2009

Joint workshop with CIDOB ” Reform in Egypt: political, economical and social challenges”: Barcelona- ( November 2009):

During the seminar held in CIDOB venue – Barcelona the 23rd and 24th of November Experts and researchers from Egypt, Syria, Spain and other European countries discussed the reform process in Egypt, through three main topics:
The first topic was related to the nature of the political system, and was entitled “Where is Egypt heading?”

1. The features of the Egyptian political system.
2. The possibility of building genuine democratic Islamist movements, believing in secularism.
3. The crisis of the secular movements.

As for the second, it was about the” Economic and social dynamics: which present and which future for Egypt?”

1. The economic reform: the limits of success:
2. New political protest and socio- economic realities:
3. Al- Mahala Al- Kobra industrial city: Can the social protest movements transform into a political reality?

The third topic involved the impact of external factors on the domestic politics:

1. The Change of the regional environment:
2. The Egyptian role in a new Arab environment:
3. How did the external factor affect the reform process?

Report about: “Anti- terrorism law in Egypt”, (August 2009):

After the 9/11 incidents, a series of anti- terrorist laws have been issued in many countries of the world, even in democratic countries such as: UK, and USA. As for Egypt, this issue has been very problematic, especially when some decision- making circles announced the possibility of replacing the existing emergency law by an anti- terrorist law. Therefore, this report will tackle three main questions: what are the main features of this anti- terrorist law? How can we understand the anti- terrorist law in the current social and political context? What will be its expected implications on the Egyptian political scene?

Discourse analysis for President’s Obama Speech in Cairo, 4th of (June 2009):

Obama made a visit, on the 4th of June 2009, described by many as “historic”, to Cairo. During his visit, Obama gave a speech to the Islamic World from Cairo University. The speech discussed nine main points: violence and extremism, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Palestinian case, the Iranian nuclear program, democracy issues, religious freedom, women’s rights and economic development. The AFA team published a report with the discourse analysis on the AFA website, and a briefing of it was published in both El Shorouk Egyptian newspaper, and As-Safir Lebanese newspaper.

Training a pool of University Lecturers from Iraq on Parliamentary Systems (March 2009):

Considering the difficult situation Iraq is living currently, on both political and security levels. The Iraqi parliament members suffer from lack of information, studies and consultants, and at the same time, the Academics with their capacities and experiences cannot reach the decision making circles. This gap influences the development of democracy and human rights badly in Iraq. Therefore, the Arab Forum for Alternatives (based in Cairo), with the support of WFD (Westminster Foundation for Democracy- London), and in cooperation with the League of Academic Lecturers in Iraq, is conducting this project aiming to bridge the gap mentioned, by providing support to the Iraqi parliament through academic advisors. In order to achieve that, a training program will be held in Beirut, from the 7th till the 16th of March 2009, to develop a core group of experts ready to support the Iraqi Parliament with Papers and recommendations on bills and laws. The training will provide a group of university lecturers in Iraq with the main knowledge and skills to be able to play a role in advising, lobbying and providing policy recommendations to the parliament members.