Football, Turkey

Sportif Lezbon: Turkey’s first LGBT football team

ANKARA – “Football is the world’s most popular sport,” says 25-year-old Selin Yildiz. “And it’s also a kind of bastion of masculinity; when you say ‘football,’ people think of men. So we want to turn it inside out – not only to challenge sexism and homophobia and transphobia, but also to oppose other harmful political ideologies.” Selin is the star-player and co-founder of Sportif Lezbon, who claim … Continue reading Sportif Lezbon: Turkey’s first LGBT football team

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Uncategorized

The Westerners who fight against ISIS

Richard Jansen was watching the streets, waiting for Islamic State (ISIS) fighters to appear, when a heavy firefight broke out one day in January. “There was shooting like crazy, then it went quiet for a bit,” he recalls. It is not clear what exactly happened next, but Jansen was told that a mortar came out of the silence that followed the firefight, striking a wall … Continue reading The Westerners who fight against ISIS

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Football

Dinamo Mesken: Turkish Football as a Political Football

IN “DINAMO MESKEN,” a multimedia exhibition at Ankara’s SALT Ulus gallery, Turkish artist Ege Berensel tells the story of an amateur football club dragged into Turkey’s political turmoil of the late 1970s. Armed groups of the left and right fought and killed one another. The escalating conflict brought military repression and a traumatic denouement. Berensel’s research, carried out over more than five years and displayed … Continue reading Dinamo Mesken: Turkish Football as a Political Football

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Egypt

Children of the revolution: Egypt’s grassroots education movement

CAIRO – Mostafa Wafa, 24, recalls the time he was walking through Saft el-Laban – the tough, mostly informal suburb of Cairo where he lives – when a group of children approached. They greeted him warmly, but they were breathless and excited, and held knives and sticks. “Uncle Mostafa – we beat them up!” they boasted, referring to kids on another street. The incident stuck … Continue reading Children of the revolution: Egypt’s grassroots education movement

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Egypt

Syrian refugees in Egypt struggle amid UN funding crisis

As the fourth anniversary of the Syrian uprising passes, reduced support is pushing some Syrian families in Egypt towards dangerous choices. CAIRO – “This place was full of life,” says Jan Abaza, coordinator of the Souriyat Association, as she walked through the empty rooms of the social centre for female Syrian refugees in Heliopolis, Cairo. Until last week Souriyat’s centre echoed with the sounds of … Continue reading Syrian refugees in Egypt struggle amid UN funding crisis

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Uncategorized

Syrian refugees in Egypt: The Assad family

Hossam Assad, a 42-year-old Syrian refugee, says his family lives for Fridays. “This is his favourite time of the week, going to football training,” Hossam tells Al Jazeera, gesturing to his eight-year-old son, Abdullah, as they walk through the noisy, crowded Cairo neighbourhood of al-Tawabeq. “Coming home from football training is his worst time of the week.” The rest of the time, daily life is … Continue reading Syrian refugees in Egypt: The Assad family

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Football

Could Turkish football collapse?

ISTANBUL – Five minutes before kick-off, Deniz Dogruer was nervous. Her beloved Galatasaray – one of Turkey’s most successful football teams – was about to take on Caykur Rizespor in the Turkish Super Lig. Despite their opponents’ low ranking, Galatasaray were beset by injuries and Dogruer anticipated a tough contest. But her nerves were misplaced – within seven minutes, Galatasaray’s star player Wesley Sneijder had … Continue reading Could Turkish football collapse?

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Egypt, Football

Egypt’s Ultras: ‘We don’t believe in state justice’

Sunday’s tragic events should be seen in the context of a widespread crackdown on dissent in Egypt, analysts say. For Mohamed*, a 23-year-old member of Ultras White Knights (UWK) – a hardcore group of football fans that support Cairo-based Zamalek Sporting Club – Sunday started with a sense of excitement. For the first time in over three years – since the February 2012 Port Said … Continue reading Egypt’s Ultras: ‘We don’t believe in state justice’

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Egypt, Environment

Beginning to see the light: Shining the sun’s rays into Cairo’s dark streets

Egypt is typically associated with searing sun. Yet, for many people who live in densely packed urban areas, the light scarcely penetrates the narrow streets. “I get about half an hour of sunlight a day coming into my building” says Magdy, a 36-year old tuk-tuk driver who lives in Boulaq El-Dakrour, an informal neighbourhood of Cairo where many of the streets are barely wider than … Continue reading Beginning to see the light: Shining the sun’s rays into Cairo’s dark streets

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Egypt

Hidden hell: The growing crisis of female drug addiction in Egypt

On her wedding night 13 years ago, Wafaa found her husband injecting ayoun – a cheap powder-mix found in Egypt that gives users a heroin-like hit. “It’s just something fun,” he told her. Wafaa had already taken other drugs and pestered him to let her try it. He refused at first but later relented. She began taking it with him, and then going with him … Continue reading Hidden hell: The growing crisis of female drug addiction in Egypt

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