Intellectuals Form Cultural Council
 Dubai, 25 May 2007 (Gulf News)
A total of 227 Iraqi intellectuals met in Jordan over three days at a conference that discussed the political, social and cultural repercussions of the crisis in Iraq, organisers said.
“The conference also established the Iraqi Cultural Council (IRCC) which strives to be an active framework to unite the Iraqi cultural scene … for its members to stand as a unified front in the face of terrorism and fundamentalism, while defending the right to free thought, culture and speech,” Iyad Zameli, one of the organisers said.
The Iraqi academics and intellectuals who met in Amman recently also announced that their council “is not a substitute for cultural organisations and civil society organisations present in Iraq or abroad … it resembles a capillary acting as an umbrella for all the intellectuals in Iraq under an independent and vocational framework,” the final communique said.
The goals of the ICC emerge from a professional base that holds Iraqi cultural interests above all other national, religious, sectarian and political affiliations, explained Zameli.
The conference also declared its vital backing of the Iraqi people’s aspirations, by building a unified country that preserves its security and sovereignty.