Since the war on Iraq ardent calls for “change” have become fashionable in Arab countries. These appeals come from various quarters. However, the variety of the demands for change betray the nature and the extent of the power-war currently unfolding in the region. While “change” apparently means all things to all people, three broad stages have emerged: the popular arena, the regimes, and the Americans and their European allies.
In the first week of March the scene in Egypt could well have come out of a black comedy. The General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood launched an initiative for reform in Egypt in a press conference held at the Press Association...
When Egyptian president Husni Mubarak told an interviewer on January 2 that there will be no bequeathing of power in Egypt he was stating the obvious...
The tyrannical rulers in the Arab world who, be they monarchist or "Republican", stifle any and every activity in their countries that dare raise its head without their explicit bidding, even from their allies among the secular elites, have in recent years been giving free scope to one and only one activity: feminist propaganda and activism...
In October the Egyptian authorities released several hundred political detainees, out of the many thousands that it is estimated to hold. Those who were released included the so-called "historical leaders" of the Gama’ah Islamiyya (Islamic Group), who were nearing the end of the 25-year prison sentences they were given in connection with the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981.
Since the war on Iraq ardent calls for "change" have become fashionable in Arab countries. These appeals come from various quarters. However, the variety of the demands for change betray the nature and the extent of the power-war currently unfolding in the region.
A few weeks after the September 2001 incident, the Egyptian authorities began an appeal for what they called "the renewal of religious discourse".
One feature of the increasing assertiveness of Indonesia’s Islamic movements is the demand that the Shari’ah be implemented as a solution to its social ills. ABDAR RAHMAN KOYA discusses the implications of this issue.
