'Civilization Rights'.. Campaign to Preserve Civilization

By: Mai Shaheen

The 'Academy of Scientific Research and Technology', in collaboration with the 'Farouk El-Baz Center for Sustainability and Future Studies' at the British University in Egypt (BUE) and the Egyptian Patent Office in the Academy, launched a national competition entitled "Civilization Rights to Build Civilization".

The competition, which comes as a national initiative, will be held for 3 months, during which the proposals will be judged by a panel of experts from inside and outside Egypt. Those will assess the proposals in several stages and according to transparent and fair criteria which are posted on the competition website www.c-rights.eg.net.

The competition aims to raise public awareness and encourage innovative solutions with regard to the rights Egypt against all those who profit from its civilization. This includes spotting and documenting cases of exploitation of the Egyptian heritage, along with offering practical suggestions to claim intellectual rights at every project or facility which profits from heritage usage at the expense of Egypt rights. This implies literature, historical, ethical and political aspects.

Dr. Mahmoud Saqr, president of the Academy, said in his speech that the competition is a local one aimed at researchers in all disciplines to create a national goal around which all Egyptians will gather to protect their civilization and benefit from it as a material for development and recovery of the economy. The campaign also includes how to address the world in terms of 'rights of civilization' as well as international competitions on how to claim our rights from those benefiting illegally from our original monuments and architectural imitations in addition to how science tourism can support this cause.

On other hand, Dr. Ahmed Rashid, director of the Farouk El-Baz Center for Sustainability and Future Studies and the lead researcher at the Campaign for Civilization Rights, said that the campaign is based on principles of pride and upset. He explained that when visiting museums around the world, one finds that main halls most of times registered for Egyptian heritage. In the same time, some people are obsessed with Egyptian monuments and its fabricated imitations like souvenirs.

"However, with those feelings of pride, one feels also upset and sad about the state of that civilization at home," he added.

He pointed out that there are some parties who profit from that civilization while abandoning any way to pay back for protecting and preserving that civilization. Hence, there is a real need for laws which enable protection of monuments and intellectual properties.

"Unfortunately, we found that the human heritage is set outside laws, which in turns opened the door for maximum exploitation," he explained.

Rashid pointed out that there are international bodies that exploit the Egyptian heritage for profit such as Ras Nefertiti in Berlin or Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, the Dandoor Temple in Metropolitan, the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas in America or exhibitions of pharaonic stuff.

With regard to the competition, Dr. Rashid said that the prizes are as follows: 40 thousand pounds to the first place, and 20 thousand pounds to the second place, and 10 thousand pounds to the third place, 5 thousand pounds for the fourth, fifth and sixth positions.

He added that there are rules to participate, as follows:

The competition is open to all inpiduals, groups and companies profitable and nonprofit organizations, competitors can submit more than one proposal or study but independently of each other, for proposals from a group of inpiduals or companies, there should be an attachment explaining the nature of the partnership. A person or company should be chosen to represent the group before the organizing committee.

He stressed that the goal of the competition is about to complete a perception of how we can achieve steps in the issue and the concept of "rights of civilization," which will extend for generations, but the responsibility of the current generation is to put steps and set a method we believe in and work on it.

He added that there are three sides that display Egyptian heritage, while Egypt does not profit in any way. These are museums and international exhibitions that show the heritage and the original Egyptian monuments, and profitable projects based on imitating heritage of Egyptian civilization such as Luxor Casino in Las Vegas, USA, in addition to companies or factories work on reproducing fabricated Egyptian heritage.

Dr. Rashed said that while strict laws and regulations are imposed on intellectual property rights worldwide - whether those rights are related to art, literary production or corporate trademarks, etc. - the Egyptian heritage and treasure are presented in all the museums of the world, without regard to the rights of the Egyptian people in this heritage, which is originally the product of civilization of this great people.

He added that there is no limit for number, specializations or ages of the team members. Information of applicants should be attached with proposals.

All proposals are subject to review and scrutiny to ensure eligibility and compliance with the terms of the competition.

The Scientific Research Academy and the Farouk El-Baz Center for Sustainability, Future Studies are granted the rights to develop or market the proposed ideas, without prejudice to the intellectual property rights of the participants.

In addition, the competition organizing committee is entitled to demand more information or documents to support participation or verify credibility at any stage. Any participant can also withdraw at any phase before applying process come to an end through sending an email to the competition website which is about to complete.

Translator: Yassmine ElSayed