Mubarak: The Trial of the Century Must Be Above Reproach

This article is also published on both the MidEastPosts and MasterPeace blogs.

On August 3rd, as the entire Arab world watched with rapt attention, a legal circus unfolded in the police academy building in New Cairo, temporarily designated as a courthouse. While inside lawyers shouted over each other, and one went so far as to demand a DNA test as he believed the real Hosni Mubarak had died in 2004, outside street clashes took place between pro- and anti- Mubarak protesters and riot police stationed there to “keep the peace”. The importance of this trial can barely be understated, and it is for this reason that it must be held in conditions entirely above reproach. In this regard, the process has thus far been only a partial success. 

Tahrir is Dead. Long Live Democracy!

This is an article I posted on the MasterPeace blog in May, immediately after the "second day of rage". While many more concessions were made by SCAF following continued protests, including the pushing back of elections, I believe that the central point of this article, that Tahrir protesters are no longer representative of public opinion in the country at large, still stands.

Egypt held its “second day of rage” on Friday, otherwise known as “Revolution 2.0” and the result was flat and disappointing. On the original Day of Rage on Friday 28th of January, the mood was one of conviction and fervor. The chants and slogans had the weight of a united populace behind them. In stark contrast, the atmosphere in Tahrir Square on Friday 27th of May was uncertain and the chants somehow rang false. Despite the claims by those admitting people to the square that there were one million present, the numbers were clearly only in the tens of thousands, and the majority of them appeared to be spectators. The previously good-natured culture of protestors bringing large amounts of food and drink to the square and then handing it out for free to their fellow-protestors in a show of comradeship has been replaced by an aggressive army of vendors selling tea, packaged snacks, popcorn and candy-floss.