ULTRAS ART

I did it! You wouldn't think it was possible to stay lost on a dinky little island like Manyal where I'm currently staying for three hours. But I was. It doesn't take much really- just a poor sense of direction, and a refusal to ask for directions. I didn't actually mind. I only minded once it got to three hours. That's when my feet start to hurt from all that walking. Being lost was actually the idea. Like all heavily urban areas, being lost is an opportunity to discover something surprising. I set out to find these things. I set out to find ULTRAS art and graffiti. This was different than the art and graffiti I posted about earlier. I knew it must be around in Manyal because for the past couple of weeks I have been using the following mural as a marker to the street I was staying in. (Keep in mind that ULTRAS have been around only since 2007. If you're wondering why they use English- it's because they were pattered after Italian FCs Ultra Fanaticos- thus the latin script)

Red Devils Ultras Logo right; RIP; Martyr 74 (the total killed in Port Said)

 Where there was one -- and such a prominent and beautifully done one at that; there must be more I reasoned, so I started getting lost looking for more.

I don't get this - if anyone has ideas - let me know

al-Ahly and Zamalek - a conciliatory graffiti between bitter rivals against a common foe

well - conciliation only goes so far - they are bitter rivals after all

UWK mural with the artist to the left: Khaled Mamdouh

UA07 murals: I'm no expert but I think it means- you don't want to mess with us

UA07 mural: All Cops Are Bastards

UWK mural with artist to the left: Ashraf Sokkar

Freedom-and in our land- we won't live as slaves

UWK mural: Syria is Free (bleeding hearts and mourning ribbon)

UWK

The revolution's art

I went down to the square today because of a demonstration planned to reaffirm opposition to the election results, and calling for the dismissal of the candidacy of Ahmad Shafik (the last PM appointed during Mubarak's reign). A few hundred people showed up. It was hot, and I was tired. Nothing new was being chanted or said, so I slowly went off to the side and started taking pictures of the graffiti/murals mainly on the wall fence of the old American University campus on Mohammad Mahmoud street. this street witnessed fierce battles between ULTRAS (fanatics) of both Ahli and Zamallik football clubs and security forces in November and December which claimed more than two hundred lives, and many more with serious eye injuries (security forces deliberately using rubber bullets aimed at the eyes/head).

Heads of the Supreme Armed Forces Council as heads of the snake (I don't read hieroglyphics)

military as hold over- right morphing from Shafik (presidential candidate and last PM of Mubarak) to Amr Musa (presidential candidate and FM of Mubarak) to Tantawi (head of Military council and DM of Mubarak) - Left puppets on a string

Saad Zaghloul, nationalist leader of 1919 revolution and first PM of independent Egypt gives the finger to the military council "There's no use, sons of bitches"

mother and her martyred son

a new revolution- my vote is for the martyr

full caption reads: forget what's past, grasp the elections

Still Defiant- Long Live the Uprising for the Detained

Victory to Egypt's Workers

the battles of Mohammad Mahmud Street

Arabesque...why? because it's pretty

The Martyrs ... who will be next?

Tantawi (head of SCAF) and the bloody hand leading to elections left; right- the one eyed injured (battles of Mohammad Mahmud Street)