Mona El-Ghobashy on Egyptian Election and its Aftermath; Sinan Antoon Reads Mahmoud Darwish

Last Sunday, soon after polls closed in Egypt’s presidential run off election, the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued a set of constitutional amendments, which has been met with nationwide protests. The Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm captured the essence of the SCAF’s latest decree with the headline “The military hands power to the military,” so what’s in store for the future of Egypt? And how can different political and social forces challenge the military’s absolute hold on power? Shahram Aghamir put these questions to Mona El-Ghobashy who joined him on the phone from Cairo. Mona El Ghobashy is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Barnard College.

And Iraqi poet and novelist, New York University professor Sinan Antoon reads an excerpt from his translation of Mahmoud Darwish's book of prose poem “In the Presence of Absence.”