Muhammad Wissam Al-Murtada
The Minister of Culture, Muhammad Al-Murtada, announced, “The Lebanese people do not succumb to a siege because they are a people who adhere to pride and freedom, and we will continue to seek awareness and spread cultural awareness. He said: “In the Arab tradition, we say ‘the friend is in the time of distress’, where masks fall and faces are revealed, and the actual friend appears by his performance during crises.”
Minister Al-Murtada’s words came during a ceremony held at the “Consor Fatwar” – Zkak El-Blatt National Conservatory of Music, where 25 wind instruments were handed over as a gift to the institute from the Belgian Music Fund, in the presence of the Ambassador of Belgium, Yvier Korman, and the Ambassador of Poland, Šimsław Nsho Lovsky, President The Board of Directors of the Institute is Dr. Walid Muslim and a member of the Boghossian Marie Boghossian Foundation.
Minister Al-Murtada praised “the efforts made by Dr. Muslim and opera singer Nadine Nassar to secure this gift,” and said: “Lebanon is under siege, and the siege has several aspects, and the main goal of it is to suffocate Lebanon on more than one level, especially the cultural one, and we must be aware that the intention is to flood the region.” Lebanon is in obscurantism, and hence the necessary reason for the cultural blockade.”
He added: “From his heart on Lebanon, and in order not to collapse culturally and not fall into the planned obscurantism, to work to support it with all his efforts, emphasizing that Lebanon does not need to secure human capabilities as much as it needs to extend a helping hand to continue with its human capacity.” He cited what happened a month ago when the institute took over the piano, and stressed at the time “the availability of the human element that existed at that time and excelled in playing the instruments.”
Al-Murtada concluded: “We are a great people, we exported crafts to the world and we only exported everything that is wonderful, great and civilized, and one of the most beautiful things we have issued is Ghassan Salama.”
For his part, the Belgian ambassador affirmed that his country is “a friendly country to Lebanon, and we will do our utmost to support it in all fields, especially cultural ones, especially since Lebanon is a pioneer in the region in the cultural field.”