Egypt defies new 7 Wonders of the World race

By Hazel Heyer l eTN Middle East

Egypt contests a new effort to choose the "new 7 wonders of the world."

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Egypt sent an urgent letter to Koïchiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO regarding the campaign launched by The New 7 Wonders Foundation on the Internet in an attempt to choose the world’s top attractions. Egyptiam Culture Minister Farouk Hosni yesterday said, “This foundation is a for-profit entity directed by a person who owns a tour company in Switzerland.”

He added the campaign, in which a selected, random sample of the general public is being asked to vote for the monuments they consider the Seven Wonders of the World, has no scientific, aesthetic or philosophical basis. "The company sponsoring this vote, being implemented through a website, is primarily looking to make money from this event," asserted Hosni.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) wrote in a letter that the campaign has offended him and his colleagues who have dedicated their lives to the preservation of cultural heritage as the selection was made by amateurs. He contends the pyramids should be automatically on the list and the committee should not even think twice about them becoming a finalist. He said the Giza Pyramids should, no doubt, be on the shortlist as they have been in the past, on the Ancient Wonders of the World dossier.

He said the New 7 Wonders Panel of Experts made up of leading international architects is an enterprising tourism venture that lacks antiquities background. "A tourism company should not choose the seven wonders through the public. The 7 Wonders of the World should be chosen by a cultural institution and a well-selected, elite group of people, not the average man in the street; definitely, not the 100 people choosing online because the public does not know better," he said.

Speaking exclusively to eTN, Tia B. Viering, head of communications for the New7Wonders said they are registered as a non-profit foundation with the same status as the Red Cross and recognized by the Swiss government. The company has tried to have a dialogue with Egyptian authorities to no avail; Egypt has completely rejected the entire premise right from the start.

“Dr. Hawass did not only discredit the Ancient Wonders of the World and the New Wonders of the World. We are, in no way, attempting to replace the Old Wonders as this [campaign] is bringing the concept to modern times with a whole new list. We have respected the status of the Egyptian pyramids as an ancient world wonder – as shown very clearly on our website. But it is also very clear from the Egyptian government and Dr. Hawass, in particular, not to have the pyramids be an active part of the new seven wonders campaign,” said Viering.

Hawass admits he could not allow the same company list the pyramids on the current 21 finalists as "...the Giza pyramids should be out of competition; they are the only ones that exist to this day. They cannot put the pyramids together with the rest of the other candidate Wonders," firmly said the antiquities chief, in defense of the monuments of which he is the custodian.

Viering added, “When he said who are the authorities, I don’t know who is more authoritative than the people of the world who have a right to decide what they think a world wonder is and the new seven wonders should be.” She said her group believes that culture is fundamentally built from the bottom up, and not made by architects, archaeologists, professors, historians or politicians.

Hawass suggests that as we are still in the early years of the new millennium, and this would be an excellent time to convene a committee of 300 of the world's greatest scientists, thinkers, writers and philosophers to produce a list of the seven current wonders –ancient or modern— of the world. He refused to meet the campaign's organizer when he came to Cairo. Viering said founder Bernard Weber’s Cairo press conference was indeed closed down by the police.

Viering said Egypt is actually saying only historians can decide what should be history or not. But the people of the world are qualified to determine a wonder site. “Rap music is from the people, and not created by record producers sitting in an office. Besides, we work with the most creative architects in the world on our panel of experts. Culture is what moves people. A wonder is what moves populations. [This] is about living culture of the people of today’s world,” Viering said.

To prove his point, Egypt’s SCA head even sent a letter to the Swiss Ambassador in Cairo objecting to what the New7Wonders is trying to accomplish. "Since the Great Pyramid of Giza is the only surviving wonder of the ancient world, the event organizers have approached us and requested our permission to use Giza as a venue to create some publicity for their campaign," Hawass wrote in his letter.

"We do not need or want to subject the Great Pyramids to an uncontrolled public vote or allow these people to use our shared cultural heritage for their own profit, thus we have already informed the event organizers that Egypt will not participate in this campaign nor cooperate with them in any way," Hawass added.

Egyptian opinion has even removed the pyramids from the first ever global campaign. “That’s fine with us. We respected their wishes. The campaign goes on without them as we get 40 M votes from around the world; there’s an outpour for support from the highest level of many national governments down to the lowest 6-year old child from countries like Uganda, Tibet, or Peru,” Viering stressed about their program totally devoid of discussions on bureaucrats’ power plays.

Prof. Dr. Shadia Kenawy, Ambassador Permanent Delegate of Egypt to UNESCO in Paris, told the eTN Egypt is against the campaign since the evaluation made is a public one. "It does not take into consideration the assessment of experts. Therefore, we think this initiative has no scientific value since UNESCO is not involved in this campaign," Ambassador Kenawy explained in an email.

Meanwhile, Viering invites people to cast their vote on the site. She added they have not sold any single tour ever, disputing Hawass’ claim. Although the company has a tour partner, it is completely independent of the New7Wonders. “We are nothing besides a non-profit foundation. It is a philanthropic organization. Bernard Weber, the founder thinks the concept is one which can bring the world together, hoping children from different parts of the world could learn about other cultures,” Viering said stating they need to make some money just to cover their costs through donations from people around the world.

Asked if money comes from the sites themselves, Viering categorically said no. “We’ve not collected a cent from any of the finalists. People send Euros 20, 50 to 100. Hotels and partners support us in kind because they believe in what we do,” she said adding, “It is a shame the Egyptians have removed themselves from this extraordinary campaign that’s writing history in a first global election.”

Counting down to July 7th’s final poll date, the heat is on. Tension escalates while Egypt’s official letter is sent to a number of Egyptian and international agencies and major organizations with links to the world heritage sites, as well as, a number of Egyptian and foreign press.

Printable Version | published May 04, 2007

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