...we are living in times when traditional institutions of all types are fast losing their legitimacy and their public support. Indeed, we are facing… - Azza Karam

What is now transpiring with women’s rights in Egypt—and elsewhere in the Arab region—is a continuation of the struggle for gender equality within the emerging political framework, which is part and parcel of the larger effort to safeguard all human rights in the new polity that is now being collectively fashioned.

This is about both the danger to and the opportunity for the very essence of who we think we are, if we were to genuinely listen to one another. It may dramatically challenge us, because we think we know ourselves so well. We think we hear and we listen, but we actually do not. We are constantly walking this very thin line in life and in danger of falling off. If you do fall off, you would completely lose your certainty, but at the same time, imagine what you might find if you fall off.

faith in its myriad formats, languages, institutional set-ups and outreach, appears attractive, all the more so when you realise that many social services around the world, especially in the realms of health and education and certainly in humanitarian crisis contexts, are still being offered through religious institutions. So “religion”, whether in terms of faith or in terms of social service, is pervasive.