The Wall

The Wall is part of a building on the AUC Tahrir campus. (AUC has multiple campuses and satelittle locations in Cairo. The AUC Tahrir campus is the the smaller, original campus of AUC-- the University re-located to New Cairo, an hour bus ride from downtown. The majority of classes are at the AUC new campus). Snipers used this building to attack protesters during the revolution. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/15/egyptian-student-protests-american-university-cairo-- an AUC employee argued that he was fired for approaching the AUC administration about the topic). The building is located on the corner of Midan Tahrir and in front of a metro exit so it is very prominent; to this day it remains closed with many broken windows.

I walk by the Wall almost every day and have watched as it was painted on and then painted over. If only Walls could talk.

As I passed it today. I noticed that it had a fresh coat of paint. This is the first coat of paint after the 10/28 demonstrations. Who painted the Wall? And Why? When I walked passed it, it had already been painted-- I pass by the Wall at all hours, but I have never seen anyone painting it white. While it would be easy to think that the police or AUC staff painted over the Wall, let's take a closer look at the timing. There is a major demonstration planned for this Friday (parties from across the spectrum-- including Islamists-- are calling for a million-man march, ) if the SCAF does not revoke its controversial draft of "supra-constitutional principles" by Wednesday.

(The document gives ALOT of power to the military in the drafting of the constitution and future structure of the Egyptian government. The Constitution itself will not be drafted until after the Parliament opens in March 2012--

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/26468/Egypt/Politics-/Egypts-political-forces-throw-down-gauntlet-over-s.aspx)

Could it then have been street artists that painted over the Wall in anticipation of Friday's protest, knowing that they will need a clean slate on which to work?

Not all street art on the AUC perimeter has been painted over. The Wall itself is the most prominent portion of the AUC perimeter, but around the corner a lot of street art remains. I'm not sure when this mural was painted, but it has been here since I arrived in early August and remains untouched (i.e. other artists have respected it and not painted over it).

Translation: "Oh God, My Savior for reform"