De Lesseps Statue to be placed in Port Said sparks outrage

CAIRO – 15 July 2020: The decision to restore and place the De Lesseps statue in Port Said has sparked outrage among a large segment of Egyptians.

According to Plastic Artist and Critic Ezz el-Din Naguib, this colonial man casts into the minds of most Egyptians a difficult history lived by the people and the thousands of peasants who sacrificed their lives before digging the Suez Canal amid his tyranny and oppression until they lost their lives.

A number of politicians, plastic artists, media personalities, lawyers, writers and many others opposed the decision, which they see as a glorification of the colonialism under which Egypt lived during this period.

Several plastic artists appealed to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to interfere in this decision, led by Plastic artist and Critic Ezz el-Din Naguib.

“Mr. President, it surely will not please you that Egypt becomes an example of a country that invokes and perpetuates a symbol of torture to its people, the colonization of its land, and the plundering of its wealth.” Said Naguib.

“De Lesseps was the first colonial man to open the Suez Canal to the British occupation in 1882 in collusion with the Khedive and the British. This is in addition to the fact that he supervised the Egyptian farmers digging the canal with a system similar to forced labor under terrorizing conditions where more than 120,000 farmers died during the drilling process. How can his statue be set as a symbol of a national project that caused many Egyptians to suffer?" Asked Naguib.