By Mohammad Baali
Albawaba.com - Cairo
Egypt’s newly launched Tanweer (enlightenment) satellite channel seeks to offer “a visual reference point for all types of enlightenment, rational thought and civilization,” according to channel manger Maged Yousef.
The creation of Tanweer (Al Thakafiyyah 2) is an attempt to add a deep cultural dimension to Egypt’s satellite channels, which the first culture channel failed to achieve.
Yousef, an Egyptian poet entrusted with the management of the channel, proclaims his commitment to “enlightenment” and “modernization,” and belongs to a generation of poets who confronted old and classical issues while attempting to offer a new vision for poetry and the world.
The station manager told Albawaba.com about the orientation of the new channel, its programs and its content.
Following are excerpts from the interview:
Q. Egyptian and Arab scholars expect a great deal from the Cairo-based Tanweer channel. What can a scholar reasonably expect?
A. Tanweer will be an intellectually enlightening channel in general, and will basically focus on the issues of rational thought as a style, and the methodology of advanced scientific thinking.
Furthermore, the channel will carry out an inclusive and daring dialogue between the various directions, trends and intellectual and political ideologies about the future of the Arab World, particularly in light of the issues of globalization, culture and personal privacy.
The channel will basically be involved in providing a visual reference point for all issues of enlightenment, rational thought and civilization for all researchers and those involved in the debate on these perspectives.
Q. The channel’s strategy opens great breadth for religious programs and issues. How will these issues be dealt with by Tanweer?
A. The channel places great importance on religion by looking at it from a new perspective that links it and people’s daily life and their urgent needs and problems.
The religious content provided by the channel will be attractive, interesting and inspiring, because viewers avoid boring and classical content.
The channel will also manage the widest and deepest dialogue on religion and sectors, factions and visions. The dialogue will also deal with current social issues among the various Islamic and intellectual other issues including civil marriage, women’s prospects to become muftis or judges, Islam and art, women and the veil, and other issues.
Q. Therefore, the channel will take responsibility for providing enlightened explanations for religion and fight against foggy religious explanations?
A. It has become evident to us in the last 25 years that many young people have been misled by the incorrect use of religion, which has no relation with misleading thoughts.
Religion has no relation to those calling for the beheading of [Nobel Laureate novelist] Nageeb Mahfouz. How can he be beheaded in the name of religion? Tanweer will attempt to protect young people from this brainwashing by providing them with the proper information and knowledge in all fields, including religion, literature and history.
Q. Tanweer does not include any poetry programs, as we might expect from a channel managed by a poet. How do you explain that?
A. We have to differentiate between personal drives and objective missions in work. Do we have to give a chance to poetry programs because the channel manager is a poet? How about if the channel manager is a playwright, should we give more attention to the theater? In work we have to differentiate between personal and objective matters.
Q. But all the satellite channels are not interested in poetry. Where can we find it if we cannot find it on a channel specializing in culture?
A. The channel schedule has not yet been formulated, and so it must not be judged now. Are we supposed to offer everything from the beginning? Give us one or two years and then review what we have offered. We are still in the stage of broadcast testing, because most of the channel programs are of an archival nature. In any stage of testing, the formulation of the channel schedule takes about three months until it coalesces. Wait for a little and rest assured that we won’t let you down.
