Two weeks after he had dismissed Ahmed Megahed as head of the General Egyptian Book Organisation, President Mohamed Morsi's newly appointed Minister of Culture Alaa Abdel-Aziz sacked the head of Egypt's National Library and Archives Abdel-Nasser Hassan, Cairo Opera House (COH) head Ines Abdel-Dayem and the Fine Art Sector head Salah Al-Meligui. The sackings, said Abdel-Aziz in a press release, were made “to allow new blood to pervade in the administration of the ministry's different sections”. No other reasons were given, though Abdel-Aziz did insist “the changes are an attempt to create a new vision and promote a cultural movement that expresses the 25 January Revolution”. On what that new vision is, and how the dismissals will help promote revolutionary ideals, Abdel-Aziz remained mute. “The ministry,” said the man who now runs the culture portfolio, “needs to be overhauled. It is in a mess.” Artists, intellectuals and writers claim Abdel-Aziz is deliberately trying to blur Egypt's cultural identity and Brotherhoodise the Ministry of Culture. Performances at COH were suspended and a sit-in organised in protest at the minister's recent decisions. Artists and employees at COH went on strike and called for a protest march to the Ministry of Culture premises in Zamalek to demand the resignation of Abdel-Aziz whom they say is the Muslim Brotherhood's front man tasked with undermining culture. “There is no such thing as spreading Brotherhood ideologies in the cultural sphere,” Abdel-Aziz told Al-Ahram Weekly. “Egypt is a Muslim country,” he added, “and Egyptians are mostly religious. No one political or ideological current should take charge of the cultural scene.” He stressed that his tenure as a minister of culture was very short and said that he intended to use the time to impose order according to his “personal agenda and vision” which he claimed to have discussed with Egyptian artists and intellectuals. “Culture belongs to all Egyptians and not a small elitist group,” said Abdel-Aziz. He complained that qualified and skilled artists had been sidelined for years. “We must work hand in hand to support creativity and enlightenment and find new spaces for these artists,” he said. “It's time to use their talents and further develop their ideas.” The only criteria he used in making appointments, he insisted, were the qualifications and integrity of the candidates. Such statements have done little to calm intellectuals, artists, authors, filmmakers, singers and musicians. On Sunday they heeded the call of the Egyptian Creativity Front and marched from the COH to the minister's Zamalek offices to demand Abdel-Aziz step down. “Say it, don't fear, the minister must leave,” they chanted. “We refuse the Brotherhoodisation of culture. Down, down with the rule of the supreme guide.” “Appointing Abdel-Aziz to the culture portfolio is a way to Brotherhoodise the Culture Ministry,” film producer Mohamed Al-Adl told the Weekly during the march. “Abdel-Aziz's attempts to remove the ministry's leadership are part of President Morsi's attempts to hog all power.” If the sacking of the ministry's leadership is an attempt to inject fresh blood, asks opera singer Nevine Alouba, then why are they being replaced by longstanding administrative employees rather than young qualified artists “involved in the cultural scene and who can understand our problems and visions”. “Look at Abdel Aziz's résumé. He hasn't achieved anything that qualifies him to become minister of culture. He is not known as an artist, nor has he any administrative track record,” says writer Youssef Al-Qayeed. His only qualification is that he wrote a Muslim Brotherhood supporting column in Al-Hurriya wal-Adala (Freedom and Justice), the online newspaper. “Abdel-Aziz's appointment is a disaster for Egyptian culture.” Artist and member of the Creativity Front Maha Effat believes the problem is not with the minister but the regime that assigned him the post. “The Brotherhood hate art and culture,” says Effat, “and their policies are directed at undermining everything creative.” Abdel-Dayem describes the cull of cultural leaders as “a random decision without any merit”. It is now obvious, she says, that Abdel-Aziz came to the post to implement the regime's plans “to raze culture and erase Egypt's cultural identity”. Immediately after taking office he started to cut down on fine arts activities without even knowing what was being done. Said Tawfik, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Culture (SCC), has resigned in protest against the latest decisions taken by Abdel-Aziz which, he says, seek only to abuse intellectuals, artists and leading cultural figures. The same action was taken by Camilia Sobhi, head of the Department of Foreign Cultural Relations. Author and poet Ahmed Abdel-Moeti Hegazi also resigned as editor-in-chief of Ebdaa (Creativity) magazine, published by the ministry, and as head of Beit Al-Shayr (the House of Poems). Farouk Shousha resigned from the board of Beit Al-Shayr and also cancelled a poetry evening scheduled on Tuesday at the COH. Hegazi announced that he was resigning all his posts in the Ministry of Culture to protest against the MB's treatment of intellectuals and media people. The decisions taken by the minister of culture, he added, are part of a plot to monopolise power and then keep it. The Brotherhood's modus operandi, he says, is to falsify history, destroy state institutions, hijack freedom and mistreat its opponents. Composer Omar Khairat and singer Hani Shaker also cancelled their shows at the COH. Award winning novelist Bahaa Taher, who has announced his resignation from the SCC, describes the minister's decisions as a ferocious attack on Egyptian culture. But, he adds, there may be a positive spin off since “for the first time in decades intellectuals and artists have united around a single goal — to defend Egypt's national culture which is now under threat.” Taher told the Weekly: “What we are seeing is a repetition of old scenarios in which the culture always won in the end.” Poet Abdel-Rahman Al-Abnoudi describes what is happening as part of a malicious plan to undermine Egypt's cultural strengths. “Intellectuals are morally bound to defend their colleagues and support them. What we don't need,” says Al-Abnoudi, “is a Ministry of Culture which in the end is nothing but a parking lot for administrators and bureaucrats. Intellectuals, poets, artists, musicians, singers and so on have their own creativity. We act and interact with Egyptian people without the need for a Ministry of Culture.” Others who have resigned include Osama Afifi as editor-in-chief of Magalla magazine and Mohamed Abu Sena, Sayed Hegab, Mohamed Abdel-Motaleb and Samah Abdallah from the SCC. Former GEBO head Ahmed Megahed described the whole situation as a futile attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to erase Egypt's cultural identity. Nothing has changed, he adds, since the days of the Mubarak regime. Unfortunately, he says, the fact is “the Muslim Brotherhood and culture don't mix”. Culture means freedom of expression and thought while the MB demands ideological obedience. “I worry about the Brotherhoodisation of the ministry, especially of the National Library and Archives [NLA] which houses important documents relating to Egypt's political borders and papers on MB policy and members,” said Megahed. He told the Weekly that Abdel-Nasser Hassan, the head of the NLA, told him that he was sacked from his post because he refused the request of a Brotherhood leader to hand over potentially damaging documents in the NLA's collection. The Plastic Arts Committee of the SCC submitted its resignation en masse to Abdel-Aziz over the minister's interference in the work of the Organising Committee of the General Exhibition for Plastic Arts. The Brotherhood denies that it is seeking to control cultural institutions. MB spokesman Ahmed Aref said that they respect the work of cultural institutions and have no objections to diversity. Artists' fears were fanned further this week when Nour Party member Gamal Hamid, a Shura Council deputy, demanded that ballet be banned in Egypt. The classical dance repertoire, he said, was “immoral”. MB spokesman Ashraf Badreddin says artists' fears are “baseless”. “Why don't they tell us who from the MB has been hired in the ministry? Have any ballet performances been stopped or replaced with an Islamic performance?” Abdel-Aziz's supporters say the new minister's actions are necessary to eliminate corruption in the ministry. The ministry's IT expert, Naglaa Fathi, says the whole situation has arisen as a result of Abdel-Aziz's decision to forward allegations of corruption within the Culture Ministry to the prosecutor-general. The new minister, she claimed, was acting to stop the ministry be treated as a cash cow by its senior officials, most of whom had in any case reached the end of their contracts. Yet Abdel-Dayem was sacked six months before her appointment officially ended, and Megahed two weeks before his contract was up. Abdel-Aziz insisted to the Weekly that he was committed to supporting culture, art and creativity. His office, he said, is open to all. He went on to question the cultural contributions of his opponents, claiming that “Egypt after the revolution is no longer to be held hostage by those who have been unable to provide Egyptians with creativity.” “The ministry is moving forward towards opening up to the diverse facets of culture around the world,” Abdel Aziz said. “This talk of ‘Islamising culture', as if it is a slur or an accusation, is strange,” he noted in a press release issued by the ministry. “The majority of Egyptians do practise Islam.”
