"Arab Culture: Fundamentals of an Uncertain Future” Conference Inauguration
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The BA hosted the inauguration of the Arab Culture Conference attended by 300 Egyptian and Arab intellectuals on Monday, 16 November 2015.
Three new initiatives adopted by the BA to benefit Arab culture were announced at the beginning of the conference, and they are: Memory of the Arab World, which is similar to the BA Memory of Modern Egypt project; the Arabic Poetry Diwan, which will be launched in January 2016; and the collaborative initiatives with cultural institutions in the Arab world aiming to fight extremist ideologies.
Taking part in the 1st Arab Culture Conference are intellectuals and thinkers from all over the Arab region, in addition to intellectuals from Mauritania who are participating at the BA for the first time. Dr. Waciny Laredj, the great Algerian author and Professor at the Universities of Algeria and Sorbonne, was also among the attendees.
Numerous topics were broached during the conference, including the many issues, including challenges facing Arab culture, the role of the state not as a censor but as a contributor to the cultural process, and the importance of giving education and knowledge the same amount of attention given to science.
The conference also addressed several facets that require attention to overcome the challenges facing our Arab society, such as democracy and securing freedoms; combating censorship in all its forms; religious reformation in the Arab world; political participation; encouraging innovation, work, and achievement; protecting freedom of speech; making up for lack of knowledge production; paying attention to civic education; and working on forming an active public opinion.