The Revolution will not be Tweeted.

I was very excited to see this stencil!

As I wrote in an earlier post, following the beginning of the recent clashes in Midan Tahrir, several TV stencils began appearing in downtown. Upon seeing the TV stencils I immediately thought of the late Gil Scott Heron's iconic poem "The Revolution will not be televised," this Twitter stencil, however, appears to be a direct reference to the poem: "The revolution will not be [twitted], the revolution will be live."

(The stencils of the spray-can and the pharaoh are separate.)

I took this photograph across the street from the Maglis Al Sha'ab (The People's Assembly), where there is a continued sit-in (the street itself has been blocked off-- there are check-points -- since last Friday) which began as an attempt to physically block the new Prime Minister Kamel El-Ganzouri from taking office, but has since broaden its message to oppose military rule. (It is unclear what building Ganzouri works in, but he has in fact taken office).

The stencil has appeared along Qasr Al-Aini Street (on which the Maglis is located) leading into Midan Tahrir, but I haven't seen the stencil within the Midan itself.

NOTE: This stencil is in English, there was no accompanying stencil in Arabic.

Twitter is a great source for up-to-date news in Cairo. Some famous Egyptian Twitters are Sandmonkey (who also has a blog by the same name) and Gigi Ibrahim (who appeared on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show after the Revolution).

In addition to activists, many political figures & parites have twitter. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party is very active.

Tahrir Supplies, started during the recent clashes in Tahrir, is both a hashtag and a twitter account, it posts what supplies are needed (medical, food, water, blankets) in the field hospitals in Midan Tahrir and coordinates pick-up/drop-off points for those living far away from the Midan.

#egyelections was a popular hashtag during the recent polls.

No to military rule

This is a very popular form of the stylized "لا" ("No" in Arabic), seen in many different shapes & sizes as parts of different street art throughout Cairo. This "لا" was used in the campaign against military trials.

I saw this particular incarnation of "لا" today on a wall of the Mugamma in Midan Tahrir. While I'm not sure who the artist is, I know it was painted today because I didn't see it yesterday as I passed by the Mugamma.

Translation: "No to Military Rule"

This English translation was next to the Arabic street art.

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.

Democracy

This photo was taken earlier this evening at approximately 7pm as I was passing through Midan Tahrir en route to visit a friend in another neighborhood in Cairo. I saw the word "Democracy" spray-painted on The Wall and quickly snapped a photo on my iphone. People were scalling The Wall and sitting on top of the AUC buildings in order to watch the fighting on Mohamed Mahmoud Street. Clashes broke out in and around Midan Tahrir on Saturday after a peaceful sit-in was violently dispersed earlier in the day.

While much of the graffiti in Cairo is in Arabic, it isn't uncommon to see graffiti in English. I have always been befuddled by this. The language of Egypt is Arabic afterall and not everyone can read English, let alone speak it. Furthermore, not everyone is literate! The cleverness of so much of the graffiti is that anyone can understand it-- you don't need to know how to read to understand a picture of Mubarak with a bullet in his head.

The word "Democracy," however, is particularly interesting word.

In Arabic the word democracy is democratiya, very similar to the English word. Both words derive from the Greek word, "Demos" meaning people and "Kratos" meaning rule. While it might seem as though the Arabic word was merely translitered from the English word, let's remember that the works of Aristotle and Plato were translated into Arabic as early as the 8th century AD.

I am nevertheless reminded of a passage from my favorite book, The Posionwood Bible, by Barbra Kingsolver,

"When a government comes crashing down, it crushes those who were living under its roof. People like Mama Mwanza never knew the house was there at all. Independence is a complex word in a foreign tongue. To resist occupation, whether you’re a nation or merely a woman, you must understand the language of your enemy. Conquest and liberation and democracy and divorce are words that mean squat, basically, when you have hungry children and clothes to get out on the line and it looks like rain."

The people in Midan Tahrir know what Democracy means in English, but I'm not sure they yet know the meaning in their native tongue. Democracy is certainly a complex word in a foreign tongue. But is this really the language of the enemy? I don't think SCAF knows the meaning of the word either.

Mulling over these thoughts, I descended into the depths of the Sadat metro station under Midan Tahrir and caught a particularly potent whiff of tear gas. As it stung my eyes, my body's natural reaction was to flush out the chemicals-- and so it was, in that moment, that I shed my first tear for Egypt. For a country with so much promise, for which too many innocent lives have already been lost. Inshallah, Egypt, you will know the meaning of democratiya.

All cops are

A.C.A.B. is an acronym meaning All Cops Are Bastards. This acronym is EVERYWHERE on the streets of Cairo.

The acronym by no means is unique to Egypt. In fact, a quick look at Wikipedia reveals than an alternative meaning is Always Carry A Bible.

UA07

"UAo7" is EVERYWHERE in Cairo. Initially I thought that street art said "Arab Unity 1956" - in reference to the Arab nationalism of Nasser.

In fact, "UA07" refers to "Ultras Ahly 2007."

Ahly is one of the main football (soccer) clubs in Egypt, the other is Zamalek. The term "Ultras" (not itself an Arabic word) means fan club- Zamalek's fan club is called Ultras White Knight (Zamalek's jerseys are white). 2007 refers to the year in which the Ultras Ahly were established.

The Ultras have become a potent force in Egypt- since the Revolution their relationship with the government has been shaky. They are large groups of young men who can easily mobilize. During the 9 September demonstrations the Ultras Ahly and Ultras White Knights came together in a rare show of unity to protest the alleged killing of members of the Ultras Ahly after a previous match. 9 September demonstrations later turned violent when the Israeli embassy was attacked and burned.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/12/egypt-fragmenting-revolution-israeli-embassy

I attended the first Ahly football match after 9 September demonstrations. Before the match began, the Ultras Ahly displayed pictures of their members who were arrested at the 9 September demonstrations with pieces of black, white & red paper. While the football stadium has reserved seating for the Ultras Ahlys, I was nevertheless awestruck by the level of coordination needed for such a display.

Here is a youtube clip of the event. At around 15 seconds into the clip, you can see the faces of the Ultras Ahlys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-r2esQzDiE

Eat This

This is a familiar piece of street art, the stencil can be found many places in Cairo. This particular rendition-- strategically placed across the street from a McDonald's-- has been spray-painted over. None of the other pieces of street art near it have been painted over, maybe McDonald's got tired of the bad publicity?

The stencil reads "SCAF Eat This" in black spray-paint. The two McDonald's arches become fighter jets.

It is worth noting that the stencil was painted over with red spray-paint. Most of the time, a piece of street art is painted over with white paint and completely erased.

USAID

AUC doesn't have graffiti. During the student strikes that took place this September, some students wrote on pieces of paper and tapped those pieces of paper to the wall. USAID stickers are, however very abundant on the AUC campus. The American government's version of graffiti?

They are found on tech-equipment (i.e. ID scanners, computers, projectors) and are most noticeable in the library (it has the highest concentration of tech-equipment), but found in classrooms as well.

According to its website, USAID funded 25% of the AUC new campus (where undergrad & graduate classes are vs. the downtown campus, where continuing education classes are).

In describing its education program, USAID makes the distinction between basic and higher education. This distinction is important because AUC caters to a different set of Egyptians than the public universities in Egypt, and certainly a different set of Egyptian than a rural primary school.

USAID has come under fire in Egypt recently. In June, USAID placed advertisements for open grants to civil society organizations in Egyptian newspapers. According to Egyptian law, unregistered (it's very difficult to become registered here) civil society organizations can't receive foreign funding. US Ambassador Anne Patterson recently presented SCAF [Supreme Council of Armed Forces] with of Egyptian civil society organizations that receive US funding.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/507011