that cannot be repeated or replicated

Gen Z & the Revolution| Egypt's last supper

Viewpoints_

Was the revolution assassinated or did it succumb to its own internal friction? A dive into the generation gap, historical falsification, and the struggle for a new narrative.

Noha Abeer_ 27-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Egypt's last supper

The Arab Revolutions: A retrospective on the aftermath

Viewpoints_

As January turns 15, the revolution stands between hope and disappointment, its meaning contested and its questions about power, state, and change still open.

Ammar Ali Hassan_ 27-1-2026

The Arab Revolutions: A retrospective on the aftermath

Gen Z & the Revolution| Raised by the elephant in the room

Viewpoints_

Raised in the shadow of January 25, I learned politics through fragments: photographs, fear, and unanswered questions about what happens after victory.

Murad Abdelmaqsoud_ 26-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Raised by the elephant in the room

Gen Z & the Revolution| The flood on the horizon

Viewpoints_

The January revolution’s “failure” wasn’t preordained, but it was certainly shaped by a limited, if understandable, political imagination.

Nihal Salama_ 26-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| The flood on the horizon

Trump's dam gambit: The GERD & the "CC" diplomacy

Viewpoints_

Trump’s proposal wanes in credibility, yet his push to involve new parties remains a risky move that warrants caution in light of his high-stakes meeting with El-Sisi in Davos.

Mohamed Bassal_ 26-1-2026

Trump's dam gambit: The GERD & the "CC" diplomacy

Gen Z & the Revolution| Realism, after the rush

Viewpoints_

One of the most important effects of the January Revolution on my generation is that it shaped a restrained, cautious political awareness. We do not trust revolutionary rhetoric

Marwan Mehrez_ 22-1-2026

Gen Z & the Revolution| Realism, after the rush

What is the Zionist-Emirati order?

Viewpoints_

The Zionist-Emirati order is not an accident. It is a system—built on shock, annihilation and corporate sovereignty—now reshaping the region.

Mohamed Naeem_ 21-1-2026

What is the Zionist-Emirati order?

From games to cells: How Egypt’s courts fail its minors

Viewpoints_

Children accused of terrorism, jailed for years, and tried outside juvenile courts. A story of innocence colliding with prison walls, and a justice system that looks away.

Tamer Abu Arab_ 12-1-2026

From games to cells: How Egypt’s courts fail its minors

Citizenship on leave: How the state still sees Copts

Viewpoints_

From "non-Muslims" to "brothers," the Egyptian state still struggles to say "citizen." A deep dive into the exclusionary logic hidden within the latest labor entitlements.

Ishak Ibrahim_ 11-1-2026

Citizenship on leave: How the state still sees Copts

Gaza Journalist Diaries| Living on a thin line

Viewpoints_

Alienation has trapped me between longing for both a recent past and an imagined future. Between the two, I balance on a wire. If it snaps, I fall into the abyss.

Salem Elrayyes_ 30-12-2025

Gaza Journalist Diaries| Living on a thin line

Al-Bawaba News sit-in: Silence is no longer an option

Viewpoints_

Al-Bawaba News journalists have spent a month sleeping on the newsroom floor, demanding the minimum wage and weighing worker-run management as pressure builds.

Hesham Fouad_ 25-12-2025

Al-Bawaba News sit-in: Silence is no longer an option

The ghost of Sadat in the Palestinian present

Viewpoints_

Gaza, Trump and the revival of Sadatism: how exhaustion, spectacle and vague “peace” plans are reshaping Palestine—and threatening the entire region.

Basel Ramsis_ 25-12-2025

The ghost of Sadat in the Palestinian present

The future of parliament on a “Snakes and Ladders” board

Viewpoints_

As debate swirls after turbulent elections, efforts emerge to move past the crisis without change, sidestepping deeper questions of representation and parliamentary purpose.

Mohamed Bassal_ 24-12-2025

The future of parliament on a “Snakes and Ladders” board

Egyptian Workarounds| The state too has its own tricks

Viewpoints_

Just as Egyptians have learned to maneuver around political authority when it issues unjust laws, the authority, in turn, has learned to maneuver around the people.

Ammar Ali Hassan_ 23-12-2025

Egyptian Workarounds| The state too has its own tricks

How the West dances around Gaza

Viewpoints_

The myth of the dancing child in Gaza soothes distant spectators while denying the reality of terror, grief and death.

Basel Ramsis_ 18-12-2025

How the West dances around Gaza

The season of tampering with the constitution

Viewpoints_

Amid electoral turmoil, actors seize the moment to float trial balloons for constitutional change, masking deeper plans under the guise of reform.

Mohamed Bassal_ 17-12-2025

The season of tampering with the constitution

A parliament defined by invalidity

Viewpoints_

A parliament born in doubt cannot govern with legitimacy. How flawed elections, political money, and force have hollowed out representation in Egypt.

Ammar Ali Hassan_ 15-12-2025

A parliament defined by invalidity

The signposts to safety for a prudent autocrat

Viewpoints_

Egypt’s road to stability cannot be built on fear and one voice. A warning against false assurances of order and a call for genuine reform and real dialogue.

Tamer Abu Arab_ 4-12-2025

The signposts to safety for a prudent autocrat

Abdelaty not jailed for quacking like a duck

Viewpoints_

Abdelaty’s imprisonment reveals how fear—not morality—drives state censorship, silencing expression and pushing creators into exile.

Ahmed Naji_ 3-12-2025

Abdelaty not jailed for quacking like a duck

Bassem Youssef: The jester with neither illusions nor a cape

Viewpoints_

Yes, Bassem Youssef is an aragouz—one who opens his audience’s eyes to the crimes of other clowns: talentless, banal, and with blood on their hands.

Basel Ramsis_ 29-11-2025

Bassem Youssef: The jester with neither illusions nor a cape

It's time to free the judiciary from the shackles of election supervision

Viewpoints_

Judicial supervision was sold as the safeguard of Egypt’s elections. Today, it stands exposed as a scapegoat for deeper structural flaws, and a system long engineered for control.

Mohamed Bassal_ 25-11-2025

It's time to free the judiciary from the shackles of election supervision

Egyptian Workarounds| Outsmart, adapt, survive, repeat

Viewpoints_

Egyptians have long used clever workarounds to resist hardship and power—crafting quiet, everyday acts of defiance that stretch from ancient history to today.

Ammar Ali Hassan_ 19-11-2025

Egyptian Workarounds| Outsmart, adapt, survive, repeat

Reproducing Mubarak’s last parliament

Viewpoints_

Egypt’s new parliament vote revives Mubarak-era fusion of money and power, sidelining voters and opposition and risking another shock born of rigged politics.

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 18-11-2025

Reproducing Mubarak’s last parliament

The pink card is gone, but so are the voters

Viewpoints_

Reform promised inclusion. Instead, Egypt’s elections became quieter, narrower, and emptier—proof that monopoly needs no “pink card” to endure.

Mohamed Bassal_ 11-11-2025

The pink card is gone, but so are the voters

Migration as an act of resistance

Viewpoints_

Migration is more than a problem it is an anti-colonial act that challenges global inequalities and reclaims justice for the peoples of the Global South.

Sherif Azer_ 6-11-2025

Migration as an act of resistance

The Nobel Prize for ‘Peace Through Force,’ the Western way

Viewpoints_

The Nobel Peace Prize now honors “peace through force,” reflecting Western power more than justice, with Machado’s win spotlighting this shift.

Cara Burdon_ 28-10-2025

The Nobel Prize for ‘Peace Through Force,’ the Western way

It is mismanagement that floods the Nile

Viewpoints_

Sudan treats the Nile flood as climate and dam-driven; Egypt frames it as politics. In both, farmers bear the cost of mismanaged waters.

Saker El Nour_ 23-10-2025

It is mismanagement that floods the Nile

Raouf Mosaad sets out on his final journey, Salam!

Viewpoints_

Remembering Raouf Mosaad — the Egyptian writer who turned exile, dissent, and desire into art, making literature his lifelong act of freedom.

Al Manassa_ 22-10-2025

Raouf Mosaad sets out on his final journey, Salam!

Sectarian zeal recycled: Branding Christians as Zionists

Viewpoints_

A rising wave of criticism paints Egyptian Christians as Zionists, but such claims echo sectarian logic and ignore a long history of Christian anti-Zionism.

Ishak Ibrahim_ 20-10-2025

Sectarian zeal recycled: Branding Christians as Zionists

Gaza Journalist Diaries| Questions without answers

Viewpoints_

As Gaza falls silent after war, a journalist walks through ruins and unanswered questions, searching for meaning in survival.

Salem Elrayyes_ 15-10-2025

Gaza Journalist Diaries| Questions without answers

Farewell, Mekkawy

Viewpoints_

Ahmed Mekkawy, a pioneering Egyptian tech and digital rights advocate, is remembered for his generosity, activism, and lasting impact on open knowledge and technology.

Al Manassa_ 14-10-2025

Farewell, Mekkawy

Remembering a Massacre| Maspero as I witnessed it

Viewpoints_

An eyewitness recalls the night of the Maspero massacre—texts, panic, and the chilling realization of what happens when the army turns its guns on citizens.

Mohamed Naeem_ 9-10-2025

Remembering a Massacre| Maspero as I witnessed it

Will Israel end the same way as Apartheid?

Viewpoints_

Israel’s war on Gaza is fueling growing global isolation, with rising calls for sanctions that echo South Africa’s apartheid-era experience.

Amr Adly_ 7-10-2025

Will Israel end the same way as Apartheid?

The autumn of Camp David

Viewpoints_

Camp David’s promises of peace and prosperity are fading as Sinai faces new threats and Israel asserts dominance. Egypt must prepare for what comes after.

Mohamed Naeem_ 30-9-2025

The autumn of Camp David

A belated awakening on the brink of disaster

Viewpoints_

Egypt’s belated recognition of Israel as an enduring threat sparks debate over peace, complacency, and national security.

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 29-9-2025

A belated awakening on the brink of disaster

To Palestine| Sailing through fear, carried by hope

Viewpoints_

As the Sumud Flotilla nears Gaza, Basel Ramsis writes of fear, resolve, and a global movement sailing not just toward Palestine—but against silence, siege, and surrender.

Basel Ramsis_ 27-9-2025

To Palestine| Sailing through fear, carried by hope

To Palestine| From boats of death to boats against death

Viewpoints_

The Senegalese migrant Serigne Mbayé Diouf joins the Global Sumud Flotilla, risking his life in a boat again, this time to stand with Palestinians in Gaza.

Basel Ramsis_ 23-9-2025

To Palestine| From boats of death to boats against death

The summit that whispered while Gaza burns

Viewpoints_

As Netanyahu escalates and Washington shields him, the Doha Summit offers rhetoric but stalls on action. Can the Arab world afford another missed moment?

Mohamed Bassal_ 21-9-2025

The summit that whispered while Gaza burns

To Palestine| Fear, resistance, and a Catalana named Carol

Viewpoints_

It’s not my knowledge of the Arab-Israeli conflict, or of the Palestinian cause or even the latest news from Gaza that gives me a sense of purpose right now.

Basel Ramsis_ 17-9-2025

To Palestine| Fear, resistance, and a Catalana named Carol

Egypt must prepare for Israeli recklessness

Viewpoints_

Egypt must take seriously the risk of renewed Israeli aggression, avoid denial, and prepare for conflict that could prove long, bitter, and existential.

Mohamed Naeem_ 16-9-2025

Egypt must prepare for Israeli recklessness

Betrayed by the shepherd, who will the wolf devour after Doha?

Viewpoints_

The bombing of Doha exposes the collapse of the US security umbrella, revealing Israel as Washington’s true base and Gulf states as sheep guarded by the wolf.

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 15-9-2025

Betrayed by the shepherd, who will the wolf devour after Doha?

To Palestine| How can we recover from loving Tunisia?

Viewpoints_

From Sidi Bou Said to Gaza, Basel Ramsis writes of love, blood, and solidarity. On board the Sumud Flotilla, the journey resumes. Tunisia behind, Palestine ahead.

Basel Ramsis_ 11-9-2025

To Palestine| How can we recover from loving Tunisia?

Property developers are the statelets ruling ‘Egypt’

Viewpoints_

Real estate firms act like mini-states, turning basic rights into costly privileges and deepening class segregation behind gated walls.

Shaher Ayad_ 10-9-2025

Property developers are the statelets ruling ‘Egypt’

From dates to oil, the Arab project of slavery

Viewpoints_

From the slave trade in dates and pearls to oil and the kafala system, the Gulf’s legacy of exploitation reveals a modern model of feudal power.

Ahmed Naji_ 10-9-2025

From dates to oil, the Arab project of slavery

Heard, not read: How Egypt silences its media

Viewpoints_

Presidential pledges of free expression clash with reality as the Transport Ministry targets Veto for exposing its reliance on costly advisers.

Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafeez_ 8-9-2025

Heard, not read: How Egypt silences its media

Who will upstage Netanyahu at the New York showdown?

Viewpoints_

As Netanyahu plans to use the UN stage to pronounce the two-state solution dead, over 140 countries prepare for a historic diplomatic standoff. But where is the Arab world?

Mohamed Bassal_ 7-9-2025

Who will upstage Netanyahu at the New York showdown?

To Palestine| Paths of departure, routes of return

Viewpoints_

Yousef’s family fled Palestine on foot in 1948. Now, aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, he attempts his first symbolic return, by sea, towards a homeland he’s never seen.

Basel Ramsis_ 7-9-2025

To Palestine| Paths of departure, routes of return

To Palestine| Messages from the sea

Viewpoints_

No one should have to travel from the western Mediterranean to the east just because the fascist state is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

Basel Ramsis_ 4-9-2025

To Palestine| Messages from the sea

To Palestine| We sail, and your hearts sail with us

Al Manassa’s writer Basel Ramsis joins the Global Sumud Flotilla sailing from Barcelona to Gaza, carrying with him the hearts of millions who cannot march or sail, but refuse to be silent.

09/01/2025 - 17:41

To Palestine| We sail, and your hearts sail with us

Sailing to Gaza, we wanted you with us Mr. Chaplin

Viewpoints_

As thousands gather to see us off at Barcelona’s docks, Chaplin’s spirit echoes. Marching or sailing for Palestine is defending life, children, humanity, and our future.

Basel Ramsis_ 31-8-2025

Sailing to Gaza, we wanted you with us Mr. Chaplin