Egyptian-Syrian relations after 2011

Egypt and Syria have been important actors in the Middle East, a region of considerable geostrategic importance. This article analyses relations between the two countries after 2011 in the context of events related to the so-called Arab Spring. The first part of the study describes the common path Egypt and Syria took over the past millennia, which explains the significance of their mutual relations. In the section that follows, the author shows the destructive impact of processes related to the Arab Spring on relations between these countries, most notably the eruption of the Syrian conflict and the takeover of power in Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood. Next, the article describes the impact of the fall of Islamists in Egypt in 2013. Although since then relations between the two countries have ceased to be hostile, efforts to repair them remain slow. The author argues that the reasons for this delay could be attributed to the pressures exercised by external actors.

Between aesthetics and politics. The works of Radwa Ashour as an example of committed literature

The article discusses committed literature in the contemporary Arab world on the basis of the works of Radwa Ashour (Raḍwà Āšūr, 1946-2014) and its role in shaping social opinion and attitude. Based on the concept of Jacques Rancière, the author analyzes the life and oeuvres of Radwa Ashour in terms of her commitment in the current problems of Egypt and the Arab world, putting forward the thesis that practically from the first to the last works, Ashour consciously uses literature as a sensitive instrument for diagnosis of the condition of Arab society on the one hand, and as an effective tool for shaping attitudes towards specific phenomena on the other hand - often in opposition to the official state discourse. Where direct criticism of government policy due to political censorship and the lack of freedom of speech is not possible, space opens up for an indirect form of discourse offered by literature and art.

Paradise Lost – The Fate of the Moriscos in Grenada Trilogy by Raḍwa ‘Āšūr. Postcolonial Contexts

The paper focuses on a historical novel, a genre that enjoys great popularity in Arabic literature. Based on historical material incorporated in literary fiction, the contemporary Arab writers try to deal with the most important subjects of ongoing intellectual discourse, such as colonialism, neocolonialism, and postcolonial identity. The analysed material is the novel The Granada Trilogy by Egyptian writer Raḍwà ‘Āšūr (Radwa Ashour), which in 1994, won the Best Book of the Year Award granted by the General Egyptian Book Organisation and the first prize at the first Arab Women’s Book Fair in 1995. It has been translated into many languages, including English and Spanish. The three-volume chronicle covers the period from 1491 to 1609, i.e., from the fall of Granada to the total expulsion of Muslims from Andalusia. The article aims to show that the author of The Granada Trilogy illustrates the gradual and deliberate elimination of Arab-Muslim culture in Spain as another act of the West-East confrontation, putting it in the colonial and neocolonial context of contemporary conflicts in the Arab World.

The “Striped Ones” (Al-Muḫaṭṭaṭīn) by Yūsuf Idrīs – AMirror of the Egyptian Political Scene

This paper is an attempt to interpret Yūsuf Idrīs’ political drama al-Muḫaṭṭatīn (The Striped Ones). Although the author died more than a quarter of century ago, the sociopolitical problems in his dramas still seem relevant. In the face of the latest developments on the Egyptian political scene, “Arab spring”, the overthrow of Husnī Mubārak in 2011, and the depravation of power of a newly elected president Muḥammad Mursī by the Egyptian army in 2013, Idrīs’ dramas, especially Al-Muṭṭaṭaṭīn (The Striped Ones), written in 1969, are especially meaningful. Not only does this drama express the dilemma of a heroic leader whose ideologies are successively satirically blurring, but also addresses the problem of corrupt power, the apparent revolution, ridicule Egyptian bureaucracy, and the phenomenon of bribery. The article’s author tries to show the universal character of this work by comparing its content with the affairs on the Egyptian political scene.

In 2019, half a million people all over the world died as a result of drug abuse. This topic is a very sensitive issue in a number of countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt, where the government informs its citizens every few months about steps to take to combat this problem. Creating a TV series to be aired during Ramaḍān, the most important part of year from the Islamic point of view and also because of the media industry, is one of the tools to create awareness of the danger of drug addiction. In the article, the results of the research conducted on a very popular Ramaḍān TV series from 2015 entitled Taḥt as-Sayṭara are presented. The research focused on the presentation of this problem, in particular whether or not the problem was presented in a realistic way, thus aiding in the fight with drug addiction. This series was special, as it was the first and the only which was devoted so directly to the problem of drug addiction; the sickness covered about 89‒90% of the plot.

The Heart of Arabs. Emirati Songs for Egypt

Creating patriotic songs in the Arab countries is very common. They can represent different types of music, can be connected to special occasions or be created without them, just from the ‘need a heart’. The author of the article has been doing research on contemporary Egyptian patriotic songs for years. On the basis of her results, she has decided to divide all the analysed songs into the those created by Egyptians for Egyptians and in addition created by other artists for Egypt and its citizens. The job of the latter she calls ‘patriotic songs’ as well and divided them into two main groups which are connected with the way they identify themselves. The article presents the results of the analysis of selected songs released by United Arab Emirates’ artists for Egypt. The article’s author’s goal was to check the songs’ topics and which one of the previously mentioned groups they represent. She also mentions the figure of Hussain Al Jassmi, the most popular, in recent years, Emirati singer creating patriotic songs for Egypt. She analysed the songs on the basis of the songs’ topics and combined it with the contemporary relations between United Arab Emirates and Egypt while mentioning their origins historically. All of this allowed her to reach the conclusions presented in the article.