Despite many hurdles, Arabs hope their guest-of-honour presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair next month will succeed in offseting post-9/11 misconceptions about their culture "Visions of the future" is the title chosen for the official -- Arab League -- contribution to the upcoming International Frankfurt Book Fair (5-10 October), at which the Arab world will be guest of honour this year. This, the most visible part of a collective Arab presentation that includes independent, fringe and individual as well as German-initiated contributions will feature over 200 writers, publishers and literary figures and some 10,000 titles, intended to represented the full spectrum of a thoroughly variegated ethnic and cultural identity at this high-profile event. As agreed with the organisers of the fair, the focus will be not only the Arab world but Islamic culture as well -- a fact reflected in the choice of titles and authors. Currently underway at the Arab League headquarters and elsewhere in publishers' and official offices throughout Cairo is the intensive -- and, by now, inevitably frenzied -- process of packaging and translation, into German and English, of the books to be transported to the fair grounds. These include a broad range of material from canonical and contemporary literature to history and political analysis, from memoir and autobiography to Muslim theology and children's stories. The Arab League contribution also provides for a string of fringe events to take place not only in Frankfurt but in several other cities as well; starting at the same time as the fair, these will continue to be held over the following 12 months. Exhibitions of Coptic icons, children's art and the work of woman photographers stand side by side with screenings of Arab films, musical and theatrical performances and approximately 20 seminars on topics like Orientalism as a predominant and largely negative declension in Arab-European dialogue through the ages, trends in contemporary Arab thought and the future of Arab societies under globalisation. The presentation, it is hoped, will help improve the image of Arab culture and Arabs in the West -- at a time when, following September 11 and the consequent association of terrorism with Arabs and Muslims in the last three years, that image continues to suffer, with Arab-Muslim civilisation becoming subject to a whole array of prejudices and misunderstandings. Indeed many commentators have suggested that the choice of the Arab world as the 2004 guest of honour at Frankfurt, made three years ago in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington, came directly in response to a growing Western interest in knowing about the Arab world -- its history, its culture and the social-political dynamics that govern its present-day life. The literature of a nation, it is thought, offers unique access to its identity. "Arabs are going to Frankfurt as guests of honour at a particularly disturbing time on the political and cultural planes," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, who has chaired the Arab League committee responsible for preparations for the book fair in person, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Among the highest items on Moussa's list of priorities, it would seem, is the task of dispelling Western misconceptions about the Arab world, a task which, he suggests, will not be as easy as all that. "It is a time when Arab culture is coming under serious attack and unfairly associated with ignorance, backwardness and terrorism. This is why we must go to Frankfurt," he added. Nor is Western prejudice the only obstacle likely to be met on this journey. Wayfarers are burdened, in addition, by differences among themselves concerning the overall structure of a necessarily complex collective contribution. Such differences, it is generally thought, can only compound the process of presenting a positive vision of Arab-Islamic culture and in so doing countering the charges levelled at Arabs by the West -- not only by elucidating the very special and purely political context in which the present image of Arabs came to take shape but, perhaps even more importantly, by showing an inspired team spirit and aptitude for organisation and dialogue. Speaking on 19 August at a meeting with intellectuals and journalists to discuss the countdown to Frankfurt, Moussa and other members of the Committee for the Arab Participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair responded to the censure of critics, many of whom had dedicated lengthy columns to critiquing the Arab League's contribution to the event and even, in some cases, arguing for calling off the whole project. This, the first in an ongoing string of such meetings, turned out to be an opportunity for both organisers and critics to stress their determination to continue pursuing what they now regard as a mission, and to pool their efforts to this end. "We are not about to debate the participation," Moussa asserted repeatedly. "The decision is made and we are going to go to Frankfurt." Conceding that preparations have been beset by a range of obstacles, he nonetheless insisted that, no matter how trying the challenges, the Arab world cannot afford to miss the opportunity presented by Frankfurt. It will be a chance, he said, to display the Arabs' extraordinary cultural heritage, their historical wealth, as it were, as well as their dynamic contributions to present-day cultural activity. The implication is that such a display, if adequate, will help build a positive image of Arabs at a time when they are in dire need of improving their profile in the West. Rather than associations of bearded terrorists and brutal patriarchies, in other words, Frankfurt will help direct attention to less threatening -- and truer -- paradigms of Arab and Muslim society: sophisticated theological debate, transgressive fiction and subversive poetry, learned reflections on the place of a once superlative civilisation in decline in an increasingly Western- dominated global sphere. "Arabs have almost nothing left to rely on except their culture," argued Gamal El-Ghitani, prominent Egyptian novelist and editor of the literary journal Akhbar Al-Adab. In the face of their repeated and often drastic failures to make a significant global contribution to the political, economic or scientific arenas, El-Ghitani argued that contemporary Arabs must find a way to impress their cultural presence on the world. And despite the many shortcomings in the process of preparing for it, El- Ghitani went on to say, the Frankfurt Book Fair may well serve that purpose. Despite a more or less oppositional stance -- the novelist is among many intellectuals who have questioned the official list of participants, criticising the choice of writers and books -- El- Ghitani thus seconded Moussa's opinion, testifying to unanimity as regards the importance of Frankfurt for Arab presence on the world stage and the necessity of participating. However intractable, so the general consensus seems to be, obstacles in the way of Frankfurt will be overcome somehow. Since the book fair organisers decided on the Arab world as the 2004 guest of honour, the proposed presentation has been the subject of several resolutions of Arab ministries of culture, information and foreign affairs; such documents underlined the importance of the event and the need for pooling efforts, placing resources, human as well as financial, at the disposal of organisers. Despite the apparent determination to achieve success, words, as is often the case with Arab official bodies, were not backed by deeds -- hardly surprising. Yet the unavailability of necessary funds has since emerged as the principal problem. In a foreign ministers' meeting last March in Tunis, Arab diplomats engaged in heated debates concerning the significance of Arab participation in Frankfurt. Some, representing regimes that have yet to provide their share of the expenses, argued that it was not as significant an event as others made it out to be. With just over a month to the opening of the fair, however, now that the decision has been made to go on with the project regardless, the Arab League's 22 member states are still unable to provide the estimated $3 million required for participation -- a figure already reduced to the barest minimum, from previous estimates of $4.6 million. "We have nearly 50 per cent of the amount available," declared Talaat Hamid, Arab League Special Coordinator for Frankfurt. "But we still need the rest..." States that paid their share, Hamid supplied, include Qatar (which also covered Somalia, Djibouti and Comoros, three poverty-stricken states who would have been unable to participate despite their enthusiasm) as well as Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Syria, Tunis, Bahrain and Mauritania; only last week another important participant, Algeria, finally made the decision to provide its share. Morocco and Kuwait head the bill of countries boycotting this major collective endeavour, on the other hand. Though Hamid refused to spell this out, it is no secret that the two regimes in question refuse to participate purely out of opposition to the person of Moussa, who has endorsed the plan wholeheartedly since it was instigated by Lebanese officials in 2001. Kuwait reacts to Moussa's opposition to Washington's occupation of Iraq, while Rabat decries his demand as Arab League secretary-general to put into action a plan for mediating the long-standing conflict between Morocco and Algeria over rights to the western Sahara. Irrelevant political disputes are thus brought to bear on what remains, by and large, a (collective) identity issue of historic significance. One may argue either way about whether or not Kuwaiti and Moroccan authorities are justified in opposing Arab League decisions made by Moussa and pertaining to their countries, but it remains a deplorable fact -- and for which only the authorities of the two countries in question can, all things considered, be blamed -- that such disputes should have a negative impact on Arab participation in Frankfurt. Personal bias is also thought to be behind what critics describe as the organisers' unfortunate selection of figures and works to act as envoys to Frankfurt. Most frequently cited is the absence from the lists of participants of the name of the well-known and widely translated novelist Sonalla Ibrahim, who famously refused to accept the second Egyptian Culture Council's Novelists Conference Award, making a public display of his opposition to the establishment and going so far as to declare, in the course of the awards ceremony, that those who offer him the award, ie the government's cultural representatives, no longer possess the credibility to give it. It is, critics insist, a glaring instance of favouritism, going on to say that the criteria of selection depend on (mutual) personal interests rather than literary merit. "How could we exclude Sonalla Ibrahim," exclaimed El-Ghitani during the 19 August meeting. "It is blatantly obvious that he is disregarded because he rejected an award offered to him by the Egyptian government." Yet in answer to such objections, Mohamed Ghoneim, executive director of the Committee for Arab Participation at the Frankfurt Book Fair, pointed out that both Ibrahim and scholar Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid, another heavyweight whose name was said to have been excluded, will be present at the fair. "True, their names are not on the list compiled by the preparatory committee," Ghoneim explained, "but they are going to be there because they were invited by the German side." To many this does not allay discontent over the sense that the Committee for Arab Participation, for its own part in the choice of participants, did give in to favouritism. Barring the budget deficit, debates over the participants constitute the thorniest issue in discussions of the event. Speaking in retrospect, some organisers did concede that "very few names" were included "on complimentary basis". But they insist that such compliments were not made at the expense of literary figures worthy of participating. While representatives of the Committee for Arab Participation are blamed for excluding certain writers, organisers argued, it was in fact those writers themselves who declined to confirm their intention of accepting the offer to participate or rejected the official invitation altogether. "Syrian writer Rafiq Chami, who is based in Germany, said he would participate on condition that he should make the opening speech instead of Egyptian Novel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz," an angry Ghoneim told the Weekly. "Gamal El-Ghitani has rejected the invitation of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, saying he would not participate unless he received a personal invitation from Amr Moussa. We could grant the latter his request, but not the former. But in either case we cannot be blamed." But such debates are likely to go on right up to the opening of the fair, organisers predict. Ibrahim El-Muallim, chairman of the Arab Publishers' Union, for one party, argues that it is but a pseudo-issue. "It is very unfortunate that there is such frenzied debate over this particular point," he said. "I'm more inclined to worrying about the message that we are going to communicate to the world in Frankfurt." Any selection will be subject to criticism, he said, however hard the organisers try to draw up an inclusive and diverse programme. For El-Muallim, Moussa and even El-Ghitani, with so little time to waste, there is hardly any room for fretting over a handful of names and titles that will have little bearing on the overall presentation. It would be a pity indeed if such debates were to undermine progress towards an event everyone should be striving to make as successful as possible. By Dina Ezzat
