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DISPUTE COULD SPELL END OF ARAB CULTURAL INSTITUTE

by Rula el-Rifai
**Perched on the banks of the Seine, the Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabe is an architectural wonder. But inside this centre, opened in 1987 in a joint effort between the French government and a group of Arab states, there is chaos. As Gemini News Service reports, the dispute over French control of the institute and consequent Arab reluctance to pay dues, has already led to drastic cutbacks at the research and cultural centre that serves between 200,000 and 300,000 visitors a year.
he Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabc (IMA), one of the world's few cultural centres devoted exclusively to the Arab world, is threatened by a shortage of money from Its Arab sponsors and allegations of French government intrusion.
The IMA. housed in a stunning facility on the banks of the River Seine, is facing a severe financial crisis because of a lingering dispute over how it should be administered. Arab countries think the French wield too much influence over the centre and that its activities are partly motivated by French politics.
An architectural masterpiece. IMA is still bubbling with life. Each day hundreds of visitors come to view.its museums. to do research in its well-•stocked library and documentation centre, to attend different cultural activities or to use Its extensive audiovisual facilities.
But the building’s glittering exterior of high-technology Arabesque windows—designed to open and close with the light like a mechanical retina— belies the chaos within.
The centre’s equipment is in poor repair and if has suf-fered badly from budget cuts. Many of its cultural activities have been curtailed. There is barely enough money left in the coffers to pay employee salaries and unions representing IMA workers have already waged strikes.
"Wc strongly believe that IMA's role is primarily cultural ....the experience of the last three years shows us that IMA answers a real need in the general public." the union said in an official statement.
"IMA should stop being subjected Io the vicissitudes of interior French policy and Franco-Arab politics." it said.
The Gulf war has added another dimension to the confusion about the future of the institution which was originally backed by more than a dozen Arab states including Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The war has exacerbated Arab mistrust of French intentions and rumours abound about plans to transform the institute’s unique Arab identity.
In October, the French-appointed IMA President. Edgar Pisani, announced a series of austerity measures for the next two years to get the centre’s finances under budget. That will mean eliminating the music department and the documentation centre's as well as cutting 37 Jobs.
Despite a series of rotating strikes. Pisani has refused to back off on his restructuring plans. In February, the Institute was to be closed for fwo weeks during which major restructuring of its operations would take place. Employees were anxious to see what would be left at the end of the process.
Conceived in 1974 by French President Valerie Giscard-D'Estalng. who wanted an institute to promote the Arab culture in France, it got the financial backing of 19 Arab countries in June of 1980.