Address by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali
on National Culture Day
(Carthage, June 28, 2008)
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to meet with you again to celebrate, as is our custom every year, National Culture Day, and to pay tribute to the community of intellectuals, artists and men of letters. This is indeed an opportunity to highlight the crucial importance we attach to their role in preserving our identity, anchoring the foundations of our personality, enriching the process of development and modernization in our country, and strengthening the bonds of communication and dialogue with all cultures of the world.
I take this occasion to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Mohamed Salmawy, General Secretary of the Arab Writers' Union, to Dr. Ratiba Al-Hafni, President of the Arab Academy of Music, and to Dr. Abdullah Al-Dosary, Director General of the Arab-African Cultural Institute, for awarding me the Shields of their institutions. I highly appreciate their noble initiatives and kind words toward Tunisia and its people, and wish them a pleasant stay in our country. I also would like to congratulate all those who will receive, in a moment, awards and decorations, hoping these distinctions will prompt all intellectuals for more efforts and creativity, and for further innovation and excellence.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We have founded our civilizational project upon a comprehensive development system whose political, economic and social dimensions are complementary and interdependent, and in which culture holds a high status and assumes an important role in shaping the collective awareness of Tunisian citizens, so that they remain faithful to their people and country, committed to their identity and authenticity, open on their environment, and in tune with their time.
We have granted the sector of culture and heritage preservation a special attention, and offered it all due care and encouragement. We have increased gradually the budget allocated to this sector so that it reaches, in 2009, 1.25% of the State budget. We have also accomplished numerous achievements at the quantitative and qualitative levels, which have helped us strengthen the sector's reference institutions, and bring the cultural product closer to citizens.
At a time when the construction works of the Culture City are advancing at a sustained pace, to make of this City a new beacon of civilization in Tunisia, we have pursued the consolidation of the cultural infrastructure in all regions. We have also provided the networks of culture centers, public libraries, dramatic arts centers and music schools with further material and human resources, in order to promote their performance and positive interaction with their environment.
With a view to consecrating the right to produce, benefit from, and enjoy cultural material, we have guaranteed freedom of opinion, expression and participation for all, while abolishing all forms of administrative censorship over books and publications; the aim being to offer Tunisian creative people best conditions for production and innovation, as a spontaneous act based on their personal convictions, and without any form of orientation or instrumentalization.
We have also promoted legislation concerning the protection of copyrights in all fields of literature, thought and arts. In this context, we have submitted to the Constitutional Council a draft amendment of the code of literary and artistic property, aimed at expanding the scope of protection so that it encompasses the rights of composers and performers, owners of audio recordings, radio and TV programs, and authors of digital contents and producers of their supports. This in addition to guaranteeing the protection of industrial and commercial ownership.
On the other hand, we are constantly endeavoring to encourage investment in cultural production, particularly in specialties with promising industrial and export potential, such as publication, music, movie-making, theater, and the audiovisual sector in general.
Though investment in the cultural field has, in recent years, known a positive evolution in terms of creation of enterprises and diversification and marketing of cultural products, the fact remains that additional efforts are still needed, on the part of the private sector, to provide the funding necessary for further enhancing cultural industries and innovative artistic occupations, and for transforming cultural activity into a profitable economic base, especially that we have established a coherent system of legal texts and decisions that encourage investment in all sectors, and meet the fierce competition the market economy has imposed in the field of cultural production.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In all the choices and decisions we have made, we have endeavored to establish a climate of dialogue and consultation with all civil society components in our country. For we consider culture a decisive tool sustaining development efforts in our country, and materializing our people's awareness and aspiration for further progress.
In line with this orientation, we have recently established the Higher Council for Culture, to serve as a new space for dialogue among the administration, intellectuals, representatives of political parties and civil society organizations, on all issues pertaining to our cultural life. This will also enrich the enlarged national consultations we have given instructions to hold concerning the situation of various cultural sectors, whose results will be taken into consideration in prospecting the future and adapting to changes and developments occurring on the world scene.
While expressing my full satisfaction with the interest, participation, frankness and copious ideas and suggestions that characterized last year's consultation concerning theater, I would like to thank all who contributed to organizing this consultation and defining its themes. In this context, I exhort the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation to make best use of the recommendations emanating from this consultation, and to establish a practical plan to materialize them in the nearest future and according to the available means.
In the same vein, we give instructions for preparing a program for the celebration of the centennial of Tunisian theater in 2009, which will offer the opportunity to highlight our country's deep-rooted traditions in this noble art, make known the contributions of its pioneers and their prominent works, and develop our theatrical experiences which start to take an advanced position at the regional and international levels.
In confirmation of the attention we grant to promoting modern cultural activities, with a view to ensuring further innovation and diversification, and achieving the sought contribution, we exhort the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation to take the necessary measures for the promotion of opera arts as a promising field for the development of talents, and to establish a plan for the training of technical skills in the field of scenography which has now become a fundamental element of theatrical arts and shows.
As for the book sector, it remains, in our view, one of the most important sources of culture and knowledge, despite the intense competition of modern technological means. We, therefore, give instructions for the organization of an enlarged national consultation concerning books and reading in our country, in order to collect the views and suggestions of all the concerned parties for promoting the making and marketing of books, and for further prompting Tunisians, from all ages and levels, to purchase books and engage in reading, especially that in advanced societies, reading is still one of the powerful tools for the acquisition, production and dissemination of knowledge.
In this regard, we recommend to intensify the use of ICTs and the various multimedia and softwares in gradually converting traditional libraries into digital libraries that facilitate reading and research in all types of knowledge.
Next year, our country will celebrate the proclamation of Kairouan as a Capital of Islamic Culture. We have given instructions so that all the necessary measures be taken to ensure the success of this event, in cooperation with all the specialized Tunisian institutions, structures and competences. The aim is to make sure this celebration be up to the prestige of Kairouan and to its glorious history and remarkable contributions to the Arab-Islamic civilization. On the other hand, we give instructions for establishing a special program for the celebration of the centennial of the birth of Tunisia's great poet Aboul Kacem Chebbi .
Tunisia, on whose soil so many shining civilizations have succeeded one another over more than thirty centuries, is one of the countries having the richest and most diverse material and spiritual civilizational heritage which we are keen on protecting and reviving, so that it serves development.
On this occasion, we exhort the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Preservation, as well as the public and local collectivities and all the concerned parties, to provide further care to the typical architectural character of old neighborhoods and traditional villages, in order to preserve their existence, specificity and aesthetic nature, and enhance their role in promoting cultural tourism.
We also give instructions for accelerating the ongoing works to enlarge the Bardo National Museum and to bring it up to international standards, in a way that reflects the value of this monument and confirms its position as one of the oldest and most important archeological museums in the world.
Heritage Month has become in our country an annual tradition which helps anchor our people's identity and make known its historical and cultural assets, and which offers us the opportunity to join the international community in celebrating the International Museum Day on May 18th of each year. In line of this tradition, we give instructions for opening, on May 18 of each year, Tunisian museums for the public, free of charge, all day long, in order to prompt citizens to visit our country's museums, take cognizance of their historical, cultural and civilizational heritage, and thus take pride in the meanings of glory, wealth and distinction they carry.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are moving ahead in the process of construction and development in all fields of action and activity, endeavoring to further promote culture and the people involved in it.
We are convinced that our intellectuals are aware of the nature of the current stage, which is marked by rapid changes and huge challenges, and are keen on persevering in accomplishing their noble mission toward their society and their country, with strong vigilance and constant creativity, liberating and enlightening minds, while seeking to reconcile knowledge and action, constant values and changing realties, and commitment to the causes of the country and openness on other peoples, cultures and civilizations.
Thank you for your attention.
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