Maspero- 2 months and counting

Today marks the two month anniversary of the Maspero tragedy; it passed with little fanfare-- no newspaper headlines, no massive demonstration. Over the past month I have photographed many pieces of street art pertaining to the Maspero tragedy.

NOTE: All stencils reference the distinctive shape of the Maspero building (a circular building, with a tower jutting out of the middle) which houses the state-run TV industry and is located along the Nile in downtown, not far from Midan Tahrir.

Translation:"Dead poison"

This photo was taken on Monday 21 November in front of the Mugamma. Within a few days it was completely covered by new street art.

This photograph was taken on Sunday 27 November across the street from the Maglis Al Sha'ab on Qasr Al-Aini Street.

This photograph was taken on Sunday 27 November on the street of the Maglis Al Sha'ab. The wall was initially covered in only distinctive, pre-planned stencils, over time it has increasingly been covered in impromptu spray-paint.

This stencil is by the street artist El Teneen.

BLANK

The letters are gone.

Translation: "Retribution"

As I passed by the Maglis Al-Shura today, there were no longer any English letters on the gate. As I wrote in an earlier post, the majority of the English letters had been removed (taken down, stolen?). Last week someone spray-painted the gate with the words "down with military rule", and finally yesterday someone removed the last of the English letters and wrote "القصاص" (retribution)

The word "retribution" refers to the failure of the government to give justice to the families' of the Martyrs of the Revolution.

Interestingly enough, the building next to the gate had also been spray-painted last week, but was painted over.

Naked

Above are two stencils, found next to each other across the street from the sit-in at the Maglis Al-Sha'ab. On the left is Aliaa Magda Elmahdy and on the right is Samira Ibrahim.

The words in this specific stencil are illegible, they were actively scratched out. The words, however, are legible in other stencils. The following translation is a result of viewing other stencils.

Translation (in between portrait of Elmahdy):

"Samira Ibrahim: 25 years-old, she had been naked by force and checked for her virginity in front of officers and soldiers in the army and she refused not to revenge her dignity and she filed a lawsuit in the Egyptian court. There was no interest... There was no audience...There was no media...There was no life for the killers.

Aliaa Elmahdy: 20 years-old, she stripped and exposed her body clearly by her own wanting. By the hurried manner of the public and the media [to learn about her] and around one million viewed her picture and not less than 50 articles about her and a lot of TV shows."

Translation (below portrait of Ibrahim):

"Tribute and homage to cherish and support For Samira Ibrahim, daughter of Upper Egypt."

Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, a former AUC student, posted a nude photograph of herself on her blog. The picture gained wide-spread notoriety in mid-November about a month after its posting when activist Ahmed Awadalla twitted about it. While Awadalla praised the picture, in general, there was a conservative backlash against it.

Many feared that liberal political parties would be affected in the parlimentary polls.

After rumors circulated, the April 6th movement issued an official statement that Elmahdy was not a member.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/26641/Egypt/Politics-/Nude-photo-blogger-is-not-a-member-of-our-group-Ap.aspx

Legal action has since been taken against Elmahdy for "trying to spread her obscene ideology through nude photos," and "violating morals, inciting indecency and insulting Islam" according to the report filed in court. Furthermore the prosecution believes that Elmahdy should be tried according to Islamic law because Islamic law is the source of the (1971) constitution. The penalty under Islamic law is death.

http://bikyamasr.com/48732/legal-action-against-egypt-nude-activist/

Elmahdy discussed her views with CNN earlier this month.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/19/world/meast/nude-blogger-aliaa-magda-elmahdy/index.html?hpt=hp_bn8

Samira Ibrahim sued the military after being forced by the military to take a virginity test last March. The verdict in the case was expected on Tuesday, but delayed until 27 December. Ibrahim was one of 17 women forced to take a virginity tests after being detained on 9 March when the military attempted to clear Midan Tahrir. SCAF admitted that the virginity tests occurred, but argued that they were a necessary defense should any of the detained women claim that they were raped.

http://thedailynewsegypt.com/human-a-civil-rights/virginity-tests-case-against-military-adjourned-to-dec-27.html

While many Egyptians do not agree with Elmahdy's actions, it is my hope that they nevertheless treat her-- as they should any individual-- with respect, just as Ibrahim should have been. Elmahdy was allegedly beaten upon entering Midan Tahrir last week.

http://uk.ibtimes.com/articles/256889/20111128/aliaa-magda-elmahdy-nude-blogger-beaten-tahrir.htm

No matter what an individuals point of view is-- or how much you disagree with them-- I don't believe such behavior is acceptable.

NOTE: All translations on this blog were conducted by me and an Egyptian friend. While we translated to the best of our ability combining our native English and Arabic skills, these translations are not a professional standardized translation of the street art that is available on the internet. We are, however, confident in all translations that we post on this blog.

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.

Know thy Enemy

Translation: "Know thy enemy: Hamdi Badeen"

This stencil has begun appearing in downtown Cairo in the last few days, some renditions of it include the words "WANTED." Was the creator of this stencil inspired by the WANTED El Shenawy street art? El Shenawy was, after all, captured.

Hamdi Badeen is the chief of the military police (el shorta el askarya). The military police is in charge of policing the military. After the Revolution and the establishment of SCAF (a military junta as opposed to a civilian transitional council), their jurisdiction expanded to include civilians. The military police now have the power to arrest both police and civilians, hence civilians are now being tried in military courts.

Hamdi Badeen recently said that the army hasn't entered Midan Tahrir since they withdrew in September (the day before the massive 9 September demonstration; since the beginning of Ramadan they had controlled the Midan and allowed no protests). Widely circulated photographs and videos, however, prove otherwise.

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/27476/Egypt/Politics-/Military-police-havent-entered-Tahrir-Square-since.aspx

Many activists called for Hamdi Badeen's trial after the Maspero clashes.

http://thedailynewsegypt.com/egypt/maspero-clashes-a-conspiracy-by-scaf-say-political-powers-witnesses.html