The Faculty of Media at the University of Sciences and Arts in Lebanon organized a meeting with the president of the “Hawas” Association Abdel Halim Hammoud, in which he presented the most prominent challenges facing cultural associations in Lebanon.
Before the faculty's students, Hammoud affirmed that “the newly created cultural associations have revealed people's thirst for culture and their readiness to interact and take part in cultural affairs, especially the young among them, at a time when some content themselves with grumbling and constant criticism of the cultural decline in society without producing any effort, however small”.
He said: “Culture is not a difficult, elitist place; the idea lies in the initiative, in the method and in the language of presenting culture to people. The last thing we need in cultural work is offering elitist theorizing. And if the young people do not come to us, we must go to them.”
Hammoud praised “the effective presence of women in the various cultural activities”, holding “that woman is no less than man in drive and sincerity in work, and in a readiness to give that reaches the point of competition”.
He touched on “the confiscations the Arab peoples have been subjected to, among them in the cultural field, under the slogan ‘no voice rises above the voice of the battle'”, explaining that “when a person speaks about matters concerning individual affairs and freedoms, such slogans are brandished in his face, as well as the tightening of the denominational and religious nerve, which often affects even the intellectual himself”.
On the financial means that cultural projects need, Hammoud affirmed that “there are many activities that do not need great financial funding, and there are dozens of facts that confirm what we say”, pointing to “the role of social media as a media means that grants the possibility of free broadcasting reaching thousands of people”.
On the support of non-governmental organizations for cultural associations, Hammoud held that “this support remains positive as long as these organizations do not place conditions on the associations; and naturally the support is rejected if it comes from bodies hostile to our culture and our civilization”.
He held “that a fundamental part of what kills associations is individualism - that we create one person and the rest revolve in his orbit”, affirming “that it is persistent work that brings a result, specifically in cultural and creative work; and that human duty presupposes that we change to the degree we are able. Perhaps we are dreamers, but if it is darkness, then if we were not present it would be even darker.”
