The development of the UAE culture

More than 300 people attended the workshop titled "Culture in the UAE" by Emirati writer Mohammad Al Murr at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) last week.
Al Murr, who is also chairman of the Dubai Cultural Council, described how Dubai has changed during his lifetime.

"In 1965, we were under colonial rule," said Al Murr, who was born in 1955. "We didn't have any newspapers. The only newspapers we got were from Lebanon and Egypt and they were at least a week old. Today we have five major Arabic dailies and two or three major English dailies."

"Back then, we had only two or three cinema houses in UAE. Today we have 12 cinema halls in just one mall and I don't know how many hundreds across the UAE."

Drawing another comparison, he said, "In those times, 95 per cent of the people never travelled outside the UAE due to the economic depression we were suffering. But today, that's not the case. Recently, two young Emirati men travelled all the way to Antarctica and put up a flag of the UAE there."

Al Murr is a prolific writer who has not only written many books but also worked in newspapers like Al Bayan and Al Khaleej. Thirteen volumes of his short stories have been published and he currently writes regular columns for many newspapers. Some of his books have been translated into English.

"I am proud of what the UAE has achieved in this span of 53 years," he said, speaking in an auditorium packed with people. "When I tell this to people, they say it's just because you have oil. But having oil is not enough. There are so many Arab countries that had oil but used it for creating regional wars and for irrational economic and political behaviour.

Those countries now have civil wars and other political problems. It pains me to see them because they are also Arabs. They are my brothers. In fact, when I heard a BBC correspondent on radio saying that they had almost conquered Basra, I stopped my car and cried for them."

"What I want to say is that having oil is not enough," he commented, winding up his speech. "We prospered because of the wisdom of our leaders and the solidarity of our people."
The workshop was followed by a question and answer session.

- The writer is a mass communication major at the American University of Sharjah.