Celebration marking the 50th anniversary of Arab Writers Union foundation

Damascus, SANA- Under the patronage of President Bashar al-Assad, a central celebration for the Arab Writers Union (AWU) was held on Sunday on occasion of the 50th anniversary of its foundation at Al-Assad National Library. Delivering a speech, Vice-President Najah al-Attar said that the writers are the vanguard and they should employ literature to spread enlightenment and a rational, intellectual renaissance, which would lead to creating the optimal future. “We want our literature to instill the noblest of concepts and to be patriotic, nationalist, progressive, and humane, and for it to look towards achieving a qualitative shift which pushes the society forward and inspires the nation to more steadfastness in the face of dispersion, fragmentation, and disassociation from its history and Arabism,” al-Attar said. A documentary about the foundation of the Arab Writers Union and its meetings was screened during the celebration, showcasing the writers who established the union, the literary associations affiliated with it the Union, and the newspapers and periodicals issued by it. Head of the Writers Union of Africa, Asia, and Latin America Sherif Shobashy said “we represent 45 unions and associations and we came Syria to express solidarity with the steadfast Syrian people who stood in the face of terrorism and rejected extremism and subservience.”