Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abdel-Latif, formerly the assistant editor-in-chief at Al-Ahram Weekly, has done extensive work on Islamist movements with special emphasis on the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.
This person is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment.
Omayma Abdel-Latif was a research and program associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center. Prior to joining Carnegie she was assistant Editor in Chief at Al-Ahram Weekly, the Middle East’s leading English weekly. She has done extensive work on Islamist movements with special emphasis on the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. She also covered a wide range of issues including Islamic-Western relations, political reform in Egypt, and political transition in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Apart from some posters and banners scattered across the streets of Damascus announcing elections on April 22-23, there are few signs in Syria of the sort of election fever seen in some Arab countries recently.Electoral platforms addressing real issues are conspicuously absent.
In the face of Arab governments' ongoing, heavy-handed efforts to control public debate, the Internet has emerged as a platform for voices—especially those of Islamists—denied a place in the mainstream, state-owned media.
"How do you think the Muslim Brotherhood performance has affected parliament?" The question was posted on the website of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, in mid-March after 100 days in the current parliament. The results offered a boost.
It was an unfamiliar scene. One Friday night in November, in the heart of Hamra, the main thoroughfare in Beirut, a concert entitled “No More Silence” drew a large number of young Lebanese men and women. But this was not just another concert. The gathering was publicizing the Khalass (No More): Together for Lebanon campaign. the latest in a series of moves by civil society forces.
Sada is an online journal rooted in Carnegie’s Middle East Program that seeks to foster and enrich debate about key political, economic, and social issues in the Arab world and provides a venue for new and established voices to deliver reflective analysis on these issues.
Sign up to receive Sada updates in your inbox!
Stay connected to Sada with a new smartphone app for Android and iOS devices