euro|topics - Paris Book Fair fraught with political tension

21/11/2008

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Main focus of Friday, March 14, 2008

Paris Book Fair fraught with political tension

The Paris Book Fair opens amid controversy this Friday, March 14th. Numerous Arab countries have called for a boycott of this annual literary event which has named Israel guest of honour this year.

Die Welt - Germany

Arab publishing houses, publishers and authors are acting against their "own best interests" with their boycott, German literary critic Tilman Krause points out. "If there's a country in Europe where there's continuous interest in Arab literature in general and North African literature in particular, then it's naturally France. To discontinue their official activities there and instead focus on making vitriolic attacks against the one stable democratic state in the Middle East, which is also home to one of the world's most lively literary landscapes is, to use Talleyrand's words, more than a crime; it's a mistake." (13/03/2008)

Le Temps - Switzerland

"During violent periods, no space is left uninvaded by politics, its priorities, its moral values, its demands. Acts and gestures are over-symbolised and nobody appears able escape the implacable logic of political interpretation", explains Joëlle Kuntz. "The Paris Book Fair is experiencing a miniature, farcical version of what Middle Eastern citizens alas endure every day: there is no question of art, literature or constructive thinking, but only of 'positions', of 'legitimacy' and of 'justifications'. Writers there are not artists, but 'dissidents' or 'collaborators'. ... Boycotting is the political arm of the weak who are crushed by politics and only place their hope in the radicalism of a refusal. They have lost faith in a solution for peace. They have stopped looking for one." (14/03/2008)

Politis - France

Christophe Kantcheff denounces "the selective criteria applied to the 39 writers invited, the use of Hebrew, which bypasses the diversity of Israeli literature, and in particular that which is written in Arab, the country's second official language. ... It is not surprising that most of the Arab states (Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia...) as well as Iran and the Palestinian Writers' Union are calling for a boycott. Some Arab writers will however be attending the book fair independently. ... To go or not to go? The debate is dividing Israeli writers and intellectuals. ... [Those who will be present] consider that their voices will be more efficient in the book fair than outside. This is the real dividing line that separates defenders of the boycott and those who will go to the book fair with a critical distance. Between questions of principle and the desire to be tactful, arguments from both sides are understandable. At the end of the day the choice is a question of conscience for each individual." (13/03/2008)

La Repubblica - Italy

Bernardo Valli is against the boycott of the Paris Book Fair. He hopes there will be no provocation at the book fair and that it will serve as an example this May for the Turin Book Fair, which has also invited Israel as guest of honour. "To boycott a cultural event such as the Book Fair is silly. Worse still, it is idiotic. It is basically an attempt to exercise censorship. It is even more serious when the boycott risks aggravating bloody divisions provoked by the Israel-Palestine conflict. In this case cultural activity should play a dissuasive role, in order to bring back reason and dialogue to the parties embroiled in hateful confrontation ... . To condemn a boycott does not mean withholding criticism of how the event has been organised and carried out. The diplomats who have had to deal with it have not shown much delicacy." (13/03/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, March 14, 2008

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