In an already tense atmosphere caused by the replacement of the director of the General Authority for Books and the director of the Council for Fine Arts, the dismay experienced by artists was increased by statements made by Gamal Hamed, an extremely conservative member of the Shura, who believes that ballet is “the art of nudity, inciting immorality and obscenity among the people.”

The news reported on May 30th concerning the dismissal of Ines Abdel-Dayem, director of Cairo’s Opera Theatre, marked the beginning of protests. The Opera’s employees, led by the conductor Nayer Nagui, called a strike announcing their intention to prevent the appointment of a successor and denouncing “a detailed plan aimed at destroying culture and the fine arts in Egypt.” The statement specified that this strike would last until the minister resigned.

The solidarity of other artists was quick to come and spread throughout the country, bringing hundreds, as well as critics, academics and students, to occupy the Ministry of Culture.

The building’s occupation took place peacefully on June 5th with artists allowed in by the ministry’s own employees, many of whom had recently been told they were dismissed. On the second day of the occupation, the Freedom of Creativity Front, a name chosen by the occupiers, announced in a statement that the protest was not addressed exclusively at the ministry, but was aimed at denouncing government policies perceiving the country as “booty to be distributed among its supporters and followers.” Opera singer Dalia Farid Fadel told The Guardian that “The authorities are attempting to change Egypt’s very essence, slowly depriving the country of the heterogeneity of its culture.”

From the very beginning of the occupation, the movement’s leaders, all successful artists aged between sixty and seventy, have meticulously coordinated the arrival of hundreds of colleagues from all over the country, presenting a programme of evening shows open to the public, free of charge, that have also been put on-line and gone viral.

The list of performances was lengthy and varied with classical music concerts, plays, traditional Sufi songs and those from other religious traditions, as well as patriotic songs, pop, rap and hip-hop concerts, poetry recital, dance, circus and puppet shows. These performances have been characterised by a strong emotional bond between the artists and the public with the most recurrent exchanges between the audiences and the performers being “Is ballet haraam? No! Is poetry haraam? No! Is photography haraam? No!”

In programming these performances there was one fundamental point emphasised by the Freedom of Creativity Front, clearly in opposition to government policies, concerning cultural productions of religious inspiration differing from Islam, in primis Coptic, but also atheist, agnostic or Shiite.

Supported by NGOs, trade unions and informal groups of students and citizens, artists were able to present an example of an alternative cultural policy, in which cultural and religious diversity, creativity, art and civic commitment merged in a mix capable of attracting increasingly large and enthusiastic audiences.

Following the example set by Cairo, artists in other Egyptian cities organised strikes, sit-ins, and the ‘occupation’ of cultural locations. As happened at the Ministry of Culture, thanks to the involvement of over 600 artists, the Beiram El-Tonsi Theatre in Alexandria held many shows and debates on the country’s cultural policy, on relations to be established with opposition movements and the role that should be entrusted to the foreign media.

The events organised with great expertise were, however, held in a tense atmosphere due to threats from the regime’s supporters.

There were violent attacks on June 11th in Cairo and on June 24th in Alexandria. Following those events, the police decided to remain deployed close to the occupied locations only intervening when the presence of controversial personalities among the crowds caused brawls. The police’s work was facilitated by cooperation provided by football supporters who offered to supervise the locations at night. The only problem was that, at times, the stadium choruses of the football fans were louder that the artists’ music and singing.

What started as a challenge to the Ministry of Culture soon became an open challenge to the entire government’s credibility. A challenge able to conquer the admiration and support of the majority of people, providing further vigour to the people’s Tamarod (protest, uprising) and the appeal to protest against the president on June 30th. Symbolically it was from the occupied Ministry of Culture that on June 30th what the BBC and CNN called the largest protest in the history of mankind marched to Tahrir Square. The occupiers were divided into three groups; the first and the largest took part in the protest carrying red cards as a reference to Morsi’s deposal, while the second group remained in the building to protect its ‘occupation’ and the third contributed to the organisation of field hospitals, luckily not all needed.

Morsi’s deposal by the army for now has not marked the end of the sit ins and the artists remain vigilant with regards to the future of Egypt’s cultural policies and will very probably be an important interlocutor for the new government, as well as a reference point for future protests.

Videos of the protests:
http://youtu.be/ldm6uxZS0bY
http://youtu.be/sb7emg7dNc0
http://youtu.be/7L1TRJ__30I

Translated by Francesca Simmons

Photo: protests at the Opera House in Cairo