Some days ago, Al Raya carried a headline that attracted my attention and also pained me. The headline said: “Art society dead at the time of birth.”
On reading the headline, I remembered the cultural and artistic figures I had seen on a flight back home from Kuwait. Optimism was nowhere to be found on their faces, while sorrow and pain were clearly visible as they returned after participating in a cultural event in the land of culture, thought and creativity.
Those people seemed to be in pain compared to their peers when they thought about their own condition and compared it with that of their fellow artists in other Gulf states, even as their country, Qatar, has the necessary resources, ambition and good name. Despite these resources, ambition and name, Qatar does not have an appropriate climate for its artists, writers and intellectuals to be able to play their role in the country and abroad.
The Qatari intellectuals and artists complained that Katara had provided them with a venue and then taken it away from them. Why? It did this on the pretext that the artists and intellectuals’ society had not completed the registration procedures necessary to be recognised officially. The society is yet to conduct any cultural activities.
I do not lay the blame on Katara, which has its own objectives, strategies and a timetable. I rather blame the Qatari state. Obstacles are usually placed on the path of every society in this country. Why should it be so?
This is a simple question, but it raises tens of other related questions, especially when it comes to non-sporting societies. Do state institutions prefer things imported or coming from abroad? Is our cultural movement content with importing ideas, cultures and individuals from abroad?
Has anybody noticed that we have reached the stage of begging for culture from abroad, as if we do not have any culture of our own? We do this as if we do not have any cultural roots of our own. The same applies to our patriotic songs, particularly after the death of Qatari singers Mohamed Al Saie and Farag Abdel Karim. Now, our neighbours — blessed they be for doing this — sing for us.
To our esteemed government officials I say that culture cannot be separated from its environment, and its intellectual and civilisational heritage. Culture cannot be imported, either. For how long will talented nationals who have intellectual, cultural and literary abilities be ignored? When will the state offer support to these people and help them express their creative abilities in the best interest of their country and its people?
Government officials should not let the state down when it is trying to create a bright future for its people. State institutions should offer the necessary support so that they can play their role properly. Agencies that license these societies should also defend them, not leave them to be preyed on by fate.
Culture goes hand in hand with science and education. These three things are interlinked. Qatar needs not just educated people but educated people who are cultured as well so that it can reach the level of civilisation it aspires to.
