The appointment of Alaa Abdel-Aziz as Egypt's culture minister in the course of this week's cabinet reshuffle set the cat among the pigeons in ministry-affiliated circles. Abdel-Aziz, who teaches film editing at the Supreme Institute of Cinema and the Art Academy, is widely seen as a Muslim Brotherhood (MB) Trojan horse in the enemy land of the intellectual community, some 500 of whose representatives — writers, artists, filmmakers, publishers and others — signed a petition addressed to Prime Minister Hisham Kandil demanding the sacking of Abdel-Aziz. The petition expressed the community's “rejection of plans for cultural Brotherhoodisation [sic.] by imposing an incompetent minister of culture who is not qualified for the post... the new minister is not a well-known figure on the Egyptian and Arab cultural scene, who does not have a single cultural achievement that qualifies him for such a fine and high post. Egypt's minister of culture should represent intellectuals and should have refined cultural knowledge and values that qualify him to contribute to reinstating Egypt's cultural influence in the region as well as protecting the country's cultural identity from the onslaught of intolerance and racism that aims to obstruct all kinds of creativity and freedom in all domains.” Among the signatories of the petition was the renowned author Bahaa Taher, poet Abdel-Rahman Al-Abnoudi, novelist Alaa Al-Aswani, poet Sayed Hegab, writer Belal Fadl and film critic Ali Abu Shadi, to mention but a few. Cyber activists shared the news, appending their links with invective against Abdel-Aziz and the MB, while on Monday the head of the Art Academy Sameh Mahran, in collaboration with the Egyptian Creative Front (ECF), organised a cultural conference at the Sayed Darwish Hall at the academy “in defence of Egypt's culture” and to demand the sacking of the new minister who should be investigated for corruption allegation. Mahran, who is accusing Abdel-Aziz of sexual harassment, had submitted to former minister of culture Saber Arab 300 screen captures of Abdel Aziz's chat history with one of his students at the academy. Mahran announced that the academy staff denounce the appointment of Abdel-Aziz, explaining that the CD was given to him by a friend of Abdel-Aziz's under Arab's tenure; he did not purview the CD himself, he added (presumably for fear that it would offend him) but was informed of its content. Arab was about to proceed with investigating the case when the cabinet was reshuffled. But Mahran and Abdel-Aziz have a long history of dispute, which started in March 2012 when Abdel-Aziz participated in a sit-in against Mahran, accusing him of administrative and financial corruption. Abdel-Aziz and others were investigated for charges of beating Mahran damaging his car. At the conference poet and spokesman of the ECF Abdel-Gelil Al-Sharnoubi described the newly appointed minister of culture as “a person who is not worth talking about”. He also called on intellectuals to gather on Tuesday on the Opera House grounds for a protest march in the name of Egypt, to set off from Al-Hanager Theatre and move to the Ministry of Culture premises in Zamalek. Film director Ahmed Awaad said the ECF is in the process of setting up committees to document violations of freedom of expression under President Mohamed Morsi, towards a conference on the future of Egyptian culture under the current conditions. Film star Hussein Fahmi, representing actors, was also at the conference; he said “the post of Egyptian minister of culture is too big for Abdel-Aziz”, comparing unfavourably him to such ministers as Tharwat Okasha. “I am now sure there is a conspiracy against Egypt's soft power, which the minister is part of,” he said, calling on intellectuals and actors to unite in a stand against any attempt to jeopardise Egypt's cultural identity. For his part Abdel-Aziz refused to comment on the conference, describing it as “an example of score settling”. He said, “it is inappropriate to comment on a clash that reached such low levels.” But he welcomed the ECF march seeing it as “essential to the development of cultural activities”. Abdel-Aziz also called for a public conference to introduce his vision for ministry activities. He asserted that he was never a member of the MB, and that he accepted the post out of a sense of responsibility for Egypt and its cultural identity. Abdel-Aziz's suggestion on his first day in office that the name “Family Library” should be changed to “Egypt's Revolution Library” made the Family Library committee angry, with former General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO) chairman Ahmed Megahed making a statement that resulted in Abdel-Aziz dismissing him from the post. The Family Library is a ministry project launched in 1994 under the auspices of former first lady Suzanne Mubarak to encourage reading through re-printing a classics and newer books at affordable prices. After the January Revolution GEBO set up a committee headed by the late Ibrahim Aslan to reform the project. Megahed has since described Abdel-Aziz as “incompetent”: “How could a minister make such a decision ignoring the Family Library committee and the GEBO chairman? As GEBO chairman I think we should have been informed officially by the minister and not through the media.” He referred to an introduction by Aslan in which he explained that the name “Family Library” was introduced by the late, renowned author Tawfik Al-Hakim, not the former regime Abdel-Aziz claims to be opposing. Had Abdel-Aziz read the series of books, he added, he would have realised its orientation was revolutionary in essence. Asked whether he has a personal dispute with Abdel-Aziz, Megahed said, “if I saw him on the street I wouldn't recognise him.” Abdel-Aziz said dismissing Megahed from his post is not personal and was in response to Megahed's own announcement that he would stay home until further notice. Megahed's mandate was to end on 27 May anyway. Supporters of Abdel-Aziz agree. They also think many intellectuals have become Islamophobes and should calm down and give Abdel-Aziz a chance. Publisher Mohamed Hashem feels the new minister is a respectable person who was among the demonstrators in Tahrir Square and a member of Egypt's cultural community. He feels Abdel-Aziz's bias is for Egyptian culture, not the MB. “We should not disagree on people but on policies,” Hashem concluded, adding that it is clearly far too early to assess the new minister's performance in those terms. Former minister of culture Gaber Asfour, who was one of the signatories of the petition, said the MB has chosen one of its supporters to hold Egypt's cultural portfolio in order to Brotherhoodise the ministry; and if that was their plot the new minister will probably fail in his mission. “These are illusions, Egypt's culture has always stood up to oppression,” he asserted. Writer Ayman Al-Khamisi, who does not know the new minister, wonders about his choice for the post of all possible candidates, asking why the cabinet did not choose a writer to be the new minister of culture and why every minister of culture should come from an administrative background? “The choice of Abdel-Aziz was a shocking surprise for intellectuals,” poet and writer Yousri Hassan said, explaining that Abdel-Aziz was not among the candidates nominated to the post and he was a relatively unknown figure. “The security authority did not even ask the AC for Abdel-Aziz's portfolio.” Hassan went to say that the problem is compounded by the fact that intellectuals know that Abdel-Aziz is a regular contributor to the newspaper of the Freedom and Justice Party who had defended MB policies and the constitution. Rumours about the minister holding an executive office under the supervision of five MB members have been circulating, but the strangest thing according to Hassan is that within a few hours of Abdel-Aziz announcing that he would later ask the Interior Ministry to stop protecting the Cultural Palaces, the ministry had already closed down three palaces in Fayoum. Hassan also recounted an incident that occurred at Felfela restaurant in downtown Cairo where intellectuals verbally attacked Abdel-Aziz who had to leave the restaurant through a backdoor. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one ministry official said Mohamed Abu Seada, the head of the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) and the director of the minister's office, has already handed in his resignation.
