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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 July 2000 Issue No. 489
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region Focus International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Sound of silence
By Youssef Rakha
Paul Simon was right. In view of last week's cultural publicity, at least, a great deal of talking without speaking could be heard -- with an equal amount of hearing without listening, one would presume, in response. Indeed neither press nor media paid more than scant attention to the few developments that could perhaps be considered cultural events: the last-minute replacement of the head of the opera house (Samir Farag, the new head, officially accepted his position following a talk with Farouk Hosni on 28 June); the aftermath of the announcement of the state awards (the Sunday 2 July issue of Akhbar Al-Adab published, among other responses, an interview with Shawqi Dief, the widely revered scholar who on 24 June became one of a number of Mubarak Award casualties); the latest in a series of meetings organised by such writers as Ibrahim Mansour and Ibrahim Dawoud with a view to forming an independent tagammu of intellectuals (2 July, in the open-air meeting hall of the Cairo Atelier); and the launching of a project, supported by a grant from the Finnish government, to create a comprehensive digitalised catalogue of all Egyptian monuments and relics (a small conference organised by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, 5-12 July, is discussing a working plan to set the project on course). While none of these developments are major events in themselves, the media's failure to emphasise them in its allegedly extensive coverage of culture exemplifies a tendency to give a buzzing, loquacious impression of the cultural scene even when the dynamos are effectively in stasis. In terror, even the most timid commentator must attempt to inject vitality into some such developments, lest they remain the only vestiges of a vibrant culture for longer than they already have.
Troubles at the Opera House started months ago with what appeared to be a minor disagreement between the acclaimed conductor Ahmed El-Sa'idi, who was suspended from his position as director of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra by Mustafa Nagui, for many years the head of the National Cultural Centre (the official name for the Opera's managerial apparatus), with El-Sa'idi publicly accusing Nagui of negatively impacting the work of both his colleagues and the institution, inviting second-rate orchestras and conductors to play in Cairo in return for being invited abroad himself, whether to conduct or as a musical authority, and assigning himself work as a conductor for which he was not always the most qualified. It seems the disagreement incited a more wide-ranging expression of resentment against Nagui's "authoritarianism and his ignoring others;" well-known musical figures like Hassan Kami, Youssef El-Sisi and Gaber El-Beltagui, with varying degrees of virulence, subsequently joined in the fight. Within days of the announcement of the official renewal of Nagui's term as head of the opera house, hitherto a seething point of contention, the Ministry of Culture appointed Samir Farag to the post, Nagui having been relieved of his duties and promoted to the position of advisor to the Minister of Culture. Many welcomed the decision, its positive reception transcending the bounds of Nagui's initial group of detractors. In Akhbar Al-Adab alone, relevant public figures like composer-singer Mohamed Nouh and choreographer-dancer Walid Awni supported the ministry's verdict, saying, respectively, that "the decision [to replace Nagui] was timely, and perhaps belated" and that "Nagui had depended on bureaucrats to make decisions for him [and was] completely lost among bureaucrats." Unlike his predecessor, Farag is a competent bureaucrat with no vested interest in the institution's activities; much hope indeed is pinned on his performance.
While the "withheld" phenomenon that beset the Mubarak and State Merit awards this year still solicited more than a little hubbub, the third public meeting of the by now evidently spontaneous intellectuals' tagammu went almost unnoticed. Explained as a direct consequence of a democratic process of nomination and voting, the necessity of withholding many prestigious state awards was subject to scrutiny again, particularly as it involved the ultimately futile invocation of such formidable names as Tharwat Okasha, the former Minister of Culture and author of encyclopaedias and translations whose contribution is almost universally affirmed, and Dief, chairman of the Arabic Language Academy. A committee was set up to redraft the Mubarak Award criteria -- all nominees will have made a clear qualitative addition to their respective field of interest, pioneered their distinctive brand of art and influenced generations of practitioners; all will be acclaimed both locally and throughout the Arab World; and all will have assumed an unwavering national stance. During the meeting poet Abdel-Mo'ti Hegazi objected to the new criteria, pointing out that they involved a "political obligation" by which writers, artists and scholars need not be bound. Hankering back to the Azhar university demonstrations over Haydar Haydar's A Banquet for Seaweed, Hegazi solicited a conciliatory response from Ahmed Omar Hashim, president of Al-Azhar University, by calling on the Supreme Council for Culture to take an active interest in the intellectual well-being of Azhar University students.
Meanwhile the tagammu had championed a unified intellectual position on the ongoing trial of novelist Ibrahim Aslan and writer Hamdi Abu-Golail as the parties responsible for the publication of the contended Banquet by an imprint of the Ministry of Culture, generating an ever more impressive show of solidarity on the part of all supporters of creative freedom. In groups of up to 2000, intellectuals have been filing complaints with the prosecutor general against themselves for approving the novel's publication. Such solidarity, Naguib Mahfouz told Al-Qahira (27 June), "is unprecedented in the life of Egyptian intellectuals." Perhaps secure in being so recognised, several times the tagammu' had postponed the post-Banquet meeting, its most visible organisers increasingly but informally emphasising long-term goals. Mansour told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Sunday meeting was conceived as a prelude to a broader conference scheduled to take place in September with the object of setting up a definitive general committee (as opposed to the present temporary and preparatory committee) to manage the tagammu's activities. The "Aslan trauma" practically over, the tagammu indulged its preoccupation with its form and objectives. And while those remain unspecified in any straightforward way, the tagammu's role in such a pressing issue has effectively demonstrated its efficacy. In response to questions concerning its future legal status, Mansour said that "we want it to remain open-ended to allow as many initiatives, and as few formal restrictions as possible," pointing out that the one task of importance, namely the creation of an (intellectual) public opinion, can be accomplished in the absence of the legally recognised institution previously envisioned.
