Statement: Culture is the first line of defense against -terrorism and sectarianism- No to the closure of the Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Palace. Egypt.

•We, the undersigned, declare our absolute solidarity with the Literature Club at the Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Palace against the closure, which was decided last April. The Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Palace is one of the oldest and most active cultural houses in Egypt, located within the Middle Delta Cultural Region of Gharbia Governorate. It is a site that represents a part of the cultural memory of this industrial city, distinguished by its history of oil-manufacturing companies dating back to the early twentieth century, parallel to Alexandria. The Cultural Palace is honored by its continuous contributions and brilliance over the past half century, making it one of the city s most influential landmarks in spreading culture and building awareness in the fields of thought, art, and literature.
The palace is a masterpiece, its location is equivalent to a tributary of the lifeline, as it overlooks the “Great Nile of Egypt” and its most important cultural and artistic activities are held on its banks, and it contains all the activities of the Cultural Palaces Authority (an Arabic music band, a theater group, and most importantly, it has the most famous literary clubs, as among its poets came out a winner of the State Encouragement Award. The Literature Club in this palace was “the first Literature Club program” hosted by the first channel in the eighties, where the broadcaster Gamal Al-Shaer hosted a number of the site’s writers for two full episodes in his program (Poetry and Poets).
This Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Palace witnessed the peak of its brilliance and fame and was one of the most important cultural sites in terms of activity and vitality. It is sufficient to mention that one of the annual literary festivals was covered in two consecutive issues (full page) of the most important Egyptian cultural magazine, “Cairo” magazine, whose board of -dir-ectors was headed by Dr. Samir Sarhan for the month of February 1986, which did not happen to any other cultural festival. The festival was attended by some critics such as Dr. Yosry El-Azab, Dr. Salah Abdel Hafez, writer Mohamed El-Sayed Eid, Khairat Abdel Moneim and others. It was also mentioned that poets from 11 cities, and 14 critics and poets from different cities of Egypt were present, in addition to writers from Gharbia Governorate.
•Closing Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Palace is a demolition of an important part of Kafr El-Zayat’s history, and a drying up of its most important cultural sources, in addition to it being the execution of talents. For example, within the walls of this palace, the talent of the child (Soha) was discovered, and she launched from Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Palace to stardom in the Egyptian Opera and Television, and was embraced by Dr. Ratiba El-Hafni, may God have mercy on her.
•The sister Kafr El-Zayat Cultural Center was the owner of “the first regulation organizing the work of writers and the management of the site in the early eighties,” which was referred to in developing the central regulation organizing the work of all the palaces and cultural centers in Egypt! He brought in most of Egypt s writers and artists, including, but not-limit-ed to:
Gamal El-Ghitani, Youssef El-Qaid, Dr. Jaber Asfour, Saeed El-Kafrawy, Saleh Morsi, Abdel Hamid Abdel Ghaffar, Mahfouz Abdel Rahman, Osama Anwar Okasha, Sayed Abdel Karim, Ibrahim Abdel Majeed, Hazin Omar, Samir El-Taer, Helmy Salem, Gamal El-Qassas, Maged Youssef, Ahmed Antar Mustafa, Ahmed Sweilem, Hassan Talab, Abdel Moneim Kamel, Iman Marsal, Masoud Shoman, Miral El-Tahawy, Mai El-Telmisany, Hosni Hassan, Samir Darwish, Afef El-Sayed, Dr. Hassan Hanafi, Dr. Youssef Abdullah, Rasha El-Fawal, Dima Mahmoud, Amina Abdullah, Azza Riad, Salwa Mohsen, Hussein Abdel Rahim, and other great Egyptian writers to avoid oversight and oblivion.
Its poets and writers have received numerous Egyptian and Arab awards, including the State Encouragement Award, the General Authority for Central Cultural Palaces Award, the Suad Al-Sabah Award, the Sharjah Award, the Ihsan Abdel Quddous Award, the Sawiris Award, and other local and Arab awards. The site s poets have been honored by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces and Egyptian universities. I wonder how the most prestigious cultural centers could be closed and excluded from the river of creativity?! Despite the pioneering and effective role this site plays, which is well known to all Egyptian writers, those who committed this act are not held accountable, and no one is held accountable, no matter how valuable.
•Discussions about implementing Law No. 10 of 2022 to vacate units rented to legal entities should not become a pretext for closing cultural centers without providing sustainable and effective alternatives. Reversing mistakes is a courageous and cultural imperative that should prevail in our society. Are we required to pay the price for the failure of old cultural policies by further impoverishing the cultural scene?.
Can extremist ideology, the entrenched Salafist legacy, and the populism of social media truly be confronted with mobile book trucks and a "digital orchestra"? Culture is not-limit-ed to a product, but rather a living social space where human relationships are built and collective consciousness is reshaped. Cultural caravans, talent discovery apps, and artwork auctions are an alternative
reflecting a lack of the spirit of a comprehensive national cultural project. Culture is not a "service" performed through a "digital application´-or-a movie ticket," but rather a project to build the human being in depth, to usher in a new era of enlightenment and reconciliation with the societal self.
Cultural caravans, talent-spotting apps, and art auctions
these alternatives reflect a lack of the spirit of a comprehensive national cultural project. Culture is not a "service" provided through a digital app´-or-a movie ticket, but rather a project to build the human being in depth, ushering in a new era of enlightenment and reconciliation with the national self.
Where are the plans to empower local theater in villages?-Where are the awareness programs that confront hate speech in the name of religion?
Where are the projects to "-restore- popular culture" and revive national symbols from the oblivion of schools and television?
Where are the cultural policies that integrate education media, and religion?
We find none of this. We sense a duality of visions.
The Ministry of Culture proclaims its pioneering role in enlightenment and building youth who bear an impenetrable Egyptian identity, yet at the same time we witness the empowerment of figures with fundamentalist ideologies within the Ministry of Culture!.
Culture is the first line of defense against terrorism and sectarianism.
In a society burdened by polarization and the challenges of symbolic and armed violence, culture cannot be marginalized by government policies.
Terrorism is not born solely from weapons, but also from minds devoid of critical awareness and from the cognitive voids filled by the sermons of preachers of darkness, no different from a platform like TikTok.
Our proposal: •
Recycle sites instead of closing them: Small centers can be used as branches of larger centers, organizing local workshops, small performances, and light administrative headquarters to manage cultural caravans in neighborhoods.
•Partnerships with civil society: Civil society organizations, universities, and independent initiatives should be allowed to temporarily manage some cultural sites, under agreements that ensure continuity, not privatization.
•A National Program for Cultural Volunteers: Recruitin thousands of young people into a national project to revitalize cultural palaces, either for a nominal fee´-or-as a volunteer, through training in arts, research, and community work..
•Participatory Community Financing: Launching an initiative that allows residents and local councils to participate in financing the maintenance and development of cultural palaces within their jurisdiction, making them truly community property.
•Integrating culture into media, religious, and educational discourse: Cultural palaces are useless without parallel efforts in educational curricula, Friday sermons, and public television programs
"Culture is the first line of defense against terrorism and sectarianism" in the current phase, with its challenges targeting Egyptian identity and humanity.
The solution "is not to close cultural centers," but to open their doors more openly than ever before.
Culture is the last bastion against the tyranny of ignorance, violence, and discrimination. It is the only field capable of inspiring hope in the consciousness of young people and nurturing people s dreams of a more just and dignified life.
Culture must not be a victim of austerity, nor a hostage to a sterile bureaucratic legacy, but rather a matter of life.
We must either -restore- its prestige as a comprehensive national project,´-or-prepare for a society without memory, without imagination, and without immunity against chaos.
We will never forget the stance of the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser during a cabinet meeting when a minister objected to the allocation of funds for a cultural project and requested that it be allocated to an irrigation project. Abdel Nasser refused and -dir-ected the funding to culture, teaching everyone that culture is the foundation upon which the nation is built. If we do not care for it, the nation is threatened and may even collapse. We declare our full solidarity with the writers and poets of Kafr El-Zayat and the writers and poets of 200 cultural sites threatened with closure across Egypt s governorates and regions.
(Please sign and participate, including all those concerned with literature, culture, freedom of expression, and presence in cultural palaces and houses, public figures, members of parliament and local councils, Egyptian and Arab writers and authors, and fellow journalists. We need your support in publishing and shedding light on this crisis).
- Cairo, May 20, 2028
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