Hidden Cities

Part travelogue, part global news brief, Hidden Cities is a new magazine that illuminates the world. Founded and edited by @FreddyDeknatel

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

“There is a second injustice in being defined by the atrocity done to you,” @adamakary writes, introducing his new poem in @hiddencitiesmag, “Both Sides of the Looking Glass.”

“A strike on Beirut lands in Cairo. It lands anywhere anyone is still listening.”

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“There is a second injustice in being defined by the atrocity done to you,” @adamakary writes.

Read his essay and new poem, “Both Sides of the Looking Glass,” in @hiddencitiesmag

https://t.co/poB3juGzUK

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“The Lebanese are often called resilient, but it is a strange compliment in moments like these. It asks people to endure what should never have been done to them, then praises them for enduring it.”

A new poem and accompanying essay, clear-eyed and devastating, by @adamakary

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“There is a second injustice in being defined by the atrocity done to you,” @adamakary writes.

Read his essay and new poem, “Both Sides of the Looking Glass,” in @hiddencitiesmag

https://t.co/poB3juGzUK

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“The Lebanese are often called resilient, but it is a strange compliment in moments like these. It asks people to endure what should never have been done to them, then praises them for enduring it.”

A new poem and accompanying essay, clear-eyed and devastating, by @adamakary

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

I spoke to @DaliaZinaGhanem about her allegations here and the war's fallout in the Gulf.

"If you are an Arab analyst, you are expected to praise the model, not dissect it. Unfortunately for them, I am a political scientist, not a public relations consultant." @hiddencitiesmag

[Dr. Dalia Ghanem د.دالية غانم 🍉 @DaliaZinaGhanem]

Narrative control is economic survival. When my piece diagnosing the structural vulnerabilities of the #Gulf went viral, the institutional backlash was instant. Fired 4 days later, the sequence speaks for itself.
Read my full conversation with @FreddyDeknatel for @HiddenCities

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

“The Gulf model is uniquely dependent on the psychological confidence of two highly mobile, risk-averse groups: international energy markets and the global expat talent pool that comprises the backbone of its professional sectors.”

My interview with @DaliaZinaGhanem

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

https://t.co/9wysPzZalq

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“say clash, say escalation, say cycle of violence
even if one side owned all the sky.”

Style Guide, a new poem by @adamakary in @hiddencitiesmag

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

Grateful to have this poem by @adamakary in @hiddencitiesmag, writing from Cairo.

Style Guide

the child is never named.
the rubble is implied.
do not use words like massacre
unless sourced by three governments
that did not bleed.

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

“Sisi embarked, with the full support of the senior brass, to militarize state organs and securitize public spaces in a quest to turn Egypt into what Michel Foucault envisioned as the ‘perfect military camp.’”

@3arabawy in @hiddencitiesmag https://t.co/WaZzMpa6HF

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“During the revolution, millions prophetically chanted: Yasquṭ yasquṭ ḥukm al-ʿaskar! Maṣr dawla miš muʿaskar! (Down with military rule! Egypt is a state, not a [military] camp!)”

“Today, Sisi is turning the country literally into one large military camp,” @3arabawy writes.

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

In this essay adapted from his new book Counterrevolution in Egypt: Sisi’s New Republic, @3arabawy writes that his regime is “operating more like a colonial occupier than a national government.” @VersoBooks

Read and subscribe @hiddencitiesmag for more: https://t.co/NadqOxlo6Y

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

“During the revolution, millions prophetically chanted: Yasquṭ yasquṭ ḥukm al-ʿaskar! Maṣr dawla miš muʿaskar! (Down with military rule! Egypt is a state, not a [military] camp!)”

“Today, Sisi is turning the country literally into one large military camp,” @3arabawy writes.

[عمو حسام @3arabawy]

An edited excerpt from my book @VersoBooks

How Sisi's Militarized Urbanism Is Remaking Egypt
https://t.co/GRhH6AKAdu

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

“The urban landscape has undergone radical change since 2013. The state has become bolder in demolishing entire poor neighborhoods—something Mubarak long attempted. By brute force, the Second Republic surpassed even Mubarak’s ambitions.” @3arabawy https://t.co/WaZzMpa6HF

[Frederick Deknatel freddydeknatel.bsky.social @FreddyDeknatel]

New in @hiddencitiesmag:

Hossam el-Hamalawy @3arabawy on Sisi's vision of turning Egypt into one vast military camp, from the fortified new capital outside Cairo to an entire urban landscape shaped by mass surveillance and control. @VersoBooks

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

A new poem by Vaheed Ramazani, on the wrenching reality in Gaza under a “ceasefire” that is no such thing for Palestinians.

“She went on her own two feet / and she came back to me on a stretcher.”

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

Subscribe to @hiddencitiesmag to support our writers and get everything we publish in your inbox, including new poetry. https://t.co/rX4dNWIcsw

[Hidden Cities @hiddencitiesmag]

A new poem by Vaheed Ramazani, on the wrenching reality in Gaza under a “ceasefire” that is no such thing for Palestinians.

“She went on her own two feet / and she came back to me on a stretcher.”