Qatari Minister: The use of art and culture is a major sin committed by the blockade countries

Dialogue / Imad Murad

Qatari Minister of State, former candidate for UNESCO presidency, Dr. Hamad bin Abdul Aziz Al-Kuwari, said that Qatar has overcome all the economic and political effects of the blockade, but what no one can overcome is the impact of the blockade on the value side in the region, which is the worst impact on the Gulf citizen.

The Qatari minister stressed in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net that the blockade countries have made many conspiracies to prevent the Arab candidate from reaching the presidency of the international organization on behalf of the French candidate, pointing out that the decision to re-nominate him again is not in his hands, if Qatar believes that the circumstance Now convenient to re-run it will of course not hesitate.

Al-Kuwari added that the use of art and culture in political matters is a major sin committed by the blockade countries since the beginning of the crisis until now, stressing that Qatar does not match those countries, but is moving towards supporting Arab culture from the gate of many activities aimed at the development of Arab culture, such as Sheikh Award Hamad bin Khalifa for Translation, the Arabic Novel Award and the Katara Prize for the Poet of the Prophet. Given the nationalities of the winners of these awards, Qatar does not involve the Arab peoples in political crises.

Minister Al-Kuwari recently published a book on the experience of his candidacy for UNESCO under the name "Injustice of Relatives", summarizing his experience during that period from the beginning of the election campaign until the end of the voting process.

Here is the text of the dialogue:

- Why choose this title for the book?

I have several books and the most difficult thing in the title book, so I always leave the title of the book to the last moment, the title of the book should be indicative of the content of the whole book and also be encouraging to read.

In the book "The Injustice of Relatives" I thought a lot about the title, but explain that you find that who succeeded in UNESCO elections French woman, but it succeeded, succeeded in the work of the blockade countries, it is an injustice not for me but for Arab culture.

This is the first time in the history of the UNESCO elections that a person has won the first place in the first four rounds against the biggest countries of the world, France, China, Vietnam and Egypt. The siege countries came to think that Hamad Al-Kuwari would achieve nothing in the elections. The result of the first round came and if I get 50% of the votes, they were stunned and the vicious campaign of kin began.

On the other hand, when we look at the outcome of the elections, we find a great victory for Qatar in these elections, despite the great conspiracies woven against its candidate, the winner was decided by the candidate of Qatar by one vote and after five rounds of voting.

Here we have to consider how many Arab voices were forced to leave the Arab candidate for the presidency of UNESCO? Lebanon was forced in the last round to vote against the Arab candidate, and the voice of Sudan, Morocco and Egypt was also not with the Qatari candidate, so this is the injustice of kin and I am happy with this name because it is a summary of the whole book.

- You devoted a chapter in the book to your diary at UNESCO, what position or sentence you will not forget?

Indeed, I was keen to list some diaries in the book because it is an attraction to the reader, and although there are dozens of stories that will remain stuck in my mind, there are significant words occurred during the elections.

The day before the last round of elections, accompanied by Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister, I advised him to meet with the Deputy Ambassador of Bangladesh, which is voting in the elections.

The Deputy Foreign Minister came to her and the Foreign Minister said to her, thank you for your support of our candidate in the first four rounds and we want your support in the fifth. She said I have instructions from my country to vote for Qatar in the elections, The poor, and if they arrived at the head of UNESCO use the poor.

On another visit to Africa before the elections began, I received a call that Zambian President Edgar Longo had asked to meet with me.Although Zambia had no voice in the elections, we decided to go there.When we met the president, he told me you are now trapped, but I have a message. The reasons for the blockade are Al Jazeera, but I tell you why they are not boycotting Britain and the BBC. Al-Jazeera is your pride in Qatar, and we in Africa are interested in watching its English version and invite you not to respond to their demands and close the island.

- Your campaign began three years before the elections, when the idea came to UNESCO?

The idea of ​​running for UNESCO came after the end of my presidency of the 13th Conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), after which I was elected President of the Organization for a year.

After the positive responses that came due to my presidency of UNCTAD, His Royal Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani directed me to think about running for the presidency of an international organization.I replied that UNESCO agrees with my experience and worked as a delegate.I lived in Paris and knew the full functions of the organization.He agreed to do so. The period was short for the 2014 elections, so I decided to postpone it to the next election until it is well prepared.

- I made the last chapter and made it at the beginning of the book. What is that?

Many readers only read the first pages of books without completing them, so I saw that these readers hasty if you put a traditional introduction Vsqroonha and do so, I saw that the conclusion at the beginning.

I worked a kind of summarizing the book in the first three pages, so that those who did not read only the title and these three pages, it is as if he read the whole book, and this was my idea in the conclusion of the book.

- Can the experience of running for UNESCO be repeated again?

Under the current circumstances, the situation is very difficult, but it is not in my hands, the political situation must be taken into account, and I am in the end a soldier, if Qatar decided anything, of course I will not hesitate, although we achieved a very difficult result to achieve again because we have achieved great success, and despite The siege and the methods practiced and the war against Qatar and its candidate, we got out of the heads.

- I got the sympathy of a large Arab people, when I felt this sympathy?

From the first day of the nomination I receive support from intellectuals in all Arab countries, and the most country I was receiving support from was Egypt, and there are dozens of daily contacts from Egyptian intellectuals, of course I will not disclose them so as not to be harassed, but the poet Farouk Choucha had mercy on him always B.

Choucha used to say I wish God would extend my life to see you at UNESCO's presidency.He was a constant supporter of me.He is a professor, writer and poet who has a place in Egypt and the Arab world.I had supporters from Morocco and Lebanon, so we make sure that governments were in one valley and people in another

- The siege countries harnessed all their possibilities to prevent you from reaching this position, in your opinion, what motivated them behind it?

The siege states realized that the presence of a Qatari figure in the presidency of UNESCO will of course have a great positive role in this organization and its role in the world, and with Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup will be a Qatari success at all levels, so they worked to thwart my candidacy for the presidency of UNESCO.

I said in the debate that three million people around the world saw that my role would not be negative and I did not seek a job, since I was a child and I am an ambassador and a minister, but I came here to serve the organization, the blockade states knew that who would come would serve, and therefore they do not want to Qatar - Especially under these political circumstances - this glory and prestige.

If the conspiracies of these countries were directed to me, it would not hurt me, but I do not feel that these conspiracies are aimed at my country, especially since its aim is to kill joy, they cannot afford to rejoice Qatar.

Q: You have been Minister of Culture twice for a long time. How do you see cultural life in Qatar now?

Development is indivisible, development in Qatar is integrated, and I believe that culture is the spiritual aspect of development.Any development that is not concerned with culture and education is not real development but will collapse in a short time, so when we talk about culture we do not talk about it individually but we also talk about education.

In Qatar there are several cultural institutions that combine to play the role of Qatar, so we see the cultural district Katara, which I call the lung of culture with its various activities, as well as the Ministry of Culture and its large role, Qatar Museums, and the only phenomenon in the world, Qatar Foundation, which brings together nine universities in one complex, it is also a phenomenon Great cultural encompassing all nationalities of the world. In short, culture in Qatar is in a very excellent position, and I am very happy with Qatar's position in this context.

There are many achievements in Qatar, but the most important achievement in my view is that Qatar is the first in education in the Arab world, this achievement is the largest because it is the pillar of any real development.

- Imposing a blockade on your country since June 5, 2017. Has this blockade achieved any of the targets of the besieged?

There is no doubt that the siege is a very painful phenomenon, especially that it is the injustice of kin, and the siege surprised everyone, and I was one of its victims, on the day of the siege I woke up to this news, and the first impression was that a dispute between brothers and will not last much, Large.

We understand the impact of the blockade from the economic and political side, but what we cannot absorb is its impact on the value side in the region, and this is the worst result of the blockade.However, in Qatar, it has become a new independence.Qatar's international status and independence are evidence of the failure of the besieged targets.

Qatar has learned economically and socially, and has expanded its circle of knowledge.It does not ignore any countries, including the poor.It is influential when it meets.Therefore, you find that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is now focusing on Latin American, Caribbean and African countries.

I thought that the siege would not end up sacrificing strategic things, including these close social relations between the Gulf Arabs. The Gulf is one family, but the families are now fragmented. They have created a social situation of what we knew even when we disagree with each other.

As for Qatar, it emerged victorious from this blockade and strengthened its economy, and is strengthening its ties with the outside world constantly.

- The Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is making great efforts to solve the Gulf crisis, how do you see these Kuwaiti efforts?

I have no doubt whatsoever about the sincerity of Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and his desire to settle this dispute. I was sure from the first day of the siege that if the four countries were thinking of the principle of conventional wisdom, things would have ended immediately. Today, he does not remember one of the 13 conditions that the blockade states have declared to resolve the crisis, because these conditions are unreasonable.

- How do you see the demands of the blockade countries to resolve the crisis, and are they still on the table?

I do not know what the demands are, but careful reading indicates that if there is political will - meaning the intention of the solution - the problem can be solved, and this intention is not available, and you can not solve any problem only when there is an intention to resolve or dialogue between the parties.

Our crisis in the Arab world is that we do not talk to each other, but we prepare each other. Usually, those who do not sit for dialogue are those who have nothing to say about it. When we disagree we have to talk, but when you say we don't have to sit it means you have nothing to say and you are not ready to discuss the issue.

They went beyond all reasonable, and used art and culture against a sister country to incite people, and reached them to inform the publishing houses that they would not participate in book fairs in the four countries, if they participated in the Qatar exhibition.

- How do you evaluate the role of Qatar in supporting Arab culture?

There are many cultural events in Qatar that support the Arab culture in general, led by the Hamad bin Khalifa Award for Translation and International Cooperation, which is one of the most important awards, one of the reasons for the rise of Arab civilization and its power to rely on translation in both ways, from Arabic to the world and from the world to Arabic.

The Katara Prize for the Poet of the Prophet is a high cultural religious message urging people to values, and raise the value of language so as to transcend the praise of the Prophet peace be upon him and not in praise of the ruler this or that; as well as the prize of the Arabic novel and many other events that include Arab culture in general.

- The siege countries used art and culture in their crisis with Qatar, have you also used these areas?

At all, Qatar did not engage the people in the crisis. Quite the contrary, we do not treat them similarly. We criticize the poor quality of this discourse and the gutter of political language, as well as campaigns of incitement and delve into symptoms.

During the UNESCO elections, one of the Egyptian journalists displayed my picture on the screen and said, "Is this an Arab form?" Even my Arabist tries to question it. They transcended all norms and values, but we in Qatar do not match them in those obscenities, and whenever they land we rise to our speech.