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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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While Hizbullah gleans the deserved fruits of more than two decades of popular resistance, critics of the alternative cultural tagamo' (assembly) initiated weeks ago in Cairo by writer Ibrahim Mansour and novelist Radwa Ashour are practically eating their words. Comprising mainly younger writers eager to deny intellectuals their professed obligation to political-regional history, and for the most part fixated on issues of freedom of expression and creativity, the tagamo's group of detractors also included some old-timer activists at ideological variance with the Lebanese organisation who initially objected to the invocation of Hizbullah in the statement drafted by Mansour and Ashour in response to Al-Shaab's narrow-mindedly sectarian campaign against the first Egyptian publication of Syrian novelist Haydar Haydar's A Banquet for Seaweed. Since then regional events have commanded an almost unanimous respect for the Islamically oriented organisation that, with the unconditional support of the people, pitted itself against the might of Israel triumphantly, paralysing Antoine Lahd's pro-Israeli militia in an unprecedented show of national solidarity. Those who had reproached the tagamo' for not adopting a more clear-cut secular stand are at a loss what to say following the indisputable separation of "Islamism's" wheat from its chaff. Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon has in this sense turned Al-Shaab, particularly after the freezing of the activities of the Egyptian Labour Party, into a synonym for the reprehensible exploitation of religious sentiments to illegitimate political ends.
The historic AzharLiberation of the mind
By Youssef Rakha
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Ironically, at a time when Egyptian intellectuals rejoicing in Lebanon's liberation are less concerned about defending themselves against Al-Shaab, it is Al-Azhar that continues to oppose the novel's publication, with Sheik Mohamed Sayed Tantawi recently denouncing Haydar, to the London-based weekly Al-Wasat, as "not merely someone who presents an apostate viewpoint, but actively declares and promotes apostasy." Writers' and artists' informal gatherings, meanwhile, have ceased to be the prophetic condolence ceremonies they had turned into. Instead of discussing the possible prospect of leaving the country or jokingly taunting each other about Al-Shaab's latter-day witch hunt, writers like Farid Abu-Se'da (whose name was included in Al-Shaab's black lists) are viewing the campaign in the light of both current events in regional politics and the long-term Islamic traditions of thought and creativity in which they have increasingly found inspiration. Others, notably literary critic Mohamed Badawi, are calling for a precise revision of the role of Al-Azhar in society and politics, demanding the long overdue establishment of a clear legal framework in which Sunni Islam's oldest establishment can function. One question, brought up by Badawi, is whether or not Al-Azhar should approve the publication of books, providing that it has the right to sanction or censure books once they are available and that, even if the executive authorities do not translate such censure into banning, Al-Azhar's voice will ipso facto still command the attention and respect that it deserves.
Whichever way one looks at it, A Banquet for Seaweed has inadvertently become a sensation, with copies of the Organisation for Cultural Palaces' edition (originally priced at LE4) selling on the black market for up to LE100 according to some reports. Anonymous officials in the organisation revealed to Al-Ahram Al-Arabi that, of the 3,000 copies printed and available on news stands for the normal run of a fortnight in November 1999, no more than 600, since then, can have been sold for the cover price. Add to the 600 approximately 1,200 given away as presents and free or promotion copies, and you are left with precious few copies indeed, hardly enough for the increasingly steep post-campaign demand rates. While Al-Ahram Al-Arabi lamented the organisation's refusal to take the risk of printing more copies now, citing numerous similar examples and railing virulently against the black market, the Ministry of Culture's newly released Al-Qahira reflected its editor-in-chief Salah Issa's positive-optimistic attitude, pointing out that, whatever the initial cause, Haydar, as a result of the campaign, has become a household name and that his many other titles, formerly high-brow classics with a small following of readers, are fast turning into bestsellers in Egyptian bookshops, thus rendering the campaign ultimately an aid to the spread of sophisticated literature.
Perhaps the greatest triumph of the Arab World resides in intellectuals' responses to the liberation of Lebanon, however, described, among others things, as "a purification" and "the first genuinely happy occasion in the Arab World in a very, very long time." Of the four statements by Arab writers, including the renowned novelist Abdel-Rahman Mounif, published by Akhbar Al-Adab, the Paris-residing Lebanese author Hoda Barakat's was perhaps the most moving. In simple, heartfelt language, Barakat recounts how her Maronite mother "on top of the high mountain in northern Lebanon" had wept in joy and relief over the phone, almost uttering the Muslim call, Allahu Akbar, and explained how she would go along with a young distant relation of theirs to his home village in the south, which the Israeli occupation had prevented him from seeing. Towards the end of her article, the author remembers that, while the gates to countless Lebanese homes are open at last, once and for all, "there are those who investigate and over-elaborate and pontificate, forming committees to declare writers apostates, away from all the gateways of the world." She also stresses that Hizbullah's treatment of even Lahd's militiamen has been supremely humane -- Lebanese people welcoming their compatriots home -- asserting that the organisation "has not declared anybody an apostate, ever."
Hoda Barakat, who made the cover of Nour, the occasional feminist review of books whose recent resurrection reached its sixteenth issue this week, is but one example of the admirable attitude of Arab non-sectarian writers whose contribution is recognised despite an atmosphere beset by paradox and contradiction. The growing list of names submitted to the prosecutor general in solidarity with novelist Ibrahim Aslan and writer Hamdi Abu-Golail, the two writers implicated in the issue of A Banquet for Seaweed, has led many to the conclusion that "intellectuals", regardless of their orientation, do command some social-political weight in the Egyptian context. The list provides an ironic backdrop to the advent not only of the elections (arguably the cause of the campaign in the first place), but also to the annual awarding of the prestigious state merit prizes, in fact. Novelist Edwar El-Kharrat, who was at the top of Al-Shaab's black list, is among the foremost literary candidates, heading the bill this year.
