Inizjamed have never been great fans of mine, and in fact, they have always had some kind of aversion towards me for various reasons. They were mentioned in this website because their founder Adrian Grima called for the abrogation of Israel on the 7th of October following the brutal attacks of Hamas. Their literary festival which is funded by both government and EU funds has always applied a BDS policy so they refuse to invite Israeli authors or have anything to do with them.
Now, Inizjamed is calling for the National Book Council to be investigated over claims by one of its employees of undue influence and preferential treatment. Personally, I find this ironic because I never faced such a situation as Executive Chairman of the National Book Council, and my successor has set a new record by inviting calls for an investigation into his methods. Strangely, Inizjamed is also calling for dialogue by the National Book Council but fails to mention that under my tenure, I convened the Authors’ Congress every year where we used to collectively take positions on very defined, material, and well-meaning policies and decisions.
Speaking on Authors Congresses, the Arts Council seems to have taken a cue from my work by coming up with the Artists’ Charter, which is a very good idea, and similar to the Authors’ Charter that was approved by the Authors’ Congress, however, this charter can only be effective with wide support from the stakeholders themselves and that was how it used to be done under my tenure.
In any case, I’m very amused by Inizjamed’s position although it doesn’t affect me as an author and publisher because we are seeking redress from the courts, will open even more legal cases, and expect the current Executive Chairman to resign.
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Historian and Publisher
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