Novelist May Telmissany on Keeping Egypt Alive

My speakers are unfortunately not working (I just see Dr. Telmissany moving her mouth), but, elhamdullah, Ahram Online has posted what is probably an abbreviated transcript of the talk.

When so many are putting whole revolutions on the backs of poets and writers, Telmissany says:

There’s so much burden laid on the shoulders of the intellectual community. But there are many other elite communities – for example businessmen – and they’re much stronger and capable, yet we see them doing nothing. The intellectual community is constantly being challenged and called upon to respond, which is weakening its capacity to do much.

She also makes a good point about culture’s importance to Egypt’s sense of importance and continuity:

Other than culture, there was nothing to maintain the fame of Egypt. We would have simply gone to the gutter and been shamed and forgotten. It is thanks to culture and the intellectuals that we reached this far, and so the disregard for culture or attempts to reduce its role are simply unimaginable.