“Either we bring them justice or we die like them.”
‘Walls of Freedom: Street Art of the Egyptian Revolution,’ is an untimely publication. Untimely, because as the Clown in uniform, Al-Sissi, is establishing his rule as a fait accompli, the documentation of three years of revolutionary street art goes against the grain of this counter-revolutionary time. The thousands of images contained in the book show us that another road was possible for Arab uprisings. It shows us the depth of creativity that the uprisings unleashed throughout Egypt. These images capture one of the richest revolutionary experiences in the Arab world. It documents the hopes and dreams for social justice, bread and dignity. It documents the many martyrs that were killed by the military and the police. We can literally follow the Egyptian Revolution as it was sketched onto Egypt’s walls. In doing so, we see a revolution that is not completed; one that didn’t go far enough and one that hasn’t yet fulfilled the dreams present on these walls. Justice for the martyrs, the unification across sectarian and religious lines, and the tearing to shreds of the military apparatus has not been accomplished.
Marx once said that every mass struggle that erupts goes far beyond its real limits in the form of dreams when it first enters onto the scene of history. The traces of these dreams must be investigated and looked for in resisting the rule of the counter-revolutionaries. It is a simple exercise of memory to keep the sparks of hope in the past alive.
Given the short length of this book review I can only sketch a few of these dreams. There are, unfortunately, also nightmares present too.
The first is a picture of a red fist. It was taken in May of 2011 whilst the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was in power. The fist is strong and it is clenching a cross and a crescent signifying the unity that was achieved between Muslim and Christian revolutionaries to bring down Mubarak. The fist is so strong that it is smashing its way through a tank. This expresses the fact that the military’s manipulation of the country can be broken if sectarian lines are overcome. This important picture signifies that the revolution was never a just contest between secular Arab dictators and Islamism. It was about the breaking of authoritarian rule. As sectarian hordes rise with the counter-revolution this memory is important.
The most inspiring graffiti are the depictions of the martyrs. We never hear of their names in the media, they are the nameless and erased corpses. But it is those brave souls who were on the front lines against the police and put their bodies on the line. Freedom’s call was impossible without them. Any talk of revolutionary victory must erect their memory. One of them was a martyr by the name of Islam Raafat. He was 18 years old when he was murdered. A security truck ran him over near the interior ministry on January 28, 2011. His skull was fractured and he died soon after. His mural was painted in March 2011 and was the object of many battles. It was cleaned by the state then repainted by the revolutionaries. It is unclear if it still stands today. But what is clear is that if the Clown and his cronies cement their counter-revolution, “not even the dead will be safe from the enemy, if he is victorious,” as Walter Benjamin would say. I remember the black-clad women making speeches to win justice for their dead sons and daughters. It is a memory that should keep the following chant in our minds, “Martyr, sleep and rest… we will continue the struggle.”
The next sketch on a wall took place on December 2011. It is of a young child, putting his middle finger up to the world. As he does this, the placard he holds reads, “We won’t forget Tahrir.” The revolutionary memory of an uprising of such magnitude cannot is threatened by the counter-revolution. Revolutionaries remember that “Tahrir” was about a social transformation of the Middle East. It was about ending neoliberal capitalism. It was about winning basic social dignity. It was about an existence that is respected. It was about putting the destiny of workers and the poor into their own hands. It was about ending the torture chambers. The memory of this “Tahrir” is incommensurable with what the Al-Sissi mob wants. They want the reverse of what this great event unleashed.
Fourth picture. There is a man with a chain around his neck. A police sniper has taken out his eye. He now wears a patch. This is a common sight in revolutionary circles. Many eyes were targets of snipers, especially during the heroic battles of Mohamed Mahmoud Street. In fact, at the time artists sketched onto the wall of Mohamed Mahmoud Street the faces of at least twelve protesters who had their eyes taken out by the regime. The chain around the man’s neck has SCAF inscribed into it. The words underneath say, “Silence is not for us, down with the military rule”. A few years later, in November 2013 a mural would be drawn of Malek Mostafa, who also lost his eye in the battle of Mohamed Mahmoud. Out of his eye shines a white light. It signifies the light of freedom.
It is truly unfortunate that a book review cannot do justice to the great wealth of this important book. The graffiti against the massacres from Maspero to Rabaa through Port Said, faces of the locked up revolutionaries, the diversity that erupted and the workers struggles are all documented very well.
But alongside the pictures, there is to be found political commentary about the revolution.
The strongest political commentary shines a light on the political problem facing the Egyptian Revolution from the beginning – how to create a mass revolutionary political pole independent of the Muslim Brotherhood and the scum of the old regime. One able to wield the power of Egypt’s workers in alliance with the revolutionary youth. Only such a force can turn the dreams of bread, justice and social dignity into a victorious reality. That fact is as true today as it was at the beginning of the revolution.
It is important to keep safe these memories because the Egyptian Revolution exploded the continuum of history. It was an event that unleashed the possibility of another Middle East. No longer was Mubarak’s dictatorship able to hold a National Police Day peacefully. No longer were the Egyptian rulers able, with their backers in Israel and the United States, to pass neoliberal and dictatorial measures without there being a backlash of revolutionary wrath on the streets and workplaces. It is the memory of this revolutionary wrath that must never be forgotten.
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