Will The Islamists affect the cultural life in Egypt if they come to power?

The results of the first phase of post-revolution elections in Egypt and the rise of the Islamist movements have alarmed the cultural community. The urgent question posed currently Egyptian intellectuals is that what will be the future of culture and art if the Islamists dominate political life in the country?

For the actor Amr Waked, who plays a role of gangster in the film "Dam El-Ghazal" (the blood of the gazelle), the rise of Islamism is not a surprise, it is a natural result of the unconstitutional and distorted electoral system. "Many obstacles have been prepared in front of the parties founded by revolutionaries such as the requirement to have 5000 members. How can they do so within a period of ten months? Such a condition has opened the door to unwanted people to join these parties,", he said.

According to Amr, the expansion of constituencies was intended solely to curb the revolutionary forces in favor of Islamist parties and those existing before the revolution. "Why is the electoral system awarded two-thirds of parliamentary seats to party lists and one-third to individual candidates, without preventing the parties to put their candidates on the lists of individual members?" He insists.

The actor, who participates in the most violent egyptian film "Ibrahim Al Abyad", note that the majority of voters voted on an emotional way for Islamic movements, not for programs in these movements. "We must not forget that there is a kind of political illiteracy. We were deprived of democratic practice and we are now trying to discover it", he says.

Amr Waked is convinced that the Islamists are not going to interfere, for the moment, in the cultural life of Egypt. "They have much bigger issues to deal with the economy, social justice and development before they begin to seek to control the sub-questions", said he. "Having the majority in parliament is the toughest test for them. If they can’t manage the country's problems, the elections will be the beginning of their end".

For her part, the documentary filmmaker Tahani Rached is concerned by the current debate on the impact of the arrival of the Islamists on the cultural and artistic life in Egypt. "I thought we should explore ways to develop the cultural life in Egypt after the destruction it has suffered over the past 30 years. It is a shame that today we are still talking about art by saying that it is halal or sin. Art has nothing to do with religion". The greatest fear for Tahany is that Salafists impose strict censorship on cultural activities. "This will be a setback to the objectives of the revolution that took place to liberate the minds of the Egyptians", she adds.

For Tahani, It’s the freedom that helped the Islamists to have a majority in parliament. "For this, they have no right to enact oppressive laws ... and if they do I'll be the first to resist them", she confirms

For his part, the researcher Tawfik, a specialist in the affairs of Islamic movements, finds that the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood is not surprising. For him, the real surprise is the score of the Salafists.

According to Aclemendos, the current situation in Egypt is ambiguous. "It is very difficult to talk about the reasons which led to the rise of Islamist movements and their actual weight in the Egyptian street. Egypt has never seen this high turnout. In addition, the first phase of elections has included the governorates of Assiut and Alexandria, bases of Salafism, which helped the Salafists to climb. "

For Aclemendos, it’s a must to wait for the outcome of the next two phases so the researchers can analyze the situation.

But Aclemendos is sure that the Islamists who are fighting against secularism and democracy, will apply strict censorship on cultural life. "At best, they will keep the mechanisms applied at the time of Mubarak, and they can make them also harder", he says.