Posts Tagged ‘Tahrir Square’
Cairo’s street artists defy authorities with graffiti protest
Cairo’s graffiti artists offered a sarcastic rebuttal to city authorities on Thursday during the last day of voting in Egypt’s presidential elections. Following plans to whitewash street art on Mohamed Mahmoud St, artists instead began the whitewashing themselves spelling out a cynical phrase in Arabic – “forget about the past, focus on the elections”.
“We decided to do it, but our way,” independent artist Mahmoud Hany tells RFI, his hands covered in paint after descending down a ladder.
The wall just off Tahrir Square is particularly iconic. It features the faces of several martyrs, anti-military council slogans and reminders of last year’s uprising.
Hany says the city authorities had threatened to cover the wall a few days ago. But they wanted to beat them to it. “We have to be with the events,” he explains.
Some of the graffiti is particularly critical of the elections. With some of the so-called revolutionary youth seeing the polls as an exercise in consolidation of power for the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF).
Slideshow: Mohamed Mahmoud St, in downtown Cairo, Egypt
Especially evident, they say, in the candidacy of figures such as former Mubarak-era prime minister Ahmed Shariq and former foreign minister Amr Moussa.
One evocative mural directs its criticism of the old regime by morphing the faces of various figures together.
“Half of it is [Field Marshall] Tantawi, and the other half is Hosni Mubarak,” says Hany. “Behind them, Amr Moussa and Shafiq,” he adds.
The young artist explained that the authorities removed the original piece featuring just Tantawi and Mubarak. So they repainted it. Adding Moussa and Shafiq, placed in the background.
Cairo’s downtown area is awash with graffiti over a year after the ousting of Mubarak. Further down Mohamed Mahmoud St each side street is blocked off by a wall constructed by the security services to protect the interior ministry. Each one serving as a canvas for Cairo’s street artists.
It is not clear how long the authorities will tolerate it for. Hany, however, is unperturbed. “Graffiti is not an art that lasts forever,” he says. “Anyone can add anything at anytime,” he adds, smiling.
Voices from Tahrir by Human Rights Watch
Egyptians celebrating in Tahrir Square. Photo: Platon, 2011
Voices from Tahrir Square is a sound portrait of the people’s revolution in Egypt for the anniversary of the 25 January – 11 February 2011 uprising. Features recordings made in the square by reporters and citizen journalists from around the world, including Daniel Finnan of Radio France Internationale.
PRX: Human Rights Watch
Egypt’s new trade minister tells RFI he will not take office
Egypt’s new Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Fekri Abdel Wahab told RFI on Tuesday that he would not be taking office after all. The announcement of his appointment had been met with some criticism over a possible conflict of interest between his private businesses and serving the needs of the Egyptian people.
Interview: Ahmed Fekri Abdel Wahab
Cabinet reshuffle will convince some in Tahrir, says new finance minister
Hazem el-Beblawi, 1996. Photo: UN Photo/Milton Grant
Egypt’s new finance minister Hazem el-Beblawi told RFI on Sunday that protesters in Tahrir Square would be “at least partially satisfied” with the government’s cabinet reshuffle. Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has handed a list of proposed ministers to the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces for approval. The new cabinet is expected to be unveiled on Monday.
“The new cabinet reflects more the feeling on the street than the previous one, where some names, rightly or wrongly, were associated with the past regime,” says Beblawi.
Beblawi replaces Samir Radwan who was appointed shortly before toppled president Hosni Mubarak left.
Egyptian revolt: the aftermath
Mohammed, student from Menoufia
The week after the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak was full of joy and optimism for the Egyptian people. But there was also concern whether the military would fulfill all their promises, the economy would get back on track, workers would start to get a fair deal and women would enjoy the same equality as men. This series of reports and interviews from Cairo for Radio France Internationale explores the hopes and dreams of the Egyptian people immediately after the end of 29 years of dictatorship.
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