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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Desperation in the air
By Fatemah FaragAround the Hanging Church in Old Cairo traffic is blocked and the narrow streets cluttered as workers busy themselves in the on-going development of this historic area. Just a two-minute walk away, though, and things could not be more different. In this wasteland of demolished buildings and one-story workshops the tension is palpable.
Behind a group of officers keeping an eye on central security trucks and armoured personnel carriers is a bleak stretch of 150 pottery and 60 plaster workshops. "They came here three days ago," said Mahrous Ahmed Abdel-Meguid, pointing in the direction of the black-uniformed officers.
Government action against the workshops in the area has escalated since Cairo has been enveloped in a cloud of smog. "The minister of the environment came here and said that we have to shut down the kilns. The governorate, which has been trying to demolish our workshops for a long time now, seized this opportunity and on Saturday the main electricity supply was cut off. Then on Sunday and Monday, local government officials sealed off our workshops and a police force was sent to surround the area. Up until this point, we do not know what the future has in store for us," added Abdel- Meguid.
This week's developments are hardly unexpected. For the past few months the potters and other workers of the Fawakhir area have sat on pins and needles, day in and day out, waiting for their fate to be decided. The Cairo Governorate wants them out of Fustat and is seeking to move them to a far away industrial zone, Shaq Al-Ti'ban. Their primary argument is that the workshops are an eyesore in a tourist area that is being developed. The Ministry of Environment has, in addition, decided that their traditional industries have a detrimental effect on the quality of Cairo's air.
The workers themselves have argued repeatedly that their heritage goes back about 1,000 years; that they were re-located in the mid-1960s when they were moved to make room for the renovation of the Amr Ibn Al-Aa's Square and that they are willing to adopt more environment-friendly processes but need assistance. They also believe that the new location proposed by the government will mean an end to their livelihood.
During the past few months policemen, officials and bulldozers have turned up in the area on several occasions. To date, 37 plaster workshops, three artists' ateliers, one potter's kiln and an assortment of coffee-shops and makeshift houses have been razed.
"They came and shut us down but look, the pollution and bad weather continue," said Ahmed Taha, owner of a kiln just outside the cordon set up by the police. Taha has installed a smoke-free kiln with the help of the Evangelical Society and the Arab Organisation for Industry. "It cost a lot of money and I speak for everyone when I say that we are willing to sell the shirts off our backs if they will just tell us that it is not an investment that has been thrown away in vain, that we will be allowed to stay," he added.
Taha and Abdel-Meguid were members of a delegation who went to the Ministry of Environment to discuss the minister's decision. "They were very straightforward. They told us that they are only responsible for the environment and can give no assurance that we will not be evicted. If I borrow money to upgrade and then find myself on the street, I will eventually fall in debt and most probably end up in jail," lamented Abdel-Meguid.
It is a plight not confined to the potters. "I am an electrician; why have I been shut down?" asked a passer-by. Abdel-Sadeq Youssef, who owns two plastic workshops in the area, concurred: "If moving us is in the benefit of the public, OK. But the real problem is that the government wants to send us to a place which has no infrastructure, where no customers will come, no workers will come -- a place where I stand to lose everything. Our neighbours who were evicted three months ago and had no choice but to go to Shaq Al-Ti'ban have not been able to make any money and are going bankrupt."
Shop-owners have been discussing with the governorate the possibility of allotting them space at Al-Qatamiya. "That would be much better, and if they are serious about cutting back on pollution from the kilns, at least in Qatamiya there is natural gas. In Shaq Al-Ti'ban we would have the same smoke problem. The problem is that we will have to pay money from our own pockets and as of yet it is not clear whether the government will provide instalment plans and loans," said Youssef.
The people are becoming more and more frustrated. "We don't know who to go to," said Abdel-Meguid angrily. "When the electricity was cut off we went to the police station but they refused to take an official complaint. We went to the local council where they said that it is not their jurisdiction. We went to the Ministry of Electricity and they said that it is not their problem, adding that these were the orders of the Ministry of Environment."
An angry murmur rippled through the assembled crowd. Youssef took us aside and pointed at the newly built fence surrounding the Armenian cemetery. "Look. They spend millions on a fence for a cemetery while across the street they demolish my livelihood and that of my children. It is a contradiction. It is not right."
