I N F O R M AT I O N A N D C U LT U R E
M E D I A A N D I N F O R M AT I O N
The windows are open for the free flow of information, and those who would wish to close them again are doomed to fail.
(Minister of Information and Culture, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Arab Media Forum)
THEUAE WAS QUICK TO RECOGNISE THE NECESSITYof engaging with the twenty-first century world in which information and entertainment is disseminated so swiftly and so effectively via the Internet, as well as through radio and television satellite services, that the control of information is no longer either feasible or desirable. As a result, the country is focused on the Information Age both from the point of view of access for its own citizens, as well as capitalising on its location to develop structures that will service not just the region but the rest of the world. This innovative and dynamic approach has been realised through media organisations such as Emirates Media Inc. (EMI), Dubai Press Club, Dubai Technology, E-Commerce and Media Free Zone (TECOM), incorporating Dubai Media City (DMC), Dubai Internet City (DIC) and Knowledge Village (KV), Emirates Internet and Multimedia (EIM) and Emirates E-Vision.
EMIRATES MEDIA INCORPORATED (EMI)
EMI was set up under Federal Law No. 5 for 1999 as the legal successor to the Emirates Broadcasting Corporation and the Al Ittihad for Press, Publishing and Distribution. As the largest and most diversified media corporation, not only in the UAE but throughout the Arab world, it has interests in all branches of media – television, radio, print, publishing and distribution, and the Internet.
While the government has relinquished formal control over EMI, ownership is still officially vested in the government and the corporation remains partially dependent on government funding. Nevertheless, EMI now enjoys editorial and administrative independence and functions very much as a private company. In 2002, EMI was restructured into eight independent business units to allow for independent growth in order to maximise productivity.
Revenues from its extensive audio-visual interests represent 35 to 40 per cent of Emirates Media’s income. The rest come from the print media. A symposium
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on the future of journalism in the age of multi-media was held in January 2003 to mark issue number 10,000 of Al Ittihadnewspaper, one of EMI’s publications first published in 1969. The magazines Zahrat Al Khaleejand Majid are its other publications. EMI’s radio division includes Abu Dhabi Radio and Holy Quran Radio, Emirates FM, the Sound of Music, Urdu Service Station and Emirates FM English stations, Radio One and Two. In 2003, Abu Dhabi Television – one of EMI’s television stations producing nearly 90 per cent of its own broadcasts – received worldwide exposure during the Iraq crisis, feeding crucial footage on the war to international networks from their bureau in the centre of Baghdad, where three crews provided 24-hour coverage for the duration. Already covering the Middle East, Europe, and North America, ADTV is scheduled to reach South America and Australia in the near future. Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, a pay channel carried on the Showtime platform, has established itself since its launch in 1996 as a leading channel throughout the Arab world, with exclusive rights to the Italian League. Emirates Channel, available through terrestrial and satellite transmission, is aimed at a UAE and Gulf audience, concentrating on cultural issues, issues of identity and heritage, as well as political issues.
Following an agreement between EMI and BBC Arabic, the BBC is now broadcasting on two FM stations in the UAE, one based in Abu Dhabi, the other in Dubai (reaching Sharjah, Ajman and Umm al-Qaiwain). BBC Arabic broadcasts news and current affairs programmes to the region, as well as several interactive discussion programmes that enable listeners and users of www.bbcarabic.com to take part in the discussions. It also broadcasts throughout the Arab world on short wave and medium wave frequencies.
DUBAI PRESS CLUB
Dubai Press Club (DPC) was launched in 1999 to provide a forum for discussion of media issues in the Arab world with the objective of promoting communication and liaison with the international press. DPC has formed an International Association of Press Clubs with 20 other press clubs from around the world and, under the capable management of a young UAE woman, Mona Al Marri. DPC was recently selected by the International Federation for Press Clubs as a key regional centre. In 2003, DPC organised the Arab Media Summit and Arab Journalism Awards. ARAB MEDIA SUMMIT
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was guest of honour at the 2003 Arab Media Summit (first launched in 2001 under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum), the theme of which was ‘War and the Media’. World interest in the summit, hosted by Dubai Press Club and sponsored by BBC World,
Al Hayat Newspaper, Abu Dhabi TV, Khaleej Times, Emirates airline, Dubai Media City
and Al KhaleejNewspaper, was huge. More than 500 regionally and internationally renowned media experts converged on the summit to discuss different aspects of media coverage: the differing perspectives of Western and Arab media; objectivity and perceived media bias; the embedding of journalists during the Iraq War; the expectations of the public; and press freedom. Keynote speakers included Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Information and Culture and Chairman of Emirates Media Incorporated; Chancellor Schroeder; and Chris Cramer, the managing director of CNN International. Sheikh Abdullah criticised the Arab media for failing to expose Saddam Hussein’s iniquities before the war and spoke of the increasing tendency of Arab satellite channels to tell people what they want to hear at the expense of objectivity and balance. Other important voices included Tim Sebastian, presenter of Hard Talkon BBC World, and prize winning war correspondent Peter Arnett, a former high-profile CNN correspondent. Both of these speakers referred to the fact that Arabic satellite channels like Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV and newspapers such as Gulf Newshad provided the public with more news than had the Western media during the Iraq War, a comment reinforced by Yousef Ibrahim, former correspondent of the New York Times, whose delight in the fact that the Arab media had become essential listening for the White House was evident. Clive Myrie, the BBC correspondent, highlighted the danger of seeing the Western media as a ‘single monolith’ of similar views, all biased against Arabs, while Egyptian TV reporter Hamdi Qandeel felt that journalists are not treated properly and fairly during wartime, something which was particularly evident during the Iraq War. Robert Menard of Reporters Sans Frontièresquestioned the reality of press freedom in the Arab world, claiming that about 80 per cent of the Arab press is monitored. By contrast, Azmi Bishara, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, accused Western media of deliberately standardising the views of the public and of being more dangerous because an illusion of choice is given. It was a summit in which all the participants were passionate in their commitment to journalism, to objectivity and to the ability of the press to do its job ethically and without hindrance – from governments, from pressure groups, or from public bias.
During the summit, journalists and media personalities attended a workshop entitled ‘The Reality of the Arab Women in the Media Field and their challenges’, led by Saudi journalist Dr Al Mana, to discuss the obstacles faced by women attempting to practice their profession – traditional prejudices both at home and in the workplace, laws and regulations that hamper careers, physical and emotional safety. ARAB JOURNALISM AWARDS
The 2003 Arab Journalism Awards, the Arab world’s most prestigious media honours, were presented by the Dubai Press Club under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed
bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The Awards, now in their third year, honour those working in 12 different categories of journalism, but the greatest honour is reserved for Media Personality of the Year. In a moving ceremony, the wife and two-year old daughter of Al Jazeera TV correspondent, Taryam Omran, collected the Media Personality of the Year Award on his behalf. The journalist died when US planes attacked the Baghdad offices of Al Jazeera during the recent Iraq War.
DUBAI INTERNET CITY AND DUBAI MEDIA CITY
DMC and DIC are part of the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone, a tax-free commercial cluster set up by the Dubai government to support the development of knowledge-based industries in the UAE. There are substantial business incentives for companies choosing to operate within the zone (see section on Business Environment in Economic Development).
Dubai Internet City is the Middle East’s biggest IT infrastructure built inside a free trade zone. The more than 500 international companies located at DIC represent a formidable community of over 5500 knowledge workers spanning all facets of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and offering high quality business interaction and networking opportunities that can be utilised for enhanced problem solving and knowledge sharing by the community.
While the presence of Microsoft, Oracle, HP, IBM, Compaq, Dell, Siemens, Canon, Logica, Sony Ericsson and Cisco, to name just a few, is an indication of the importance of DIC as a centre of excellence in the world of ICT, since its inauguration in January 2001 Dubai Media City has quickly become an international hub for all media-based operations. It is now a thriving media community of over 660 companies and 5000 knowledge workers that include more than 200 freelance media professionals – and its Talent Directory is fast becoming the indispensable reference tool for businesses seeking to utilise DMC’s media talent pool.
The advertising and marketing sector is the fastest growing (28 per cent growth rate), followed by publishing (22 per cent) and media production (15 per cent), while television and broadcasting companies have a major presence. Key global companies in DMC include Reuters, CNN, CNBC, MBC, Sony, Bertelsmann, BMG, the Associated Press and McGraw Hill. CNN has launched its Arabic news website and regional news bureau at DMC. Pan-Arabic broadcaster MBC has not only relocated its international headquarters from London to DMC, but has launched an Arabic news channel, Al Arabiya (backed to the tune of Dh1.1 billion over a five-year period by business interests in Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia), which is expected to compete with Al Jazeera and the Arab News Network (ANN). CNBC Arabiya, the first regional Arabic-language news channel in the Middle East presenting in-depth economic and business coverage, launched operations from its new studio at DMC in the summer of 2003. Other significant regional companies
expected to play a pivotal role in boosting private sector spending in the fields of education and research. Already KV has attracted some major US institutions including Indiana-based Purdue University, offering its top-ranked postgraduate engineering programmes through its affiliate office, the Gateway Institute and the University of Connecticut, targeting professionals with its Executive Programme. eLearning is central to the educational plans of KV as part of its strategy to provide user targeted learning opportunities for lifelong education – crucial to survival in the knowledge-based economy.
WORLD SUMMIT AWARD
DIC, DMC and Knowledge Village entered into a strategic partnership with the World Summit Award (WSA), an initiative of UN member states aimed at showcasing high quality digital content and innovative new-media applications from around the world. In October 2003, the Zayed University Centre for Business Excellence (CBEX) in DMC hosted the first of five phases of the Award: a five-day Grand Jury Meeting to select examples of the best content and applications from a selection of over 800 of the world’s best products in e-content and creativity from 136 participating countries. The Grand Jury consisted of eminent experts in multimedia and ICT from each of the following contest regions: Africa, Asia, Australia, North and Latin America, the Arab Region as well as Europe. Following a series of showcase events and roadshows throughout 2004, a worldwide contest for e-content and creativity will take place. The winners of this contest will be honoured at a World Summit Gala and Content Village to be held in Tunis in 2005.
INTERNET
The UAE continues to lead the GCC in terms of Internet penetration, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Figures show that 36.7 per cent of the population have access to the Internet, an increase of 8.7 per cent over the 2001 figures. The 2002 survey, which covered the GCC, Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and the UK, found that while the number of actual subscribers in the UAE is 300,000, the number of users stands at 1,117,600 – the high penetration rate being due to the country having the highest number of Internet users to PCs among any of the regions, at 2.6 users to every PC. The country’s main task now is to increase PC penetration among the population (currently 13.6 per cent). A study conducted by Dubai-based Madar Research Group based on a user-profile survey released by Emirates Internet and Multimedia (EIM) predicted that Broadband Internet users in the UAE would grow by 53 per cent in 2003 – admittedly from a relatively low base. Nevertheless, the substantial rise indicates that the intensive drive towards IT literacy and the creation of a regional IT hub is paying dividends. EIM figures for 2002 show most Internet users in the UAE to be both young include Lowe & Partners Middle East North Africa (the main advertising arm of
the Lowe Group, ranked fourth among worldwide agency groups), Saudi Research & Publishing Companies (second largest publishers in the world after Time-Warner), Asianet Global, Taj Television Ltd (TEN Sports), Middle East Television (MET), the first Indian satellite channel to broadcast from DMC and Al Majd Satellite Broadcasting. Star Group, Asia’s foremost media company, is the latest broadcasting giant to enter DMC, while Showtime, the leading digital satellite pay-TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, plans to establish its headquarters at DMC in early 2004. Currently, there are 23 broadcasters based in Dubai Media City. The locating of BMG International’s Middle East and North Africa operations at DMC heralds a new development for DMC. BMG Mena controls one of the largest music production libraries, which is used by audio-visual production companies and advertising agencies for content to feature in commercials and corporate presentations. Its presence in DMC signals DMC’s emergence as a serious regional force in the music industry.
ANNUAL MEDIA STUDENTS AWARDS
The Ibda’a Media Student Awards, organised by DMC, are designed to encourage young media talent from universities within and beyond the UAE. DMC attributed this year’s huge participation (1819 entries from 20 countries) to a massive promotional campaign conducted across a wide cross-section of media markets in the region. Entries were also received from outside the region, including the US, the UK, Belgium and Australia. The awards, in Animation, Journalism, Radio, TV, Film Production, Photography, Graphic Design and two new categories – Print and Television Advertising, will include, for some of the winners, internships with global media giants.
As part of its mission to attract outstanding graduates, the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone launched an Internship Programme for university students. The programme will offer internships with participating companies in the three free-zone entities – Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City and Knowledge Village, as well as other members of the free zone.
MEDIA ACADEMY
Knowledge Village (KV), officially opened in the autumn of 2003, is the final and indispensable element of the plan to make Dubai the regional hub of the ICT industry. It is to be, quite simply, a learning community dedicated to the development of the region’s knowledge workforce. Central to its role is the Media Academy – an institution within which will be gathered leading institutions offering flexible courses for students and professionals in a wide range of media disciplines. Development costs for the village were in the region of Dh300 million and it is
list among titles carrying UAE’s name. UAE Interact is actively managed on a daily basis and during 2003 the website received over 5 million distinct visitors (5,075,796) who created over 47 million hits (47,007,620) and over 9.5 million (9,511,170) page views. The site contains a substantial database of information that can be searched in a variety of ways. The major sections are as follows: News, Government, Travel Centre, Map Room, Arts Centre, Cultural Centre, The Past, Natural UAE, Educational Centre, Recreational Centre and Books and Shopping. Each of these sections offers comprehensive information sources. The news section, for example, provides a searchable database of over 10,000 news stories together with links to breaking news and information on current and forthcoming events and government websites. The website also presents an art gallery featuring works by UAE artists, a virtual museum, a travel centre packed with information for people visiting the UAE, a fully searchable database on UAE hotels, and a shopping centre with information on what to buy and where to buy it. An online bookshop featuring titles on the UAE that can be purchased via a secure server is another advantage of the website. Past Yearbooks are accessible online. An e-book section is also available, with free access to full texts from major publications on the UAE. The virtual museum displays the UAE’s finest artefacts in full 360 degree images that can be revolved on screen with the stroke of a mouse. It also boasts a unique ‘ask us’ feature, enabling site visitors to post questions to the web team and receive a reply, both posted on the site and emailed to the enquirer.
2003 UAE DVD
In 2003, the Ministry of Information and Culture released a state-of-the-art DVD that contains a large volume of information on the UAE, including the entire 2003 UAE Yearbookin English, French and Arabic and a full length version of the special high definition film Feast of Dates– recently awarded top prize as the best documentary at the UAE Film Festival – depicting the life of the date palm tree in the UAE and showing the central role that it has played in the country’s development.
THE EMIRATES NEWS AGENCY
The Emirates News Agency (WAM), which is managed by the Ministry of Information and Culture, transmits news and picture services by satellite, both locally and internationally, in Arabic and English. Its easily navigated website (www.wam.org.ae) also presents news online in both Arabic and English. The website received a significant revamp in September 2003. WAM has a staff of 180 employees within the UAE and 25 reporters widely dispersed outside the country, covering places as far afield as Cairo, Beirut, Washington DC, Islamabad, Sanaa and Brussels. It
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(average age 27) and highly educated (59 per cent were college graduates). The rise also indicates the efficiency of EIM in providing access to high-speed coverage. Already 95 per cent of the country is covered and EIM is developing a range of wireless technologies, from hotspots (Wi-Fi) to fixed wireless solutions, to complete coverage. Since December 2001, high-speed Al Shamil connections for domestic users have risen almost 150 per cent, from 8000 to over 19,500 in June 2003. The high-speed BusinessOne subscriptions for the SME market, meanwhile, have also rocketed by over 300 per cent from 900 in 2001 to over 4100 in late 2003. Overall, the UAE is a leader in the region in terms of high-speed Internet connectivity (an estimated 11.3 per cent of 1,175,000 Internet users by the end of 2003). EMIRATES INTERNET AND MULTIMEDIA
Access to the Internet is via Emirates Internet and Multimedia (EIM), the sole Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the country. EIM’s multilingual search engine Arabvista, created in 2000, and its bilingual portal Albahhar, launched a year later, are part of EIM’s commitment to expanding and improving services to its customers. Both its corporate site www.eim.ae and www.albahhar.com were revamped in September 2002. Although it has been suggested that the time has come to allow subscribers themselves to choose whether or not to avail of the proxy filtering system currently provided automatically by EIM, a survey conducted by EIM in 2002 found that 60 per cent of its then 14,000 domestic subscribers were in favour of EIM retaining the status of proxy server, indicating that its role in protecting users from offensive material is considered to be an acceptable form of censorship. Fifty-one per cent of customers specifically felt that the proxy server protected family members while surfing online. Business users and others who connect directly to the Internet by a dedicated line are unaffected by the filtering system.
A new departure for EIM is LearnOnline (www.LearnOnline.ae), a bi-lingual service offering over 800 courses in desktop computing, information technology and business and professional development, along with interactive libraries in both Arabic and English. Whilst EIM will host the community, Element K, a leading global e-learning provider serving Fortune 1000 companies, schools and universities, government organisations and individuals, will supply the content and the e-learning engines.
UAE INTERACT
The official website of the UAE Ministry of Information and Culture, UAE Interact (www.uaeinteract.com) was first launched in 1997 and is one of the longest established Internet sites providing news and information on the UAE. The website’s popularity is demonstrated by its number one position on the Google server’s
PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
The UAE operates a strict enforcement policy of its piracy and patent laws, seeing the protection of creativity as a necessity in itself and essential to attracting foreign investment. A member of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the UAE acceded to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1996, following the implementation of three intellectual property laws in 1993.
According to the eighth annual Business Software Alliance (BSA) Global Software Piracy Study, the Middle East and Africa region recorded the most significant reduction in piracy rates globally, dropping 31 points from 80 per cent in 1994 to 49 per cent in 2002. The UAE led the region, dropping by 50 points – from 86 to 36 per cent in the period surveyed. This compares with a reduction from 78 to 50 per cent in Saudi Arabia, 96 to 70 per cent in Oman, 92 to 76 per cent in Bahrain, 91 to 76 per cent in Qatar and a worldwide reduction from 49 to 39 per cent for commercial business software. The UAE’s record on protecting intellectual property rights has been praised by the Arab Anti-piracy Association and by BSA. UAE federal laws have made it mandatory for companies and end-users to use original software and to maintain evidence of the original software within the IT systems.
Copyright laws – their precise scope and their stringent enforcement – are of particular importance to those involved in any aspect of the media business, and the new Federal Author and Copyrights and Parallel Rights Law No. 7, issued in August 2002, gives copyright protection to authors and artists not only during their lifetime but also for 50 years (an increase from 25) after their death, making the UAE fully compliant with WIPO requirements. Variations exist in the case of joint copyright and community copyright. Works of foreign authors are protected as the law provides that works, performances, sound recordings and broadcasts of the expatriate community are protected subject to reciprocal treatment by the foreign state or subject to international conventions that the UAE has accepted. The new law lists the works of art entitled to protection as well as those falling beyond the scope of protection. It defines holders of parallel rights and public performers and stipulates under what circumstances the Court of First Instance may suspend the reproduction, show, display or performance of a work of art, or impound the original work of art together with any copies. The law covers photography (defining the rights of both photographer and person photographed), the misuse of software and their applications, as well as databases. Copyright violations in general attract fines and/or terms of imprisonment varying according to the severity or frequency of the infringement.
The new Patents Law No. 17 came into force in November 2002. It was issued in accordance with the international conventions and treaties to which the UAE is a signatory and, as a result, foreigners from countries having reciprocal agreements with the UAE will be treated as UAE nationals in terms of protecting their patents has cooperation and news exchange agreements with more than 20 Arab countries
and is a member of the Group of Gulf Cooperation Council News Agencies, the Federation of the Arab News Agencies (FANA), the Islamic News Agencies Union and the Pool of Non-Aligned News Agencies. Originally set up to cover topics of national interest, WAM has now broadened its remit to cover topical news events worldwide.
TV, RADIO AND NEWSPAPERS
The UAE has numerous indigenous satellite TV stations. Some focus on Arab culture and identity, others on business and sport (Ra’s al-Khaimah launched two satellite stations in 2003, one of which, Julfar Channel, will concentrate on education, transmitting lessons according to the UAE schools curriculum). It also has a number of terrestrial stations broadcasting in Arabic and English, including Abu Dhabi TV, Emirates Channel, Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, Dubai 33, Sharjah Channel 22 and Ajman Channel 4.
Emirates Cable TV and Multimedia (E-Vision), a subsidiary of Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (ETISALAT) and UAE’s only cable television network, offers viewers a total of 160 TV entertainment and interactive channels in approximately 14 languages. It also offers a pay-per-view service (pre-paid calling cards were introduced in 2003 to simplify the process further) and an interactive electronic programming guide (EPG).
E-Vision, launched in April 2000 with a target of just 20,000 homes, reached around 200,000 subscribers by late 2003. Up to that time, only certain parts of the UAE were able to access E-Vision via hybrid fibre coaxial cable technology. Following a decision to provide wireless cable technology through Wireless Broadband Network (WBN), Etisalat is working to make the entire country cable-ready. In the summer of 2003, Al Ain became the fourth city after Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah to receive E-Vision, the first to receive it via WBN. E-Vision plans to provide services, which include high-speed Internet access, to over half a million homes by the end of 2004.
Emirates Cable TV and Multimedia plans to invest Dh2.5 billion in cable television over the next 15 years.
Radio stations include popular English language stations such as Abu Dhabi Capital Radio, Dubai FM 92, Channel 4 FM, and Emirates 1 and 2 FM, along with UAE Radio Ra’s al-Khaimah. This year saw moves by 1078 Arabic FM and 1048 Channel 4 FM to open permanent radio stations in Abu Dhabi.
There are five Arabic and three English daily newspapers in circulation in the country, in addition to more than 160 magazines and journals published by local and national organisations, cultural centres, clubs, chambers of commerce and industry, municipalities and educational institutions.
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and rights. UAE patents law now complies fully with World Trade Organisation (WTO) requirements. The new Patent Law supersedes the previous Federal Law No. 44 of 1992 for the protection of patents, industrial drawings and patterns and their related exploitation rights. Patents will be granted to applicants for any novel invention or creation, or development of an existing one available for industrial exploitation, whether in respect of new industrial products or means. The term of the patent will be 20 years and that of the certificate will be ten years from the date of filing the application. Annual fees will be payable by the patent owner, failing which the patent and relevant certificate will be deemed void. Biological researches on reproduction of plants and animals, excluding minute organisms, will not be covered by patents. Similarly, diagnosis, treatment of diseases and surgery for human beings and animals, as well as mathematical theories and pure intellectual methods or inventions contravening propriety will not be granted any patents. A patent owner may be deprived of his/her exploitation rights if he/she fails to properly exploit his/her invention within three years.
A recent ruling by the Dubai Court of Cassation has given journalists the right to publish any material or claim backed by facts so long as it is not intended to defame or malign any person or entity. The court found that the press can publish material if in doing so it is not contravening the Constitution or Articles 372 and 373 of the UAE Penal Code. Article 30 of the UAE Constitution allows the publication of any material, as long as publication does not breach the bounds of responsibility that goes with such freedom. Article 372 of the Penal Code penalises any person who is proved to have published any material that causes someone else moral harm. Article 373 holds that anyone who intentionally and maliciously defames someone else without concrete evidence shall be subject to penalties stipulated in the penal code. According to the Court of Cassation’s ruling, accusers must establish that words or phrases of any published or broadcast material actually amount to defamation. The court must also ascertain that the defamation complaints are not a distortion of the facts before issuing a final ruling.
C U LT U R E A N D H E R I TA G E
. . . a people that does not understand its past, and does not draw the correct lessons from it, will not be able to deal with the challenges of the present and the future.
(Sheikh Zayed)
While UAE society has been profoundly changed since the foundation of the state, that change has been filtered by the particular national characteristics developed through centuries of living in a harsh terrain. Conservation and the husbanding of
elderly generation, a wealth of knowledge concerning music, culture and society will be lost, it collects and archives the memories of those elderly custodians of much of the country’s disappearing traditions. The result of those interviews is
An Introduction to UAE Folklores. The 343-page book is in Arabic (an English version is planned) and provides a detailed look into the UAE’s culture, traditional life and social institutions.
A dictionary of Arabic dialects spoken in the UAE, comprising thousands of entries, both words and phrases, has been completed by a team of ZCHH language experts over a three year period. Arab dialects vary remarkably and can be perplexing to Arabs from different locations. The dialects are rich in historical importance to those researching the past as well as those wishing to preserve the rich diversity of language into the future. Finally, the papers of the first International Conference on UAE Archaeology have been collected into a major new publication, Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates, published in English in 2003. An Arabic edition will be published in 2004.
THE EMIRATES HERITAGE CLUB
The EHC (www.emirates-heritageclub.com) was established in 1993 to conserve the UAE’s heritage and to educate future generations. It is particularly active in organising traditional sailing and rowing races where wooden dhows and longboats gather to compete, perpetuating traditional skills. One of its missions is to give children a sense of their heritage through traditional activities such as fishing, sailing, fencing and handicrafts. The Emirates Sailing School, situated on the island of Al Sammaliah, trains youngsters in the basic principles of sailing as well as other marine sports. EHC also runs a heritage village on a 1600-square-metre site on the Breakwater in Abu Dhabi.
THE EMIRATES CENTRE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES AND RESEARCH
The ECSSR, founded in 1994, is an independent research institution dedicated to the promotion of professional research and educational excellence in the UAE and the Gulf area. ECSSR serves as a focal point for scholarship on political, economic and social issues pertinent to the UAE, the Gulf, and the greater Middle East through the sponsorship of empirical research and scientific studies conducted by scholars from around the globe. The core of its work lies in identifying and analysing issues of vital significance, predicting future trends and devising management strategies to cope with such issues. As well as maintaining and training its own highly dedicated staff of researchers to undertake this work, it hosts conferences, symposia, workshops and lecture series renowned for the international eminence of the participants and the quality of their content and influence. Integral to the strategic success of ECSSR’s research programme are limited resources were central to survival then. Conservation remains a core value
today as the UAE seeks to guard its most precious cultural resources for future generations while laying a base on which to build enduring prosperity. Fortunately, the potential for irreparable cultural loss in the maelstrom of progress was recognised and measures have been taken to preserve, conserve and reinvigorate. As a result, the UAE has not just managed to preserve many of its unique archaeological and architectural sites, its manuscripts, its literature and its customs, but aspects of life which had disappeared have been faithfully reconstructed, through museum displays, the creation of heritage villages, and the rebuilding of vanished monuments from photographs, local memory and documentary evidence.
Playing a central role in guarding the nation’s heritage are its many cultural organisations. Prominent among these are the Cultural Foundation in Abu Dhabi, the Cultural and Scientific Forum in Dubai, the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah, the Fujairah Cultural Organisation, the Studies and Archives Centre in Ra’s al-Khaimah and the Juma Al Majid Centre, also in Dubai. Other institutions of importance to the cultural well-being of the country include the Emirates Heritage Club, the National Heritage Revival Organisation and the Marriage Fund. CULTURAL FOUNDATION
Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Foundation (www.cultural.org.ae) a public institution comprising the National Library, the Institute of Art and Culture and the National Archive, is housed in an elegant series of three-storey buildings with arched verandas around a series of courtyards. The Foundation is concerned with the promotion of all cultural and artistic activities in Abu Dhabi. Exhibitions, music recitals, cultural, film and theatre festivals, book publishing, lectures and conferences, art courses and workshops are all part of the remit of the Foundation.
THE CENTRE FOR DOCUMENTATION AND RESEARCH
The Abu Dhabi-based Centre, its premises an elegant half-spiral in the landscape, is a repository for official documents, reports and memoirs of historical significance, oral histories and memoirs of successive generations, as well as written and audiovisual works. The Centre is a valuable resource for researchers.
THE ZAYED CENTRE FOR HERITAGE AND HISTORY
Established by Sheikh Zayed, the Centre for Heritage and History is a cultural research institution established to encourage research related to tradition and history. Officially inaugurated in 1999, the Centre is affiliated with Emirates Heritage Club, but it has its own administrative headquarters in Al Ain.
The Centre pays special attention to the preservation, documentation and publication of the heritage of the UAE and, realising that with the passing of an
the annual Trend Assessment Reports prepared by research analysts in the Centre’s different units which, by providing a survey of major international and domestic developments and their possible implications, become a powerful tool in the task of prioritising the goals for the following year.
The ECSSR’s publishing activities have made it one of the major sources of specialised scholarly publications in the region. As well as publishing monographs in its International Studies Series, it also publishes the proceedings of conferences, symposia and lectures in Emirates Occasional Papers (an English series) and Strategic Studies (an Arabic series). In addition to these publications ECSSR translates into Arabic works of importance to the Centre and its audience.
JUMA AL MAJID CENTRE FOR CULTURE AND HERITAGE
The National Heritage Section at the Juma Al Majid Centre for Culture and Heritage in Dubai contains a substantial collection of books in both Arabic and English about the heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region, and a wealth of historical material, including British, American, Russian and Ottoman archives relating to the Arabian Gulf dating from the European occupation of the Eastern Coast of Arabia up to the finding of oil. It includes reports by British political agents, letters between American ambassadors in the region and the US State Department, Russian books and letters covering topics that range from piracy to politics to oil. In addition, there are the political, economic and military treaties that were signed between the countries in the past. The Centre’s Al Qusais workshop is greatly respected for its expertise in manuscript maintenance, treatment and restoration – it has perfected the production of a special kind of paper for use in such work – and it recently signed an agreement with the Library of Alexandria to provide special equipment, restoration paper and technical training for the restoration of ancient manuscripts and books.
SHEIKH MOHAMMED CENTRE FOR CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING
The Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding aims to be a catalyst for social cohesion through communication and cultural exchange. Interactive programmes introduce expatriates to local culture, traditions and lifestyles. One of its most attractive amenities is the Home Visit Programme through which expatriates are invited to share a meal with a UAE national family. A TV talkshow, ‘Open Doors, Open Minds’, and numerous cultural events, lectures and seminars form the nucleus of the Centre’s work. As well as organising, in partnership with Dubai 2003, an Open Day for those involved with the Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, the Centre treated participants to a taste of authentic Arabian culture and traditions by laying on a major exhibition at the Centre. There, visitors who might otherwise not have had the chance to get a feel for life and traditions in
around the palaces of the ruling family and other residences, complete with four traditional towers, will house within its boundaries a centre of historical fascination to residents and tourists alike. Plans include a three-storey museum, an amphitheatre, a souq, a mosque, a restaurant and a children’s play area. Simultaneously, the Archaeology and Heritage Department, under the supervision of UNESCO consultants, is undertaking renovation of Awhalla Fort, the oldest fort in Fujairah.
The renovated White Fort or Old Fort in the centre of Abu Dhabi is the oldest building in the capital. The original structure was built around 1795 as the official residence of Abu Dhabi’s rulers. Major renovations took place in 1983, but the elegant fort’s whitewashed walls, gardens and courtyard retain an old-world charm. Al Ain has more than its complement of forts and heritage buildings, including The Eastern Fort, located within the compound of Al Ain Museum; Murabba Fort, which used to be the police headquarters and a prison; and Jahili Fort, a large restored fort in the city centre that has a distinctive corner turret with four levels or terraces.
An agreement between UNESCO and Al Ain Economic Development and Tourism Promotion Authority has initiated a cooperative effort by both bodies to protect the cultural and historical wealth of the city. Together they will form a strategic plan which will incorporate all aspects of Al Ain’s rich heritage, both man-made and natural, with a view to sustainable development of its assets in harmony with the growing value of cultural tourism.
The restored Al Fahidi Fort in Dubai was originally the ruler’s residence; it subsequently became an arsenal, then a jail, and is now a thriving museum.
One of Dubai’s more recent renovations, completed in 2002, has a new function as the editorial office of an Arabic calligraphy magazine, Huroof Arabiya, published by the Culture and Science Association. The building, which was constructed in four stages from 1921 to the late 1960s, is graced with one of the coveted rarities of the UAE, a windtower. Another restored building in the Al Bastakiya heritage district, this time dating from 1939 and adorned with not one but two windtowers, has been handed over to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to be used as the UAE Project Office. The damaged windtower of a third building was reconstructed by the Historic Buildings Section of Dubai Municipality with the help of historic documents and pictures. This house has become the home of the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding.
These renovations are part of Dubai’s overall plan to restore all remaining historic buildings in the Al Bastakiya area to their former glory. Between 1991 and 2008, the authorities hope to have either renovated or reconstructed a total of 230 structures in Dubai emirate. The Shindagha Heritage Area alone contains approximately 65 heritage sites, of which five have been reconstructed and three the UAE, were able to explore everything from Arabic calligraphy, dates and date
products, to Iranian carpets and herbalists at work. HERITAGE BUILDINGS AND MUSEUMS
Traditional architecture and historic edifices are now fully recognised as an important element of the UAE’s history and heritage and great efforts are being made to preserve fragile structures for future generations. Massive feats of both renovation and reconstruction are under way throughout the UAE. The task of a new organisation, The Society for the Protection of UAE Building Heritage, which is to have its headquarters in Dubai, will be to study, present and preserve the country’s building heritage. The organisation will work to heighten public awareness on the importance of preserving historic buildings and will provide a mechanism for cooperation between the government and private bodies interested in protecting the country’s building heritage.
Particularly important to the UAE are its forts, many of which have undergone several transformations, eventually ending up as museums. For example, the eighteenth century fort in Ajman switched in 1970 from being the ruler’s palace and office to housing the local police force. In 1981 it changed function once again to become a museum housing an interesting collection of archaeological artefacts, manuscripts, old weapons and reconstructions of traditional life. Another fort which reinvented itself as a police headquarters was that of Umm al-Qaiwain. Subsequently restored as a museum, its upper floor includes a high-ceilinged
majlis(a meeting room and a place to receive guests) elegantly decorated with carved wooden balconies.
Situated behind the Police Headquarters on Al Hosn Road in the old town, the beautifully-renovated Ra’s al-Khaimah Fort, residence of the ruling family until the early 1960s, houses an intriguing collection of archaeological and ethnological artefacts. An important series of surveys has been undertaken in Ra’s al-Khaimah emirate over the years, documenting mountain villages, towers, mosques, the old houses of the palm gardens of Al Nakheel and Shamal, and now the traditional buildings of Ra’s al-Khaimah City. Staff at Ra’s al-Khaimah National Museum are identifying all traditional structures and the more important of these are being earmarked for restoration. Already, the museum has begun restoration of the old souq.
Fujairah emirate also has its fair share of historical building, particularly impressive forts and other defensive structures on the coast and traditional routes through the major wadis. Work on the Old Fort in Fujairah City, begun in the late 1990s, was completed in 2000. Now the Old City surrounding this massive structure (dating back to 1670) is the subject of major renovations by experts in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage. A massive stone wall being built
Seventy-one short films directed by local filmmakers and dealing with local themes were screened at the second Emirates Film Competition in March 2003, an event hosted by the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation (the occasion included the screening of about 60 international films). The competition was divided into two categories – student and professional – and each category included three sections, documentary, fiction and advertising. Jawhara, a moving film about a child caught in the emotional turmoil of a quarrelling family, won five awards, including Best Fiction. Its maker, 29-year old UAE national Hani Al Shebani, works for Dubai Police. Meanwhile, Feast of Dates, a film made in conjunction with the UAE Ministry of Information and Culture, won the best documentary award.
A feast of films is planned for the first Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) to be held in 2004. DIFF organisers visited Cannes Film Festival to promote the new festival and to highlight the emergence of Dubai as a regional hub for the film industry.
Sharjah hosted the sixth Sharjah Biennial in 2003 under the direction of Sheikha Hoor Al Qasimi, daughter of Sharjah’s Ruler, who harnessed the expertise of London-based curator Peter Lewis to brilliant effect. The event took as its theme ‘discourses between aesthetics and politics’, breaking with the traditional concentration on painting, sculpture and graphic arts to bring ‘new art practices’ to the attention of art lovers in the Middle East. Visitors to this startlingly expanded exhibition were not denied the traditional, but their senses were stretched with a feast of installation, video, performance, digital and web art – the product of 117 artists from 25 countries. Described as ‘without doubt the most ambitious contemporary art event ever staged in the Gulf, possibly the Arab world’, the biennial encapsulated what a good art show should be. In the words of its curator, the artists selected from a huge field of 2000 represented ‘a roll call of creativity, controversy and excitement’. The UAE’s own artists were well represented, from Hassan Sharif’s obsessive repetitions of simple actions as an accompaniment to or an intensification of contemplation and Hussein Sharif’s hundreds of wired figures massed together, to Abdallah Alsaadi’s poignant collection – A Kit Kat wrapper, a broken comb, a polished pebble collected from his own doorstep – not litter, but some of his mother’s chosen objects of communication.
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are under construction. Of Al Bastakiya Quarter’s 55 heritage sites, approximately 20 were completely renovated by the end of 2003. Amongst buildings that have been restored are Sheikh Saeed house – an elegant late nineteenth century two-storey building of Arabic design, complete with four windtowers, housing a unique collection of rare coins, photographs, stamps and documents; Bait Al Wakeel – Dubai’s first office building dating back to 1934 and now housing a museum devoted to Dubai’s fishing and maritime traditions; Al Ahmadiya School, Dubai’s first regular school, established in 1912 and now a museum of education.
In 1998, Sharjah was designated by UNESCO as Cultural Capital of the Arab World for its commitment to art, culture and the preservation of its heritage. Instrumental in winning this award was Sharjah’s renovation and restoration of architecturally acclaimed heritage buildings and an old souq in the Sharjah Arts Area and Sharjah Heritage Area. Many of these fine buildings are now dedicated to the Arts or house Art, Islamic and Ethnographic museums. Nearby, is Sharjah Fort or Al Husn. Built by Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi in 1820, this carefully restored fort was the residence of the ruling family for 200 years. It was torn down in 1969, but the present Ruler restored it with the help of old photographs and documents, his own notes and the assistance of elderly residents. It now houses a museum with exhibits on pearl fishing, education, and trade as well as jewellery, weapons and old photographs. Sharjah also has a number of purpose-built, state-of-the-art museums dedicated to specific subject areas, including natural history, science, popular medicine, astronomy, numismatics, philately, Islam, traditional jewellery, policing and aviation.
FESTIVALS
2003 was a particularly good year for the arts in the UAE. The new state-of-the-art 2100-seater Al Raha Theatre, just outside the capital, was a fitting venue for many of the plays staged at the eighth biennial Gulf Theatrical Festival. The theatre, which will add immeasurably to the cultural life of Abu Dhabi, has a king-size stage, its back wall opening outdoors into an amphitheatre, with additional seating for 1000. The Festival (returning to Abu Dhabi after a gap of ten years) was hosted by the Cultural Foundation and while the Omani play Hamran Al Aiun
(Red Eyes) won first prize of Dh100,000 for best play at the Festival, the UAE play
Ghaset bik Yamahi(I Cannot Swallow Water) won three major prizes, with Hoda Al Khatib and Mohammed Saleh as best leading actress and actor respectively.
The Monodrama Festival, a festival of one-man plays that took place in Fujairah in December, was attended by over 150, actors, critics and directors representing 17 countries. Contemporary Circus, a one-man play from Dibba al-Fujairah Theatre written by Sabah Atwan and performed by Abdullah Rashid, was the inaugural play of the festival being hosted for the first time in Fujairah. Thirteen one-man shows reflecting social and political issues were performed at the ten-day festival.
