Erstellt am: 9. 11. 2013 - 15:48 Uhr

"We are just not used to having a dialogue"

Cairo-based rapper Deeb on the political instability in Egypt.

Mohamed El Deeb - or simply Deeb - is a rapper from Cairo. His critical and political texts tell stories about life in his home country Egypt. Still only 29, Dee has been a fixture in the Egyptian rap scene for 8 years, which means of course he has witnessed a lot of social upheaval in his country.

Indeed, he was among the first groups of protesters that gathered on Tahrir Square back in January 2011 in the Arab Spring demonstrations that would eventually topple Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Nasser Kalaji

I asked him what it felt like to be there:

It was my first time joining a protest so it was all new to me. I`d been rapping about oppression, police brutality, corruption and so, when the revolution happened, it was normal for me to be there. It was overwhelming. It felt right to be there.

I know you have said that you consider rap to be a weapon for resistance…

Yes if you look at hip hop and how it started in the US that is what it stood for. It stood for songs against police brutality. Tribe Called Quest for example and their moment to connect social groups together and create this renaissance. Hip hop is very strong in that respect. It represents all these values.

So three years ago you were part of a revolution that ended the rule of Hosni Mubarak. Then two years later you were back on Tahrir square protesting against the the first elected President Mohammed Morsi. Are you glad now that he has been removed from power?

When I went down the second time to ask for the removal of Morsi I joined millions of people. We just realised that we’d been through a revolution and yet nothing had changed.

And secondly, Morsi’s rule was not democratic at all. Although he was elected democratically he was not democratic in the way he carried out his affairs in the country. He was monopolising everything. The Muslim Brotherhood was monopolising all the key positions, they were monopolising the constitution. That is not what democracy is. Democracy is meant to represent minorities.

But are you happy with the situation now? It is the military in charge. That is surely not what you were protesting for 3 years ago?

No of course not. The reason that we went down to Tahrir Square in January 2011 was because Egypt had been under a military dictatorship for the previous 60 years, ever since the coup of Gamal Abdel Nasser. So we don’t want history to repeat itself. We want a civil society and a civil government that is neither extremely religious nor a military dictatorship. We want something that is from the people, by the people, for the people.

So you are a moderate secular voice. There are also moderate Islamist voices. Do you feel that these voices can have normal dialogue and debate? Do you feel that somehow a middle ground can be found?

That`s the thing. Whether you are an Islamist or a liberal or a socialist or whatever we have to come to an agreement that we are all Egyptians so we all have to be represented in whatever government or Presidency is formed. Power cannot be monopolised.

You live in Cairo. What is the atmosphere like on the streets and in the cafés?

Morale is really down because people are dying and there is violence all over the country. So, yes, people are down. Three years is a long time. It is very tiring.

Through your rap, you have a voice. What do you want to say?

I want to say no to stereotypes. We have to accept each other even if we have different beliefs and different political agendas. We have to understand and respect each other and have a dialogue. But we Egyptians are not used to that. There was always only one voice because of the way the country operated for the past 60 years. We are just not used to having a dialogue where we accept one another.

So in a way the shadow of Mubarak still looms large in this culture where it is hard to say “you`re a bit right and I`m a bit right”?

Yeah no one was involved in politics before. Nobody used to vote. We are not used to this competition over ideas and power. It will take time.

You have described yourself before as a “positive realist”. Are you just a realist now or has the positivity remained?

The positivity is still there. We have come a long way in the past three years – too far to go back to where were started from. I still have that hope because I believe in the Egyptian people. I believe that people don’t want to see history repeat itself again. But where this is all going to lead, I really don’t know.

Deeb in FM4 Reality Check

Egyptian hip-hop artist, Deeb, talks about his experiences at the heart of the revolution in Egypt.