Mr Minister, what are you talking about?

Culture ministers should promote freedom of thought, speech and academic research, not censorship, closure and ignorance. But then in Egypt, avarice and ineptitude reigns from the top

Khaled Fahmy , Sunday 23 Jun 2013
Ahram Online

"..........Societies progress not merely by supporting fields such as medicine, engineering, chemistry and physics; they also develop through endorsing arts and literature. The ministry of culture should create the necessary open environment to enable music and dance and literature and fine art and scientific research to flourish. Sadly, our culture minister’s actions indicate that this regime is deeply suspicious of culture and intellectuals.

Appointing a member of a terrorist group as governor for Luxor is the other side of appointing a culture minister that walks in Goebbels’ footsteps. These twin appointments illuminate the importance of opposing these new cultural policies and working hard to reverse them.

The issue currently on the table is not merely a question of identity. What is at stake now is not only the right to free speech but also the very right to exist. "