THE AUTHORITIES

In this section, we look at the response of the second actor, the authority, to the object created by the first actor, graffiti painters. The authority here is not seen as a passive recipient of an action but as an actor influencing the atmosphere and the contentious issue of the object. In many instances, the reaction of the authority unintentionally helped reinforce the power of the graffiti messages (Tripp, 2013, pp.

256–308). The authorities’ presence in the street and reaction to graffiti varied greatly from 2011 to 2015. In the beginning of the revolution, many squares were occupied by protestors and graffiti was a way to personalize the “proclaimed space”.

Later on, artists found little constraint in drawing during the Muslim Brotherhood rule due to the weak presence of security or army forces in the streets. Since the election of president Sisi, the presence of authorities in the streets has been rapidly increasing, especially with the continuous terror threats. The government has also drafted new laws to combat graffiti after the outset of Morsi as mentioned earlier.

Also, many government efforts have been directed at erasing graffiti and repainting, especially in main squares and around army buildings.

The Muslim Brotherhood time was the time we felt most free (laughs).

Really! The police was probably not cooperative with Morsi so they left us to do whatever we want. It is all about their interest and agenda. Later on it became really tough. The time we are in now is really scary (IB, a 25-year-old female freelance artist).

The authority response was not limited to passively erasing the graffiti signs and preventing new ones, but they also created their own signs. In Fig. 2, a government building wall close to Rab’aa square was repainted and over the new paint they put the statement: “Your opinion doesn’t belong on the wall”.

Figure X-2 “Your opinion doesn’t belong on the wall” (captured by author, August 2014)

This effort to erase is seen as indicative of something more than just cleaning a wall:

“everything is being repainted from Mogama’a [government building on Tahrir square] and all around. This is very symbolic for what the government has been doing with people’s consciousness and memory” (EM, a 30-year-old female European artist living in Egypt). This argument is supported by how the erasing is selective rather than random, depending on the message of the graffiti. MK, a 25-year-old male multidisciplinary artist, explains that all the graffiti he did against the current regime has been erased in contrast to his graffiti against Muslim Brotherhood that is still present in Tahrir Square. Also, HY, a 26-year-old male architect, argues that “Authorities erase for political reasons. Not for cleanliness. If it was for cleanliness they would paint over it nicely but they just erase it with spray too (...) they just erase statements that frustrate them”.

An example of selective erasing is shown in Fig. 3. This stencil graffiti was spread around Tahrir Square area during El Sisi election time. It shows an illus- tration of El Sisi with the text “vote for (curse word)”. The curse word was erased with a spray can, possibly by authorities or pedestrians, turning the meaning of the graffiti into a call to vote for El Sisi.

Figure X-3 “Vote for” (Captured by author, June 2014)

Judging by the drafting of the new law, the authorities are against this form of expression and see it as vandalism, as well as an insult to authorities. One partic- ipant narrates the authorities’ view that he experienced when arrested: “I got arrested while drawing (...) they said ‘you are part of the graffiti people vandalizing the country, if we see you here again, you will not get away with this’ (...) they told me what I am doing is political and against the government” (KZ, a male full-time graffiti artist, refused to disclose his age). Interestingly, another participant rhetor- ically turns the situation around and accuses the authorities of doing vandalism:

“Real vandalism is coming from the corrupted state. If the political power in the country was cleaner, you wouldn’t find people writing Sisi is a killer or a traitor. So authority can’t come now and say that those people expressing their opinion are vandalizing the city space” (HY, a 26-year-old male Architect).

The concept of power becomes of interest in this dialogue between graffiti artists and authorities. The power relations are perceived differently by participants. For some, they acknowledge that they are the weaker side of this dialogue: “The government is afraid I don’t know why, maybe because we reach people. Even though we are weaker than what they might imagine” (IB, a 25-year-old female freelance artist). On the other hand, some describe their actions as more powerful than that of the government: “Of course they fear graffiti, because if they didn’t findit powerful they would have left it. It makes me proud that a whole government is nervous about my work” (KZ, a male full-time graffiti artist, refused to disclose his age). Some graffiti pieces also express this power relation. Figure 4 illustrates this attitude in its portrayal of a woman and the statement “Government, fear us.”

Figure X-4 “Government, fear us!!” (Photo Credit: Graffiti Artist Keizer)

It was challenging to get access to authority figures to understand this actor’s perspective. To get closer access, an interview was done with a 65-year-old retired military official. For him, graffiti represented chaos and obscene language with no real purpose. He saw aesthetic value in few of the pieces and thought the best solution is to neatly erase graffiti and set specific areas where artists can draw in an organized manner. For him, the graffiti artists focus on few cases and insult the government based on them while ignoring the bigger challenges the authority is facing. Another interview was done with a 24-year-old accountant who served his compulsory military year in Tahrir Square area. Even though he was involved in the revolution in 2011, he was very understanding regarding the authorities’ response.

He explains how the context has changed much since 2011, and the military has much to resist with the current threats especially in a strategic area such as Tahrir Square.

The previous overview of the two actors of graffiti painters and authorities shows much tension in relation to issues such as power, vandalism and freedom of expression. This tension explains the contradicting ways by which the contentious issues expressed in graffiti are perceived by them as well as by the general public, as will be shown below.