Egypt
Egypt’s Cesarean Epidemic
The absence of consent before performing procedures, the lack of proper counseling on different modes of delivery, privacy violations (including a sense of entitlement over the mother’s body) and the dismissal of physical pain are all ways that women report being routinely mistreated during pregnancy and childbirth.
In Search of the Real Egypt
Egypt was the seat of an ancient civilization, and today's Egyptians increasingly celebrate it. But the Pharaohs were not Muslims – and for some that is a problem.
The Power of a Smile in Prison
The guard snapped at me that he will shoot the picture and take it to the chief intelligence officer, and then I’ll regret not having shut my mouth. I kept my mouth stretched in the widest smile.
From Kafka to Capitalism in Tahrir Square
The Mogamma, a massive government building in Cairo that became a byword for impenetrable bureaucracy, now faces an equally dystopian future — as a luxury venue that few in Egypt will be able to afford.
When I Spent Six Years Behind Bars, a Smuggled T-shirt Took on Deeper Meaning
In prison, one is not just broken by torture, beatings and violent treatment. It is the continuous, systemic and unrelenting dehumanization that wrecks you in the end.
Agatha Christie Dug for Clues for Real in Egypt
Christie’s association with Egypt lives on long after the golden ages of detective fiction and Egyptomania. The SS Sudan, which still cruises the Nile, has cabins named after Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot. The proprietors of both the Old Cataract Hotel and the Winter Palace claim them to be the site where “Death on the Nile” was written. At Luxor and Aswan, the tour guides’ references to the Queen of Crime are met with nods of recognition.
Transforming Post-Revolution Cairo
Over the last decade, public squares across Cairo have been made inaccessible or demolished to make way for construction projects. There are no places for broad-leaved trees that could hinder surveillance nor shaded spaces that foster assembly. That is not an accident.