Jan 03 2014
Musicians and Others Bullied Due to Intolerance
Daoud Kuttab
The comment was off the cuff, but the result was angry and violent. The commentator was Jordanian oud player Tareq Jundi; the remark was about the coldness at the Al Hussein Cultural Centre.
“It seems that the diesel hasn’t arrived at the theatre from the government,” he said complaining about the fact that the theatre hall was extremely cold.
The concert was a charity show for the rising Jordanian artist Ghiya Rushidat. Some staff at the centre came screaming at Jundi for “cursing” the government and chairs were thrown at the artists who were saved by some of their loyal fans.
Ghai and the musicians decided to file a complaint at the police station, only to discover that the centre had filed a complaint accusing the musicians of having insulted the government and defamed the national flag. In the end both sides dropped their charges.
What happened on the last days of 2013 at the Al Hussein Cultural Centre was not new. In many cases artists and public figures complained that the centre, which belongs to the Greater Amman Municipality, has become a place for bullying and political partisanship.
The centre’s director denied permission to a local organisation to hold a debate on the nuclear programme because the centre “doesn’t do politics”.
In the past, and under a different management, the centre used to be the venue fornumerous debates by that same organisation. Continue Reading »