A Dictionary of the Revolution: a popular documentation

Writer Amira hanafi is currently working on a “popular” dictionary to document the Egyptian revolution.

“A Dictionary of the Revolution” aims to give new definitions of a lot of terminology, which are currently being used on a daily basis in the media, official statements and side conversations in cafes and streets.

“Feloul,” “third party,” “counter-revolution” and “Kentucky,” are among the terms tackled in the book.

In the creation of the book, hanafi uses what she calls “Revolutionary vocabulary cards.” Using those cards, she is asking Egyptians for their stories related to the terms the book tackles, so that they can take part in defining the terms.

hanafi will use a recorder to document people’s testimonies. She also will use multi-layered frameworks of telling the stories of the revolution to reach different opinions and view.

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Graffiti…When you leave your history to the appraisal of passers-by

Major General Khalid Ghoraba, Security Director of Alexandria, declared in May 2012, that youth who paint on walls are subject to a term of three years in prison for “damaging public amenities and facilities.” Even drawings on asphalt during clashes in Mokattam, in the vicinity of the so-called Guidance Office, the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood, face a fierce battle. Once called a reliable diary of the revolution, graffiti art is now described as an “impudent art.” The ruling regime treats it as an enemy to be eliminated, for the system knows the power of this spontaneous art on those who are walking in the street: youth, children and adults, men and women, simple and educated, rich and poor.

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needlepoint canvases disappearance in Egypt .. Bye Bye arts of Romeo and Juliet

When my father came back to Egypt after working in Saudi Arabia for some years in the 1990s, he got rid of our television and a box full of cassette tapes of Abdel Halim and Om Kolthoum because they were haram. He also got rid of the living room furniture, which was upholstered in velvet and decorated with carvings of Romeo, Juliet, and flowers. He got rid of two needlepoint canvases, one portraying a mix of fruits and the other portraying a belly dancer in her work outfit, with a traditional oriental drum next to her. He made it very clear that all of those things were haram according to his new religious perspective.

At the same time, many Egyptian homes were witnessing similar actions. Twenty-eight year old Mohamed Refaat saw the same thing in his family’s house, and other relatives' and friends' houses. "My mom used to do needlepoint portraits and my mom's sister, who studied fine arts, used to draw using different materials. She painted swans and animals on ceramics, and she used oil paints on different textiles to draw many subjects, including human characters like female nudes and a girl playing piano," Refaat said. Among the needlepoint pieces Refaat's mother made, there was a portrait of a nude woman. This portrait disappeared from the wall "after my aunt started that religion thing. She told my mom those portraits are haram, and that they should not be in front of kids," Refaat add.

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M. Younis Al-Qadi, forgotten author of the Egyptian national anthem

“I live in a limbo. I want my days to pass fast. I am lost now. I’ve spent all that I had on medicine and treatment. Fear haunts me…the pain I have because of people has become more than all the pain that gathers in my body,” said Mohamed Younis Al-Qadi to Al-Akhbar newspaper in 1966. Alone and forgotten, he was incapacitated because of illness and poverty. He couldn’t Imagine that his anthem Beladi, Beladi (My country, my country) and his songs, like Aho Dah Eli Sar (That is what happened) and Ana Haweet (I fall in love), would be repeated by revolutionaries in Tahrir Square 42 years after his death. Sung during the events of January 25th, they were patriotic songs to strengthen the protesters’ determination and give them steadfastness.

Beladi Beladi became the national anthem in 1978, when President Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat asked Mohammed Abdel Wahab to compose a melody for the lyrics. During the 18 days that started on the 25^th, it was the first time for a lot of Egyptians to hear the national anthem out of the context of morning lines at school and sports games. Despite the fame of the anthem in Egypt, and no matter how many people repeat it in the streets, the name of its author is still forgotten in Egypt. He wrote hundreds of songs, poems, journalism articles, and plays. He worked as a State Censor as a favor for someone he called “a friend in the Ministry of the Interior.” Still, Egyptians are more likely to remember singers’ and composers’ names than the names of authors.

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Breaking taboo…“Father President”…Goodbye Nasser and Sadat…Welcome employee

In 2001, there was a break room for electrical workers in one of the branches of the company Misr Helwan for Spinning and Weaving, at a distant edge of the factory complex, containing three desks, two lockers, a small stove for tea, and two photographs: one of the late President Nasser, hung above the desk, dominating the room, and the second of the late President Sadat, hanging on one of the locker doors.

Photographs of the two late presidents were not displayed in the offices of senior officials of the company, nor were they displayed in those offices at other companies at the time, where one could find only photographs of Mubarak. Photos of the late presidents were displayed only in the offices of workers and low staff, and in the simple reception rooms of Egyptian homes. In the conscience of the Egyptian people, Nasser and Sadat were more than presidents. They were fathers to the people, whom their children regarded as ideal. Egyptians hung their photos on the walls of their homes, next to family photos, wedding photos and photos of their children. When Nasser wore a short-sleeved suit, it became like a uniform for Egyptians; when Sadat wore an ‘abayya in Mit Abou el-Kom, Egyptians wore it, too. Years later, when the words ‘Papa Mubarak’ and ‘Mama Suzanne’ appeared, people changed the way that they posed in photographs, clasping their hands below their waist, as Mubarak did.

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