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Al-Manassa •

زهران ممداني يحكم نيويورك.. تحديات عمدة لا يعتذر عن جذريته

تغيّر المشهد السياسي في أكبر المدن الأمريكية على يد شاب اشتراكي ديمقراطي مسلم يتبّنى خطابًا جذريًا بلا مواربة ولا اعتذار.

نجح زهران ممداني بعد 34 عامًا من ولادته في أوغندا لأبوين تنحدر أصولهما من الهند في الفوز بانتخابات عُمديّة مدينة نيويورك، التي تُعدُّ على نطاق واسع مركز الرأسمالية العالمي.

فوز  يشكل قطيعة حادة مع التقليد النيويوركي المديد بانتخاب قيادات بيضاء مدعومة من أصحاب رؤوس الأموال بما يشير إلى تحوّل أيديولوجي كبير داخل الحزب الديمقراطي. كما أنه يمثل انتصارًا رمزيًا لليسار الأمريكي و...

"ما بغيناش كاس العالم".. ربيع Gen Z في المغرب

"ما بغيناش كاس عالم.. الصحة أولًا"؛ يدوي هذا الهتاف من حناجر آلاف الشباب والمراهقين المغاربة في شارع محمد الخامس وسط العاصمة الرباط، غضبًا على وفاة ثماني نساء أثناء الولادة بمستشفى الحسن الثاني الحكومي بمدينة أغادير الساحلية (550 كيلومترًا إلى الغرب من الرباط).

في مواجهة سلطة لا تضع شعبها في صدارة الأولويات، ولا تولي الاهتمام بملف الصحة مثلًا اهتمامها بملف استضافة بطولة كأس العالم لكرة القدم في 2030، لم يجد آلاف الشباب المغارية إلا الشارع الذي سرعان ما اشتغل بالغضب يوم 27 سبتمبر/أيلول الماضي، ع...

Oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros makes his Cairo Jazz festival debut

On Thursday evening, in the soft glow of Ewart Hall at AUC Tahrir Square, the first notes of Joseph Tawadros’s oud fell like ripples in still water—slow, contemplative, and commanding silence. When the Egyptian Recording Orchestra under Wagdy El Fiwy joined in, the Egyptian–Australian virtuoso’s solo expanded into a vibrant ensemble that brought the 17th Cairo Jazz Festival to life.

Tawadros’ performance—spirited, witty, and lively, set the tone for a week-long celebration of intercultural dial...
Al-Manassa •

Gabès residents continue to demand dismantling toxic chemical plant

Residents in the southern Tunisian city of Gabès are preparing for a major demonstration on Friday, demanding the dismantling of state-run chemical facilities they accuse of poisoning the region’s air, land, and sea for over five decades. 

Under the slogan “The people want the dismantling of the units,” the Stop Pollution Movement in the city has called for the peaceful march, starting from the historic Jara market to Nazla Square in Chott Essalam.

Public outrage has intensified this October f...
Al-Manassa •

بريطانيا وحرب الإبادة.. ذئب في ثوب حمل

في الحادي عشر من أكتوبر/تشرين الأول الحالي؛ اليوم التالي لوقف إطلاق النار في غزة، احتشد نصف مليون شخص وسط لندن في "المسيرة الوطنية من أجل فلسطين"، مطالبين بوقف واضح وحاسم للدعم العسكري والسياسي البريطاني لإسرائيل. 

تردد صدى الهتافات في شوارع لندن فاضحًا ازدواجية الخطاب البريطاني وكاشفًا تمسك داوننج ستريت بطقوسها المتناقضة.

فبعد عامين من الدمار الشامل في قطاع غزة ومع صمت القنابل الناتج عن اتفاق وقف إطلاق النار برزت التناقضات البريطانية على السطح، فالحكومة التي تتحدث الآن عن السلام وإعادة الإعما...

جائزة نوبل لـ"سلام القوة" الغربي

هذا الشهر، فازت زعيمة المعارضة الفنزويلية ماريا كورينا ماتشادو، اليمينية المؤيدة للتدخل العسكري الأمريكي في بلادها من أجل "الديمقراطية"، بنوبل للسلام، بعد أن وصفتها لجنة الجائزة بأنّها "بطلة سلام شجاعة ومخلصة"، وأشادت بها لإبقاء "شعلة الديمقراطية متقدة في ظلام متصاعد".

لكن فوز ماتشادو بالجائزة واجه انتقادات لاذعة بالنظر إلى تحالفها مع متطرفين من أمثال بنيامين نتنياهو وجايير بولسونارو ودونالد ترامب، الذي طُرح اسمه أيضًا للفوز بنوبل، ما يضعنا أمام سؤال أعمق عن مفهوم "السلام" الذي تتبنّاه الجائزة...
Middle East Eye •

A Grain of Sand: Elias Matar on the responsibility to mourn Gaza’s martyred children

For more than 700 days, Gaza has endured relentless bombardment. More than 20,000 Palestinian children have been murdered in Israel’s ongoing genocide.

Their voices rarely pierce the global din of competing and biased media where each child’s life is reduced to a statistic, a single grain of sand subsumed in the tide of competing narratives.

For Palestinians, in the absence of honest archives and reliable media coverage, art has assumed an urgent role in resisting erasure. 

Theatre, literatur...
The New Arab •

Monica Hanna on why Egypt must reclaim Egyptology

When we think of Egyptology, we’re likely to picture pharaohs and hieroglyphs, maybe Cleopatra luxuriating in milk baths, or the golden mask of Tutankhamun, distorted by decades of pop culture. 

Wrapped in mystique and grandeur, Egyptology has long been portrayed as exotic, sexy, and full of secrets. 

However, behind the allure lies a painful and often neglected truth: Egyptology emerged as and remains a colonial discipline.

It emerged from the ruins of an empire, built by Western archaeologi...
CairoScene •

Mediterranean Restaurant Almería is a Living Archive in Cinema Radio

Originally published Jun 04, 2025The restaurant industry has become fast and individualistic, and is continually accelerating. A ‘you eat yours, I’ll eat mine culture’ is swiftly encroaching on what was once a deeply woven ritual of sharing. Restaurant concepts come and go in rapid succession; ephemerality is no longer a side effect but a prerequisite for entering the restaurant business. In this race to keep up with ever-changing trends, restaurants pile on hybrid fusions, unexpected twists, an...
CairoScene •

Meet Cairo’s 75-Year-Old Ultra Runner Who Keeps the City Moving

During my first week in Cairo almost a year ago now, I made what seemed like a very bold decision to lace up my shoes and embark on a run around Zamalek. The dogs, the traffic, the staggering heat and the sheer chaos of the city that I have grown to appreciate was overwhelming at the time. I saw no other runners. Just as I was about to turn back, dizzy and defeated, an older woman appeared and, quite literally, picked me up.“Are you new here?” she asked, flashing a smile that told me everything...
CairoScene •

The Saudi Novelist Reimagining Regional History Through Sci-Fi

In the MENA region, as across the globe, 2025 feels like a defining juncture; an uncertain void where the lines between past, present, and future blur. As we navigate the complexities of the digital age, we find ourselves not only existing within this void but desperately seeking to make sense of it. The once fantastical elements of science fiction are no longer distant imaginings but have become interwoven with our reality as human voices and those generated by algorithms are becoming increasin...
CairoScene •

Hot Take: French Isn’t the Language of Love, It's Arabic.

Originally Published on February 23rd, 2025You’ve probably heard about the idea of each person having a distinct love language and you’ve also probably done one of those online tests to find out which is yours, but, as a British languages student, I’ve often found myself questioning: which language is the language of love? Most people, and Google, will tell you it's French. Maybe you’ll ask others and they’ll tell you it's Spanish or Italian, because surely it's got to be a language from the rom...
CairoScene •

Meet the Women Setting the Pace in Saudi Arabia’s Running Scene

From Khobar to Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi women are claiming their space in the running world at an accelerating speed.
Originally Published April 12th, 2025Nearly two decades ago, Mona Shahab was one of the only women running along Khobar’s Corniche. “I would lace up my shoes, knot my abaya in place and set off,” she recalls. But each step was met with disapproval or confusion. “Every face I passed seemed to ask: Why is she running? And why in an abaya?”Twelve years ago, Nesreen...
CairoScene •

Egyptian Elite Freedivers Reveal the True Depths of the Sport

For Khaled El Gammal and Shereen Ramadan, freediving is not about pushing limits, but shedding them.Freediving may be gaining global traction, but it’s still wrapped in mystery. Most outsiders reduce it to scuba diving without the gear, an adrenaline-fuelled dare for those with a loose grip on fear. One breath. No oxygen. Just you and the unknown. It’s unpredictable because the ocean is unpredictable. Because the body is unpredictable. When you descend, you’re not just confronting the sea, you’r...
SecneNow •

Alice Morrison’s 2,230km Quest to Cross Saudi Arabia on Foot

British adventurer Alice Morrison has trekked the Sahara and cycled Africa. Now, she’s on her toughest expedition yet—becoming the first recorded person to cross Saudi Arabia on foot.Alice Morrison moves through landscapes the way others move through memories—fully immersed, deeply attuned, never quite finished. To call her an adventurer feels almost inadequate, as if it reduces her to mere motion when, in truth, she is something closer to a living map—charting, witnessing, absorbing. The 61-yea...
CairoScene •

The Organisation Turning to the Past to Empower Women in the Present

The way we interact with history shapes our collective consciousness. From an early age, as women, we are subtly conditioned to see power and influence as the domain of men. Even if we learn to challenge this notion, we still live in a world that amplifies male voices while silencing women. As a result, a sense of inferiority seeps into our subconscious. We may not often realise it, but memory and knowledge are ultimately the most powerful tools we have as women. Cairo-based organisation The Wom...
CairoScene •

‘The Book of Disappearance’ Reframes Dystopia in Palestine

The longlist for the International Booker Prize, the world’s most esteemed award for translated fiction, has been announced. Amongst the 13 works selected for the longlist is Palestinian author Ibtisam Azem’s novel, ‘The Book of Disappearance’, translated by Sinan Antoon. Originally published in Arabic in 2014, the novel presents an unsettling story of the sudden and unexplained disappearance of all Palestinians. It is widely accepted that the novel neatly falls into the dystopia genre. Yet, in...