Reports | 25 05 2020
By: Ali Safar
The pictures of cultural activities in the capital Damascus, in al-Suwayda, or the cities of the coastal region, broadcast by the regime media were inacapable of consecrating a sense of assurance among observers, that the Syria still controlled by the regime, is in good cultural health.
These images that SANA [Syrian Arab News Agency, the official regime News Agency] insists on broadcasting—all concentrated in the cultural centers and the Opera House—clearly expose the paltry level of public attendance. Even the intellectuals who follow the newsletters sent them by cultural institutions, showing the scheduled venues and dates of cultural activities, soon recieve other information by post informing them of the cancellation of this or that event.
Cities living in a state of fear and anxiety resulting from the realities of war, and in the grip of a rhythm of death and destruction, will scarcely be able to produce an ongoing cultural activity. Procedural concerns alone—such as the date or venue of any activity—may be subject to abrupt and unforeseen change or cancellation at any moment. This happened to the Iranian Cinema week a short time ago, for example, which was cancelled only one day before the date of its planned opening. Difficulties of mobility during the evening time has also already shifted cultural events to a daytime schedule. Thus, one will find that many events now take place during official working hours!
What we are concerned with here is merely the practical logisitical details experienced by those intellectuals who remained in Syria. We will disregard the nature and quality of these activities, if for no other reason than the inability to follow them firsthand. One is, however, aware that the fragmentation of the cultural body and its scattering over the multiple Syrian diasporas has greatly impacted the quality of cultural output. This is why one no longer concerns oneself with the caliber or quality of this output; for to merely persist in producing any type of culture is, in the eyes of many, in and of itself a laudable and praiseworthy effort.
On the other hand—and by that, we mean Syrian intellectuals' activities in the diasporas—it is natural not to expect a uniform or sustaibnable level of activity; rather, sporadic activities affected by the kinetics of intellectuals in their new environments. in Istanbul, for example, cultural activities are hostage to the organizing efforts of cultural houses with ambiguous programming; programming more related to the sporadic visits of this-or-that intellectual of the city. This also depicts the reality of cultural activities in other capitals and cities.
The absence of a proper evaluating criteria of activities is observable at home as well as abroad. Merely the meeting of exiled intellectuals thus becomes the most salient cultural happening, in such a context. That is, of course, while simultaneously disregarding all populist, inflammatory, rhetorical, or oratorical cultural products much prevalent at home as abroad, under either the regime or the opposition, at this stage.
And while there certainly do exist certain cultural products of value individually produced here and there; the marketing of these products is subject to the individualist mechanisms as well. These may range from personal relations, to donor institutions' plans that have not quite lived up to that of large cultural events; rather, remaining hostage to circumstances as well as the limited visions those who made them. The Ministry of Culture in the Syrian interim government, has for its part—for a year from the date of its establishment—remained completely aloof from all Syrian culture, contenting itself to the vision of the Minister of Culture, Mrs. Taghreed al-Hajali, which did not travel farther from her original specialization in Family Planning.
All of the above scattering and dispersion presently witnessed by Syrian culture, has not yet prompted any Syrian to proclaim Syrian culture dead. Yet the majority of those who discuss it, do see that humanitarian priorities may thrust cultural affairs downwards on the list of priorities; notwithstanding those loud blunt voices who see culture is an urgent need, in parallel with relief needs.
It will, therefore, be a long time before the pages of Syrian culture, and the changes occurring thereto during the past four years, are opened. The main feature that cannot, however, remain absent from any observer's mind, is the large role the Revolution has played in changing Syrians' very perception of culture. This has become a hazy concept, often abbreviated to its procedural determinants; while it has become increasingly rare to find an in-depth treatment thereof within the kinetics of the normal—or emerging—processes of the actual reality. From this angle, defining the concept will most probably lead to erasing many of those titles that were part of the established cultural framework.
Pending breakthroughs in the current reality, and the reuniting of the Syrian diaspora—if indeed it does happen—the cultural scene will remain hostage to individual efforts out of whose womb, many are betting, the new Syrian culture would emerge.
* Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rozana