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Political Theory
Al-Shorouk’s Spring
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An interview by Elisa Pierandrei 30 August 2011
“Al-Shorouk newspaper was first issued in February 2009 as an independent newspaper aimed to promote the values of liberalism and modernism…During the paper’s preparation period, which lasted about a year, the idea that objectivity, accuracy and truth in everything would be published in the newspaper was the dominant idea of each meeting.” These are the words of Ashraf Al-Barbary, News Desk Chief of Al-Shorouk newspaper. In a conversation with Elisa Pierandrei Al-Barbary, he says he is convinced that the adherence to these principles makes everyone, whether at the local, regional or even international level, deal seriously with what is published in Al-Shorouk. This newspaper is part of a company linked to Dar Al Shorouk, the largest independent publishing house in Egypt, which was established in 1968 by Mohamed El Moallem, one of the founding fathers of modern publishing in Egypt and the Arab World, who started his publishing career in 1942.
Political Theory
The Arab revolutions and nonviolence
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Amara Lakhous 14 July 2011
The young Egyptians have decided to return to Tahrir Square (Liberation) to defend the revolution. The strategy is always the same: to demonstrate peacefully in order to achieve the objectives.
Political Theory
A New Muslim Religious Establishment for a New Arab World
Brahim El Guabli 27 June 2011

“It was not Islam that bore the responsibility for the political and intellectual weaknesses afflicting Muslim societies—as many a European observer of Islam suggested— but the failure of Muslims to properly interpret their foundational texts in accordance with changing needs” (Mohammad Zaman, p.7)
Religion
Secularism and Islam: An Artificial Divide
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Abdou Filali-Ansary 13 June 2011
“It seems today that the acceptance of secularism within the Muslim world is extremely far away. It is as if, on the basis of deeply-held convictions, Muslim society were demanding a form of not exactly theocracy, but certainly a ‘moralisation’ of public life.” So says Abdou Filali-Ansary, director of the Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations at the University of Aga Khan, London. The director and founder of the Moroccan literary review ‘Prologues,’ Filali-Ansary is also the author of a number of works on the reformist tradition within the Islamic world, including L’Islam est-il hostile à la laïcité? (2002) and Réformer l’Islam? – Une introduction aux débats contemporains (2003). He recently spoke at ResetDoc’s Istanbul Seminars 2011 (19-23 May).
Media and Communication
The lies of power no longer work
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Steven Livingston talks to Mauro Buonocore 5 April 2011
“We are all Khaled Said”. There was a young 28-year-old man who kept united the protesters filling the Egyptian squares to oppose Mubarak. Tortured and killed by policemen who wanted to search him at an internet café in the suburbs of Alexandria last June, Khaled was at the heart of mobilization. His name united an entire people, who allowed him to speak out with one single voice to say “enough” to the regime’s abuse of power. The images of his tortured body circulated the country and were shared online by millions of Egyptians. Beaten up and killed, probably because he wanted to post online a video showing two policemen involved in drug trafficking, Khaled’s name has been used for the Facebook page around which protesters gathered to then physically take to the streets to oppose Mubarak and his system. Would all this have taken place even without Facebook, Twitter and other social networks? According to Steven Livingston, professor at George Washington University and an expert on the way in which the media influences mechanisms in democracies, the answer is linked to technology, more specifically to multiple technologies, such as mobile phones, computers, satellites and cables for the high-speed transmission of data. All this creates a new environment for news that allows citizens to be more aware of what is happening around them and demand power to be more transparent, open and efficient. This provides an immense opportunity for democracies in emerging countries, as the American professor stated in a recent study entitled Africa’s Evolving Infosystems: A Pathway to Stability and Development. He emphasizes the manner in which digital media increase the possibility of creating health systems, helping the agricultural produce market, setting up banking services as well as improving public security and the very quality of democracy itself.