With the beginning of the Arab revolutions, artists did not hesitate to engage in protests against the existing conditions. However, other artists ventured into the arms of the regimes and defended them with all ferocity, justifying the matter by saying that they were nothing but external conspiracies aimed at eliminating homelands, which exposed them to the anger of their fans, despite the conscious artistic history some of them presented. The current Egyptian Ramadan season witnessed one of the worst cases of exploitation of artistic works and their adaptation to serve regimes. In this context, the Egyptian Institute for Studies issued a follow-up study entitled “Legitimizing Tyranny: Artists Under the Feet of the Military,” reviewing the most prominent works presented during this season and the security implications they carry.
System cosmetic surgery
The current Ramadan season has focused on beautifying and improving the image of the Egyptian regime, defending its violations, and presenting them in a justification context through written and dramatic works that force the viewer to sympathize with the officer who tortures and kills evil people. From the first moments of the events of July 3, 2013, the ruling regime needed to improve and beautify the image of the army and show the luxury in which the conscripts live, contrary to what is commonly said about the army that life is difficult and bad, so it resorted to changing this idea about the army and using artists as a tool to beautify it – in the manner of Ismail Yassin’s films in the army and aviation and others in the era of Gamal Abdel Nasser – This became clear when the artist “Mohamed Ramadan” joined to perform military service and create a military star out of artists, but not in a sarcastic way as he used to perform. Ismail Yassin in his films, despite the persistence of this mental image of the military and its impact on society. The media has resorted to highlighting Mohamed Ramadan since he submitted his enrollment papers to perform military service in the Egyptian army in January 2017, and joined the recruitment training center of the Thunderbolt Forces in the “Anshas” area in Belbeis, Sharkia Governorate, for two years. At this time, the regime did not find anything better than for Ramadan to be the overall image of the Egyptian army, especially in light of the great popularity it enjoys among the youth, and in light of the army’s entry into politics, and its involvement in operations of repression and killing of Egyptians, in addition to all of this, the military trials applied to civilians who oppose the current regime. Link: In the month of Ramadan 2017, the Ministry of Defense website published a video in which Muhammad Ramadan appeared while attending a group iftar party that brought together Special Forces fighters from the Thunderbolts and paratroopers in the presence of Lieutenant General Sedqi Sobhi, Minister of Defense at the time. The video caused great controversy on social networking sites because of Muhammad Ramadan’s appearance at the iftar party, which indicates the special treatment he is treated with in the army. During a visit by the Egyptian Thunderbolt Forces to Hospital 57357, Mohamed Ramadan appeared in the Thunderbolt uniform, and was the official spokesman on behalf of the Thunderbolt Forces that came to visit the hospital, even though he was just a conscript, and the Commander of the Thunderbolt Forces was supposed to be the speaker in the announcement. Link: The ruling regime knows that the song is faster and stronger in influencing the people’s awareness, so the national song entitled: Our Army is Saab, in its new dress, was assigned to the actor Mohamed Ramadan. Link
Shocking history From guidance
Here a question arises: Was the role that artists played on the people new, or did it have precedents in recent and distant history? It took place with the same roles and the same tools of influence used by the authorities, and its results? The list of Egyptian artists who stood up to the revolution and helped the regime suppress the youth began from the first days in Tahrir Square. When Mubarak TV and its satellite channels mobilized them to defame the revolution, describing it as a conspiracy and sabotage. The artist Afaf Shuaib, who came out to say that the revolution taking place in January, prevented her sister’s children from going to the “Kebabji” store, because they were craving to eat grilled meat! And Samah Anwar, who said about the Tahrir revolutionaries: “They are passionate about jazz,” and described the January revolution as a conspiracy. Tamer Abdel Moneim frequently appeared on Egyptian channels to belittle the revolution and demand its removal from history curricula. And the singer Mohamed Fouad, who cried on television as he begged the demonstrators to leave the square after Mubarak’s speech. And the composer Amr Mostafa, who described the January revolution as a setback, and that the overthrow of Mubarak served foreign agendas. And the artist Rogina, who described the revolution as the cause of chaos… and many others. Dozens of unforgettable situations during the Egyptian people’s revolution. Some of these positions reached the point of incitement to kill opponents, as a number of artists appeared to us alongside some media professionals loyal to the authority who asked Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to exercise his absolute powers and “exterminate” the opponents, especially those who were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Link: Nawal Al Zoghbi’s position seemed similar to the position of the Egyptian artist Ahmed Badir during the January 25 revolution. Anxiety and fear were the characteristics of the stage for them. Badir then cried “concerned” about Egypt live on the air, and Ola Ghanem, who released “Zaghrouda” in her response to Tony Khalifa’s questions, rejoiced at the departure of the Brotherhood from power, and described the revolutionaries of January 25, 2011 with the ugliest qualities, and considered those who carried out the revolution at that time “betrayals and thugs,” considering the period left by the revolution as the dark years, “I hate the January 25 revolution. These were dark days and years, and anyone who thinks about it should be upset. Change could have happened without it, but we suffered four years of suffering because of it.” Considering that Al-Sisi came to save Egypt, she demanded that he be given four years to achieve the desired prosperity. She said, “I am extremely happy with the regime of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and every day I love him more, and I say that he is the one who represents me.” At the same time, she expressed her happiness at the departure of the Mubarak regime, which contributed to the reconstruction of the country, as she put it. She also criticized all her fellow artists who supported the January Revolution, without naming them, considering that they had failed her and Egypt before her.
