Minister of Culture Loubana Mouchaweh…Spreading an enlightened, tolerant culture that rejects fanaticism is our goal.

Revitalizing cultural awareness and spreading  conscious thought is the preoccupation that the Minister of Culture Loubana Mouchaweh is  seeking, which appeared in the past two weeks during her visit to Aleppo and Lattakia.

Syria Times e-newspaper  had a meeting with the Minister Mouchaweh on the sidelines of the ceremony honoring the winners of the National Piano Competition in its first session during a concert hosted by Dar Al-Assad for Culture in Lattakia under the generous patronage of the Ministry of Culture.

On the importance of this competition, Dr. Mouchaweh indicated that the competition stimulates self-confidence in children and develops in them a confident personality capable of facing challenges, and this audience today is the biggest challenge facing them.

“We at the Ministry of Culture support talents and the cultural and artistic development, as the rehabilitation process starts from an early age.This is encouraged through music institutes that are spread in the governorates  and  the Higher Institutes of Music, Theater and Cinema,” the minister affirmed.

In response to a question about the strategies adopted by the ministry to combat the extremist ideology that was broadcast throughout the crisis period, the minister said:  “The ministry has adopted many strategies to fight extremist ideas, starting with printing books, research and articles that expose the global conspiracy that was hatched against Syria since its inception.

“Syria’s Wars” is among the most important books translated by the ministry, that deals with the disinformation and distortion campaigns that are being waged by a massively powerful and widespread media machine that seeks with all its energies to conceal the international terrorist aggression that Syria was and is still the victim of”, the minister added.

Dr. Loubana went on to say, “Among the most important plans that we have worked to accomplish in this context is to hold intellectual lectures and seminars across all networks of cultural centers. The films produced by the General Film Organization, in addition to the plays written and shown to children, teenagers and adults in the theaters of the Ministry of Culture were among the Ministry’s set strategies.

Finally, and most importantly, spreading an open enlightening culture that rejects narrow intellectual monism and that only leads to intolerance”.

With regard to areas of cooperation between the Ministries of Culture and Education as the basis on which we build community awareness, the minister explained, “The ministry cannot work alone. It needs the support of all concerned parties, the most important of which are the Ministries of Information and Education. We have signed an agreement with the Ministry of Education and another agreement with the Ministry of Information, as we broadcast through a media outlet, which is the Syrian educational channel, various cultural programs, including plays, concerts and cinematic films for everyone to see while they are in their homes”.

” The media is a very powerful weapon, and I hope, and it is what the Ministry of Information is seeking for,   to be a powerful weapon to fight takfirist ideology and thus to support the Ministry of Culture in the process of human building”, the minister concluded

Maestro Mohamed Farhat, director of the competition, pointed out the importance of this competition, which was launched during a period when the Syrian people are suffering from an unjust blockade at all levels. “It is considered a break of the cultural blockade through the presence of a jury from outside Syria to arbitrate and choose the winners in the competition, which gave it a global character, Farhat indicated.

It is worth noting that more than 50 students had applied to the competition, nine of them were selected to win the competition, where they received honorary shields and special prizes.

During the ceremony, international musical compositions were played by the winners on the piano, in addition to musical compositions presented by the “Do Re Me Fa” team, students of the Mahmoud El-Ajan Institute, on the piano and violin.

Interviewed by: Amal Farhat