iloubnan.info : How did you develop an interest for these questions?
Tarek Mitri : It may have started off from my childhood. I hail from Tripoli, a Muslim city. When I was a child I used to attend a Catholic school in a Christian francophone environment. I would return hom to the Christian Orthodox environment of my family. I was therefore continuously exposed to three religious environments that interacted within the same culture. I have always reflected on the relations that religions have with one another. After my studies in Philosophy, Human Sciences and Social Sciences in France, I taught a course in the Sociology of Christianity and Christian-Muslim Relations at the University of Balamand in Lebanon as well as in Geneva and at Harvard.
Do culture and religion come together in your opinion?
There is a very strong cultural dimension in religions: music and hymns, paintings, sculpture, architecture, poetry, calligraphy, sacred books… The role of the book is particularly important to gain access to culture. My attachment to books dates back to my infancy. My father always gave me books for my birthday.
Some say that the Lebanese do not read.
This is a cliché I guess, even if there is some truth to it. In Lebanon, books have become exceedingly expensive. To compare with another Mediterranean country, take Greece for example. There, the cost price of a book is much lower. I believe it is very important to make books easy to acquire for the entire population. In 2003, the Ministry of Culture, with the help of France, created sixteen Centre of Reading and Cultural Activity in Lebanese villages. They were public libraries with Internet access and they were a success. One of these libraries in Hasbaya totalled 16 000 visits in 2005! Today, there is a total of twenty such centres.
But isn’t this somewhat insufficient for all of Lebanon?
Of course and this is why we are keeping up the good work. We have developed a system of “partnership” with public libraries. Municipalities that are interested in setting up a library must provide the venue and we supply everything else: books, computers, training for the staff, activities. About thirty such libraries have been established all over Lebanon. During the Reading Week that took place last April, 260 events were staged in these libraries. Not a week goes by without one municipality at least calling to express an interest in opening a library. Some say that it is just to keep up with other municipalities but, frankly, does it matter? What matters is that villagers may have access to a place of culture near their home. Culture contributes to erasing borders between the various communities.
In one of these libraries, in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut, we organized a short-story contest. I attended the closing ceremony and there you could see Lebanese from all denominations who had come together around books and who shared the same passion for reading. The book did away with sectarian barriers.
What about the National Library?
We hope to inaugurate it in three years. Until 1975, Lebanon had its National Library, which was founded in 1935 and stood across the street from Parliament. During the war it was damaged by fire, looted and destroyed. For twenty years no one envisioned its reconstruction then, at the end of the 90’s, many came up with a project to bring it back to life. Four year ago, a national foundation was set up to raise funds to this end. Thanks to financial support from the European Union we were able to mend the ancient books that were retrieved, bind torn books, carry out an inventory and set up a system for the administrative registration (dépôt legal) of books whereby publishers must deposit at the National Library two copies of any new publication. When I arrived at the Ministry, the financial aid of the European Union had been used up but Qatar granted us US$25 million to pursue the project.
How will this amount be used?
There are three targets we aim to realize over the next three year. First, we must rehabilitate the building that was selected to house the Library, near the Central Bank. It was built in 1907 to be a technical school under the Ottomans. It was later taken over by the School of Law of the Lebanese University. Now that the School of Law has moved to the new LU campus, the building is available. However, it has no more than 8000 square meters and we need 20,000. We are planning to build the remaining 12,000 sq. m. on the grounds. Then we need to buy equipment and to train about forty persons who are already engaged in the project so that they may manage the Library. France, Canada and Belgium have already offered us their know-how in this matter.
How many books will there be in the National Library?
One million, predominantly Lebanese publications. We are trying to recover books that were lost, stolen, hidden. We are also encouraging certain people to donate or bequeath their private collections, some of which contain treasures. The Library will also receive photographs and recordings. Its vocation is to be the intellectual and cultural memory of the country. It will be open to all the Lebanese.
Do you consider its reopening as the cultural renaissance of Lebanon?
Yes. One cannot deny that Lebanon has lost some of its lustre as the cultural centre of the Middle East. But it could recover its role provided a number of major projects are undertaken, not only the National Library but also a museum, an opera house. Many projects are currently under study, namely a major cultural centre which is to benefit from a $20 m grant from the Sultanate of Oman, a historical museum for the city of Beirut, a concert hall. We are also making plans for a museum of modern art. Such projects are necessary for Lebanon to resume its cultural role and dimension in the region.
Isn’t it unusual for Gulf countries finance such cultural and artistic projects in Lebanon?
One tends to consider that people from the Gulf countries are only interested in Lebanon because it is pleasant and fun. This is only partly true. I am sure many of them see Lebanon as the dynamic leader of cultural renaissance in the Arab world.
