Discovering MENA and other thoughts

El 2013 está a punto de terminar. Un año que ha sido especialmente intenso en Oriente Medio y Norte de África y del que repasamos los momentos o acontecimientos más destacados:

Egypt: a second revolution, a coup and back to square -1 2013 has been a seriously rocky year for Egyptians. Massive protests against then President Morsi inaugurated the year, and the growing hatred was channelled through what has proved to be an incredibly useful vehicle across the region: the Tamarrud ("Rebel yourself") movement . A turning point was reached on 30 June , and the Army felt legitimised by the millions of people who had taken to the streets to oust the President and take the reins of a renewed transition to democracy. The Army, spearheaded by new superhero Colonel Sisi, also felt somewhat legitimised to break in the huge Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins of Rabaa Al-Adawiya, leaving behind hundreds of dead and a deeply polarised country, where stability is little by little imposed again, thanks to an iron fist that has had no qualms in arresting, torturing, repressing... All for the sake of Egypt's recovering its honour and economic well-being, that is. Th...

Talking about politics in Lebanon is always tantamount to wondering about the status of Hezbollah (meaning "Party of God"). Hezbollah is, at the same time, as The Economist likes to call it, a party-cum-militia, created within the Shia community and funded by Iran during the country's civil war - in 1982 - with the main aim of offer resistance (muqawama) to the state's self declared biggest enemy that had just (taking advantage of the ongoing chaos) invaded the country: Israel. Its paramilitary wing is still regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. Several countries and organizations in the West and elsewhere (U.S., Netherlands, France, Gulf Cooperation Council, U.K., Australia, Canada, the European Union ) classify Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, be it in whole or in part.

Do you remember being a child and being told stories about the "space race"? Didn't you imagine handsome brave American and Russian astronauts in over-the-rainbow modern space shuttles that would take them to the moon, or even somewhere else? Didn't our parents dream of Sputnik, Laika, Armstrong and the likes? Well, it seemed the Soviet Union and the United States were not the only ones fantasising about flying to the moon. A group of Lebanese youths once shared this dream and saw themselves conquering the space.

Francia se ha erigido durante décadas como referente e ideal de una república laica en estado puro, una nación orgullosa de su historia y raíces, pero también (o precisamente por ello) una nación inclusiva deseosa de mostrar sus virtudes a todo aquel que desee residir en su seno. Una república que crea ciudadanos que llevan marcados a fuego en sus conciencias las palabras  “libertad, igualdad y fraternidad” .

¿Cuál es la primera imagen que aparece en la mente de cualquiera cuando piensa en Hamas? ¿Hombres barbudos vestidos de oscuro gritando a voces y despotricando sobre Israel? ¿Jóvenes encapuchados que izan banderas y marchan en las calles del pequeño territorio de Gaza? La realidad es que eso puede estar cambiando, ya que el grupo militante islámico ha nombrado como portavoz a una persona completamente diferente de a lo que la gente en las calles está acostumbrada. Se trata de una persona  educada en Gran Bretaña , culta, que ocupó un puesto en la versión inglesa del canal de noticias estatal iraní, que usa ropa de colores y a menudo sonríe a los cuatro vientos. Esta persona tiene 23 años, tiene un hijo y ya se ha divorciado una vez. Esta persona es, sorprendentemente,  una mujer . Su nombre es  Al-Israa Moudallal , y se enorgullece enormemente de ser la primera mujer en ocupar el cargo de portavoz en materia de relaciones con los medios internacionales, una tarea extrema...