Al-Ahram Weekly | 2001 Special

Beginning at the end
Quoth the raven, nevermore: year's end, and the pivotal moment of death/rebirth is upon us once more. For a second, we are suspended in a limbo of transformation, lost in the labyrinth. No wonder that, faced with the arbitrary despotism of time, we seek to reassert the autonomy of the human will: things must be different in the new year, we say, and hope, and pray -- even as things stay the same, and the earth cries out, stretched seemingly to breaking point by the armies of restless dead it must take in. Yet we say it again, and must believe -- because time goes on, and so that time can go on: things will be different; everything will change --read on--

Sex, lies and censorship
Pascale Ghazaleh wonders why, in 2001, politics was found guilty of indecent exposure

Back, with a vengeance
Militant armed Islamist groups were weakened long before 11 September. Now, however, the possible expansion of the US "anti-terror" campaign could mark their comeback, writes Khaled Dawoud

The end of an ideology
Is it premature to declare Islamism dead? Omayma Abdel-Latif seeks some answers

A world without borders
Ismail Sabri Abdalla can't see the nation-state for the transnational corporations

A living idea
Edward Said remembers a friend lost in the dying year

2001 Defining 2001
Points of least resistance: 2001 may be remembered as the year the walls came down -- not barriers of hatred and incomprehension, for those still stand, but the bulwarks of faith in a brighter future.. --read on--

Some enchanted evening
The New Year is a time to make resolutions, or cast a few spells. Fayza Hassan discovers the charm of magic

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		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Dec. 2001 - 2 Jan. 2002 Issue No.566
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map