Vote for nobody

Polls begin in 9 governates tomorrow. While Cairo had its elections 2 weeks ago, election-fever is still palpable here: Giza, located on the other side of the Nile (where the pyramids are) and just two metro stops from downtown Cairo, will have its elections tomorrow.

Located on Mohamed Mahmoud St., around the corner from Midan Tahrir, this is the first election related street art that I've seen in Egypt.

Voter turn-out was remarkably lower during the run-off elections last week than during the initial polls. I hope that the voter turn out is high tomorrow and Egyptians exercise their right to vote and duty to shape their country. A general sense of excitement surrounded the first polls and I hope that that excitement returns-- after all there are still three rounds of elections for the Shoura Council (the upper house of parliament) early next year, not to mention the presidential elections which SCAF recently promised will be held in June 2012 and a probable constitutional referendum.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentPrint/4/0/28243/Opinion/0/Elections-and-their-discontents.aspx
The world cares, so I hope Egypt does too.

WANTED

UPDATE 30 November 2011:

El Shenawy turned himself into the Ministry of Interior.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/28165/Egypt/Politics-/Sniper-of-the-eyes-surrenders-to-authorities-.aspx

UPDATE, 27 November 2011:

El Shenawy was not captured, but he will be summoned for questioning within the next 72 hours.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/28051/Egypt/Politics-/Security-source-denies-notorious-CSF-officer-at-la.aspx

UPDATE, 26 November 2011: CAPTURED

http://bikyamasr.com/49562/egypt-officer-who-was-cheered-for-shooting-protesters-eye-is-captured/

Translation:

WANTED

Search with the People

Two-Star Officer*: Mahmoud Sobhy El Shenawy

Officer in the Central Security Forces, accused of targeting eyes

Tens from the revolutionaries, the heroes in Tahrir.

Here is video of El Shenawy shooting protesters. This video was widely circulated on the internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jzCqi_d0Yk

Leaflets were distributed around Midan Tahrir with a still-photo from the above video, stating that there's a 5,000 Egyptian pound reward for anyone who finds El Shenawy.

https://twitter.com/#!/SmithSofia/status/138870183547764736

*When an officer graduates from a 4 year college he automatically enters the CSF with 1 star. El Shenawy graduated college in 2009

Above are photos of the stencils used to produce the street art. The atmosphere in Midan Tahrir was very festive on Thursday--there were few ambulances and an abundance of families.

The violence near Midan Tahrir earlier in the week made it difficult for street artists to work. While the words down with SCAF were certainly abundant around Midan Tahrir, a certain degree of stability is necessary in order to create more detailed street art-- if you're worried about running from tear gas canisters, it's kind of hard to concentrate on making sure a stencil is straight.

In action

In action...

and the finished product. Translation: "No to military trials for civilans-- Freedom for Ali El-Halaby"

Last night I was sitting at Borsa (a street cafe in downtown) and saw this piece of street art being put up. This was the first time I've seen steet art in action.

The artists worked very quickly (less than 5 minutes) and from what I could tell asked the owner of the cafe for permission. (The wall has other pieces of street art and has been painted white several times since I've been in Cairo). The artists used a stencil that they had already cut out and as two of them held the stencil up, the other spray-painted. (While much of the street art is done in paint, this piece was in fact done with spray paint).

It makes sense that the artists were working discreetly at night. Ali El-Halaby is a member of the April 6th movement who was arrested last week for graffiting ("vandalizing public property").

No military trials for civilians have been a major demand of the Egyptian protesters. Approximately 12,000 Egyptians have stood before military trials since the revolution.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/~/NewsContent/1/64/24624/Egypt/Politics-/-April-Movement-activist-to-stand-military-trial-t.aspx

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/24980/Egypt/Politics-/Rights-group-condemns-referral-of-activist-to-mili.aspx

NOTE: the artists were wearing plastic surgical gloves.