A GLOBAL NATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY IN WHICH WE ALL PLAY A CULTURAL PART
▶ Minister of State Zaki Nusseibeh tells Anna Zacharias of the UAE’s fluid identity and crucial role of all residents
In the summer of 1969, a young Palestinian translator travelled to Switzerland with a sheikh from a remote desert oasis to build diplomatic relations for a state that did not yet exist.
The translator was Zaki Nusseibeh, who had arrived in the emirate of Abu Dhabi two years earlier after completing his studies at Cambridge University and then stayed when the 1967 war broke out, being unable to return to Jerusalem.
It was one of his first overseas missions with Sheikh Zayed, who had been appointed the Ruler of the wealthy sheikhdom and who would go on to unite the seven emirates of the UAE in 1971.
On that early visit to western Europe, Sheikh Zayed made an unusual request: that the Abu Dhabi delegation be accompanied by a traditional band of drummers and singers. He knew culture would help to connect people with what was then an unknown emirate.
Nearly 50 years later, Mr Nusseibeh, a Minister of State, continues the legacy of cultural diplomacy started by the Founding Father, as the head of the new Office of Public and Cultural Diplomacy. It launched earlier this month under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.
“I lived through this and saw the way that he built relationships across the globe,” said Mr Nusseibeh in an exclusive interview with The National at his office.
“I remember that in the late ’60s and in the early ’70s, the UAE did not really register in the regional forum or on the international scene. Yet within 10 or 15 years, the Emirates became known for what it’s known for today, because of these policies and of these deeply held humanitarian considerations, and because of Sheikh Zayed’s love for people.”
Envoys will be trained by the new office in cultural diplomacy in order to foster ties built on the values of innovation, tolerance and charity.
It will give a more nuanced narrative of the country by promoting the work of artists, filmmakers, poets and writers from the UAE – both Emirati and expatriate – through its global network of 184 embassies and missions.
Events will include educational exchanges and sports programmes.
Its first event, Global Art Forum: UAE Past, Present, Future, was held in London last week in collaboration with Art Dubai.
The talk on art, design and architecture showed how the office will go beyond the familiar stories of Emirati heritage, those of falconry, camels and desert origins, and highlight the exchange between Emiratis and foreign nationals.
“They are also part of the identity of the UAE,” Mr Nusseibeh said. “Their cultures have become part of the culture of the UAE.”
Binary States, India-UAE is a publication by the office of an exhibition of the same name at last year’s Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
It presents the relationships between the UAE and India through oral histories and photo essays, such as Gulf Return by Vikram Divecha.
His contribution shows homes built by repatriated Indian workers from the Gulf and is a reminder that remittances, as Rahel Aima writes in the introduction, are “not only monetary but also aesthetic”.
The office celebrates the co-existence of nationalities in the UAE and their influence on each other.
This is at odds with the idea that migration and globalisation have eroded Emirati identity, a concern frequently raised in a country where citizens make up just 11 per cent of the population.
Throughout the interview, Mr Nusseibeh referred to “the diaspora”, those who lived here, contributed and have since been repatriated.
“We call them our UAE diaspora because they came and worked here and lived here,” he said. “Some of them passed away and their children still remember their contributions to our country.”
Fittingly, one of the office’s first projects has been the organisation of the international visits of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, to honour expatriates who made outstanding contributions.
Sheikh Abdullah has travelled to Japan, New Zealand and India to meet the families of the late Dr Katsuhiko Takahashi, the architect who gave Abu Dhabi its grid system and green spaces; Andrew Little, a Trucial Oman Scout; and Dr Zulekha Daud, the first known Indian doctor in the UAE.
While national narratives typically build on a shared past, the government has long emphasised an identity forged by a shared future. Celebrating the contributions of expatriates bolsters the image of the UAE as a destination for the young, the bright and the business minded.
“There was a recent tweet by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed [Crown Prince of Dubai] that said we are proud to be number one regionally and number eight internationally in attracting young brains that want to settle and come and live here,” Mr Nusseibeh said.
Projects supported by the office dispel restrictive definitions of what it means to be Emirati, which have emerged as the country defines its national identity. One example is its launch of Stories from the UAE, a documentation of Emirati identity through its neighbourhoods, architecture and profiles, promoted through the office’s digital outreach programme.
The first two collections, published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation in 2015 and last year, gave a profile of Ethiopian-born runner Betlhem Desalegn Belayneh.
There are the stories of Emiratis with foreign-born parents, such as the UAE ambassador to Russia, Saif Ghobash, and Mr Nusseibeh’s daughter, Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s Permanent Representative to the UN and President of UN Women. This is striking in a country where immigration is virtually non-existent.
In this way, the message of the office might not only shift how Emiratis and the UAE are viewed abroad, but could change how citizens define themselves.
In an era of divisive identity politics, the message of shared cultures and a common human experience is one of social and strategic importance.
“I believe the political disorder that we see around us made more countries aware of the need to bring culture into the heart of political strategies in establishing relationships with other countries,” Mr Nusseibeh said. “There are a number of elements that have been evolving in the past few decades that have made cultural diplomacy truly at the heart of any foreign policy consideration for any country.”
Mr Nusseibeh is well placed to lead this mission. In 1967, he worked with a family contracting company in Abu Dhabi before becoming a stringer for international media outlets, telling the story of the Trucial States when the foreign media first took an interest in the Gulf.
He became a translator and adviser for Sheikh Zayed in 1968 and witnessed his astute grasp of cultural diplomacy.
“Sheikh Zayed’s love for humanity was deeply firm and was the foundation of his foreign policy strategies,” Mr Nusseibeh said.
“He truly believed that we as a human race are one family and that we need to work with each other to understand each other, to strive for peace and stability so that we can bring prosperity not only to our own people, but also to those around us who are in need of help.
“This is why from the outset Sheikh Zayed had an outlook that said we must use our resources not only to help our own people but also to help those who are in need.”
This legacy remains. The November 2017 opening of Louvre Abu Dhabi broadcast the UAE’s ideals of universalism to a global audience. The same values will be promoted at Expo 2020 Dubai.
“It is a narrative that we are proud of because it is a narrative about a country that stands for moderation, it stands for humanitarian aid, it stands for peace and stability.”
He [Sheikh Zayed] truly believed that we as a human race are one family and that we need to work with each other to understand each other