scholarly journals Assembling a Revolution: Graffiti, Cairo and the Arab Spring

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
The Past ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Tahrir Square ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The City

This essay examines the ways revolutionary desire was articulated and interpreted through graffiti in Cairo, Egypt during the Arab Spring and its immediate aftermath. For writers in Cairo, graffiti was one of many in a constellation of resistances that undermined everyday life in Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt and the SCAF-controlled interim government. Ordinary surfaces of the city were illegally marked, displaying revolutionary potentiality by allowing the seemingly powerless rhetorical openings of engagement. Far from being a monolithic discourse, graffiti created geographies of material protest that were locally enacted but globally contextualized. Political graffiti, like the overall protests of the Arab Spring, emerged in large numbers at particular moments, but its numerous roots spread distinctly into the past. First contextualizing Cairo graffiti as a tool for revolutionary protest, the article then examines specific writers (Mahmoud Graffiti, Ganzeer), particular ‘battleground' spaces (Tahrir Square, Mohamed Mahmoud Street), different graffiti mutations (tags, pieces, murals) and contrary aesthetic manipulations of the form (‘No Walls’ campaign, graffiti advertisements by multinational corporations) in order to assemble a graffiti scene in Cairo as it follows the ebbs and flows of revolutionary desire.  

scholarly journals Enclaving the City; New Models of Containing the Urban Populations: A Case Study of Cairo

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Safa H. Ashoub ◽  
Mohamed W. Elkhateeb
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Spatial Transformation ◽  
Road Infrastructure ◽  
Road Development ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The City ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

This article builds on theoretical foundations from enclave urbanism, authoritarian planning and neoliberal urbanisation to explore contemporary socio-spatial transformation(s) happening in Cairo, Egypt. Relying on a nationwide road development project, inner-city neighbourhoods in Cairo are turning into urban enclaves, whereby populations are being separated by a multiplicity of transport-related infrastructure projects. As these rapid planning processes are occurring, our article aims to explain why these developments are crucial and unique in the context of the post-Arab Spring cities. We argue that the new road infrastructure is creating a spatially and socially fragmented city and transforming the urban citizenry into a controllable and navigable body. We use an inductive approach to investigate the effects of the new road infrastructure and its hegemonic outcomes on the city. On a conceptual level, we propose that the enclaving of the city is a containment method that has erupted since the mass mobilisations of the Arab Spring. In doing so, we use qualitative analysis to explain empirical evidence showing how the city is being transformed into nodes of enclaves, where communities are getting separated from one another via socio-spatial fault lines.

The “Arab Spring” as Seen through the Prism of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Negin Nabavi
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
New Order ◽  
Iranian Revolution ◽  
The Past ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
Arab Middle East

Revolutions are by nature unpredictable and unsettling. That the wave of revolutions in North Africa and the Arab Middle East began so unexpectedly and spread with such speed, leading to the fall of the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, has added to the concern regarding the “new order” that is to come after the initial euphoria. From the outset, the fear has been that these revolutions will follow the same trajectory as Iran did in 1979—in other words, that they will marginalize those who launched the revolutions and provide the grounds for the rise to power of the most savvy, purposeful, and best organized of the opposition groups, namely, the Islamists. Yet when one considers the recent uprisings in the Arab world through the prism of Iran's experiences in 1979, the parallels are not so evident. Mindful of the variations and distinctions between each of the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, it would appear that in broad terms, and beyond superficial similarities, there is little in common between the events of Iran in 1979 and what has happened in the past year in the Arab world.

scholarly journals Das formas como o passado sobrevive no presente: O caso das ruínas

ILUMINURAS ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (29) ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Rodrigues Ferreira
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Visual Anthropology ◽  
Contemporary Society ◽  
Rio Grande Do Sul ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cultural Themes ◽  
The City

Este ensaio é fruto de uma pesquisa em curso sobre as questões sociais e culturais que emergem da temática das ruínas, tomando como referência aquelas presentes na cidade de Rio Grande, situada no litoral do Rio Grande do Sul. Busca-se refletir sobre a temática da memória, em especial a memória ligada aos lugares do cotidiano, como o é a “casa”. A casa, elemento essencialmente afetivo, é compreendida aqui como o lugar onde as memórias são produzidas. Isto leva ao questionamento se estas casas em ruínas não seriam, essencialmente, elementos que demonstram que a memória é uma questão que emerge na sociedade contemporânea. Trabalha-se sobre essas questões, apresentando também um exercício de etnografia feito com e através da fotografia. Palavras chave: Ruínas. Antropologia Visual. Memórias.   About some ways how the past survives in the present: the case of the ruins. An essay about these tracks in the city of Rio Grande/ RS.   Abstract   This essay is the result of an ongoing research on social issues and cultural themes that emerge from the ruins, with reference to those that are presents in Rio Grande, situated on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul. It is studied the theme of memory, especially memory attached to the places of everyday life, as is the "home". The house, mainly affective element, is understood here as the place where memories are made. This leads one to question whether these homes ruined would not to be, essentially, evidences that memory is an issue that emerges in contemporary society. We work on these issues, presenting also an exercise in ethnography done with and through photography. Keywords: Ruins. Visual Anthropology. Memories.

Near Eastern archaeology and the Arab Spring: avoiding the ostrich effect

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (340) ◽  
pp. 639-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Danti
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Rural Village ◽  
The Past ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
The Future ◽  
Major Turning Point ◽  
The Arab Spring

As an American archaeologist who has worked in Syria, living in a rural village in Raqqa Province off and on for decades, I am frequently asked: did you see it coming? Were there early signs of the Arab Spring and the Syrian civil war? The answer is both yes and no. In retrospect, the signs were there, but foreign archaeologists did not always identify them. More often we simply chose to ignore them. Regardless, we have come to many important realisations. Foremost, Near Eastern archaeology has reached a major turning point, which raises a more pressing question: what now? Our answers will profoundly shape the future of our field. As archetypal students of history, we must learn from the lessons of the past and act. Playing the part of the metaphorical ostrich and burying our heads in the sand would be far easier, perhaps even customary, but this cannot be our course. A strong and engaged field is needed now more than ever—my primary intent here is to dissect what this means.

Is Indonesia a Model for the Arab Spring? Islam, Democracy, and Diplomacy

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B. Hoesterey
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Asian Financial Crisis ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Ideal Model ◽  
Tahrir Square ◽  
The Arab Spring ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
The Way

As protestors filled Tahrir Square in Cairo in January 2011, Western diplomats, academics, and political pundits were searching for the best political analogy for the promise—and problems—for the Arab Uprising. Whereas neoconservative skeptics fretted that Egypt and Tunisia might go the way of post-revolutionary Iran, Hillary Clinton and Madeleine Albright praised Indonesia's democratization as the ideal model for the Arab Spring. During her 2009 visit to Indonesia, Clinton proclaimed: “if you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity, and women's rights can coexist, go to Indonesia.” Certainly Indonesia of May 1998 is not Egypt of January 2011, yet some comparisons are instructive. Still reeling from the Asian financial crisis of 1997, middle class Indonesians were fed up with corruption, cronyism, and a military that operated with impunity.

The evolution of the Gulf Coopera-tion Council approaches to security issues after the Arab Spring

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 105-130
Author(s):  
E. S. Melkumyan
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Member States ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gcc Countries ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Arab Spring

The painful consequences of political, economic and social shocks provoked by the Arab Spring forced the political elites of the Middle Eastern states to revisit traditional approaches to maintaining stability and security in the region. This inevitably aff ected the activities of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which was from the outset established in order to enhance cooperation between the countries of the region primarily in the fi eld of security. This paper attempts to identify the key milestones, factors and trends that have shaped the GCC decision-making process in the security sphere over the past 10 years since the beginning of the Arab Spring. The author shows that the Arab Awakening has encouraged the GCC member-states to deepen military-political integration, aimed at strengthening their defense capabilities, as well as their abilities to respond to external and internal challenges. The author notes that the GCC countries still view Iran as the main source of all these threats; moreover, con-sidering substantial strengthening of Iran’s infl uence in the Middle East their position has even hardened. Tehran is accused of meddling in the internal aff airs of the GCC member-states, supporting illegal Shiite groups operating on their territory, and instigating religious discord. In this context, it is quite natural that the Iran’s nuclear programme is of particular concern to the GCC. At the same time, the author emphasizes, that although the GCC member-states declare common approach towards Iran, their practical actions can vary signifi cantly. In particular, it was Qatar which opposed an excessively hard-line approach towards Iran. This fact, as well as accusations against Doha of supporting terrorist and extremist groups, led to two crises that shook the GCC in the 2010s. However, the fact that these crises have been eventually settled shows that security issues still press regional actors towards strengthening the capacities of the GCC. Especially since military threats have been compounded by a new threat — of the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The author concludes that this new threat, which has already incited the GCC to promote cooperation in a health sector, will also strengthen the member-states’ focus on various nonmilitary challenges including epidemiological and environmental ones.

Articulating “Responsibility” as a Prerequisite for the Arab Spring

2012 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 42-58
Author(s):  
Ahmed Elewa
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Fundamental Concept ◽  
The Past ◽  
Western Model ◽  
The Arab Spring

In delineating the causes behind nonmilitant uprising and revolution in the Middle East, I propose that the import, the Arabization and Islamization of the term responsibility, as a key catalyst. Although the concept of responsibility is fundamental to the message of Islam, it is alluded to by an assortment of terms that seem to have fallen out of the day-to-day vernacular of Arab communities. The adoption of the term mas’uliyyah has served to express this fundamental concept. Furthermore, given its origin in post-Enlightenment Western political philosophy, the term provides a rare conceptual bridge between regions termed Western and Middle Eastern, in addition to being a linguistic vehicle capable of coarticulating modern Western and traditional Islamic thoughts. In this article, I trace the Arabization and Islamization of the term responsibility to nineteenth-century nahDah literature and its current establishment in different Islamic currents and schools. Moreover, I explain the utility of the term to express authentically Islamic vocabulary that has been forsaken in political terminology of the past two centuries.I propose that the presence of this now familiar term was instrumental in articulating the necessity of political change in a manner that resonated with millions of Arabs educated according to a modern Western model of education. Finally, I predict that the term responsibility will allow for a “new kinda fiqh” appropriate for an activated citizenry.

scholarly journals Repression and Activism among the Arab Spring’s First Movers: Evidence from Morocco’s February 20th Movement

2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 699-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adria K. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Arab Spring

Why are some people willing to initiate protest against authoritarian regimes? How does repression affect their willingness to act? Drawing on data from the Arab Spring protests in Morocco, this article argues first that activism is passed down from one generation to the next: first movers often came from families that had been punished for opposing the regime in the past. Secondly, repression during the Arab Spring was also counterproductive: those connected to first movers via Facebook supported renewed pro-democracy protests when informed of the regime’s use of repression in 2011. A regime that jails and beats political dissidents creates incentives for its citizens to oppose it; these abuses can come back to haunt the regime long after repression occurs.

Th e Arab “Youth Quake”: Implications on Democratization and Stability

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 159-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Al-Momani
Keyword(s):  
Arab Spring ◽  
Arab World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Islamic Parties ◽  
Unemployed Youth ◽  
The Arab Spring

Th e Arab Spring has advanced the prospects for democracy in the region. After years during which any democratic transition seemed implausible in the Arab World, masses across the region have risen to challenge the political status quo, inspired by the successful revolution in Tunisia. A major cause to the political unrest can be identifi ed in the large number of unemployed youth in Arab nations, whose political frustrations were aggravated by their inability to express themselves in a tightly controlled police state, political corruption, and the incapability of the state to deal with social and economic problems. In addition, social media was a vital vehicle in both sustaining reform movements within single countries, and spreading the wave of demonstrations across the region. Yet, the events of the Arab Spring have challenged the stability of countries undergoing these transitions. Th e possibility for the creation of failed states or international interventions, and the necessity of governments to deal with large numbers of refugees, sectarian tensions, and deeply rooted economic problems threaten to derail the recent political transformations. In spite of these challenges, however, the recent political changes do provide encouraging opportunities for creating peace in the region and moderating Islamic parties.

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