Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-06-14-Speech-4-157"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010614.8.4-157"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, freedom of expression in Egypt in 2001 AD: the official writers’ union expels the author Ali Selim from membership. The reason for this draconian measure? Selim is campaigning for normalisation of relations between his country and the neighbouring state of Israel. For that reason I should like to add his name to those in the resolution before us.
For that matter, Selim’s expulsion does not come completely out of the blue. For the last four years the actions of this brave, independent Egyptian author has been a thorn in the flesh of his colleagues. The reason is plain. The Egyptian writers’ union forbids its members to have direct contact with Israel. Nevertheless Selim has so far visited Israel seven times. True to his vocation, he published his Israeli travel experiences. They were not well received by the writers’ union: exaggeratedly positive about Israel, was the collective judgment. However, author Selim went further. He spoke out openly in favour of an end to the present Palestine Intifadah. This was the last straw for the writers, since it bases itself on the so-called ‘Aksa-Intifidah’. In short, Selim's exclusion was inevitable.
At the same time eleven other authors received warnings because of the same attitude as that of Ali Selim. Meanwhile the renowned member of the Egyptian writers’ union, the Nobel Prize winner Nagid Mafouz, has protested vehemently against these censorship measures.
I should like to see the Commission also take action in this matter. After all, regimentation of thought combined with the propagation of purely anti-Semitic ideas is diametrically opposed to the values and norms that the Member States of the European Union claim to advocate. In addition, the EU would in this way be contributing to reviving the flagging peace process in the Middle East. In any case this peace process is incompatible with the general political tenor of the Egyptian state press. The latter in fact deals wholesale in the most fantastic anti-Israeli and anti-Western stories and/or accusations. In its pages you can read the following, for example, about the visit of Colin Powell to "his bosses in Tel Aviv": "The American foreign minister had no qualms about abasing himself when he was in Israel. There he stood, humbly, a Jewish yarmulke on his head, in front of the monument to the (fictitious!) holocaust of the Jews.” No wonder that this year’s guest of honour at the Cairo book fair, the Arab equivalent of the Frankfurt
was Roger Garaudy. A man characterised in the European press as "the internationally infamous and hounded holocaust denier". All in all, the Egyptian interpretation of freedom of expression is highly selective politically. The Commission should also take the authorities in Cairo to task about this."@en1
|
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"Buchmesse"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples