Graffiti artists rebel against "Islamist normality"

Even though Egyptian authorities are still banning their drawings, graffiti artists stand their ground in Tahrir Square. They say that for each piece removed, others will soon replace it.                

Armed with anger and their tools, artists take to the streets surrounding Tahrir Square to memorialize the January 25th revolution their own way. All this in defiance against security apparatuses now in the grips of hardliner Islamists who ordered a ban to all graffiti in and around the city walls.                

Since taking up power and in an attempt to create the impression of normality in Tahrir Square, Egyptian authorities deployed police members and municipality employees, distanced street vendors, and planted palm trees and flowers in the Square.              

But what was done by the authorities as they erased the drawings which record events during the revolution and the transitional period that followed was more than what artists could bear and so they gathered to draw paintings expressing their anger once again.              

The artists place responsibility on President Muhammad Morsi even though he wasn't the decision taker, but instead cited Cairo's governor as the accountable subject.             

Within this context, some consider this case as a challenge from another type especially to Hardliner Islamists who are now in charge of the authorities keeping in mind that the political affiliation of graffiti artists varies between Leftists, Liberals, and Communists.


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