Beirut-based Fiction & Other Writings
It has been three years already: Eye on the East has still not run out of things to say because Lebanon and the Arab World has never been so full of things to talk about. But since 2011, it has been each and every one of you, the readers, followers and supporters that have helped in keeping this going and made it worthwhile…. And for that, I thank you all.
Continue reading “Three Years and Counting: Looking Back and Looking Ahead, in Pictures”
In 1949, George Orwell gave us a glimpse of what would become the fate of millions, to be ruled by the cruelest of dictatorships the world would see in the years to come. Sadly, 1984 became more of a manual for the world’s most ruthless dictators, rather than a guidebook for people to navigate through and fight the control and oppression. Continue reading “Maybe this wasn’t meant for us…”
Note: Eye on the East has the pleasure to post a brief testimony on the ongoing demonstrations in Egypt by Rania, written on July 2, 2013. Rania is an Egyptian humanitarian aid worker, closely and passionately following the developments in her country from wherever her job takes her. [Read “Tahrir: Rebelling with a Cause” for a brief background on the latest demonstrations against President Mohammad Mursi.]
“I’m in Paris actually, but my mind is in Tahrir square of course… Although not as 100% as the first time, I must confess. If only because I’ve become mildly embittered by our (Arabs) utter failure to take a breath, and calmly plan a road map for the future. The first time around, of course it was the exhilarating sense of freedom, and unity that transcended class, religion, ethnicity… Continue reading ““We’re Stubborn as Hell””
Note: Eye on the East has the pleasure to post the following eye-witness account on the ongoing demonstrations in Egypt by Dalia Bayoumi, written on July 2, 2013. Dalia lives in Cairo and has been an active participant and narrator of the Egyptian Revolution since 2011. [Read “Tahrir: Rebelling with a Cause” for a brief background on the latest demonstrations against President Mohammad Mursi.]
“Marching to Tahrir on June 30th was simply breathtaking. I have to be honest, I was anxious, having been to Tahrir, but never had I felt so strongly about a cause before. I abandoned my most trusted reason of thinking what next and on complete impulse just left with a couple of friends. Enough is simply Enough! I did not care about the so-called Islamists’ threats of sexual harassment or aggression. I headed out from my place close to the Gezira Club in Zamalek (a supposedly upper-middle class neighborhood) and missed the club ‘chi chi march,’ but joined what I may call the ‘house help march,’ lovely modest Egyptians who were chanting “Erhal, Erhal” (Leave, Leave) and “I am not a sinner, I am not a non-believer, down down with the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule.” I loved the contrast as we marched close to the high brow opera life, that diverse spectrum of people united under a cause, bringing back memories from the last days of the first round of 18 days [in 2011].
Continue reading “Tamarod “has Restored my Faith in the Revolution””
If this doesn’t exemplify people power, then I’m not quite sure what does.
Some have called it a second revolution, yet the over 22 million Egyptians who attached their name to the Tamarod (Arabic for rebel) movement by signing their petition for Mohammad Mursi to step down and the overwhelming crowds that keep filling the squares of Egypt, starting from Tahrir Square, are only carrying on with the revolution of January 25, 2011. Revolution doesn’t come easy and on June 30, 2013 it is only its second chapter that has started to be written. Continue reading “Tahrir: Rebelling with a Cause”
We all know that barely two years after a revolution is rather early to assess its success, but for some Egyptians, the prospects of the post-revolution era are not looking particularly bright already.
In a recent talk in Beirut by Mohammad al-Agaty, head of the Arab Alternative Forum for Studies and member of the Popular Socialist Alliance, and Reem Maged, an Egyptian journalist and ONTV host, both agreed that beyond the surface of a new era in the making, new alleged freedoms and the absence of former regime members, deep down, not a lot of changes have taken place in Egypt. Continue reading “Egypt: Waiting for What’s Next”
Nobody with the smallest amount of common sense should disagree that the reactions to the “Innocence of Islam” movie were simply senseless. Of course, it could have remained violent and lawless, had it not been for the sad unfolding of events in Benghazi, which led reactions into the realm of the criminal. Much has already been written and said in this regard. But what got me thinking are some commentators’ views and articles in the Western press suggesting that the violence witnessed in the past days signals some sort of failure of the Arab Spring or Arab Revolutions, if only because the most severe violence is taking place in post-revolution countries. Continue reading “Failure of the Arab Revolution?”
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