Discovering MENA and other thoughts

Last July I wrote about the several Tamarrod-style copycat movements that had been created throughout the Arab world inspired by their Egyptian brethren with the aim of protesting against the governments in power and in favour of the granting of further rights. One of the most active ones has surprisingly proven to be the Tamarrod Gaza movement, silently formed in the street against what some consider a status quo controlled by Hamas that is growing authoritarian by the day. Several small scale protests have been taken place in the tiny territory throughout recent weeks, but the demonstration most organisers hoped to represent a real breakthrough was scheduled for November 11, a key date for all inhabitants of the Strip. Indeed, las Monday was the anniversary of the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, founder of Hamas rival Fatah, a date revered by all Palestinians that in the past has also been an occasion for protests.

DiscoveringMENA is sometimes honnoured with articles by the brilliant Maria Sanchez (you can read more following this link ). --> El Pueblo, la fuerza durmiente de Egipto.

Tamarrud (rebel yourself in Arabic), Egypt's most famous protest movement , the one that sparked the 30 June huge demonstrations that ultimately ousted Mohammed Morsi, has inspired several copycats in brethren countries. Which ones? The ones who already went through their (successful or not) "Arab Springs".

I have been trying to write an article about my beloved Egypt since I started the blog, but so far I have not been able to. Even though it is supposed to be the country I know the most about, I still feel I don't know enough, moreover if I take into account the expertise all my Egyptian and foreign friends living in Egypt possess. That is why I thought I could write an introductory post explaining what is nowadays happening there, a post for beginners like me. The Egyptian Revolution was a time of hope and enthusiasm amongst millions of inhabitants of the most populated, and often the most representative, country of the Arab world. But scores of people are once and again protesting on the streets, chanting anew slogans against what they consider an authoritarian regime, this time in the form of an Islamist-dominated Government headed by a controversial and opaque figure, President Mohammed Morsi. The Muslim Brotherhood, underground and harshly repressed for 84 years, seems to be ...