CAIRO - Many artists hoped that the January 25 revolution would bring more freedom and put an end to censorship. Now, a year later, things seem not to have turned out as was expected. The Islamists, who spent decades in jail under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, are today a strong force, having won about 70 per cent of the seats in the People's Assembly, which is dominated by the once-banned Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). This party has landed 47 per cent of the seats, while the Salafist Al-Nour Party – the second-largest Islamist force – has won around 121 seats, or almost 23 per cent. Since the Arab Spring erupted in Egypt just over a year ago, the country's artists have started to shake off decades of repression. Many of them have been exhibiting their paintings of the revolution. But they are also afraid that the Islamists could restrict the arts or ban them altogether. A lot of people with liberal leanings are afraid for their careers and at the way the Islamists regard the arts. "In my opinion, restricting art is wrong. It is very dangerous way to exploit one single thing, whether religion, conservatism or even the revolution. Arts cannot be handled like this," artist Islam Zaher told the Egyptian Mail. This is why many groups with artistic interests have been holding marches to stress the freedom of speech and their right to pursue their careers in freedom. "The simplest definition of arts is the word 'freedom'," added Zaher, who is afraid of the Islamists, but doesn't know what will happen next or how he will react. "It's hard to take any decisions about the future in these gloomy, uncertain times.” Egyptians have always had the knack to remain balanced and unmoved by external factors, says Muataz Khataan. "Egypt is a country where a man can listen to a religious programme and appreciate its morals, then happily tune into a music channel. Egyptians are not extremists and I believe they won't change," adds Khataan, a visual artist. "I believe that plastic arts are only of interest to people who enjoy attending exhibitions and artistic events. The average man is simply not interested in any of this.” Khataan believes that the plastic arts nowadays are not controversial and the Islamists won't ban them. "Most of our works today belong to the post-modern and abstract, which the Islamists won't regard as immoral or anything like that," he stresses. Doaa el-Dessouqi, a visual artist and an assistant professor in the Faculty of Mass Communication, Ahram Canadian University, says that no-one can restrict the arts or ban them; in her opinion, they are a universal language. "This issue is too trivial to talk about. No-one can restrict the freedom of speech, thought or expression. Giving it all that media propaganda is absolutely wrong," she adds. Some Islamist figures have clashed with artists on numerous occasions. The most recent incident was when Salafist cleric Abdel-Moneim el-Shahat claimed that the works of late Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz “incited promiscuity, prostitution and atheism”. "Any art meant to elevate the spirit will not be censored," said Nader Bakar, a senior member of Al-Nour Party. "It is necessary to place restrictions on art. This, however, is not against the concept of freedom. “For example, France, ‘the mother of freedoms', censors art. The French regime has criminalised the denial of the Holocaust; anyone who denies it happened can find themselves behind bars for up to five years," he told Al-Arabiya Channel.
