Quote

The Arab world is full of corruption, in the time of the dictatorships and in the time of anarchy. This corruption is not only in politics and the economy, but also in the field of creative activity. There's an elite that controls the festivals, the newspapers, and the reviews. They are just a corrupt clique with no interest in creativity.

Hassan Blasim

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Hassan Blasim
Age: 51
Born: 1973
Born: January 1
Author
Film Director
Writer
Bagdad
Creative
Corruption
Elite
Politics
Newspapers
Festivals
Interest
Field
Arab
Also
Fields
Corrupt
Time
Activity
Elites
World
Creativity
Dictatorship
Dictatorships
Economy
Anarchy
Clique
Full
Reviews
Controls

More quotes by Hassan Blasim

Image
We in Iraq have not descended from another planet. Just as people in many other countries have gotten over the tragedy of war, Iraq will get over its ordeal.
Hassan Blasim
Image
Secret migration across borders is a form of human degradation and evidence of the depravity of the human conscience.
Hassan Blasim
Image
I live in a small country in Europe - Finland - and I don't speak English well and I had nothing to do with publishing houses in the West. I lived in complete isolation.
Hassan Blasim
Image
I studied at the Academy during the years of economic sanctions. Life was almost dead because the sanctions imposed on Iraq by the civilized world were so strict.
Hassan Blasim
Image
When my stories were translated into other languages and received good reviews in the international press and won prizes, some Arab festivals and newspapers began to take an interest in what I had produced. This sudden Arab interest is a form of hypocrisy and nonsense.
Hassan Blasim
Image
Losing hope means ceasing to love my son and my girlfriend and many friends and people around the world.
Hassan Blasim
Image
Knowledge and imagination are the life buoy and the extra lung for breathing outside the walls of a tainted reality.
Hassan Blasim
Image
The people in Arab countries are now speaking out and asking many questions about human rights, minorities, religion, democracy, the other, and so on.
Hassan Blasim
Image
For seven years I wrote and published my texts on the Internet and no Arab festival invited me and no Arab publishing house wanted to publish my books, and I wasn't known in the Western world because of my political positions.
Hassan Blasim
Image
It's ridiculous and painful to use the Arabic of an Iraqi poet who lived centuries ago to describe what we in Iraq are suffering today.
Hassan Blasim
Image
I'm not much interested in prizes, whether from the Arab world or from the Western world. Writing is a very difficult process and I want to continue my work.
Hassan Blasim
Image
I'm talking about the essence of humanity. Hope is mixed into the blood of every human being, everywhere and in every time.
Hassan Blasim
Image
The trail of secret migration was a shock to me. I knew a little about the difficulties, just bits of news in the media.
Hassan Blasim
Image
In fact I didn't think about fear much at the time. I felt angry about everything that was happening around me: the violence of the dictatorship and the violence of society.
Hassan Blasim
Image
Some Iraqi writers are more daring today and have excellent imaginations and their material is rich in human experience. But the Arab prizes, once again, are part of the context of life in the Arab world - anarchy, confusion, and corruption.
Hassan Blasim
Image
My stories were translated and had many reviews before I had an interview with any international or Arab newspaper. If the stories hadn't succeeded, you wouldn't have asked me my position on Arab festivals and I wouldn't have been interested in the festivals anyway, because I would be in seclusion, writing.
Hassan Blasim