Clown activism made its Cairo debut this month. During the month-long CirCairo international circus festival, an Amsterdam theatre collective called RebelAct introduced Egypt's main metropolis to the use of clowning and play as political activism.
RebelAct is well known in Europe. Members show up at immigration detention centres dressed as fairies, or go to protests as painfully obvious "undercover police".
But their sense of humour got lost in translation in Cairo. The idea of using quasi-comic civil resistance to point out and even disrupt police actions just didn't work.
The plan was for RebelAct members to march through the streets wearing military fatigues decorated with brightly coloured pompoms and hand-sewn patches.
Army uniform is a mainstay of the Clandestine Insurgent Clown Army (CICA), a kind of umbrella group for activists, of which RebelAct is an offshoot. But in Cairo, organisers worried that the public would be unlikely to find any humour in the costumes. A half-hour before the performance, RebelAct members were asked to take the uniforms off and to stay within the circus festival's grounds, a decision that transformed them from activists into mere children's party clowns.
This was not the first time inventive activism found an unreceptive audience in Egypt, particularly on the topic of the still well-respected military.
Last year Kazeboon (Arabic for "liars"), a loose grouping of activists, began to project video images showing military violence against protesters in public squares throughout the country. The group wanted to offer Egyptians a version of events different from the one on state television, which greatly favoured the military and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
But far from the Tahrir Square epicentre of protests, local people, fearing clashes in their neighbourhoods, tried to stop activists from screening the images.
Indeed, despite activist efforts, Egyptians have a seemingly unshakable faith in the military as an institution. A Gallup survey in April suggests that the military's popularity had dropped only slightly since June 2011, from 95 per cent to 89 per cent.
All this shows that middle-class revolutionaries and activists need better methods to deliver their messages to ordinary Egyptians in the lower socio-economic classes.
Kazeboon's screenings seemed ingenious when planned, but in practice the message was lost because residents feared unrest more than being lied to by state television.
Creative protest has become a popular buzzword among activists globally, largely through groups such as CICA. Starting in the UK in 2005 at the G8 summit protests, "clown armies" have popped up all over Europe and the US. Such groups have run satirical election campaigns, and RebelAct hosts an annual on-land boat parade to mock the commercialisation of Amsterdam's gay-pride canal parade.
Some attempts at protest seem merely silly. In July, six clowns protested at a zoo in Seattle, in the US, over conditions for elephants.
In Egypt, RebelAct held a two-day workshop meant to give would-be activist clowns the tools to launch their own creative resistance. To learn more, I attended workshops in improvisation and physical theatre, where basic elements of professional clowning were combined with activist techniques.
Clown army recruits are taught to think on their feet, but what Egyptians can do with these techniques is anyone's guess.
A simple game of wizard, dwarf, giant (a vigorous equivalent of rock, paper, scissors) was used to remind the students that if they don't vary their tactics, they will wind up head-to-head with police who have anticipated their next move.
True enough, but Muslim Brotherhood supporters, for example, are unlikely to challenge anti-Mohammed Morsi protesters to a game of wizard, dwarf, giant any time soon.
Ideas for resistance are plentiful in Cairo, but implementation is a problem.
Egypt's class divide means that protesters must find ways to approach much of the population in cultural and social terms that will be effective and not threatening, as the Kazeboon screenings were.
Protest tactics of this type have now established themselves in the West, but it seems unlikely that Egypt's activists will send in the clown army anytime soon.
Megan Detrie is an independent journalist based in Cairo
On Twitter: @megandetrie
From Europe to the Middle East, economic success brings wealth - and lifestyle diseases
A rise in obesity figures and the need for more public spending is a familiar trend in the developing world as western lifestyles are adopted.
One in five deaths around the world is now caused by bad diet, with obesity the fastest growing global risk. A high body mass index is also the top cause of metabolic diseases relating to death and disability in Kuwait, Qatar and Oman – and second on the list in Bahrain.
In Britain, heart disease, lung cancer and Alzheimer’s remain among the leading causes of death, and people there are spending more time suffering from health problems.
The UK is expected to spend $421.4 billion on healthcare by 2040, up from $239.3 billion in 2014.
And development assistance for health is talking about the financial aid given to governments to support social, environmental development of developing countries.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
UAE%20SQUAD
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Killing of Qassem Suleimani