Indifference is perceived as a common trait of Egyptians torn between making ends meed, putting hands on their salaries, paying up for education and staying out of trouble. The latter is of special importance living in a one-million-policeman state. For years and years, almost 50, unlimited authorities were grabed and practiced by police, governments, and figures of power. Also for years and years Egyptians have given up forms of resistence, learned to live with what they are given, and thank the gods -whether human or divine- for the little they have. In short, they were tamed.

But not this time. Only one day after the controvercial elections of Egypt; Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture held a group funeral for the 36 -now 38- artists who died in a theatre house fire in the city of Beni Suef, more than 100 kms south of Cairo. The fire took place on September 5th while the theatre group coming from the nearby city of Fayoum were performing their “Grab your Dream” play on the 3rd day of a 9 days Theatre Festival for groups from all around Egypt. Artists and Families rejected the Government’s offered funeral and instead, lined up in Black to receive condolences across el Hamedia el Shazlya mosque in a sit-in requesting the expelling of Ministers of Culture, Health, Interior and the Governor of Beni Suef and also bringing the responsible people to justice.

 

The scene was not a normal one. No less than 1200 people with few famous artists amidst, filled up the two side walks and half the street sitting to the ground. Everyone had a friend, a relative, or a stage-mate among the dead or the injured. Faces were sad, shocked but also angry. Despite the large numbers, silence prevailed and the message was passed through the banners and the distributed statement.

The official line came from Health Minister Mohammed Awad Tag Eddin who said he expected an investigation to examine why so many people died in the fire late Monday. Mustafa Alwy, the high-ranking official in the culture ministry, which runs the theatre said Fire codes will also be considered in the investigation. Egypt requires safety measures such as fire extinguishers but does not strictly enforce them.

As Alwy walked into the mosque to extend condolences to the few families who chose to stay inside; the crowd yelled at him “Resign, Resign”. And in reply to the Government’s line, Artists stood in a long line holding a series of banners telling the story:

“Come election winner, pray for the dead”
“Where are the budgets in the state of festivals and promises”
“Our sons were burned”
“and left uncovered in the streets”
“No fire extinguishers”
“No rescue equipment”
“No escape from fire, but to fire”
“Absent doctors”
“Un equipped Ambulance”
“Morgue with no Ferion”
“We demand investigations”
“We demand Penalties”
“September 5th, the Day of Theatre Victims”

What really happened
The first fire extinguisher arrived 45 minutes after the fire and not 20 as officials stated, the second one arrived after a complete one hour and five minutes and the firemen were unprofessional. A statement distributed and signed by tens of artists confirmed the above information and the negligence of theatre house, fire department, hospital and held high level officials responsible. “The theatre fire extinguishers were locked in the storage and all the theatre staff and managers escaped. We kept losing more and more people as time passed, and in the hospital, officials were more concerned with the Health minister’s visit than with injured people rescue. They moved the injured to better rooms for the minister’s visit which contributed to the death of our colleague Dr. Salah Saad” says Mona, an artist who arrived the scene at the early morning hours and accompanied the injured to the hospital “What shall I say? Is it enough to say there were insects moving beside the burned at the hospital bed sheets?” she adds.

“The cheapest value in this country is the human being” bitterly said Ahmed Abo el Fetouh, a famous TV actor who joined the sit in. Other famous actors like Adel Imam, Mahmoud Kabil, Farouk el Fishawy and Sameh Yousry were seen walking quickly giving their back to the protestors to deny any relationship with their demands, while others like Youssef Shaaban, Mahmoud el Gendy and Fardous Abdel Hamid joined the sit in for minutes, no more.

Not only that advocacy, sit-ins, and claiming one’s rights are traits long abanoned by the Egyptians, but also turning a religious event -a mosque funeral- into a social activism one was quiet a taboo being fired away. Alongside the human tragedy, high level community organisation took place. A committee was formed, a plan was put together, contacts were made, a statement was drafted, people were mobilised, and signatures were collected.

But how did it start?
“It all started at 10:00 am this morning. We are a group of almost 30 people who felt very angry and wanted responsible people punished regardless how high-level they are. We formed a committee of 12 people and assigned tasks of following interrogations, families support, documentation, etc. We all agreed we can’t receive condolences from the murderers of our friends and this is why we are holding our own funeral in the street. In parallel, Artists for Change, a ‘Kefaya’ allied group filed a complaint to the General Prosecutor and organised a sit-in for two hours at the High Court, we went to their sit in and invited them to join us” says Mohamed, 28 years, Member of Haala (arabic for Status) independent theatre group who had arrived Beni Suef shortly after the incident.

A funeral to fear
The 30 actors who decided to challenge the mainstream arrived at 7 pm putting an end to their fear. First they were challenged by the police threats of arresting them under ‘tagamhur’ law that prohibits the gathering of more than five people for advocating in a public place. As numbers increased and multiplied, police fielded almost 60 plain cloth police who spread between protestors. Back street was packed by central security forces. Orders were given for mosque to stop Qur’an receiting, then lights were turned off as mosque closed its doors. As the few people who were in came out; the street was now filled with 1500 people who wouldn’t leave. Police started fearing to lose control over the scene, more worrisome for them is that non of the faces were the common Wednesdays demonestrators. It was normal citizens, no longer tamed, in an organized expression of anger. Finally they turned off the public street lights and chants roared back “we won’t leave – do whatever you want”. Fifteen minutes later lights were back and people stayed till 12:00 midnight.

A bigger challenge
“Is this democracy? Real problems need to be solved, senior officials have to be expelled and others held accountable. The well known election winner has to show an implementation to the rosy picture he promised,” said Somaya in a voice loaded with tears. Her fiancee is an artist who spent a night and a day getting the burned dead bodies out of the theatre and finalizing burrial papers. True she said, it is a challenge to a government used to take things lightly and sew ministers to their seats.

What’s next
They are sueing the government with the help of human rights lawyers and the NGO for Legal Support. Tomorrow Saturday 10/9/05 they are organising a sit-in at Arts Acedemy in the Pyramids street at 2:00 pm and calling upon all Egyptians to come and support their cause. They want to root accountability.

اصحى يا مصر

Photos by Wael Abbas and myself