Monday, November 20 2006
Talk of Two Cities
In this final installment of Arabesque, Ursula Lindsey tries (and fails) to say goodbye to Cairo.
Friday, July 28 2006
Darkness Falls on Beirut
This will go down in history as an infamous summer, the summer Lebanon -- with all its hopes, its charms, its weaknesses -- was abandoned.
Thursday, July 20 2006
A Clear View to Cairo
Perhaps being far from Cairo -- far from my 16 million neighbors, from the IQ-lowering clouds of lead pollution, from the distracting sound of a hundred drivers leaning on their car horns in a nearby street -- helps me think more clearly.
Tuesday, February 28 2006
The Big Picture
In the bloody wake of ill-penned cartoons lay scattered caricatures of ourselves.
Thursday, January 12 2006
Cairo in Capetown
Away on holiday Lindsey finds that thoughts of Cairo have followed her to Capetown, and representations of Egypt are seen nearly everywhere in South Africa. If only she could bring back hopeful traces of Capetown for Cairo...
Tuesday, December 20 2005
A Thinly-Veiled Display of “Democracy”
Arabesque -- A Thinly-Veiled Display of 'Democracy' -- The Egyptian government has long made it clear that its citizens should be happy with a limited, shall we say 'symbolic', political participation.
Monday, October 24 2005
Small Screen, Big Issues
Some of the Middle-Eastern, Ramadan line-up in TV programming takes on tough issues; Saudi terrorism, Egyptian-Israeli relations, and mainstream US prejudice against Arabs and Muslims, to name a few.
Thursday, August 25 2005
More Than a “Muslim Problem”
Arabesque -- More Than a 'Muslim Problem' -- Explaining terrorism based on religion is a simplification and a cop-out.
Monday, June 27 2005
A Very Public Affair
Egyptian women face social stigma over failed urfi marriages and the paternity cases that often result from these marriages, but one woman has put herself at the feminist forefront.
Wednesday, May 4 2005
Outsiders in Their Own Country
Due to the overwhelming force the Egyptian people face, instances of re-appropriation of public space (both physical, linguistic and political) are rare. Those in power have used every possible strategy to keep the public arena empty, making it a vast echo chamber filled only with the sound of their own empty rhetoric. But something is stirring...
Wednesday, March 2 2005
Growing Pains
Egypt's lack of political vision is directly related to the quashing of all potential leaders: the worst crime you can commit is to develop a following.
Wednesday, January 12 2005
Mistaken Identities
Two women, an Egyptian and a Westerner, share a seat on a train between Alexandria and Cairo. On their journey, they are accompanied by a train of thought wherein the identity of the people of Egypt and its colonizers is as in flux as their historically relative and imagination-filled memories.
Wednesday, November 17 2004
Controversial Subjects
The Frankfurt Book Fair's invititation to writers from the 'Arab world' triggered a bad case of stage fright for invitees, and brought to the fore issues such as the degree of official oversight exercised by most Arab governments in cultural matters.
Wednesday, September 29 2004
Cairo, Close-up
Lindsey's varied and complex neighbourhood is but a speck in the great dusty bowl that is Cairo. It's also very much like any patch of urban life found elsewhere in the world.
