Nevertheless, they remain just one example of the many artefacts that make urban spheres active spaces of remembrance. In my imagination and maybe to those of others, these slashed posters manifest my own chaotic memory, as if I were looking into an inverted mirror, where the past collapses into the present. They remind me of a desire to tear down, rip away, and over-poster the past.

Morsi’s death provoked an outpouring of mourning in Egypt and in countries where the Brotherhood still has a presence, such as Turkey, Qatar and the UK. While much of Egypt looks ready to move on – particularly with many Egyptians focused on the African Cup of Nations which Egypt is hosting – it appears many of the Brotherhood’s supporters had still hoped that Morsi might have one day returned as president.

It has become illegal to issue verdicts of banishment or exile against the Egyptians. Even successive Egyptian constitutions have categorically prohibited exile. It is saddening to see exile de facto being practised against the Egyptians in the present time. Such dangerous transformation has not taken place as a result of constitutional amendments or the enforcement of laws that allowed for what had been prohibited in the past, but rather the outcome of the state’s recent practices with the clear purpose of placing restrictions on the public, confiscating political action and raising the cost of practicing politics.

For decades, the residents of North Sinai have suffered marginalization and the absence of a state presence, resulting in difficult living conditions, widespread unemployment, poverty, disease and an extremist ideology that has found fertile ground.

While there has long been mixed Egyptian and international opera groups performing in Cairo, the first exclusively Egyptian opera company was established in 1964, following the foundation of the Cairo Conservatoire in the 1950s. After the old opera house burned down, the company continued performing in other theatres in Cairo and Alexandria.

It is true that in the rivalry over the January 25 Revolution’s story and memory, the ancien regime had the upper hand. Yet, the regime’s attempt to enforce forgetfulness of the revolution’s ideals and triumphant moments does not go unchallenged. Although they suffer immensely, and many of them try to forget in order to go on with their lives, some supporters of the revolution are still – using sarcasm, arts and archives – countering and disrupting the regime’s propaganda and false narratives, both online and abroad, while re-presenting the stories and memories of the January 25 democratic uprising.

The most notable change is to the presidential term limit, increasing it from two four-year terms to two six-year terms. This would allow al-Sisi to run for two more terms after his current one ends in 2022, which could keep him in power until 2034.

Egypt has since taken extensive measures to adhere to the Russian demands. Flights from Moscow to Cairo were reinstated in April 2018, but the more important flights to the tourist resorts on the Red Sea such as Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh are still on hold. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met in mid-October to discuss the matter.

Soon after the coup, al-Barghouti began translating many of his poems into English with the help of his mother. Reflecting on the experience, he said that his mother alleviated the difficulty of translating emotions and myths that he prefers to convey in Arabic. “She would liberate me from this feeling I get whenever I’m speaking in English or writing in English, which is that I’m swimming in a sea of jelly,” he said.

Shawkan has become a symbol of the oppression of journalists in Egypt. He received the 2018 UNESCO/Guillero Cano Press Freedom Prize on 2 May 2018. However, Shawkan’s nomination for the award sparked an angry reaction from Egypt.