1:47PM
Signs...Everywhere then Nowhere in Someplaces
By 
Josh Stacher | Egypt
Josh Stacher | Egypt
This week there are several small stories, including by AFP, about all the Pro-Mubarak signs coming down around Cairo. The Sand Monkey wrote a post on 15 June where he ridiculed the whole process by saying, "So Mommy Dearest Condi is coming to visit, and we all have to behave ourselves huh?".
Perhaps it is just a coincidence but the signs came down on the 12th/13th of June shortly after FM Ahmad Abul-Ghait announced that US Secretary of State Condi Rice would be visiting Egypt on June 20th. This triggered the speculation that the signs are disappearing so as not to underscore to Rice that Egypt's electoral season is a sham.
For Egyptians, government-supporters decorate the city with signs of the president that clearly transmit messages that "we all know who is firmly in charge" and "who will be elected come September". To their American patron, they take the signs down so as to give the appearance that reform and competition characterize the ongoing electoral process. It makes everything look all the more pathetic and crafty.
If the signs reappear quickly after Rice departs Monday night then it will be a confirmation that the theory was right.
The most imposing of the signs was this wooden monstrosity. There was a copy on the corner of Ramsis St. between the Lawyers and Journalist syndicates. There was also a copy of it in Tahrir square that appeared on the day of the referendum vote. A second Tahrir copy appeared shortly after to emphasize the point. This particular sign was said to be 3 meters tall, but it looked to between 6-to-7 meters tall. In addition to its size, the head of the president would light up with blinking multi-colored bulbs at night.
After being out a bit this week, a trend is detectable.
All the major pro-Mubarak signs are gone from the major thoroughfares and city squares but are still up in places like Imabab's Midan Kit-Kat and Sayida Zaynib. I am guessing Rice will not be passing through through areas if the news reports and speculation is correct.
So, really, what is happening is the signs are (temporarily?) coming down in selective areas.
_________
The Interpretation:
One of the large Mubarak signs in Tahrir was attracting more attention that its identical siblings around town.
It was placed in front of the famous Ali Baba cafe. When one looked at it from the street, you see Mubarak waving in front of the cafe with the words "Ali Baba" in English and Arabic.
Now, it did not take long for some witty Cairene to grab onto the symbolism. You see, according to their version, Mubarak's hand is really a preventative gesture to keep people away from the cave of his forty thieves of ministers and connected cronies.
As the joke circulated, the sign remained.
______
The Story:
I cannot risk ending this post without detailing the story behind the photo above. I was on my way to meet up with friends near Cilantro (AUC). I was a little early so I hopped out of the cab and moved to the square's center to capture the shot. As I stood in the center of Tahrir's roundabout, I snapped a few shots off of the large wooden Mubarak sign.
A traffic officer approached me and told me that it was "forbidden to photograph". I explained that I had never heard such a thing in touristic place like Midan Tahrir. He informed me that this was the way things were and if I wanted to I could speak to his boss. I responded that I very much would like to.
So he escorted me to one of those smallish sun-shading shelters where the highest officer in charge hangs out. He was a fat man who had a mouthful of sunflower seeds that he unintentionally spit all over when he spoke. He asked me what the problem was. I said I had taken a picture and the officer said it was forbidden. He looked perplexed and said, "what did you take a picture of?" I relied, "the sign of the president". He looked over and said, "yeah, he's right. You are not allowed to take a picture of that." I asked, "Why?" He responded, "because that is the way it is."
Sensing that no law breaking going on, I asked, "So there is a law that says this....that one cannot take pictures of the president." He said, "Yes."
I came back at him, "I don't believe you." Then, realizing that he was debating a persistent foreigner over a trivial matter, he looked at me and said, "look, you can take pictures of the president, we just don't like people taking pictures of that one.""Why that one?" I asked. He looked and said plainly, "because that is not a nice picture of him (al-suwar di mish helwa)."
I respectfully disagreed and thanked him for his time. Then I bid the officer a courteous farewell, which he returned smilingly.
Perhaps it is just a coincidence but the signs came down on the 12th/13th of June shortly after FM Ahmad Abul-Ghait announced that US Secretary of State Condi Rice would be visiting Egypt on June 20th. This triggered the speculation that the signs are disappearing so as not to underscore to Rice that Egypt's electoral season is a sham.
For Egyptians, government-supporters decorate the city with signs of the president that clearly transmit messages that "we all know who is firmly in charge" and "who will be elected come September". To their American patron, they take the signs down so as to give the appearance that reform and competition characterize the ongoing electoral process. It makes everything look all the more pathetic and crafty.
If the signs reappear quickly after Rice departs Monday night then it will be a confirmation that the theory was right.
The most imposing of the signs was this wooden monstrosity. There was a copy on the corner of Ramsis St. between the Lawyers and Journalist syndicates. There was also a copy of it in Tahrir square that appeared on the day of the referendum vote. A second Tahrir copy appeared shortly after to emphasize the point. This particular sign was said to be 3 meters tall, but it looked to between 6-to-7 meters tall. In addition to its size, the head of the president would light up with blinking multi-colored bulbs at night.
After being out a bit this week, a trend is detectable.
All the major pro-Mubarak signs are gone from the major thoroughfares and city squares but are still up in places like Imabab's Midan Kit-Kat and Sayida Zaynib. I am guessing Rice will not be passing through through areas if the news reports and speculation is correct.
So, really, what is happening is the signs are (temporarily?) coming down in selective areas.
_________
The Interpretation:
One of the large Mubarak signs in Tahrir was attracting more attention that its identical siblings around town.
It was placed in front of the famous Ali Baba cafe. When one looked at it from the street, you see Mubarak waving in front of the cafe with the words "Ali Baba" in English and Arabic.
Now, it did not take long for some witty Cairene to grab onto the symbolism. You see, according to their version, Mubarak's hand is really a preventative gesture to keep people away from the cave of his forty thieves of ministers and connected cronies.
As the joke circulated, the sign remained.
______
The Story:
I cannot risk ending this post without detailing the story behind the photo above. I was on my way to meet up with friends near Cilantro (AUC). I was a little early so I hopped out of the cab and moved to the square's center to capture the shot. As I stood in the center of Tahrir's roundabout, I snapped a few shots off of the large wooden Mubarak sign.
A traffic officer approached me and told me that it was "forbidden to photograph". I explained that I had never heard such a thing in touristic place like Midan Tahrir. He informed me that this was the way things were and if I wanted to I could speak to his boss. I responded that I very much would like to.
So he escorted me to one of those smallish sun-shading shelters where the highest officer in charge hangs out. He was a fat man who had a mouthful of sunflower seeds that he unintentionally spit all over when he spoke. He asked me what the problem was. I said I had taken a picture and the officer said it was forbidden. He looked perplexed and said, "what did you take a picture of?" I relied, "the sign of the president". He looked over and said, "yeah, he's right. You are not allowed to take a picture of that." I asked, "Why?" He responded, "because that is the way it is."
Sensing that no law breaking going on, I asked, "So there is a law that says this....that one cannot take pictures of the president." He said, "Yes."
I came back at him, "I don't believe you." Then, realizing that he was debating a persistent foreigner over a trivial matter, he looked at me and said, "look, you can take pictures of the president, we just don't like people taking pictures of that one.""Why that one?" I asked. He looked and said plainly, "because that is not a nice picture of him (al-suwar di mish helwa)."
I respectfully disagreed and thanked him for his time. Then I bid the officer a courteous farewell, which he returned smilingly.
Reader Comments (4)
Hey Josh, great report.
Cheers A7mad and thanks for pointing out the mistake.
It doesn't look like Condi is going to fall for it, according to this Reuters story. Let's see what they consider a "bloody nose."
June 19, 2005
Rice Prods Egypt on Democracy After Reform Doubts
By REUTERS
Filed at 11:54 p.m. ET
AMMAN (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will prod Egypt on Monday to widen political freedoms but faces reformers' calls to exert more pressure on the key U.S. Arab ally.
The Bush administration, which needs Cairo's help to bring Israelis and Palestinians closer to peace, has tempered its criticism of Egypt's steps toward democracy despite widespread condemnation that its election reform this year is a sham.
``I will have a chance when I'm in Egypt to talk more about the need for reform, about the need for the Middle East and Middle Eastern leaders to hear the voices of their people and their people's desire for reform,'' Rice said at a news conference in Jordan on the eve of her visit to Egypt.
This year, President Bush urged Egypt -- along with Saudi Arabia, which Rice will also visit on Monday -- to lead democratic reforms in the Arab world.
In a policy shift that evolved after militants attacked America on September 11, 2001, Bush pledged to make democracy a central plank in all bilateral relations in the belief that long-term U.S. interests were best served if freedoms spread.
``Very often people talked about the Middle East somehow being different, that what we needed to worry about in the Middle East was stability,'' Rice said on Sunday.
``And what we learned is that we were getting neither stability nor liberty and freedom; we were getting instead a growth of extremism because people did not have channels through which to express themselves politically,'' she added.
But the Bush administration's different standards for its allies and foes in the region could hurt her credibility in a region already skeptical of any U.S. moral authority because of, among other things, American abuse of Iraqi detainees.
President Hosni Mubarak's plan to hold multiparty presidential elections has been criticized by Egyptian and foreign analysts who believe it sets too high a bar for independent candidates and will not ease his grip on power.
Rice last week said the change was an important first step but more needed to be done.
The top U.S. diplomat will meet Egyptian reformers who welcome Washington's calls for Cairo for change and will tell her to boost pressure for more political freedoms.
Still, prominent opposition groups, which also want political reform but reject U.S. involvement, have not been invited to meet her.
Some diplomats and analysts believe the U.S. approach to political change in Egypt has shifted in favor of those who advocate caution to keep out of power Islamists who oppose U.S. policy in the Middle East.
A U.S. official said the United States saw through the cosmetic reforms and that Rice would insist on real change.
``Egypt's efforts on reform are an attempt to make the U.S. criticism go away -- but it's not real change,'' said the official, who asked not to be named.
Rice will deliver a major policy speech in Cairo and leave the Egyptian government with a ``bloody nose'' on democracy, he added.
Does anyone have the full text of Condi's speech at AUC yet? It didn't sound very impressive based on news reports. The emphasis on international observers rather than on removing restrictions on who can contest elections seems to me to be misguided. She's apparently meeting with Ayman Nour this evening too - any idea why she's singled him out, of all opposition politicians?