June 30, 2011
On June 28th, violence erupted once again in Tahrir Square, this time between police forces and demonstrators, many of them representing families who lost loved ones during the January revolution.
According to IFP Alumna Manal Tibe, who now heads up the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights in Cairo (ECHR), the country’s Surpreme Council of the Armed Forces did not interfere to end the violent clashes.
“We condemn the use of unjustified force by Egyptian police against the demonstrators,” the ECHR said in a statement released to the press. “It is a clear indication that the police device has not been changed, even after the revolution.”
Not surprisingly, the unforgettable euphoria from Tahrir Square in early 2011 has since given way to more social upheaval – and sadly, more violence – as Egyptians struggle to transform their country into a democratic nation after 30 years of repression under the Mubarak regime.
While the challenges they face may seem enormous, history teaches us that social movements depend on
individual action and grassroots efforts in order to be successful. Ford IFP is therefore proud to recognize those IFP Fellows and Alumni who are working every day to document their nation’s history, and to rebuild and redefine their country.
Take Nadia El Arabi, for example. She received her PhD in Education from Cairo University in 2007, and now leads art therapy and education programs for people with special needs. She also conducts lectures at the Right to Live Institute for Special Education. Nadia watched the Revolution unfold from a hotel room, during an Open Society Institute (OSI) conference on higher education that happened to be scheduled in Cairo on January 25th.
“All of us ran to the window to see the beginning of the revolution,” Nadia explained. “I asked myself, ‘What will happen? What will I do?’ I decided to be with the youth in Tahrir Square. I held my books in one hand and raised my other hand to say “Live, Freedom, Social Justice!”
Nadia soon began teaching special needs youth and adults how to use art to express their feelings about the historical event. “I started to speak with my students who have intellectual disabilities. Where were you during the revolution? What did you see on TV? How do you feel?” says Nadia.
“Some of them were home with their parents; some 
heard gunfire at night. Most of them went to Tahrir Square. They expressed themselves through color in a primitive way...
All of them painted the Egyptian flag.”
Elsewhere in Cairo, historian and IFP Fellow Ashraf Abolyazeed is curating a Youth Revolution exhibit at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. Materials will include photos, newspapers, videos, and other poignant cultural 
artifacts, including articles of clothing worn by the revolution’s ‘martyrs’.
“It must be documented and displayed for the next generations, and for every visitor who comes to Egypt,” Ashraf wrote in an email to IFP. “They will see that Egyptian cultural production never stops.” With a touch of humor, Ashraf added, “When the Italian Prime Minister was asked about our revolution, he answered ‘As usual, Egyptians make history’.”
Numerous IFP Fellows-Elect, many of whom begin their 
fellowships this Fall, have already proven their dedication to social justice through development initiatives and the arts.
John George is a development practitioner working on an integrated public health project called “Water Connections to the Poor”. He is currently organizing literacy and health awareness campaigns for rural women in Egypt, and is collaborating with the Potable Water Company to establish over one hundred water access stations throughout several target villages.
Meanwhile, Fellow-Elect Karim El Shanawy, who has applied to Master’s programs in Documentary Filmmaking, produced a moving video from Tahrir Square called Revolutionary Statement. Using images, music, and a poem written by a journalist friend named Haitham Dabbour, Karim used film as a storytelling medium to recognize the diverse faces of the revolution.
Click HERE to watch a subtitled version in English.
Karim writes, “We shot the video in one day and intentionally put the camera in one spot and asked the people who were passing by if they wanted to participate. We wanted to show the people sitting at home that the Square actually represented all kinds of Egyptians.” Out of passion for the film’s objective, everyone on the crew, from the cinematographer to the sound engineer, volunteered their unpaid time to help produce the film.
Karim’s new short documentary, Article 212, will screen throughout Europe and in Qatar this year.
Nadia El Arabi is now considered one of the first people in Egypt to organize public exhibitions for the artists with disabilities.
And while Manal Tibe continues to fight for social justice in the face of what will surely be a long but worthwhile struggle, she recently announced that the Egyptian Center for Housing Rights was the first party in her home country to win a court case filed with the Supreme Court. Based on ECHR’s grassroots advocacy, the Court has fined former president Hosni Mubarak and several other administration officials a retribution fee equal to $90 million US dollars, to be paid to the State Treasury, for cutting off Egypt’s communications network during the revolution.
Photo Credits, top to bottom:
View of Tahrir Square from Nadia's hotel as the revolution began; IFP alumna Nadia El Araby in Tahrir Square;
Children of the revolution expressing themselves through art;
Nadia's art student;
IFP alumnus shraf Abolyazeed; photographs of the revolution's martyrs;
A drawing created by one of Nadia's students.