New publication highlights historical breakthroughs

CAIRO – 15 October 2017: Following the old established tradition of the leftist cultural circles in Egyptian society, a new non-periodic publication presenting a cultural philosophical project was issued last week in Cairo called “Maraya.”

The publication tackles valuable contributions in philosophy, social sciences, humanities, art and literary critique. Priorities are placed on issues dealing with Egyptian and Middle Eastern topics.

One of the magazine’s featured articles is about a study of a manuscript written by one of Napoleon’s officers during the French expedition of 1798 in Egypt.

The officer’s name was Haue and his testimony was previously published in 1830 in an encyclopedic effort to document the events of the French expedition.

Haue was commissioned by the French Imperial Army to write a historical account of all the military operations during the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.

The manuscript, according to the writer, is not a testimony of what really happened in that expedition, but is only a French eyewitness’s perspective.

The Bolshevik Revolution occurred 100 years ago, and on this occasion, a study titled, “Contemporary Reading of the Russian Revolution,” was conducted.

The study was conducted by historian Paul Leblanc; who is also a professor at LaRoche University Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

The study explains Lenin’s philosophy, organization and the reason for the success of the Bolshevik Revolution; which was credited in Lenin’s ability of talking in layman terms and transforming their needs into actual policies and organizational goals.

The literature part in the first issue of Maraya includes a brilliant short story on Iris Irgman, an Israeli writer born to Moroccan parents.

The story sheds light on the lives of eastern Jews living in Israel. The translation is accurate and the terms that are not familiar to Arab readers are explained.

In leftist publications in general, culture and politics are intertwined.

The cultural section of the magazine includes an article by Mohamed Tobyashat about liberal arts and their importance.

The main problem tackled is that the word “liberal” does not have an exact meaning or counterpart in the Arabic language, and hence, liberal arts in Egyptian universities do not have a curriculum; an interesting issue that needs to be developed in Egypt.

Many other valuable articles and book reviews are included in the first issue, tackling cultural and political fields.