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Culture minister outlines plans to combat extremism

By Mohammed Kloub - Aug 08,2016 - Last updated at Aug 09,2016

Adel Tweisi

AMMAN — The Culture Ministry has experienced repeated budget cuts since 2007, but Culture Minister Adel Tweisi hopes that trend could change with a new plan to use the arts to tackle extremism. 

The ministry’s budget has shrunk by around 50 per cent since 2007 to JD8.3 million for the 2016 fiscal year, Tweisi said, blaming the cuts on a failure to prioritise cultural initiatives.  

“For the time being, the budget is too small to meet our ambitions of increasing cultural awareness and creativity in the Kingdom,” Tweisi told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

But with the drafting of the latest Culture Development Plan for the years 2017-2019, that trend is expected to change, and Tweisi hopes the ministry’s budget will increase.

Since its first Culture Development Plan for 2006-2008, the Ministry of Culture has implemented various programmes to promote creativity, diversity and pride in the national heritage of Jordan. 

These programmes range from the Child Mobile Library, which provides books to children in rural areas, to the Jordanian Cultural City programme, which celebrates a different city in the Kingdom each year for its traditions and attractions. 

Other initiatives by the ministry include support for book publishing and several youth festivals for theatre, poetry and music.

The 2017-2019 plan will include a new aspect, however: combating extremism on the cultural front. 

Tweisi, who is heading a committee created to follow up on the national plan to counter extremism, is confident that cultural understanding and education are the best arenas for tackling and eliminating radical ideologies. 

The new plan is still in the drafting stages, he said, but already outlines several projects with this aim in mind.

One goal is to propose amendments to certain laws and by-laws regarding civil society that may be vulnerable to extremist interpretation and application. 

On the artistic front, the ministry hopes to give publishing priority to books that promote a “culture of tolerance and diversity”, Tweisi said, in addition to republishing important books from the history of Islam that contain similar ideas, like the works of Ibn Rushd (known in English as Averroes).

The production of educational documentaries is also being explored, specifically ones that highlight stories of success and acceptance of different cultures and ideologies. 

A major project outlined in the plan is the establishment of a Cultural Extremism Observatory that would operate under the Ministry of Culture. 

The observatory would have two main tasks, according to Tweisi: to follow up on any cultural or artistic material in Jordan that encourages extremism and to publish a monthly report on these materials for policy makers in the Kingdom to consider.

“These programmes must and will make an impact,” the minister said, affirming his optimism for the plans. “We will evaluate each of the projects often to see if they’re working and if there are ways to make them more efficient and effective.”

All of these proposals hinge on approval from the Cabinet; however, which will ultimately decide the ministry’s budget and which programmes to pursue. 

The Culture Development Plan also includes a strategy for increasing the ministry’s budget by creating a fund to accept contributions from the private sector. Many private entities can benefit from the outlined, the minister said.

If the Cabinet does not approve the fund, the government must finance the programmes itself, and there is also the risk of further cuts to the ministry’s budget.  But Tweisi is not worried about that.

 

“I’m sure they will not reduce it,” the minister said. “Cultural funding is necessary at this point.” 

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