Subscribe Today
Request a Clip
Following are excerpts from an interview with Syrian Minister of Culture Riyadh Na'san Al-Agha, which aired on Syrian TV on March 28, 2009
Interviewer: With regard to the censorship of books...
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: I don't censor books.
Interviewer: Isn't the Arab Writers Union under your authority?
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: I have governmental supervision over it, but it is independent. I do not read the books of the Arab Writers Union, and consent is not required. This is within their authority.
Interviewer: They said that they are under the authority of the minister of culture.
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: No, only in terms of supervision. As a government, we...
Interviewer: They said that they could only address the parliament through you.
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: I don't get it. There must be some mistake, or else I don't understand. What do they need to address the parliament about? I do not maintain any censorship, except for objective censorship. Once a woman came to me and said she had written a story that was rejected. I told her to give it to me so I could read it. I found out that she had written in a base, colloquial language, and that her story had no beginning or end. The characters had no presence, yet she complained the story was rejected. Isn't it necessary for her to be censored? Imagine that someone comes to you...
Interviewer: The purpose is not to lift censorship of books, but to organize it.
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: To organize it? It is already organized. The Higher Book Authority does not reject any book without consulting me. They tell me about it. I raised the threshold for censorship to the point that we had to recall books.
Interviewer: What do you mean?
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: We recalled books that were offensive.
Interviewer: You mean you lowered the threshold...
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: No, I recalled the books. There had been no censorship, and we had allowed everything, and then society began to reject these books. There was a book that had begun to be marketed, and I recalled it.
[...]
In addition, I do not allow any book that violates our fundamental principles. There are some books that I reject. Yes.
Interviewer: So who gets to decide?
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: I do, along with my team.
[...]
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: I am not upset by anyone who criticizes me, as long as he keeps it polite. Of course, the truth must be said – and maybe this is a good opportunity... I was upset by the way the press treated my son, Majd. I have a son called Majd, who studies music. You've heard of him. He had studied music before I became a minister. I was an ambassador back then, and I sent him to Cairo and then to the U.S. The boy loves music, and he had a very pleasant voice. This is not just what I, his father, say. Anyone in the Arab world who has heard him says so. The Syrian press was very harsh on him.
Interviewer: Because he is the son of a minister?
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: Let me tell you, they annihilated him. They wrote: "If Majd were not the son of a minister, would he be singing?" Well, I have an older son who is not a singer. This is a gift from Allah – not something that can be given by the government.
Interviewer: Actually, I never thought this issue...
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: But he was prevented from singing. For a year and a half now, my son has not been allowed to sing.
Interviewer: Who prevented him?
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: He cannot sing in Syria, because of this press.
Interviewer: The minister of culture says: "My son is not allowed to sing in Syria"?
Riyad Na'san Al-Agha: Yes. I have forbidden him, so the press does not kill him altogether.
Latest Clips
