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| Midan in Maadi Don’t’ come looking here for thoughtful commentary on the Egyptian political situation. With 10,000 people on the ballot for the parliamentary elections on the 28th (presidential elections won’t occur until early 2013 they say), Egyptians themselves are calling the process of this coming election incomprehensible. What I can comment on from an outsider’s point of view is the intriguing method of candidate identification. The city began spawning political posters this last week on the major roads home from work and in the roundabouts (midans) or squares in the burb where I live - Maadi. Posters for individuals or groups have icons, a random object used to identify the candidate. In that way if people who are voting cannot read, at least they can identify their candidate by the icon. Visual literacy - I like that. So far I have seen as icons – a tractor, a chandelier, an envelope, a rifle, a tennis racket, scales of justice and an onion. Who chose these? Maybe more importantly …who decides who gets which icon? |
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| Hoda - the envelope candidate |
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| Chandelier Man |
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| Rifle Candidate. Would he be smiling if he knew it was pointed at him? |
Waking up and reading your posts is a great way to start my day with a Katie perspective. Reading about the elections in the paper here is not nearly as exciting...you should consider free lance journalism - I would buy that paper! Bobo
ReplyDeleteToday in Alexandria I have seen a military tank, a head-on train, a scissors and a leaky faucet as icons!
ReplyDeleteI have seen no evidence of violence or protests here but things don't seem to be calming down as predicted. I guess we take it a day at a time.