Egypt
Since 1987 the ministry of culture has been headed by an abstract painter Farouk Hosny who recently had been a candidate to the job of UNESCO director general. A job he lost most likely over remarks he made in 2008 in the Egyptian parliament where he threatened "I'd burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt".
This threat of book burning though had a precedent as in 2001 the minister ordered the burning of 3 homoerotic books by 8th century Arab poet Abu Nuwas with some 6000 books being removed from Egypt's libraries and destroyed.
However Minister Hosny blamed the UNESCO loss on "Zionist pressures" and a conspiracy of "a group of the world's Jews who had a major influence in the elections". There is a sense that Mr. Hosny's term as Minister of culture may soon be over with Mr. Hosny's replacement right on his tail .
Recently Egypt's President for life, Hosni Mubarak rescued Dr. Zahi Hawass from retirement as the Secretary general of the Supreme council of antiquities by giving Dr. Hawass the job of vice minister of culture. Dr. Hawass has a tough reputation of a man not afraid to scrap and a strong determination to the preservation of Egyptian history.
Unfortunately Dr Hawass also displays certain amounts of arrogance and even before he has started at his new job the doctor has created a scandal by describing music star Beyonce as “She’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she doesn’t want to understand. She’s coming here to take pictures and that’s it”.
Not a great introduction to his new position!
Dr. Hawass' website remains silent for now on the issue but no doubt an apology is owed for his insult. Dr. Hawass' anger may have been justified but his words in public were unprofessional and beneath his years of wisdom.
With his well known reputation of his love of book burning which pasture Mr. Hosny gets pushed into remains for now unknown. Unfortunately over at Egypt's Ministry of culture the culture officials are appearing to be hot headed cookie cutter men.
A future minister (say:Zahi Hawass) hopefully will be remembered for more than his insult of Beyonce and not for burning books.
- Farouk Hosni Nominated As Unesco Director
Daily News Egypt The Egyptian government announced Monday that it was nominating Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni as a candidate for the position of director general of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). There...
- Hawass Vs Stupid
It should be apparent the meeting between Dr Zahi Hawass and singer Beyonce was not a pleasant day at the pyramids. Dr. Hawass would have done himself a favour if he had gone about his business and left after a half hour instead he waited 2 hours. Beyonce...
- Unesco Candidate Has Till Tuesday
...
- The Book Burners Nomination
Here is a conveniently timed article by Dr. Hawass. I say convenient because today voting for the director general job of UNESCO begins and Dr. Zahi and his friends are hoping the Egyptian candidate will get the job even though the candidate Farouk Hosny...
- Things I Wished I Never Said!
...
Egypt
Whats up at Egypt's Ministry of Culture?
Since 1987 the ministry of culture has been headed by an abstract painter Farouk Hosny who recently had been a candidate to the job of UNESCO director general. A job he lost most likely over remarks he made in 2008 in the Egyptian parliament where he threatened "I'd burn Israeli books myself if I found any in libraries in Egypt".This threat of book burning though had a precedent as in 2001 the minister ordered the burning of 3 homoerotic books by 8th century Arab poet Abu Nuwas with some 6000 books being removed from Egypt's libraries and destroyed.
However Minister Hosny blamed the UNESCO loss on "Zionist pressures" and a conspiracy of "a group of the world's Jews who had a major influence in the elections". There is a sense that Mr. Hosny's term as Minister of culture may soon be over with Mr. Hosny's replacement right on his tail .
Recently Egypt's President for life, Hosni Mubarak rescued Dr. Zahi Hawass from retirement as the Secretary general of the Supreme council of antiquities by giving Dr. Hawass the job of vice minister of culture. Dr. Hawass has a tough reputation of a man not afraid to scrap and a strong determination to the preservation of Egyptian history.
Unfortunately Dr Hawass also displays certain amounts of arrogance and even before he has started at his new job the doctor has created a scandal by describing music star Beyonce as “She’s a stupid person and she doesn’t understand a thing and she doesn’t want to understand. She’s coming here to take pictures and that’s it”.
Not a great introduction to his new position!
Dr. Hawass' website remains silent for now on the issue but no doubt an apology is owed for his insult. Dr. Hawass' anger may have been justified but his words in public were unprofessional and beneath his years of wisdom.
With his well known reputation of his love of book burning which pasture Mr. Hosny gets pushed into remains for now unknown. Unfortunately over at Egypt's Ministry of culture the culture officials are appearing to be hot headed cookie cutter men.
A future minister (say:Zahi Hawass) hopefully will be remembered for more than his insult of Beyonce and not for burning books.
- Farouk Hosni Nominated As Unesco Director
Daily News Egypt The Egyptian government announced Monday that it was nominating Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni as a candidate for the position of director general of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco). There...
- Hawass Vs Stupid
It should be apparent the meeting between Dr Zahi Hawass and singer Beyonce was not a pleasant day at the pyramids. Dr. Hawass would have done himself a favour if he had gone about his business and left after a half hour instead he waited 2 hours. Beyonce...
- Unesco Candidate Has Till Tuesday
...
- The Book Burners Nomination
Here is a conveniently timed article by Dr. Hawass. I say convenient because today voting for the director general job of UNESCO begins and Dr. Zahi and his friends are hoping the Egyptian candidate will get the job even though the candidate Farouk Hosny...
- Things I Wished I Never Said!
...