• Former ‘Arabic Booker’ Winners, Jury Members Call on Prize to Stop Taking UAE Gov’t Money – ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly
    https://arablit.org/2020/08/30/former-arabic-booker-winners-jury-members-call-on-prize-to-stop-taking-uae-

    But, letter-writers argue, that independence is now in jeopardy, and the letter-writers “call on the current Board of Trustees to assume its historical cultural responsibility and protect the award by ceasing to take Emirati funding, in order to preserve the award’s credibility and independence, and also to allow it to continue playing its pivotal role in spreading and developing the Arabic novel. Moreover, the award should keep its distance from any official state funding from any country. We affirm that we make in this appeal from a position of cherishing the award and being keen on the interconnectedness of Arab culture and intellectuals in the face of the political devastation into which some regimes have descended, and it also stems from the recent move toward normalization in the UAE, and, according to statements by Emirati officials, this strategy of alliance with Israel will include all fields, not excluding the cultural one.”

    They finish the letter by stating that the award is facing “a difficult test, for which we need a bold stance from the Board of Trustees. And if, in these delicate circumstances, a courageous decision is not taken to shore up the independence of the award, then the Board of Trustees must prepare for the worst-case scenarios that might plague the award and its legal status, waste its historical balance, and undermine its position in the Arab cultural conscience. These dire scenarios are easy to imagine. Therefore, we appeal to the Board of Trustees to assume its responsibility in preserving this award, so that it remains clean, honest, and independent as it has always been, and for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction to remain one of the bywords of free and creative Arab creativity.”

    Très bonne initiative, mais on peut douter du résultat.

    #émirats #boycott