Amro Ali - openDemocracy

On the need to shape the Arab exile body in Berlin

A long essay on why the Arab intellectual community in Berlin needs to acquire a name, shape, and a mandate of sorts.

By Amro Ali

/ 18 Feb 2019

Unhappiness and Mohamed Salah’s Egypt

Salah is a hero of disruption, a political voice without talking politics.

By Amro Ali

/ 14 Jun 2018

Why do authoritarian regimes love elections?

By the very nature of their positions, authoritarian leaders project extreme insecurity, as their legitimacy is not reaped from popular representation and democratic accountability.

By Amro Ali

/ 29 Mar 2018

How Egypt functions in the Moroccan imagination

A journey through Morocco as an Egyptian. Amro Ali shares his observations and insights from common spaces of discussions.

By Amro Ali

/ 3 Mar 2018

Kakistocracy: a word we need to revive

Either kakistocracy gets used and thoroughly examined or a Trump presidency will force us to do so.

By Amro Ali

/ 12 Nov 2016

Burkinis accepted: for a poor woman scrubbing France’s floors

The woman on the beach in her human quest to be visible, had the grace, understandably, to be bewildered. A large swathe of your citizens are bewildered, France. The world is bewildered, France.

By Amro Ali

/ 31 Aug 2016

The hidden triumph of the Egyptian revolution

A message to the revolutionaries of Egypt: you can no longer recognise your pre-2011 self.

By Amro Ali

/ 25 Jan 2016

A frightening vision: on plans to rebuild the Alexandria Lighthouse

If modern Alexandrian history is any indicator, rebuilding the lighthouse will become a symbol not of communal spirit but of excess, and a visible target of rage.

By Amro Ali

/ 7 Jul 2015

What Louis Armstrong taught Egypt and the Middle East about itself

Armstrong’s encounter with the Middle East was a reflection of the wider socio-political disease of denial and scapegoating in the region—one that just festers with time.

By Amro Ali

/ 19 Jun 2015

The maddening betrayal of potato-seller, Omar Salah

It is ironic that street vendors have spent more time in the square than any protestor ever has. Omar comes out staggeringly alive in his death. A spectrum of colours is added to his socially-perceived black and white life. We are teleported into another world of how the other (majority) Egypt liv

By Amro Ali

/ 18 Feb 2013

The maddening betrayal of potato-seller, Omar Salah

It is ironic that street vendors have spent more time in the square than any protestor ever has. Omar comes out staggeringly alive in his death. A spectrum of colours is added to his socially-perceived black and white life. We are teleported into another world of how the other (majority) Egypt liv

By Amro Ali

/ 18 Feb 2013

I can’t believe it’s not Qatar!: addressing the Brotherhood’s other patron

If the Arab uprisings have taught us anything, it is that the Arab public represents a formidable challenge to power elites. Grievances should not limit Egypt’s revolutionary camp at the expense of a proactive outreach to Arab societies, united in their anti-authoritarianism.

By Amro Ali

/ 4 Feb 2013