By: Nour Elhoda Fouad, Yassmine ElSayed
CAIRO, Feb. 5 (SEE) - Moroccan poet and novelist Mohamed Ash'ari said that he belonged to the seventies generation, when he gained his political, literature and journalistic thoughts, adding that it was the time when leftist student movements, cultural renewal in writing and art, as well as creative movements were born in various art fields.
His talk came during a seminar at Cairo International Book Fair - Golden Jubilee, moderated by Dr. Gaber Asfour, former Minister of Culture, who described Ash'ari as as a poet who loves Egypt and is connected to its cultural and history, in addition to his friendships with many Egyptian intellectuals and writers.
Ash'ari said that the eighties is a real maturity period when a number of important works were published, and in the mid-nineties, the political transition began with political and cultural projects. The question which was prevailing then was: How to turn the page of the past and move on? and indeed we succeeded in moving to a more free atmosphere.
Al-Ash'ari, who was Minister of Culture in Morocco, said that Morocco's close location to Europe made the terms of democracy and freedom urgent and irreversible, and after a while we discovered that democracy was not as easy as we imagine. Freedoms need complicated preparations. After the tough “Arab spring” when we had the freedom to choose, we realized how difficult it was.
He noted that the role of intellectual society is important in this regard, as they tend to touch the realities and convert them into literature, and that’s why we love it, as it is the only way out of the political situation we live in.
Speaking about his jail time, he said: "I am a peaceful rebel that I hate extremism and terrorism. I think the current rulers are well aware that we were peaceful, in the face of armed opposition movements".
Follow the latest news on Google News
