Jordan's arts showpiece has become an embarrassment for the government, writes Oula Farawati in Amman What a debut for Jordan's Festival for Culture and Arts, due to start official on 8 July. The pre- festival activities have already been marred by an angry public, civil society boycotts and cancellations by many Arab and Jordanian artists. Jordan's professional associations and opposition are leading a tough campaign against the festival, with allegations that it is a Trojan Horse for normalisation with Israel. The campaign alleges that a French company, Publicis Groupe, is organising the festivity after it arranged both Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations and the Arab Nakba commemoration. Those allegations, which have been denied several times by the government, have put the entire festival in the dog-house. Several Arab artists, including Amr Diab, Mohamed Hamaqi and Elissa said they will boycott the festival if the allegations turn out to be true. Jordanian singer Omar Abdullat has already cancelled in accordance with a decision made by Jordan's Artist Association, which has joined forces with the campaign against the festival. The crisis has been compounded by the announcement of the Lebanese and Syrian artists associations that they were also considering boycotting the festival, which will host big names in the entertainment industry including opera singer Placido Domingo, and divas Monica Yunus and Julia Migenes. The government at first denied any involvement of Publicis Groupe in organising the festival, but then Tourism Minister Maha Khatib said the company was only involved in "contracting a few Arab and foreign artists". She added, however, that the company has worked in Jordan in the past and organised "big events like the World Economic Forum". Managing Director of Jordan Tourism Board Nayef Fayez also insisted the organisation of the festival has been purely Jordanian. He denied any involvement by Publicis Groupe and added that French company Les Visiteurs du Soir was the one involved in contracting some artists. Arts and culture editor Mowaffaq Malkawi accuses the professional associations of using the normalisation allegations to win a battle against the government. The associations, which are mostly led by Islamists and opposition figures, have been in a tug-of-war with the authorities here over several issues including a controversial new professional associations draft law that will limit the power of the associations. The association has been under pressure from the government for resisting normalisation with Israel and organising pro- Iraq and Palestine activities. The government has always maintained that the associations should rather concentrate on professional, not political issues. Twelve members of the lower house of parliament wrote a memo to Prime Minister Nader Dahabi asking for the annulment of the entire festival. The excuse for the cancellation according to the MPs was not the normalisation allegations but "the hard economic and financial situation that Jordanians suffer from". "The entire campaign is based on allegations that were not supported by any documents, but rather by rumours," said Malkawi. One government official, who preferred anonymity, said the association was ignoring the national interest in order to win a battle with the government. He added that the associations and the Islamists were using this to "increase their dwindling popularity in the Jordanian street". Columnist Salim Qanouni wrote that the Islamic Movement was using the public sentiment, angry because of rising food prices, to make the festival fail. The movement had said that "food was more important than festivals and singing". "If food is a priority, we should also cancel other important things like education and media and other projects that don't generate income. But I only call this a gross statement that is only adopted by Taliban and Hamas," he wrote in the political weekly, Al-Sijil. Malkawi said the loser in this war will be the tourism season on which the government had pinned hopes to reinvigorate the economy by attracting Arab, especially Gulf, tourists. "Regardless of the motives for the boycott calls, the coming days will reveal the real loser, especially now that doors for dialogue have been closed," he said. The boycott calls were also attacked by columnist Bater Wardam, who believes the associations and the Islamic movement should have double-checked the normalisation allegations before attacking a festival that will generate income for the economy. "Thousands are working to make the festival a success. But again we fall for baseless allegations and deliberate propaganda. Our country is paying the price for all this," he said.
