CAIRO - In the run-up to last week's first anniversary of the anti-Mubarak revolt, the local media were abuzz with debate about a plan by protesters, demanding a swift end to the military rule in the country, to take to the streets wearing ‘Guy Fawkes' masks. These masks were popularised in the ‘V for Vendetta' comic book series, written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd in the 1980s. The stories in the series revolve around V, an anarchist revolutionary who wears a Guy Fawkes mask and is out to topple a fascist government, so that the people can rule themselves. But last Wednesday, when thousands of Egyptians converged on Tahrir Square to voice collective opposition to the military junta, the ‘Vendetta' mask kept a very low profile, while the protesters wanted to ‘Egyptianise' their masks. "We do not need to import masks and heroes, now that we have our own heroes," said Hatem Fathi, who designs masks depicting Egyptians killed during and after the revolution against Mubarak. Fathi told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that he likes making masks in the distinctive colours of the national flag to emphasise their ‘Egyptianness'. Some of his masks depict Khaled Saeed, the iconic blogger, whose brutal killing by police in Alexandria in the summer of 2010 was a major driving force for the anti-Mubarak revolt. Other inspiring characters are Mena Daniel, a young Coptic man, shot dead outside the State TV building in October, and Sheikh Emad Effat, a Muslim cleric killed last December in the violence outside the Cabinet headquarters. A fourth facemask depicts Ahmed Harara, the Egyptian dentist-cum-activist, who lost his two eyes to sniper fire last year: the first on January 28 (when the anti-Mubarak protests reached their climax) and the second on November 18, in Mohamed Mahmoud Street, near Tahrir Square. A team of then young Egyptians worked together to produce these masks and give them away to the people who turned out in their thousands in Tahrir to demand that the objectives of their revolution be completely fulfilled. "I felt ill at ease that a Western-style Guy Fawkes mask should become a symbol of the Egyptian revolution at a time when we have many inspiring symbols and martyrs," Ashraf Rabae, one member of the team, told the same publication. "By wearing our own masks, we have let the world know that all of us are ready for martyrdom," Rabae, a computer engineer, added. Activists blame the generals, who have been ruling Egypt since Mubarak was swept from power last February, of involvement in the killing of around 90 people. "We looked for the most influential persons in the Egyptian revolution. We were careful that our selection [for the masks] should reflect of all categories of society and the most dangerous phases of the revolution," Rabae explained. According to him, the team clubbed together to pay the LE5,000 (around $835) need to have the masks printed. Hold your heads high, you're Egyptian!
