A month after being assigned the culture portfolio, Alaa Abdel-Aziz began sacking his ministry's leading officials. Ahmed Megahed was dismissed as head of the General Egyptian Book Organisation, Abdel-Nasser Hassan as head of Egypt's National Library and Archives (NLA), Ines Abdel-Dayem as the chair of the Cairo Opera House and Salah Al-Meligui as the Fine Art Sector's chief. In response, Said Tawfik, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Culture, resigned in protest against the sackings. Camilia Sobhi, head of the Department of Foreign Cultural Relations, also announced her departure. Author and poet Ahmed Abdel-Moeti Hegazi has 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 cancelled a poetry evening scheduled for Tuesday at the Cairo Opera House. Artists and intellectuals have also broken into the Ministry of Culture in Zamalek and announced an indefinite sit-in until the culture minister resigns. The scene outside the villa that houses the offices of the culture minister in Zamalek is less sedate than usual. The shrubbery is now hidden behind banners demanding Abdel-Aziz's sacking, and a small stage has been erected before the gates on which dance, music and other performances regularly take place. Elsewhere, a huge poster drawn by artist Saber Taha presents a life size caricature of Abdel-Aziz wearing a wok on his head. The pathway to the main entrance of the villa is filled with artists drawing and producing banners. Others stand in front of video cameras giving press briefings of the latest actions to take place. Inside the building the usual array of artworks has been replaced, except for the bronze head of Taha Hussein in the conference room. The large doors leading to the waiting room are now the site of an impromptu exhibition of caricatures. Excluded from his office, on Friday Abdel-Aziz was taking part in a rally demanding Jerusalem be freed from Israeli occupation. The rally began at Rabaa Al-Adaweya Mosque in Nasr City where Abdel-Aziz vowed to “liberate culture no matter what”. He told the rally's mostly Islamist participants that “we will not accept that anyone be excluded… everyone should know that Egypt is for all Egyptians without the tutelage of others.” The crowd responded by chanting “liberate, liberate culture” and “clean, clean all corruption in the ministry”. Muslim Brotherhood (MB) spokesman Ahmed Aref condemned the occupation of the minister's office and accused “some intellectuals of trying to monopolise Egypt's culture voice”. During the Mubarak-era, Aref complained, Islamic culture was marginalised. He praised Abdel-Aziz for revealing numerous irregularities and incidents of corruption within the ministry, though he gave no details of what these were, and then said “if you are not able to enter your ministry to properly carry out your work, Omar Ibn Abdel-Aziz Mosque neighbouring the presidential palace in Heliopolis is at your disposal.” “All culture,” Aref added, “begins with the mosque.” Thus are the battle lines being drawn. Artists and intellectuals considered such statements as offensive and a way of antagonising Islamists against them. On Tuesday, dozens of Islamists headed towards the Culture Ministry's headquarters in support of Abdel-Aziz. Verbal clashes took place between the minister's supporters and opponents. The clashes turned violent before Abdel-Aziz's supporters decided to retreat. In a press statement, Salafi Watan Party Vice President Mohamed Nour called on all Islamist forces to end the sit-in and said the occupiers were supporters of Mubarak's longserving minister of culture Farouk Hosni. Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper quoted Nour complaining that “the revolution talked about purging the judiciary and fighting corruption but did not say anything about those who have poisoned the minds of Egyptians for 30 years.” Nour called for legal action against the protesters on charges of “corrupting thought”, squandering public funds and disparaging God. “They have been presenting only the most permissive and decadent of arts,” he claimed. “I will not discuss anything with those who broke into my office though I let them stay there,” railed Abdel-Aziz. “I can only speak with real intellectuals and artists, though only in the presence of the press and TV cameras.” Abdel-Aziz accused journalists who have criticised him of being paid by the institutions whose heads he sacked. “I know what these journalists are doing and I will turn documents over to the investigative authorities,” he said, without providing any details of what these documents might be. Many leading artists and intellectuals see Abdel-Aziz's statements as an insult to those who have spent their entire careers promoting creativity and cultural expression. If he has all the evidence of malpractice that he claims, then why not make some of it public, they ask. “I am sure that he has nothing. If he had, he would have been able to provide concrete reasons for the sackings he has made,” Megahed told Al-Ahram Weekly. “Instead, he justifies the dismissals on the ground that he is ‘making room for new blood' in the ministry. Yet all he has done is promote long serving but junior bureaucrats.” “These new supposed leaders are often from outside the Ministry of Culture. They have no track record yet are being paid large amounts of money.” Is this, asks Megahed, the way to fight corruption? “The whole situation is a futile attempt by the MB to erase Egypt's cultural identity by placing its camp followers in cosy sinecures,” Megahed told the Weekly. Unfortunately, he says, the fact is “the MB and culture don't mix.” Culture means freedom of expression and thought while the MB demands ideological obedience. “It is an existential battle,” says author and artist Mohamed Baghdadi. Should Abdel-Aziz and the Brotherhood succeed in their plans to Brotherhoodise Egypt's culture then the whole of Egypt will be threatened. “A real intellectual has moral duties towards his nation. We have to fight these crimes,” warned Baghdadi. He is particularly concerned about the fate of the NLA. “I fear that if they succeed in infiltrating the NLA, important documents detailing political borders, including maps, and secret documents the Brotherhood's own history will disappear.” In a statement issued on Monday artists called on all concerned parties to establish a neutral committee of experts to regulate and administer the NLA, stressing that the collection contains documents which, if compromised, could affect Egypt's sovereignty and national security. The call came in a statement by film director Magdi Ali during a meeting inside the ministry in response to the sacking of NLA chief Abdel-Wahed Al-Nabawi, as well as three other senior officials, on Saturday. The protesters argued that the sackings indicated “a systematic plot to control access to the country's history”. Some protesters urged the army to intervene to guarantee the safety of the archives. Concerns were heightened on Tuesday when Brotherhood sympathiser Khaled Fahmy, professor of Arabic literature at Menoufiya University, was appointed overall manager of both the National Archives and the National Library. The sit-in at the ministry's headquarters is not enough, said Baghdadi. Similar sit-ins should take place in the 527 culture palaces across Egypt. Then, he said, “poets, dance groups, artists and singers can stage daily special performances to spread Egypt's culture and call the masses to stand against the Brotherhoodisation of Egypt's cultural identity.” Baghdadi hailed the decision of Damanhour Opera House and Port Said and Suez culture palaces to join the protest. “I think this is the initial phase of the 30 June movement to topple the Brotherhood regime,” Baghdadi told the Weekly. Painter Mohamed Abla also sees the current showdown as an existential battle. It is not, he says, solely focussed on the Ministry of Culture but indicates the policy of the whole regime, the constitutional decree issued by President Mohamed Morsi earlier this year, the controversial constitution, and secret agreements between the MB and Washington and the MB and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. “We are dissident intellectuals, not thugs and vandals as some want to portray us,” says Abla. “We are here not only to defend Egypt's culture but also to mobilise people to protest on 30 June and liberate their country from this fascist regime.” Poet Youssri Hassan accused Abdel-Aziz of rabble rousing against intellectuals and artists during his speech on Friday at Rabaa Al-Adaweya Mosque. This mockery of leading cultural figures, he said, provides yet more evidence that the minister's aim is to undermine Egypt's cultural strengths. “He does not understand that intellectuals, poets, artists, musicians and singers have their own creativity. We act and interact with Egyptian people without the need for a Ministry of Culture,” Hassan told the Weekly. The current protests, explains Hassan, are less about the sacking of leading officials than about the fact that Abdel-Aziz takes orders from Al-Jazeera anchor Ahmed Mansour, journalist Hani Salah and MB spokesman Aref. “On what basis can Aref invite Abdel-Aziz to base his ministerial work in Omar Ibn Abdel-Aziz Mosque? Is Aref the MB or the presidency spokesman? Why didn't Aref suggest Abdel-Aziz to base himself at the Guidance Bureau. At least they would have saved on phone bills.” “I believe in our culture. For 7,000 years it has resisted all attempts to destroy it,” says actress Samiha Ayoub. “Our courage is our greatest asset. We must raise our voices high so the whole world can hear.” “We are all in the same ship,” says award winning novelist Bahaa Taher. He describes the minister's decisions as a ferocious attack on Egyptian culture but 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.” “We are leading a battle against the bewilderment of minds,” Taher told the Weekly. The MB, he continued, fears any aspect of enlightenment which might question the ideological obedience it demands. “We are not atheists as some claim. On the contrary, we abide by real religious and national values.” “This is a battle for the whole nation,” argues film director Ali. “Culture is like the water that they want to cut, the army they want to beat and the judicial authority that they are conniving to destroy. We are in a long battle with a fascist regime and we will not abandon our country to these people.” “The sit-in represents the voice of the whole nation,” insists film director Khaled Youssef, “and it is the responsibility of intellectuals to dream of a better reality and life.” The ministry had been occupied, he continued, to save an important institution from destruction. “We will not stand with our hands tied as the MB undermines the country and transforms it into the kind of bland investment projects from which it thinks it can make a quick buck.” In its 80 years of history, Youssef says, the Brotherhood has failed to produce a single significant intellectual, artist, poet, filmmaker or novelist. “How do they suppose they can manage Egypt's culture when they know nothing about it?” he asks. “Just look at the questions their parliament obsesses about. They do not discuss laws concerning citizens' rights, health or insurance. Instead they spend their time talking about female circumcision and the minimum age at which girls can marry. With a mentality like that how can you hope to build an open minded and sane generation?” “30 June is a historic day. We will liberate Egypt from its new occupiers. Egyptians will go to the presidential palace and will not return home until they set Egypt free,” Youssef concluded. “Culture is Egypt's vertebral column. If it cracks the whole country will fall apart,” says poet Hegazi. He warns that there are attempts to drag Egypt back to the dark ages and overturn the enlightened advances made in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Brotherhood's modus operandi, he says, is to falsify history, destroy state institutions, hijack freedom and mistreat its opponents.
