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donate Democratic revolution, bourgeois revolution, Arab revolution
The political economy of a possible success
Arab revolutions If the democratic revolutions are to succeed in the Maghreb and Middle East, these nations must find a way of copying East Asia's economic success. The central element is access to the economic fundamentals that will allow citizens to become true democrats. [ more ]
Repercussions
Historical perspectives on the Arab revolutions
arab spring The discontent fuelling the Arab revolutions has its roots in a western politics of divide and rule, argues Gérard Khoury. Will democratically elected Arab leaders break with the past, or will new repressive regimes emerge sustained by western complicity? [ more ]
Art or vandalism?
Street art Where the Mubarak regime was once the target of political graffiti in Cairo, now it is the interim council. But when there's little to distinguish graffiti from burning flags, veteran oppositionist Yasmine El Rashidi is in two minds about its artistic value. [ more ]
Tunisia: The founding era
Tunisia Reporting from Tunisia, Antoine Garapon is struck by a sense of reversal: the revolutionary sprit has crossed the Mediterranean. Today, he writes, it is the Tunisians who have a lesson to teach us, one that we once shared but that has faded from memory: a lesson in politics. [ more ]
Nuisance factor Gaddafi
Libya Fear of appearing to sympathize with Gaddafi is preventing protest against the Nato war in Libya, writes Daniela Dahn. Beware of disinformation, she warns: experience of past revolutionary upheavals, 1989 included, shows that capitalist interests are never far behind. [ more ]
The Arab Spring
Religion, revolution and the public sphere
public sphere What has emerged in the Arab world is a thoroughly modern mass democratic movement, writes Seyla Benhabib. Speculations that Islamic fundamentalists will hijack the transformation process forget the contentiousness at the historical core of western democracies. [ more ]
The Arab woman: Today's rebel, tomorrow's equal?
women Women have been as vociferous as men in the Egyptian revolution. However their demands for an end to sexual discrimination are not universally respected. Is a new revolutionary patriarchy emerging in Egypt like in Iran after 1979? [ more ]
Egypt: Days of anger
Egypt Egypt has been building up to a showdown with the regime for over a decade, writes Salwa Ismail. To appreciate the magnitude of the revolution, one needs to consider the kind of restrictions that have long been imposed on any expression of opposition. [ more ]
Egyptian transformations
sociology Sociologist Mohammed Bamyeh was present at Tahrir Square throughout the Egyptian Revolution and was able to see the popular political will unfolding. Here he singles out key elements in the uprising and describes the social transformations they have brought about. [ more ]
Algeria: A country in search of its movement
A brief account of the Years of Fire
Algeria In Algeria, the uprising is being kept down by political propaganda and police brutality. Ghania Mouffok describes the deep anger of a population that has been living under a state of emergency since 1992, asking whether the street can join with the liberal elite to depose the corrupt and complacent government. [ more ]
Read also: Ghania Mouffok, "The Revolution will take place from 11'o clock till noon"
The renaissance of democratic hope
The West's response European involvement in the the Arab revolutions needs to be led by society and not by governments, argues Pierre Hassner in interview. "Our role as intellectuals is to protest against authoritarian regimes and to contact and support those resisting them." [ more ]
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