Artigos ANBA
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By Roberto Khatlab*

In the late 19th century, a cultural, literary, political, and religious movement was born in the Arab East called “al-Nahda” [“The Renaissance”]. That trend awakened the hope of liberation and rediscovery of the Arab heritage, which had been altered during Ottoman rule in the Arab countries.

The primary geographic centers of the al-Nahda movement were the cities of Cairo, Beirut, and Damascus. The scholars who were at first the great references of this current, among others, were Egyptian reformer Rifa’a el-Tahtawi, who lived from 1801 to 1873, and Lebanese linguist Boutros al-Boustani, who lived from 1819 to 1883.

Egypt was the birthplace of the Arabic language press, and the Lebanese who emigrated to Egypt in the 19th century to flee Ottoman oppression launched the first newspapers in the modern sense of the term. An example is the newspaper “Al-Ahram” [“The Pyramids,” in free translation], first published in 1875 in Egypt by Salim and Bechara Tacla. The newspaper even reported on Brazilian emperor Pedro II’s trip to Egypt in 1876 and is still active today.

With Arab emigration to Brazil, called “al Mahjar” in Arabic, the “al-Nahda” movement expanded overseas, and the new land of the Arabs also became an influential hub of the revival of Arab literature.

Arab immigration to Brazil had taken place since the 18th century. One of the first immigrants was Joseph Ibrahim Nehmé, who left Deir El Kamar in the emirate of Mount Lebanon in 1795, and the Great Immigration took place in the 19th century. With this displacement, peasants and intellectuals, mainly Lebanese and Syrians, who became peddlers in Brazilian cities, spread Arab culture and street commerce throughout the country.

Immigrants took with them to Brazil not only the way of doing business but also Arab newspapers. Thus, the country became known as the “New Andalusia,” “Al-Andalus Al-Jadidat,” in Arabic, due to the number of Arabist and nationalist literature works of moderate and modern nature produced by Arabs and their descendants in Brazil.

The first newspaper published in Brazil and Latin America in Arabic was “Al-Fayha” or “Mundo Largo” [“Wide World”]. Created by Salim Iuhana Balich from Zahle, it was printed in Campinas, in the state of São Paulo, in 1894. A little earlier, in North America, in 1888, the Arabic newspaper “Kaukaba America” [“Planet America”] had been published in New York by the brothers Nagib and Ibrahim Arbili. In 1896, Balich created the second newspaper, “Al-Barazili” [“Brazil”], in Santos, São Paulo, together with Antun Najar, also from Zahle. Then Al-Fayha and Al-Barazili newspapers merged in 1897.

From 1894 onwards, the number of newspapers, magazines, and books in Arabic and bilingual Arabic-Portuguese editions flourished in Brazil. For the Arabs, they were a social link that helped to preserve their mother tongue and customs and spread the news about the East. In addition to “Al-Barazili,” there were newspapers such as “al-Rabik” [“The Observer”], founded in 1896, and “al-Munázir” [“The Replicator”], in 1899. In 1900, the literary, cultural, social, and political group named after the great Arab poet from Aleppo, Abū-l-ʿAlā’ al-Maʿarrī, was assembled in São Paulo by the journalist and politician Naun Labaki to be a place for Arab scholars to meet and teach beginners to read and write in Arabic, most of whom were Arab peddlers.

Then several other Arab newspapers and magazines appeared, such as “Al-Afkar” [“The Thoughts”], 1903-1941 by Said Abujamra, which was, in fact, the former “Al-Barazili” newspaper that changed owners and name. Publications such as “Al-Carmat” [“The Vine”], 1914-1948 by Salwa Atlas also appeared; it was the first women’s magazine in the Americas. Among the many other publications that appeared at the time were “Suria Al-Jadidat” [“The New Syria”], in 1918 by Habib Hanun; “Revista Oriente” [“East Magazine”], in 1928, by Mussa Kuraiem; “Etapas” [“Stages”], 1955-1983, by Mariana Dabul Fajuri; and “Al-Akhbar Al-Arabe” [“Arab News”], in 1961, by Nabih Abou El Hosn and Assaad Zaidan.

Several books in Arabic were also written and translated, such as “História do Brasil” [“History of Brazil”], in 1918, by Georges Mikhael Atlas, with editions in Arabic and Portuguese and in which the content of the first page was: Let seventy million inhabitants of the world who speak the Arabic language, read about the history of a glorious nation [Brazil].

In immigration, during the Ottoman Empire, the press media facilitated the publication of their ideas to several scholars, to the point the empire prohibited some works published in other countries from circulating in the countries of origin, as some wrote against the Ottomans and publicized the opportunities of emigration to Brazil.

At that point, Jamil Safady wrote in the book “Coleção Brasil-Líbano-Síria” [“Brazil-Lebanon-Syria Collection”] in 1949: “The fame of the Arab press in Brazil surpassed the borders of our Second Homeland [Brazil], to be known and admired in all continents, taking the beautiful name of Brazil far away, spreading its news and making the sympathy of the Arab peoples for Brazil and its people take root… The history of the Arab press in Brazil will be a monumental effort, leaving a rich history and a precious unparalleled movement of journalistic expansion.”

From 1920 to 1950, literary centers emerged in immigrant colonies. In Brazil, the “Liga Andaluza de Letras Árabe” [“Andalusian League of Arab Writers”] was founded, which lasted from 1933 to 1953, in São Paulo and had as its first president the writer Michel Neman Maluf, followed by others such as Habib Massoud, Chafik Maaluf, Nazir Zeitun, Fauzi Maluf, Iskandar Kerbaj, Nasr Semaan, Dauod Chakour, Antun Salim Saad, Naum Labaki, Chukrallah Al Jurr, and Akl Al-Jurr, among others.

The Andalusian League published the magazine “al-Usbat” [“The League”], edited by Habib Massoud. It was one of the prominent magazines published by Arab immigrants in Brazil and also read enthusiastically in the Arab world, where literature was beginning to free itself from obsolete and rigid traditionalism. The magazine “al-Usbat” contributed to the Arab Renaissance movement.

In 1937, the Lebanese Press Association was founded in Rio de Janeiro, the first in the Americas. It was launched by José Nassif Daher and Chukrallah Al Jurr and increased the cultural momentum, with publications in Arabic and Portuguese on history, politics, literature, culture, society, and commerce.

In the 20th century, Brazil surpassed all countries in the Americas in the number of titles of publications made by Arab immigrants and descendants. According to the Lebanese historian Philippe de Tarrazi, in 1929, in Brazil, 29 newspapers and 13 magazines were published by immigrants. According to another historian, also Lebanese, Philippe Hitti, in 1950, 165 newspapers were published in South America, of which 95 were in Brazil, 58 in Argentina, eight in Chile, three in Cuba, and one in Uruguay.

All the pioneering immigrants who arrived in Brazil from the 18th to 20th centuries left an extraordinary legacy through their work and trade. Scholars left a great written heritage, as we saw briefly above, with reports on the history, politics, culture, and literature of the Arab world, under the Ottoman Empire, under the French mandate, or during independence.

This heritage, the archives that withstood the test of time, are precious sources for learning about the struggles of the first immigrants in Brazil. These riches are found in associations, libraries, and Arab homes throughout Brazil. To collect and preserve them, since 1918, the Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (CECAL) and Library of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Lebanon, and the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce (ABCC), with its cultural branch the Arab House, in Brazil, are searching for these files in Brazil and digitizing them, as part of the Digitization Project of the Memory of Arab Immigration in Brazil.

Thanks to associations, libraries, families, and individuals who have these materials and allowed us to digitize them, we can save and preserve this great heritage of Arab immigration in Brazil and Latin America. We are much grateful for that. Sometimes people have just one newspaper, but it completes a collection. The publications mentioned above, including the complete digital collection of “al-Usbat” magazine, are in the collection after their editions, scattered in Brazil and Lebanon, were gathered.

The digital and physical files are in the USEK Library, in the Latin America Special Collection, open to all researchers and those interested in learning more on the subject. To have access to them, browse the catalog. For more information, please get in touch with USEK at [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected]. For people who also have pieces of this heritage, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to scan them for free, and your name will become part of USEK’s Latin America Special Collection.

*Roberto Khatlab is a researcher and writer, director of the Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (CECAL) at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) in Lebanon, and author of the book “Mahjar, a Saga Libanesa no Brasil” [“Mahjar, the Lebanese Saga in Brazil”] a bilingual publication in Arabic and Portuguese.

Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro

Presonal files/Roberto Khatlab