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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 May 2000 Issue No. 480
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Fahrenheit 451
THIS WEEK, a controversy over the re-publication of a book in a popular Egyptian series has escalated into what promises to be-ome a major episode in the ongoing saga of confrontations be-ween religious zealots and secular intellectuals. The campaign against Syrian novelist Haydar Haydar's 1983 classic, Walima Li A'shab Al-Bahr (A Banquet for Seaweed), begun by the in-ependent weekly Al-Osbou' a few weeks ago, is gaining mo-entum now that the bi-weekly Al-Shaab, voice of the Egyptian Islamists, has joined the battle.Al-Shaab's inflammatory front-page banners last week (in both the Friday and Tuesday editions) called for the dismissal of those responsible for the publication of the novel in the General Organ-sation for Cultural Palaces' Afaaq Al-Kitaba (Horizons of Writ-ng) literary series, including Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and writer Ibrahim Aslan, editor-in-chief of the series. Al-Shaab's campaign has so far prompted the filing of three complaints with the Prosecutor-General, one by the illegal Muslim Brotherhood and two by Mahfouz Azzam and Abdel-Halim Ramadan.
On Monday, Minister Hosni formed a committee of literary crit-cs and Arabic literature professors to investigate Al-Shaab's al-egations prior to taking action.
The novel portrays a number of Iraqi political exiles living in Al-eria who reminisce about the brutality of Arab regimes in dealing with the opposition and their own ordeal at the hands of the Iraqi regime in the late 1970s. It includes passages in which political ac-ivists facing dire persecution curse all and sundry.
De-contextualised and distorted, the passages quoted by Al-Shaab were deemed to be disrespectful to God, the Qur'an and Islam.
The novel has been available in Egypt in various editions since it was first published in Beirut in 1983, but Al-Shaab insisted that its re-publication by a division of the Ministry of Culture is an affront to the Egyptian people.
Aslan, an acclaimed fiction writer himself, told Al-Ahram Weekly yesterday, "If we're not fully up to the confrontation this time, we might as well stop writing." He also said that, since the story broke out, he has been in constant contact with the author of the controversial novel, Haydar Haydar. Aslan said Haydar informed him that a week of protests by writers in all major Syrian towns is due to commence today.
In solidarity with Bin Braik
THE TUNISIAN Embassy in Cairo refused on Tuesday to receive a delegation of journalists and members of civil society who sought to express solidarity with the plight of Tunisian journalist Tewfiq Bin Braik (for more details on Bin Braik's case see here). The delegation included Mohamed Sid-Ahmed, a prominent writer and member of UNESCO's Consultative Committee for Press Freedom, and Mohamed Abdel-Qoddous, secretary-general of the Committee for the Defence of Prisoners and Freedom.The delegation had hoped to present a statement signed by 50 public figures protesting the inhumane breech of civil freedom suf-ered, not only by Ben Braik, but by his family members as well.
The attempted visit came as follow-up action to a sit-in held at the Press Syndicate on Sunday.
Businesswoman avoids extradition
THE PARIS Court of Appeals has released from custody Aleya El-Ayyouti -- a 51-year-old banker who fled from Egypt to France last June dodging trial for financial malpractices -- on a FF500,000 bail. The Court, however, instructed El-Ayyouti not to leave Paris pending the arrival of a dossier from Cairo containing additional information on the case.Three years ago, El-Ayyouti, then vice-president of the Nile Bank, was accused of using her position to provide three business-en with loans amounting to LE214 million, without either no-ifying the bank's board of directors or listing the loans in the bank's books. El-Ayyouti and 31 other defendants were put on trial in what came to be dubbed by the local press as "the case of the loan deputies." At a decisive stage during the trial, El-Ayyouti managed to escape from the country, only to be arrested by Inter-ol in Paris last December.
The French court objected to the fact that El-Ayyouti is being tried by a high state security court. El-Ayyouti's lawyers also argued that she and the other defendants, four of whom are mem-ers of parliament, are the victims of political squabbles.
The casualties of spring...
UNFORTUNATELY, Sham Al-Nessim celebrations have become synonymous with accidental death and injury. This year was no ex-eption. Five young men between the ages of 16 and 21 drowned during a swim at the Barrages (Al-Kanater Al-Khayriya), just north of Cairo. Six others between the ages of seven and 26 also drowned in Al-Gharbiya governorate while swimming in the Nile.Eleven children were wounded while climbing up and down the Pyramids and 31 people in Giza suffered various injuries as they engaged in rough play.
In Alexandria, an argument between a lemon and a lettuce vendor over a strategic road spot for selling their wares resulted in one stabbing the other to death.
The conspicuous lack of any mention of cases of food poisoning in the local press may very well have been the result of preventive action taken by the government to remove all types of inedible food from the market. On Sunday and Monday alone, four tonnes of rotten salted fish and 308 cartons of rotten smoked fish were confiscated by Cairo authorities. In Beni Suef, 750 kilogrammes of rotten fish and 18 tonnes of bad pickles were impounded. (see Pack of Cards)
Facelift for Cairo's aqueduct
A COMPREHENSIVE project to bring Cairo's famous aqueduct back to life was signed last week between Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).Up until the middle of the 19th century, the aqueduct, which transported water from the River Nile to the Citadel, was an in-egral part of the Cairo water system. Built by El-Nasser Sal-heddin El-Ayyubi, the stone wall has since fallen into a state of disarray, with slum housing and workshops crowding in on the stone walls. With the restoration of the aqueduct, or Magra Al-Oyun, 150 families and workshops were relocated at a cost of LE1 million, while the newly signed two-year three-phase project will cost a total of LE38 million.
Restoration will involve cleaning the stones, replacing those that were damaged, demolishing houses and workshops that had encroached on the structure and clearing away refuse in the sur-ounding area. The foundation of the aqueduct will be re-enforced and sealed against leakage.
The minister of culture explained that the project was not only aimed at restoring Magra Al-Oyun, but also upgrading the sur-ounding area and transforming the currently low-income district into a tourist site. A walking area for pedestrians will be built along the length of the monument, while houses facing the wall will be cleaned and a new lighting system installed.
Previous restoration work on the aqueduct was undertaken in 1990 by the SCA.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag
