Back to the village

Mohamed Ghoneim, the new head of the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces (GOCP), is no stranger to the organisation. He began his career at Al-Hurriya Cultural Palace in Alexandria, which he directed for seven years from 1968-1975. In 1975 he was appointed the director of GOCP's Alexandria chapter till 1979. He served as cultural attaché to Washington for four years before returning to Alexandria's GOCP in 1985 and another four year stint. In 1989 he was appointed head of the culture ministry's external affairs department and last week was assigned by the minister of culture to take charge of the GOCP.
What is your assessment of the current crisis between the minister of culture and intellectuals?
The conflict is mainly between the extreme right and the extreme secular left, the ministry being caught in the crossfire between the two. If the extremists think they can pull us backward and halt the cultural movement in Egypt, they are mistaken. But in the meantime we cannot be blackmailed by some intellectuals in the name of defending literary creativity. We are committed to a movement of enlightenment that holds both religion and public morality in high esteem. Since the ministry, together with the GOCP, is -- in the final analysis -- an organ of the state it should be addressing the concerns of the people and not be the exclusive property of a small circle of the elite.
Many have expressed concern that your coming to the GOCP will put an end to the liberal period under its former head Ali Abu Shadi. Abu Nuwas, they claim, is a case in point.
There are two issues here; first Abu Shadi was doing an excellent job and it was only when he broke the law of the GOCP that he was sacked. This liberalism, which many attribute to Abu Shadi, is only part of the GOCP policies as mentioned in the decree no. 91 issued in 1997 which deals with the regulations of publishing material in the GOCP. Therefore, any publishing activity is regulated by an already existing law. And there are not going to be any new procedures to control such activities. Regarding the case of Abu Nuwas, it will be on display in the book fair in the culture ministry booths. It is not true that we confiscate books. It is part of the war of words which some intellectuals are waging against the ministry. But it is not getting them or us anywhere to be engaged in such a war which depicts Egypt as a country where books are burned and intellectuals are muzzled.
Would you agree that this was a political issue in the first place?
It did not start as a political issue but was soon turned into one. A member of the Muslim Brotherhood was the first to raise the issue. I don't see any point why we should not listen to criticism just because it comes from Islamists. We have to accept them as a part of society that has a legitimate presence. On the other hand, why should we classify society into Ikhwanis (belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood) and lefties? This polarisation between the two parties should come to an end. We have to stop categorising and labelling.
What criteria will you adopt in selecting works for publication?
We are not going to do away with the intellectuals who have been cooperating with the GOCP and more intellectuals will be added. We are keen that they should represent divergent cultural trends of the society and not just one group. The only criterion for selection will be the extent of their contribution to the Egyptian cultural movement, which will ensure that publications will reflect all the intellectual trends in society.
Does that mean that Islamists will be included on this committee?
No. Not any Islamist associated with political Islam movement.
Is there going to be a modification to the law of the GOCP?
The current law requires that the editor-in-chief of any of the 16 literary series issued by the GOCP has the ultimate responsibility to finalise the publication of novels and books. There will be a slight change to the effect that the head of the GOCP will have the leverage to finalise the publication orders.
But many would consider this new procedure as a reinforcement of notions of censorship, limiting freedom of creativity?
There is not going to be any censorship but as the head of the GOCP I will be held responsible for all the material which the organisation publishes and I believe it is my duty to look into this material.
How many resignations have you received so far?
I have only received the resignation of Gamal El-Ghitani. As far as I know, none of the editors-in-chief of the rest of the literary series has resigned.
What is the original function of the GOCP?
It is an organisation which mainly concerned with mass culture and mass gatherings. It resembles -- in a way -- the cultural palaces established in the Eastern bloc and what are called maisons de culture in France. It was -- in fact -- the former Culture Minister Tharwat Okasha in 1966 who transformed what used to be called the popular university, Al-Gam'a Al-Sha'biya, into mass culture palaces.
I would like to stress that GOCP is not intended to be a publishing house. The mushrooming of the literary series dates back to the time of Hussein Mahran, the former head of the GOCP. The latest crisis shed light on the need to re-define the functions of the GOCP.
I believe that in the coming period there will be more focus on a new mechanism to inject life into many of the activities which have for too long been placed on hold because the bulk of the GOCP's budget has been swallowed by publishing. There will be a revival of all the activities that the GOCP should have been undertaking, promoting handicrafts, theatre activities in the governorates, folkloric art and, most importantly, the development of village cultures.
Interview by Omayma Abdel-Latif
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