A new online campaign is in the making.
Maadi [1] is one of Egypt’s most distinguished districts, known for its exquisite greenery and serenity – not to mention the exceptional Nile Corniche [2], which attracts many nature lovers and felucca [3] passengers. Last year, Maadi's governance was moved to the Helwan governorate instead of Cairo – a decision which upset many of the district’s residents. Yet they soon figured that nothing could be done about it.
A few days ago, Maadi residents woke up to find glimpses of hideousness have already crept on to their surroundings.
In his blog Soberhigh Mohamed M. Radwan tells us the story [4]:
Overnight, and while the residents of Maadi were sleeping unaware, the first of the symptoms of the Helwan take over appeared so grotesquely all over Maadi’s urban landscape. At all the districts’ entrances, which are considered the urban gateways of Maadi; suddenly and out of the blue, these humongous billboards sprung out, as if made overnight by some evil work of demons
Mohamed then decided to place his anger against ugliness in the right channel and created a Facebook group named: Maadi: Helwan Governer, please bring these billboards down [5]
According to Mohamed, the group:
Advocates for bringing these outrageous monstrosities down and the implementation of strict outdoor advertising regulations. And going further in calling on the banning of the construction of new billboards in all Cairo suburbs and regulating the use of the billboards that already exist in a way that would protect the visual environment of Cairo
We request that the government would issue a more strict building code regulating billboards all over the capital and form a Legislative and Regulatory Center to control outdoor advertising
In the Facebook group, Mohamed and many of Maadi residents, lovers, and enthusiasts carried out the campaign aggressively to appeal to the head of district of Maadi as well as the governor of Helwan, to bring down the billboards.
Mohamed addresses the campaigners and says:
If you are concerned for Maadi, and Cairo raise awareness and raise your voice. We are preparing an email template to be sent to all relevant governmental offices and institutions and media outlets. We will email the media, talk about it in talk shows (radio and TV) and voice out our objection