In its Golden Jubilee .. The Cairo Book Fair transferred between the justifications of the government and the concerns of the intellectuals

Mohamed Thabet - Cairo

The Golden Jubilee of the Cairo International Book Fair will be held on January 23, according to Egyptian Culture Minister Dr. Enas Abdel Dayem. The 50th edition of the exhibition, which will last until February 5, will be held in the far east For the exhibition grounds in Nasr City, which has been hosting the exhibition since 1983.

Thus, the new exhibition grounds will become the fifth gathering of the exhibition since its inception in 1969. Just as the transfer of the exhibition from the Opera House Square near Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo to Nasr City in 1983 has raised objections to the intellectuals, And the government justified the decision to renew and develop, especially with what it described as the "miserable" situation reached by the old exhibition grounds.

On the occasion of the opening of the Egyptian Opera House on February 1, 1969, the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser appointed Minister of Culture Tharwat Okasha to hold the first book fair in Egypt with the participation of 100 publishers from five countries.

The political purpose of the exhibition was to prove that Egypt remains the heart of the Arab nation, despite the harshness of the defeat in the June 1967 war. The opening of the exhibition coincided with the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Cairo (969 AD). But over the years, the exhibition ground has narrowed to participants and the public.

Thirty years in Nasr City

14 years later, the International Exhibition Grounds in Nasr City were selected. The new location of the exhibition increased to 7200 meters at the beginning and then reached 100 feddans.

In Nasr City, which was the desert of 1983 when the first exhibition was held, the number of visitors doubled. Last year, according to official figures, the number of visitors reached four million. In 2006, the Cairo exhibition was chosen as the best exhibition in the world after Frankfurt. The exhibition continued annually for more than 30 years except for the 2011 session due to the events of the January 25 revolution.

Exhibition and Heads

The former President Gamal Abdel Nasser did not care to visit the exhibition despite the opening of his two-term period. Sadat became the same, while Hosni Mubarak violated it. Since 1987, he has been keen to visit the exhibition annually, but to allocate a meeting with the intellectuals. The exhibition opened only in 2003 and 2009, before the revolution forced him to step down in 2011.

On January 23, 2013, former president Mohamed Morsi inaugurated the 44th session. He met with a group of intellectuals, artists and publishers. The following year, the exhibition was opened by the appointed president Adly Mansour. However, Sisi re-read the biography of Abdel Nasser and Sadat. .

Highlights of the exhibition

The Cairo Book Fair witnessed several events, the most prominent of which was the participation of Israel in 1981 by Sadat's orders, provoking angry reactions. Despite the security intensification, some demonstrators reached the Israeli wing inside the exhibition and burned the flag, preventing Israel from participating again.

In 1992, the most prominent cultural event hosted by the exhibition was the famous debate titled "Egypt between the religious and civil state" in the presence of the famous preacher Muhammad al-Ghazali, the former guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mamoun al-Hudaibi and the Islamic thinker Muhammad Amara. In the left-wing Tagammu Party, Mohammed Ahmed Khalaf. The audience was estimated at 30,000, most of whom gathered outside the auditorium, listening to loudspeakers and a tight security organization.

In 2005, during Mubarak's meeting with the intellectuals, the late intellectual Mohamed Said Said called for Mubarak's political and economic reform in a remarkable manner, which angered President Hosni Mubarak.

Justifications and fears

According to the Ministry of Culture's web pages, the status of the exhibition grounds in Nasr City has become "deplorable." There is no internet, no room to accommodate the public, participants and cultural events, forcing some publishers to display books in tents.

On the other hand, some intellectuals agree that the fairgrounds in Nasr City need great care and organization, but they do not see the situation as disturbing as officials in the state see it.

But many of those concerned with culture have expressed concerns and concerns about the unloading of the exhibition of its content and the increasing demand to move it to a remote area, known as the aristocratic atmosphere far from celebrating the exhibition through the crowds.

These intellectuals affirm their view that the area of ​​the fifth district is not allowed to enter public transport to transport the poor and simple to the exhibition, in contrast to the former exhibition area in the busy city of Nasr, especially after the allocation of two subway stations to serve.

It is up to some publishers and intellectuals to emphasize that the transfer of the exhibition to the fifth assembly is only a link in the series of unloading Cairo of the most prominent events known, in preparation for the opening of the new administrative capital.

According to the official site of the State Information Service, the new exhibition is four halls, each area of ​​ten thousand meters, there is no open display, and the first hall is dedicated to books of heritage and Al-Azhar and Saudi Arabia, and the second room for Arab publishers and foreign books, and the third hall is dedicated to Egyptian publishers, The fourth hall main exhibition hall and children's publishers.