European Arab Academy chief to Echorouk: “we received orders to teach Arabic”

Abdelghani Sebatta is the head of the European Arab Academy, a non-governmental organisation dealing with intercultural dialogue in France. He studied law at the Sorbonne University and established a successful institute of linguistics.

• Could you introduce the European Arab Academy?
• It is a non-governmental organisation based in Paris. It works on promoting and developing intercultural dialogues. It aims at introducing the Arab culture in the west. Its activities offer training sessions, commercial translation, audiovisual programs production and cultural conferences.
• Why is France interested in an institution meant for spreading Arabic in the world?
• Nowadays, France is interested in the Arab World more than ever. It is a necessity imposed by the economic and political reality. The Mediterranean Union is one of the important evidences of the French changing strategy. Furthermore, the European Union issued an instruction to generalise the teaching of Arabic in French schools. We are trying to give an Arabic language of cultural dimension and non-nationalist. We avoid dealing with religion so that Arabic would be far from any conflict and transmit the human sense.
• Has your organisation had a problem with the Franccophonie organisation? How do you deal with the other cultural centres in France?
• As much as we get facilities to introduce our culture, we have to support other cultures. The Algerian culture consists in the Arab and Tamazight identity. French language is an integral part of the Algerian identity. I believe that the cultural arena is an opportunity to understand the other to avoid clashes.
• Do you plan to open a representation of the academy in Algeria?
• We are working on opening an office in the Arab Maghreb. Algeria and Morocco are competing to host it but I hope that the office will be based in Algeria. It has an excellent location and promising future.
• How did the idea of honouring Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika come?
• We have a committee of researchers and intellectuals who observe the work of politicians and leaders in the cultural field. Algeria was the capital of the Arab culture in 2007-2008. President Bouteflika did his best to support this event. Because of that, the committee chose him as he did a lot in record time especially that there had been no Algerian activities in the cultural world for years.
• Some people say you have honoured the president as part of his electoral campaign. Is it true?
• Our academy has never thought in that way. The president was chosen, more than a year ago. I believe that Bouteflika does not need to be honoured to win elections. Actually, he is popular and has many chances to be re-elected. My response to those allegations is that it is not a shame to honour successful leaders. Intellectuals must honour politicians who serve them because each one needs the other.