News Update - English, Turkish, Spanish, French

[ October 2006 ]

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The Alliance of Civilizations is a 2005 initiative by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the prime ministers of Turkey and Spain aimed at bringing together institutions and civil society to bridge prejudices and misunderstandings among peoples of different cultures and religions.

Gul: Turkey feels responsible for solidarity among civilizations
The New Anatolian / Paris www.thenewanatolian.com

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated yesterday that Turkey, with its variety of cultural and traditional experiences, thinks itself responsible for preventing cultural differences from escalating into a clash of civilizations.

Gul made the remarks during his speech delivered to the conference entitled "Mediterranean Cultural Workshop: Dialogue Among People and Cultures" held at the French Presidential Palace in Paris.

Stressing that Turkey together with Spain are exerting active efforts for laying a solid groundwork for creation of dialogue between civilizations, Gul said, "The fact that Turkey embraces common humanitarian values such as good governance, transparency, and the rule of law, which have roots both in the West and the East, as a country with a predominantly Muslim population, and the level it has reached in EU accession process, make us all the more hopeful about the future."

Gul said that history has witnessed tragedies because of perceptions due to differences, adding that differences should be taken as richness.

The foreign minister also warned against the exclusionary attitude both in the East and in the West at a time when improvements in information technology are expected to bring people closer.

For his part, French President Jacques Chirac urged against the tension between cultures, underlining that peace and stability can be established through peace and tolerance.

Thursday, September 14, 2006 www.turkishdailynews.com

Voicing the Turkish government's sincerity in its intense efforts for creating an environment that fosters dialogue between different cultures, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül said Turkey considers itself obliged to prevent a so-called clash of civilizations.

Gül's remarks came yesterday in Paris during a cultural workshop on Mediterranean countries which was arranged by the French Foreign Ministry and hosted by the French president at the Elysée Palace.

“The fact that Turkey reflects common humanitarian values -- such as transparency, accountability, good governance and rule of law, which have roots in both the West and East -- within the framework of a modern pluralist democracy in a country where a majority of the population is Muslim, and the progress that it made on the path to European Union [membership] makes all of us more hopeful for the future,” Gül was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency.

His remarks coincided with the strong, supportive words by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Only a day before, in an address to trade union activists in Brighton, Blair said that denying EU membership to Turkey would be “seismic” with ramifications across world.

In his speech, Gül warned that “a militant mentality of excluding” people that are from different cultures has emerged both in Eastern and the Western societies, and described this mentality as “a great danger.”

“We can counter this concept -- which has become more urgent with globalization -- in the most appropriate way not by closing ourselves off, but with an embracing manner and tolerance.”

In the speech, he also referred to a U.N.-backed project co-sponsored by Turkey and Spain, which aims to defuse Muslim-Christian disputes and misunderstandings and establish an “Alliance of Civilizations,” as a sign of Turkey's firmness on getting involved in this essential issue.

On Tuesday night, speaking to reporters at the hotel where he stayed, Gül underlined the high importance given by Turkey to boosting relations with France.

“There may be ups and downs in bilateral relations. All necessary efforts should be exerted to prevent a disruption of relations,” he said.

When he was invited to comment on negative signals coming from France in Turkey's full membership process with the EU, “Everybody may express their views in pluralist countries. We do not refrain from discussion,” Gül briefly said.

Gül was yesterday scheduled to hold talks with his French counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy, after the Turkish Daily News went into print.

At UN debate, Spain and Portugal affirm importance of dialogue between cultures

21 September 2006 – A serious, sustained dialogue between cultures and civilizations that leads to concrete actions is the way forward to tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges, especially the conflict in the Middle East, Europe’s Iberian neighbours Spain and Portugal told the General Assembly today.

In separate addresses on the third day of the annual debate, Portugal’s Prime Minister José Sócrates and Spain’s Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos each stressed that all sides have a responsibility to replace fear and mistrust with respect for difference.

Mr. Moratinos said the Alliance of Civilizations, an initiative set up by Secretary-General Kofi Annan last year and co-sponsored by Spain and Turkey, is designed to deal with these very challenges.

He added that the row at the start of this year over the publications of Danish cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad and the violence in parts of the Islamic world over the past week following a speech in Germany by Pope Benedict XVI demonstrate the need for the Alliance.

Mr. Sócrates said the ongoing instability and discord in the Middle East highlighted the need for solutions that favour the political and the diplomatic over the military.

But he also said that a dialogue between civilizations, whether over issues in the Middle East or elsewhere, will not succeed unless there is a willingness to not accept “mere declarations, but to take firm and concrete steps towards greater interaction between peoples and cultures.”

UN observes International Day of Peace - 21 September

The observance Thursday of the 25th annual International Day of Peace comes as the United Nations is engaged in ever-more efforts to bring peace and security to people around the world. (9/21/2006)

The Day was established in 1981 by A/RES/36/67 [PDF, 112K] of the United Nations General Assembly to coincide with its opening session every September. The General Assembly in 2001 voted unanimously to fix observance of the Day on 21 September as a day of non-violence and ceasefire by A/RES/55/282 [PDF, 91K].

The United Nations works in a wide cross-section of areas to address the root causes of conflict, including in poverty reduction, HIV/AIDS prevention, humanitarian assistance, promotion of human rights, development of international agreements and legal instruments, peace operations, electoral assistance, support for democratization, preventive diplomacy and economic and social development.

On 21 September, the Day will be observed at UN Headquarters with the traditional ceremony in which Secretary-General Kofi Annan will ring the Peace Bell for the last time during his term in office. Numerous commemorative events and activities are planned around the world by United Nations offices, governmental and non-governmental agencies, and civil society and religious groups to promote the ideals of peace and non-violence.

This year, the UN will use the Day to note the many ways it works for peace and to encourage individuals, groups and communities around the world to contemplate and communicate thoughts and activities on how to achieve peace.

For further information, please contact the Peace and Security Section, Strategic Communications Division, Department of Public Information. Tel: 1 (212) 963- 1742; Fax: 1 (212) 963-9737. Prepared by the UN Web Services Section.

Please take a minute to look the postcard available on this website and tell us how you think you can contribute to the attainment of peace.
www.un.org/events/peaceday/2006/

Efforts are under way in France to conduct a workshop of dialogue between different cultures in an attempt to overcome the “falling-out” that worsened as the western world distances itself from the Islamic world.

Jacques Chirac, the President of France, will be the first to introduce on Wednesday in Paris the Cultural Workshop of Europe-Mediterranean-Gulf.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul traveled to Paris today to join the inauguration at the Elysee Palace where he will make a speech.

A statement from Foreign Ministry officials in France said that the workshop was in response to the thesis that argues for the existence of a clash of civilizations, and added that this project is part of the efforts Turkey and Spain that are expected to culminate in an alliance of civilizations.

The Foreign Ministry statement also underlined the fact that France attaches great importance to the existence of cooperation and cultural dialogue to bridge the cultural gap that exists between the West and the East. It also focuses on the need for the two civilizations to stand side by side, and not in opposition to each other, in a bid to prevent further discords and clashes from occurring between the two civilizations.

Foreign Ministry officials informed that the series of workshops will be carried out as part of the Barcelona process and will bring a new focus to the diplomacy between countries.

At least 200 people have been invited from European Union member states, as well as representatives from Gulf countries, Northern Africa, and Turkey to join discussions over the next three days.

The six workshops will cover a wide range of themes including techniques of recording history, revision of history books, the role of media in clashes between cultures, the results of attempts to create a common understanding between cultures and religions, education, racism, anti-Semitism, and overcoming Islamophobia.

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Thursday September 21, 2006 The Guardian

The former US secretary of state Colin Powell has accused the White House of pursuing policies in the "war on terror" that have put America out of step with the rest of the world.

In response, Mr Bush accused his former secretary of state of "flawed logic", while the White House press secretary, Tony Snow, said Mr Powell was "confused".

OIC Ministers to Combat Misconceptions of Islam
Siraj Wahab & Hasan Hatrash, Arab News www.arabnews.com

JEDDAH, 9 September 2006 — Tackling the rising tide of Islamophobia in the West is one of the four main points to be taken up for discussion at the Seventh Session of the Islamic Conference of Information Ministers that begins in Jeddah on Wednesday.

The conference will be preceded by a two-day preparatory meeting of senior information officials from the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member states. It begins at the Jeddah Conference Palace today.

Addressing a joint press conference at Jeddah Crowne Plaza last night, Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani and OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said: “The conference aims to come up with a joint action to face up to the challenges of our time, especially with the rise of hate crimes and Islamophobia in the West and the confusion resulting from the unfortunate mixing up of Islam with terrorism.”

Madani said Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah would inaugurate the two-day conference.

“That in itself indicates the seriousness with which the Kingdom’s leadership is taking this conference,” said Ihsanoglu. “It is hugely significant coming as it does at a very critical time in the history of Muslims.”

Ihsanoglu said the conference was in a sense a continuation of the Makkah Summit in December last year.

“The conference will take into consideration the spirit of the Makkah Summit which called for the need to boost solidarity in action within the framework of the OIC and to implement the resolutions of that summit,” he said.

Madani said the International Islamic News Agency (IINA) needed to be recast to meet today’s needs. “It has outlived its purpose and we need to re-establish it with a new focus,” he said.

The Saudi information minister said each OIC member country has its own rules governing the conduct of the media. They basically serve their own national interests, he said.

“The idea is not to scrap everything and come up with a totally new policy,” said Madani. “We want to focus on the best and relevant aspects of each country’s media policy and combine them so that it becomes the benchmark for all other OIC member countries to follow.”

He said the conference of information ministers would only discuss four main proposals because “there is no point in discussing everything and not implementing anything.” In the past very many resolutions were passed but they were not implemented, Madani said.

Ihsanoglu nodded in affirmation. “We need practical steps,” he said. “And this conference aims to put those steps into practice.”

Madani said there was no need to be apologetic when dealing with the West. “We need to communicate with them. We don’t have to apologize. We need to come up with effective ways and means of communication among ourselves first and then with the outside world.”

The minister said media establishments in the OIC member countries are responsible for developing the media. “The media in the Muslim and Arab world are dependent on the foreign media because they are the most active, reporting from the centers of conflict,” he said. “Arab and Muslim media establishments should support their employees and make available the facilities and tools for them to report from conflict zones.”

Madani was blunt in his scathing criticism of the media in the Arab and Muslim world. “In Bosnia, in Nigeria, in Mindanao, did any of the Arab or Islamic media people go there?” he asked. “Our media establishments lack fieldwork. I don’t mean any offense, but coming to attend this press conference and reporting about it in the newspaper tomorrow is the easiest thing. The difficult part is to go to Mindanao to cover a major catastrophe.”

He said people keep talking about the freedom of the press. “Freedom requires responsibility and responsibility requires a proper code of conduct. The Arab and Muslim world needs to have a proper and effective code of conduct and ethics to govern its media.”

At the conference, Ihsanoglu will present a report on the implementation of the paragraph related to information in the 10-Year Program of Action to face the challenges of the Muslim Ummah in the 21st Century which was adopted at the Makkah Summit.

Among the main points which will be covered by the report are: how to effectively interact with the foreign media to enable the Muslim world to present its perspective; the adoption of a binding code of conduct that takes into consideration diversity and pluralism and protects the values and interests of the Ummah which should be adhered to by the media of the member states; and evaluation of the current situation of the OIC information system to consider ways and means on how to reactivate and energize the role of the media within the framework of the OIC.

President Bush plans to meet Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Washington next month for talks on cooperation in the war against terrorism.

The White House released a statement Tuesday that said the talks will be held October second and will include discussion on how to counter Kurdish rebels in Turkey.

The statement said the two leaders also will discuss ways to advance freedom in Lebanon, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. And they will talk about political and economic reforms in Turkey, as well as U.S. support for Turkey's efforts to join the European Union.

Annan Meets With Iran President Khatami

The Associated Press Wednesday, September 13, 2006; 1:14 AM

UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asked former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday to help foster dialogue with the United States, as the moderate cleric wound down an unprecedented U.S. tour, the United Nations said.

Annan and Khatami kissed each other on the cheek three times and chatted amiably before the private meeting began. It came near the end of Khatami's trip, which has taken him to Boston, Chicago and Washington.

"The secretary-general expressed his wish to see more dialogue between the United States and Iran on different levels and said he hoped President Khatami would be useful in that regard," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Khatami brushed past reporters on his way out of the U.N., smiling and pointing to his watch as he sped out the door to a waiting motorcade.

Khatami's five-city tour of the United States has angered some conservatives in Congress, and some influential Iranian exiles in the United States.

The two-week tour was the result of an invitation from the U.N. for Khatami could attend a meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations, a U.N.-sponsored group that promotes understanding between Western and Islamic states.

Khatami is a founding member of the alliance. Officials at Iran's U.N. Mission refused to say when he was leaving, though diplomats said it would be either late Tuesday or Wednesday.

September 20, 2006

Iranian Leader Accepts Efforts by Pope to Recast His Remarks

By IAN FISHER www.nytimes.com September 20, 2006

ROME, Sept. 19 — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran suggested Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI had satisfactorily “modified” his remarks on Islam, one sign of an easing of anger since the pope issued an apology on Sunday for having caused offense with a speech he delivered last week.

“We respect the pope and all those interested in peace and justice,” Mr. Ahmadinejad, an observant Muslim and a hard-liner against the West, said in Venezuela before leaving for the United Nations in New York. “I understand that he has modified the remarks he made.”

On Sunday, Benedict said he was “very sorry” for the anger and protests following his speech, in which he quoted a medieval text that described Islam as “evil and inhuman.” Several churches were attacked Friday and Saturday in the West Bank and Gaza, and an Italian nun was killed Sunday in Somalia, although it is not certain why she was attacked.

Since Sunday, some Muslims have said the pope did not go far enough in his statement: Although he said he did not agree with the description of Islam he had quoted, he did not apologize for having quoted it. On Tuesday, some Muslims continued to demand a fuller apology.

“Either apologize or don’t come,” read banners at a protest on Tuesday in Turkey, which the pope is scheduled to visit in November.

In Libya on Monday, a son of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the nation’s leader, rejected the apology. “If this person were really someone reasonable, he would not agree to remain at his post one minute, but would convert to Islam immediately,” said the son, Muhammad el-Qaddafi.

But on Tuesday, other Muslims echoed the sentiments of Rome’s top imam, who said that the pope had retreated from his original comments.

“We are always ready for dialogue, always ready for cohabitation, anywhere, even in those moments when we are wounded,” the imam, Sami Salem, said after an interfaith meeting. He added, “Dialogue is not an empty word; it should be a fact.”

Also at the meeting was the Vatican’s top official on interfaith dialogue, Cardinal Paul Poupard, who echoed the imam’s call for discussion. “The alternative to terrorism and violence is dialogue,’’ he said.

Some say apologies by pope are too much

By Ian Fisher The New York Times THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2006

VATICAN CITY Muslims angry about Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on Islam are not the only ones talking about an apology.

"What should he apologize for?" asked Daniele Corbetta, 43, a psychologist in Rome. "There is freedom of speech, and what he said is objectively true."

There was, without doubt, a low-grade seething where Corbetta stood, amid thousands of pilgrims and tourists, in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday as the pope again addressed his quoting a medieval emperor who called Islam "evil and inhuman."

Three days after saying he was "very sorry" about the reaction to his remarks, delivered last week in Germany, Benedict sought to clarify again.

"This quotation, unfortunately, was misunderstood," the pope said, alluding to days of protests and attacks on churches by offended Muslims. "In no way did I wish to make my own the words of the medieval emperor.

"I wished to explain that not religion and violence, but religion and reason, go together," he said. He added that he hoped he had made "clear" his "profound respect for world religions and for Muslims."

But in the crowd here, and around other parts of the world that are not Muslim, there were many voices like Corbetta's, saying that the pope does not need to keep clarifying himself. Perhaps, many say, he should have been more diplomatic in his choice of quotes in his speech.

But, in a strong counterreaction to the strong Muslim reaction, many Catholics and other non-Muslims say Benedict stood out from other world leaders, in these tense times, by speaking about violence and Islam - and that the violent reaction to the remarks simply proved his point. In fact, some say the issue may define his papacy.

"It's about time that somebody from the western, Judeo-Christian religions finally came out stating that some of the teachings of Muhammad are used violently," Steven Gottesfeld, 40, an American Jew who attended the pope's weekly audience with his Catholic wife, Patricia.

For many Catholics, Benedict's speech - for all its complexity and all that remains unclear about what he meant to say - marked a turning point in this papacy and, perhaps, a historic moment of clarity: that just as his predecessor, John Paul II, played a key role in ending communism, supporters say that Benedict's role may be to speak out against radical Islam.

As such, many supporters of the pope say that he should not issue the further apology that many Muslims are demanding. For many far afield from the Vatican, using the words "very sorry" on Sunday already gave the impression of retreat.

"It just seemed to me that by apologizing and backing away a little, he was encouraging more of the violence and anger on the streets," said Edward Morrissey, 43, who this week posted an anguished "open letter" to Benedict on his popular blog, Captain's Quarters, which often addresses Catholic issues urging him not to apologize more.

"It's the nature of radicalism that if you give an inch, they will take a mile," he said in a telephone interview from Minnesota, where he blogs and works as a call center manager. "That's why I wanted to say: Don't go any further."

Yet other Catholics feel he did make a slip in his speech.

"He should apologize," said Jennifer Ferreris, 20, a theology student at Boston College who went to see the pope on Wednesday during her trip to Rome.

"Too much emphasis is placed on the fundamentalists of Islam, the militants, and not enough on the faith. We adore the same God. They have respect for the Virgin Mary."

Even if he suggested something many believe is true - about a link between violence in Islam, especially after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - critics say it is not necessarily the pope's job to say so. It could, they say, undermine his authority as a figure above conflict - or even feed a hatred against Muslims that they say is contrary to Christianity.

"I lost a little respect for him," Ferreris added. "Inadvertent as it might have been, he's the head of our church. He should be the most tolerant."

The 79-year-old Benedict appeared on St. Peter's Square, as popes do on Wednesdays, for the weekly general audience which anyone can attend. If security was higher, following death threats on radical Islamic Web sites, it was hard to see: The pope arrived at the canopy in front St. Peter's, on a perfect early autumn day, as he always does, in a popemobile not encased in bulletproof glass.

He made his latest remarks as anger in the Muslim world appeared to be waning: On Tuesday, even the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, expressed "respect" for the pope and approval that he had "modified" his remarks. Still, the Vatican still seemed eager to unwind the tensions: Benedict's remarks on Wednesday marked the fourth time the Vatican has tried to clarify what he said - including a rare papal expression of personal regret on Sunday in which he used the words "very sorry." Some Catholics, and especially more conservatives, insist the pope did not make an apology.

"The pope expressed regret for the reactions, but did not retract one iota of what he said, for the simple reason that he has no intention or need of doing so," said the Reverend Thomas Berg, executive director of the Westchester Institute for Ethics and the Human Person, outside of New York.

Peter Kiefer also contributed to this report.

A struggle over Europe's religious identity

Tariq Ramadan Tribune Media Services Sept. 20, 2006

PARIS A few sentences spoken by Pope Benedict XVI were sufficient to touch off a firestorm of impassioned reaction. Throughout the Muslim world, religious leaders, presidents, politicians and intellectuals joined their voices with protesting masses angered by a perceived insult to their faith. Most did not read the pope's speech; others had relied on a sketchy summary according to which the pope had linked Islam and violence. But all railed against what they saw as an intolerable offense.

Whatever the judgments of these scholars and intellectuals, one would have hoped that they adopt a more reasoned approach in their critical remarks, for two reasons.

First, the reverence that Muslims have for the Prophet Muhammad notwithstanding, certain groups or governments manipulate crises of this kind as a safety valve for both their restive populations and their own political agenda. When people are deprived of their basic rights, it costs nothing to allow them to vent their anger over Danish cartoons or the words of the pontiff.

Second, the mass protests we have been witnessing, characterized primarily by uncontrollable outpouring of emotion, end up providing a living proof that Muslims cannot engage in reasonable debate and that verbal aggression and violence are more the rule than the exception. Muslim intellectuals bear the primary responsibility of not lending credibility to this counterproductive game.

There is ample reason to be startled by an obscure 14th- century quotation critical of the "malevolent works" of the prophet of Islam. And perhaps the pope's whole speech was rather elliptical, lacking in clarity, superficial and even a bit clumsy. But was it an insult for which formal apology should be demanded? Is it either wise or just for Muslims to take offense at the content of the quotation, simply because the pope chose it, while ignoring daily questions they have faced for the past five years on the meaning of jihad and the use of force?

Benedict is a man of his times, and the questions he asks of Muslims are those of the day: questions that can and must be answered clearly, with solid arguments. To start with, we must not accept that jihad be translated as "holy war." Our priority should be to explain the principles of legitimate resistance and of Islamic ethics in conflict situations, not to encourage people to protest violently against the accusation that they believe in a violent religion.

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the crisis is that the real debate initiated by Benedict seems to have eluded most commentators.

In his address last week at the University of Regensburg, Benedict developed a dual thesis. He reminded those rationalist secularists who would like to rid the Enlightenment of its references to Christianity that these references are an integral component of European identity; it will be impossible for them to engage in interfaith dialogue if they cannot accept the Christian underpinnings of their own identity, whether they are believers or not.

Then the pope attempted to set out a European identity that would be Christian by faith and Greek by philosophical reason. Islam, which has apparently had no such relationship with reason, would thus be foreign to the European identity that has been built atop this heritage.

A few years ago, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he set forth his opposition to the integration of Turkey into Europe on a similar basis. Muslim Turkey never was and never will be able to claim an authentically European culture. It is another thing; it is the Other.

These are the messages that cry out for an answer, far more than talk of jihad. This profoundly European pope is inviting the peoples of the continent to become aware of the central, inescapable Christian character of their identity, which they risk losing. The message may be a legitimate one in these times of identity crisis, but it is deeply troubling and potentially dangerous in its reductionism.

This is what Muslims must, above all, respond to; they must challenge a reading of the history of European thought from which the role of Muslim rationalism is erased, in which the Arab-Muslim contribution would be reduced to mere translation of the great works of Greece and Rome.

The selective memory that so easily forgets the decisive contributions of rationalist Muslim thinkers like al-Farabi (10th century), Avicenna (11th century), Averroes (12th century), al-Ghazali (12th century), Ash- Shatibi (13th century) and Ibn Khaldun (14th century) is reconstructing a Europe that practices self-deception about its own past. If they are to reappropriate their heritage, Muslims must demonstrate, in a manner that is both reasonable and free of emotional reactions, that they share the core values upon which Europe and the West are founded.

Neither Europe nor the West can survive if we continue to attempt to define ourselves by excluding, and by distancing ourselves from, the Other - from Islam, from the Muslims - whom we fear.

Perhaps what Europe needs most today is not a dialogue with other civilizations, but a true dialogue with itself, with those facets of itself that it has for too long refused to recognize, that even today prevent it from fully benefiting from the richness of its constituent religious and philosophical traditions.

Europe must learn to reconcile itself with the diversity of its past in order to master the imperative pluralism of its future. The pope's reductionism has done nothing to help this process of reappropriation along. A critical approach should not expect him to apologize but it must simply and reasonably prove to him that historically, scientifically, and ultimately, spiritually, he is mistaken.

It would also give today's Muslims a way of reconciling themselves with the immense creativity of the European Muslim thinkers of the past, who 10 centuries ago were confidently accepting their European identity (not obsessed by the ongoing sterile debates on "integration") and who deeply enriched with their critical reflection both Europe and the West as a whole.

Tariq Ramadan, author of "Western Muslims and the Future of Islam," is a professor of Islamic studies at St Antony's College, Oxford. This Global Viewpoint article was distributed by Tribune Media Service International

Pope’s Regrets Over Statement Fail to Quiet a Storm of Protests

By IAN FISHER www.nytimes.com September 19, 2006

ROME, Sept. 18 — Many Muslims insisted Monday that Pope Benedict XVI did not go far enough in his apology on Sunday for the offense caused by a speech he gave last week that discussed Islam and holy war.

In the southern Iraqi city of Basra, protesters burned an effigy of the pope, and an Iraqi group linked to Al Qaeda posted a warning on a Web site threatening war against “worshipers of the cross.”

The supreme leader in Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called the pope’s remarks “the latest link” in the “chain of conspiracy to set off a crusade.”

And, as a Vatican official said its ambassadors would seek to better explain the pope’s statement, a Turkish man with a fake gun tried to storm a Protestant church in Turkey’s capital, Ankara. He was arrested after worshipers trapped him in the church entryway.

Apart from the continuing anger at the pope’s speech, in which he cited a medieval passage that called Islam “evil and inhuman,” the debate on Monday seemed to turn on whether the pope had actually apologized.

Many Muslims — and some Catholics — noted that he had said only that he was sorry for the reaction that fanned out across the Muslim world. He did not say he had been wrong to have used the quotations.

“You either have to say ‘I’m sorry’ in a proper way or don’t say it at all,” said Mehmet Aydin, a state minister in Turkey, which Benedict is scheduled to visit in November in his first trip to a Muslim country.

But other Muslims either accepted the pope’s statement or called it the best they would get.

“The pope has apologized, and that’s enough, so let’s calm down,” said Hasyim Muzadi, head of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama. “If we remain furious, then the pope will be proved correct.”

Turkey’s most senior Muslim cleric, Ali Bardakoglu, who had been among the most strident in his criticism of the pope, said, “His expression of sadness is a sign that he would work for world peace.”

The Muslim Council in Britain called the pope’s words “exactly the reassurance many Muslims were looking for.”

Benedict ignited a firestorm of protest last week in a speech he made at Regensburg University in Germany. The speech was largely a scholarly address criticizing the West for submitting itself too much to reason, and shutting belief in God out of science and philosophy.

But he began by recounting a discussion of Christianity and Islam between a 14th-century Byzantine Christian emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, and a Persian scholar.

“He said, I quote, ‘Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached,’ ’’ the pope said.

Benedict also briefly considered the Islamic concept of jihad, which he defined as “holy war,” and said that violence in the name of religion was contrary to God’s nature and to reason.

In the speech, Benedict did not say whether he agreed with the quotations he cited. But on Sunday he delivered a rare papal expression of regret, saying, “These were in fact quotations from a medieval text, which do not in any way express my personal thought.”

He said his address had been “an invitation to frank and sincere dialogue, with great mutual respect.”

Several Christian leaders were quoted Monday defending the pope, saying that his words had been misunderstood by the news media.

“We are faced with a media-driven phenomenon bordering on the absurd,” Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, the former archbishop of Paris, told Le Monde. “If the game consists in unleashing the crowd’s vindictiveness on words that it has not understood, then the conditions for dialogue with Islam are no longer met.”

The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, who as archbishop of Canterbury is the leader of the world’s Anglicans, told the BBC, “The pope has already issued an apology, and I think his views on this need to be judged against his entire record, where he has spoken very positively about dialogue” between faiths.

Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul, Raymond Bonner from Jakarta, Indonesia, and Mona el-Naggar from Cairo.

The War for Muslim Minds: Islam and the West (Hardcover)
By Gilles Kepel (Author)

Book Description
The events of September 11, 2001, forever changed the world as we knew it. In their wake, the quest for international order has prompted a reshuffling of global aims and priorities. In a fresh approach, Gilles Kepel focuses on the Middle East as a nexus of international disorder and decodes the complex language of war, propaganda, and terrorism that holds the region in its thrall. The breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in 2000 was the first turn in a downward spiral of violence and retribution. Meanwhile, a neo-conservative revolution in Washington unsettled U.S. Mideast policy, which traditionally rested on the twin pillars of Israeli security and access to Gulf oil. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, a transformation of the radical Islamist doctrine of Bin Laden and Zawahiri relocated the arena of terrorist action from Muslim lands to the West; Islamist radicals proclaimed jihad against their enemies worldwide. Kepel examines the impact of global terrorism and the ensuing military operations to stem its tide. He questions the United States ability to address the Middle East challenge with Cold War rhetoric, while revealing the fault lines in terrorist ideology and tactics. Finally, he proposes the way out of the Middle East quagmire that triangulates the interests of Islamists, the West, and the Arab and Muslim ruling elites. Kepel delineates the conditions for the acceptance of Israel, for the democratization of Islamist and Arab societies, and for winning the minds and hearts of Muslims in the West.

About the Author
Gilles Kepel is Professor at the Institute for Political Studies in Paris.

Foreign correspondent to discuss U.S. Muslims

Geneive Abdo, former Middle East foreign correspondent, will speak on Sept. 18 in the Main Building 0.104 at 7 p.m. about Muslims in the United States and the way the events of Sept. 11 have affected their lives.

She has been invited to UTSA by the Muslim Student Association, and is being sponsored by Oxford Publishers.

Abdo is the liaison for the United Nations (UN) Alliance of Civilizations project, which was created by the UN Secretary General’s office to improve relations between Islamic nations and the West.

She is the author of the new book, “Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America After 9/11.”

Her lecture will be based on her recent book. There will also be a question and answer session, along with a book signing after the lecture.

Abdo’s book covers the creation of a Muslim identity in the U.S. and how that identity has changed since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 that plunged the Islamic faith into criticism and scrutiny in the West.

Abdo is a native of San Antonio. Before working at the United Nations, Abdo had a 20-year journalism career based upon coverage of the Middle East and the Islamic world.

Abdo was a correspondent in Iran for a British newspaper and was the first American journalist to be based in Tehran since the United States cut off ties with Iran in the aftermath of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Réunion décisive à New York du groupe de haut niveau pour l'Alliance des civilisations

“Le groupe de haut niveau des Nations unies pour l'Alliance des civilisations a franchi un seuil décisif au cours de la réunion qui vient de se terminer à New York ”, a déclaré André Azoulay, conseiller de Sa Majesté le Roi et membre actif de ce groupe. S'exprimant devant quelques journalistes, au siège des Nations unies qui a abrité cette réunion, M. Azoulay a estimé que le calendrier imparti au groupe par Kofi Annan serait tenu et que le rapport final pourrait lui être remis à la mi-novembre 2006.

Rappelant que depuis un peu plus d'un an, les membres du groupe de haut niveau travaillent à huis clos, M. Azoulay s'est refusé à donner toute indication sur le contenu des recommandations qui seront adressées au secrétaire général des Nations unies. Il a néanmoins confirmé qu'un large consensus s'était finalement dégagé sur la nécessité de privilégier la centralité de la dimension politique et stratégique de la mission du groupe de haut niveau.

En effet, a déclaré le conseiller de Sa Majesté le Roi, “nous avons certes travaillé de façon large sur le concept d'alliance des civilisations ; mais au-delà de cette définition générique, la problématique qui nous est soumise est celle en vérité de la relation entre l'Islam et le monde occidental, d'abord pour mieux comprendre comment ce risque de la fracture s'est imposé chaque jour avec un peu plus de fracas sur la scène internationale et ensuite pour proposer les modalités concrètes d'un scénario possible de sortie de crise ”.

“ Il n'y a pas de fatalité et encore moins de légitimité historique, culturelle ou spirituelle à une logique de confrontation entre le monde judéo-chrétien et le monde musulman ”, a souligné M. Azoulay en rappelant que “ ce sont des dossiers politiques, conflictuels et tragiques, ceux de la Palestine, de l'Irak ou de l'Afghanistan qui font le lit des irrédentistes et qui sont pour l'essentiel la raison d'être des extrémistes de tous bords, trop heureux d'instrumentaliser le long échec de la communauté internationale sur ce terrain ”.

Le groupe de haut niveau des Nations unies traitera donc dans son rapport final d'une alternative réaliste à la logique de conflit qui a jusqu'ici prévalu sur ces dossiers. Ces propositions d'essence politique seront complétées et confrontées par une réflexion exhaustive et nouvelle traitant de l'éducation, de l'histoire, de l'immigration, des médias et de la jeunesse.

“ Dans ces différentes disciplines, il faut reconquérir et réinvestir l'espace pour redonner droit de citer et d'exister à une parole inspirée par la modernité et les exigences de la cohabitation entre les différentes cultures et les différentes religions, avec les mêmes droits et les mêmes obligations pour tous ”, a conclu André Azoulay.

Le groupe de haut niveau pour l'Alliance des civilisations, créé en juillet 2005 à l'initiative du Premier ministre espagnol J.L. Zapatero, comprend une vingtaine de personnalités parmi lesquelles l'ex-Président iranien Khatami, Monseigneur Desmund Tutu, prix Nobel de la paix, Hubert Védrine, ancien ministre français des Affaires étrangères, Ali Alatas, ancien ministre indonésien des Affaires étrangères, Sheikha Mouza, épouse de l'Emir de Qatar, Mehmet Aydin, ministre d'Etat en Turquie, et Frédérico Mayor, ancien directeur général de l'Unesco.
La prochaine réunion du groupe de haut niveau aura lieu à la mi-novembre 2006, en présence notamment du secrétaire général des Nations unies, M. Annan, et des Premiers ministres d'Espagne et de Turquie, MM. Zapatero et Erdogan.

Analyse www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3232,36-811675,0.html

Le règne du chaos international, par Daniel Vernet

LE MONDE | 11.09.06 |

e monde de la guerre froide avait ses règles. Le monde de l'après-guerre froide était à la recherche d'un principe de fonctionnement que les plus optimistes pensaient avoir trouvé dans le "droit d'ingérence". Une expression équivoque mais qui résumait bien l'aspiration à un système plus juste où ne régnerait plus la loi du (des) plus fort, où la souveraineté des Etats ne serait plus l'alibi de l'inaction face aux violations des droits de l'homme, où le refus de la guerre ne serait pas la feuille de vigne des politiques d'apaisement. Cinq ans après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 et la stratégie choisie par les Américains pour y répondre laissent un monde plus chaotique, moins sûr, dépourvu aussi bien de l'implacable logique de l'antagonisme entre deux blocs, comme au temps de la guerre froide, que des bienfaits un peu iréniques attribués au règne du droit international.

L'effet immédiat des attentats avait pourtant été une sorte d'union sacrée de la "civilisation" contre la "barbarie". Les Américains avaient spontanément entonné cette antienne. Mais ils n'étaient pas les seuls. Le président russe, Vladimir Poutine, avait été parmi les premiers à proclamer sa solidarité avec l'Amérique blessée. Néophyte en matière de politique internationale, George W. Bush troquait ses velléités de pratiquer une diplomatie "modeste" contre un nouvel esprit de croisade qui lui gagnait non seulement l'appui de ses nouveaux amis néoconservateurs mais encore les sympathies d'une partie au moins de la gauche internationaliste. Celle-ci, qui avait appuyé Bill Clinton dans sa politique de défense active des Bosniaques et des Kosovars contre les entreprises de Milosevic, endossait volontiers la campagne menée par son successeur contre "la tyrannie" et en faveur de la promotion de la démocratie.

Les tenants du droit d'ingérence ont soutenu, dans leur grande majorité, la guerre contre les talibans en Afghanistan. Ils ont été moins nombreux à approuver l'utilisation de la force pour débarrasser l'Irak de Saddam Hussein. Quelques-uns ont, récemment encore, manifesté leur sympathie à l'égard d'Israël dans sa guerre contre le Hezbollah.

Sans l'avoir vraiment cherché, George W. Bush a mis en route, à la faveur de la riposte contre Al-Qaida, une révolution du système international fondée sur quelques principes : guerre préventive contre les "Etats voyous", refus du statu quo aux dépens de la modernisation démocratique et insistance sur les changements de régime, confiance dans les vertus contagieuses des valeurs américaines, alliance des démocraties hors d'une ONU contaminée par les dictatures... Dans les premiers temps qui ont suivi le 11 septembre 2001, ces principes ont été appliqués avec d'autant plus de zèle que Ben Laden et ses émules avaient fourni aux idéologues néoconservateurs et nationaux-impérialistes du type Cheney ou Rumsfeld l'occasion de mettre en oeuvre la politique qu'ils prônaient depuis longtemps.

Cette révolution a échoué. La guerre contre le terrorisme n'est pas devenue le principe organisateur du système international. Le programme de démocratisation connu sous le nom de Grand Moyen-Orient est un fiasco. La libération de l'Irak a débouché sur des luttes de clans ethnico-religieuses. Les causes de l'échec sont controversées. Les "réalistes" de la vieille école Kissinger étaient convaincus dès le départ que le mélange de naïveté idéaliste et d'arrogance armée se heurterait aux quelques données fondamentales de la vie internationale : les rapports de pouvoir, la nécessité des alliances même avec des régimes peu plaisants, les avantages du compromis sur l'entêtement dogmatique.

Les néoconservateurs, au contraire, soutiennent que les principes étaient bons mais que leur mise en oeuvre a été déplorable, que l'administration Bush, surtout au cours du deuxième mandat, s'est contentée de demi-mesures, allant même jusqu'à faire confiance aux Européens pour régler la crise du nucléaire iranien. Une troisième école tente de sauver ce qui peut l'être de l'interventionnisme, pour échapper au retour de la Realpolitik comme de l'isolationnisme, tout en essayant de tirer les leçons des déconvenues du "bushisme".

Toujours est-il que la politique étrangère américaine devra être redéfinie par le prochain président. Quel qu'il soit, républicain ou démocrate, il se trouvera devant une réalité que George W. Bush a largement contribué à façonner et que ses adversaires déclarés, ses soutiens inconditionnels comme ses partenaires réticents à l'extérieur n'ont pas vraiment réussi à infléchir. La coupure du monde en deux, qui était le propre de la guerre froide, menace à nouveau, cette fois entre l'Occident et le monde musulman. Les extrémistes des deux bords s'y résignent quand ils ne le souhaitent pas. Les grandes déclarations sur le refus du "choc des civilisations", répétées pour conjurer le sort, ne sont pas pour l'instant d'un grand secours.

Mais, contrairement à la deuxième moitié du XX^e siècle, cet antagonisme binaire n'est pas la seule caractéristique de la situation mondiale. De nouveaux acteurs étatiques - les pays "émergents" - apparaissent qui n'ont pas encore trouvé leur place. Tantôt ils veulent jouer le jeu des grandes puissances. Parfois d'ailleurs ils en font partie de droit, comme la Chine, qui a un siège permanent, avec droit de veto, au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. Tantôt ils se font les porte-parole des plus faibles pour contester la prééminence des puissances traditionnelles, voire simplement de l'hégémonie américaine. Souvent, ils jouent sur les deux tableaux.

Une autre différence avec le temps de la guerre froide est que ces Etats contestataires n'ont pas de référence idéologique commune pour donner un sens à leurs revendications. Le fondamentalisme islamiste n'est pas un produit universellement exportable. Le Vénézuélien Chavez peut bien tomber d'accord avec le président iranien Ahmadinejad pour dénoncer "l'impérialisme américain", il se sent plus proche du socialisme à la Castro que du chiisme à la Khamenei. Autrement dit, ces convergences de circonstances sont de pures manifestations de pouvoir.

Les "réalistes" souhaitaient qu'une sorte de Congrès de Vienne réorganise le monde après l'implosion de l'empire soviétique comme celui de 1815 avait réorganisé l'Europe après la défaire de Napoléon. Cinq ans après le traumatisme du 11 septembre 2001, c'est plus que jamais le règne du chaos, dans lequel l'ONU a bien du mal à mettre un peu d'ordre. Malgré la légitimité qu'elle tire de son universalité, comme dit Jacques Chirac, elle reste tributaire du bon vouloir des grandes puissances et de leur contestation.

M. Azoulay : Juan Goytisolo, un écrivain modèle et engagé

MARRAKECH (MAP) - L'écrivain espagnol Juan Goytisolo est un intellectuel modèle car ""il n'écrit pas simplement par souci esthétique, mais aussi parce qu'il est engagé"", a souligné, dimanche à Marrakech, M. André Azoulay, conseiller de SM le Roi.

""En sa qualité de témoin du présent, Juan Goytisolo nous regarde, essaie de nous comprendre et exprime ce qu'il en retient avec une rigueur, une honnêteté intellectuelle et un engagement idéologique exemplaires"", a-t-il dit lors d'un point de presse à l'occasion de l'hommage qui sera rendu du 10 au 12 septembre dans la cité ocre au grand écrivain espagnol à l'initiative de la Fondation des Trois Cultures.

M. Azoulay, également président délégué de la Fondation, a noté qu'""en ces temps de déraison, de fausse peur, de tentation de la fracture et dans ce quotidien de l'ignorance instrumentalisé pour la confrontation, la parole et les écrits de Goytisolo sont plus que jamais précieux"".

Il n'a pas manqué de relever qu'""il a toujours apprécié le fait que Juan Goytisolo n'ait jamais reculé devant la complexité des sujets"", saluant la prédilection particulière de l'écrivain pour ""tout ce qui paraît difficile, nous fait peur, paraît étrange et semble irrationnel"".

M. Azoulay a fait savoir, par ailleurs, que ""les travaux de Goytisolo lui ont permis d'apprendre qu'on peut protéger sa mémoire sans en être prisonnier"".

L'oeuvre de Juan Goytisolo, a-t-il dit, donne les clés à même de permettre à chacun de nous de résister à la tentation d'utiliser la mémoire et l'identité pour la mauvaise cause , ""car beaucoup de discours identitaires instrumentalisent souvent l'histoire, la religion ou la mémoire comme un élément de fracture là où elles doivent être des éléments de synthèse"".

Le grand écrivain et penseur espagnol, Juan Goytisolo a relevé, de son côté, que le dialogue des civilisations et des cultures constitue la seule réponse ""que nous pouvons présenter face à la situation désastreuse que vit actuellement le monde, et ce en vue de défendre la raison"".

""Il n'existe pas de réponses simples à des questions qui ne le sont pas"", a-t-il ajouté, plaidant pour des écrits qui stimulent l'intelligence du lecteur.

M. Goytisolo a rappelé, par ailleurs, qu'il a toujours été critique à l'égard de sa culture et respectueux de l'autre, appelant à combatte le nationalisme étroit et le recours à la violence pour le règlement des différents.

Organisée par la Fondation des Trois Cultures dont SM le Roi Mohammed VI et SM le Roi Juan Carlos sont les présidents d'honneur, cette manifestation verra la participation de nombreuses personnalités d'Europe, d'Amérique et du Moyen-Orient, qui associeront leurs témoignages à ceux de nombreux experts marocains spécialistes de l'oeuvre de Juan Goytisolo.

Articulée autour de l'apport de cet écrivain à la littérature universelle et du rapport privilégié qu'il entretient avec le Maroc et plus largement avec le patrimoine culturel et spirituel de l'islam, cette rencontre sera dominée par trois thèmes essentiels à savoir Alliance des civilisations, Alliance des valeurs, ainsi que l'oeuvre littéraire et les causes défendues par Juan Goytisolo et son rapport à l'héritage spirituel de l'Islam.

Parmi les intervenants attendus, figurent notamment Jean Daniel, directeur du Nouvel Observateur, Juan Luis Cebrian, président du Groupe espagnol Prisa qui édite El Pais, Leila Chahid, déléguée de Palestine auprès de l'Union européenne, Florence Malraux, Edmond Amrane El Maleh, Aziza Bennani, Farouk Mardam Bey, Aline Schulman.

Il y a cinq ans en direct, le monde stupéfait assistait à ce qui ressemblait à un Apocalypse now : l’effondrement des deux tours du World Trade Center à New York. Deux commandos-suicide avaient détourné des avions de ligne pour les lancer sur les tours, faisant 3.000 morts. L’Amérique venait d’être touchée là ou cela faisait le plus mal : le symbole de sa puissance économique et financière, la vitrine de son génie créateur.

Les auteurs sont 19 illustres inconnus arabo-musulmans désœuvrés qui comme illuminés ont eu une parfaite réussite dans l’art de détruire, voire de ruiner. Dans leurs déclarations posthumes, ils disent avoir agi au nom des écritures saintes du Coran qui leur donnent le droit de tuer sans discernement les populations qui ne se comportent pas comme ils le souhaitent. Leur commanditaire est un tout autre illustre inconnu citoyen saoudien Oussama ben Laden déchu de sa nationalité et qui d’errance idéologique en errance idéologique a trouvé génial de revenir à l’orthodoxie islamique et de restaurer la morale au nom de Dieu. Sa stratégie consiste à manipuler les autres et les amener à s’attaquer aux soit disant « infidèles » et ensuite à revendiquer par cassette-vidéo interposée.

Une démarche lâche et surtout efficace qui ne dépasse pas l’effet d’annonce médiatique et sa cohorte d’émotion. Il n’est pas étonnant que certains pensent que le chef d’al Qaïda, agent de la Cia du temps de la lutte contre l’envahisseur soviétique en Afghanistan, soit utilisé pour combattre le monde arabo-musulman et briser sa volonté d’hégémonie, tant l’ambition est disproportionnée comparée aux moyens. Pour faire la guerre aux « infidèles », à travers le monde, il faut plus que des attentats aveugles contre gratte-ciel, fussent-ils les deux centre de commerce du monde (World Trade Center)

Cela a suffi tout de même pour ramener à la face du monde et à l’opinion si chère aux démocraties occidentales, la guerre des religions du Moyen Age entre l’Orient musulman et l’Occident Chrétien : un choc des cultures, un choc des civilisations, un choc des ambitions géopolitiques qui ont constitué un soubassement de la marche du monde depuis cette époque.

Rendant hommage aux victimes, le président George Bush, Chrétien-orthodoxe, ne s’y est pas trompé, n’a pas manqué de parler de croisade du monde libre face au totalitarisme religieux et idéologique. Il avait souligné que pour la paix et la stabilité du monde, l’Occident se devait de remporter cette guerre contre le terrorisme. Il avait aussi précisé que cela prendra du temps et demandera des moyens mais que c’est le prix à payer pour préserver un monde de liberté et de progrès.

L’Amérique, première puissance économique mondiale et qui entend le rester et première victime, a pris la tête des opérations. Elle a choisi de confiner la guerre contre l’extrémisme musulman dans les contrées qui l’ont engendrées, en portant la bataille au cœur de l’Afghanistan premier sanctuaire de l’Islam radical.

Présentant les mêmes conditions géophysiques que l’Arabie saoud ite, les étudiants en théologie depuis le retrait des Russes tentent, au XXIe siècle, à l’heure de la télévision satellitaire et de l’Internet, d’y maintenir les populations dans l’Islam des origines.

La croyance en Allah n’a pas suffi pour faire face à la puissance de feu de l’armée dite infidèle. Comme un château de cartes, le régime afghan s’écroule et laisse la place à un chaos politique et institutionnel qui fait l’affaire des Américains. La lutte pour la survie au quotidien à travers les montagnes laisse aux talibans peu de temps pour mijoter un attentat contre les Occidentaux. Une bataille si loin de leur base qui permet aux Etats-unis au plan intérieur de se donner le temps de mieux verrouiller le système de sécurité.

L’administration Bush ouvre le front iraquien car le pays occupe une position stratégique. Une occupation permet d’avoir une mainmise sur les deuxièmes réserves pétrolières du monde, en attendant de rompre la dépendance vis-à-vis de l’or noir, d’avoir un œil sur l’Iran et sur la Syrie et de veiller sur l’Arabie saoudite.

Les vieilles rivalités tribales et ethniques que l’Islam avait un temps soit peu gommés ayant resurgi, les Américains peuvent tranquillement gérer la guerre civile loin de leur pays et profiter des impacts médiatiques pour se maintenir au pouvoir. Mettant à profit leur alliance, les Juifs, autres ennemis des arobo-musulmans, l’Amérique arme à outrance Israël pour faire face au Hezbollah, bras armé du régime de Téhéran.

Méthodiquement quadrillé, le djihadisme semble désormais condamné à l’errance, en attendant sa fin prochaine. La dernière trouvaille, qui consistait à endoctriner les arabo-musulmans en mal d’intégration dans les pays occidentaux, a montré ses limites au premier coup, tant à Madrid, à Londres qu’en Allemagne et au Canada. Les quelques bastions qui se dessinent en Afrique, notamment en Somalie et au Soudan, semblent voués au même échec face aux lois de l’économisme qui a besoin de paix, mais surtout de stabilité pour prospérer.

Jacques Chirac appelle à une charte du dialogue des cultures pour dépasser les incompréhensions

PARIS (MAP) - La Méditerranée est devenue ""le point focal des incompréhensions entre les peuples"", a souligné le président français Jacques Chirac, appelant à une charte du dialogue des cultures qui ""fixe les règles du vivre-ensemble dans la mondialisation"".

S'exprimant, mercredi à l'Elysée, à l'ouverture de la 1-ère Conférence de l'Atelier culturel Europe-Méditerranée-Golfe, M. Chirac a expliqué que ""nous sommes menacés d'un divorce entre les cultures. Occident contre islam, laïcs contre religieux, Nord contre Sud, riches contre pauvres"".

Le chef de l'Etat français a proposé à cet égard la mise en place entre ces cultures d'une ""coopération de la codification et de la réforme du droit, un Erasmus méditerranéen pour rapprocher nos jeunesses et une charte du dialogue des cultures qui fixe les règles du vivre-ensemble dans la mondialisation"".

Lancé l'an dernier lors du sommet euro-méditerranéen de Barcelone, cet atelier de trois jours réunit des représentants des Etats, universitaires et membres de la société civile.

""Si nous voulons faire de la Méditerranée et du Golfe un trait d'union politique et un espace de solidarité, et conjurer la menace d'un affrontement qui ne serait que le choc de l'ignorance, de la bêtise et de l'arrogance, nous devons impérativement retrouver la voie du dialogue entre les peuples"", a-t-il affirmé.

Après avoir relevé que ""les drames du 20-ème siècle ont aggravé malentendus et rancunes"" et que les actuels conflits au Moyen-Orient ""diffusent sur toute la planète leurs effets déstabilisateurs, comme l'enseigne la leçon cruelle du terrorisme"", il a réaffirmé que ""seul un traitement politique négocié"" peut permettre de résoudre le conflit israélo-palestinien, les ""déchirements"" en Irak et au Liban et les tensions dans le Golfe.

""On n'apaisera rien non plus par la caricature et l'exclusion"", a ajouté M. Chirac qui a appelé à combattre ""la diabolisation de l'Occident"" tout comme ""la suspicion envers l'islam présenté comme réfractaire à la modernité"".

La séance d'ouverture de cet atelier a été marquée par une allocution de SAR le Prince Moulay Rachid dans laquelle il a notamment réitéré l'appui du Maroc à l'ambitieux projet ""l'Alliance des Civilisations"" adopté par l'ONU.

Alliance des Civilisations www.lopinion.ma/spip.php?article13369
Réunion décisive du Groupe de Haut Niveau à New-York
« Le Groupe de Haut Niveau des Nations-Unies pour l’Alliance des Civilisations a franchi un seuil décisif au cours de la réunion qui vient de se terminer à New-York », a déclaré M. André Azoulay, Conseiller de Sa Majesté le Roi et membre actif de ce Groupe.

Varios países, pese a votar a favor, se lamentan de que no se haya avanzado en la polémica definición de lo que es "terrorismo"

MONTSERRAT VENDRELL (EFE)

nueva york. La ONU adoptó el viernes (madrugada en España), en vísperas de la conmemoración del quinto aniversario del 11-S, una estrategia global contra el terrorismo con medidas específicas que deberán aplicar los Gobiernos y organismos internacionales y regionales.

Tras la adopción, el secretario general de la ONU, Kofi Annan, manifestó que "el próximo aniversario de los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre de 2001 debería servir para recordar solemnemente las consecuencias injustificables y atroces del terrorismo en todas las partes del mundo".

En este contexto, hizo un llamamiento a todos los Estados miembros "a que rindan homenaje a las víctimas del terrorismo en todo el mundo, a través de la rápida implementación de todos los aspectos de esta estrategia".

En el documento aprobado se recogen las resoluciones y decisiones que se han tomado anteriormente por la Asamblea General y por el Consejo de Seguridad, y se pide a los Estados miembros que se adhieran a los convenios y protocolos que se han puesto en vigor.

Por primera vez, en un plan estratégico de esta relevancia, se exhorta a los Gobiernos del mundo a poner en marcha un sistema de asistencia para las víctimas del terrorismo y sus familiares con el fin de que puedan normalizar sus vidas.

Otras novedades que presenta la nueva estrategia hacen referencia a la creación de un equipo especial dependiente del Secretariado de la ONU para que coordine y dé coherencia a todas las iniciativas en la lucha contra el terrorismo que lleva a cabo la organización mundial.

Entre las medidas concretas, cabe destacar la creación de una base de datos sobre actos criminales en el campo de la biotecnología, así como acciones específicas para impedir el uso de internet por parte de los terroristas.

Además, se estipula que los gobiernos garanticen que no conceden asilo a personas vinculadas con organizaciones terroristas y que aumentan el control fronterizo para evitar el tránsito de sospechosos terroristas, armas y otros materiales susceptibles de ser usados en actos terroristas. En el área de la prevención, se insta a los gobiernos a que promuevan propuestas de diálogo entre civilizaciones, culturas, gentes y religiones y hace un énfasis especial en la iniciativa de la Alianza de las Civilizaciones, lanzada por Annan, pero cuya idea inicial surgió del presidente español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, copatrocinada por el primer ministro turco Rayip Erdogan.

Asimismo, se destaca que es crucial para prevenir el terrorismo impulsar los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio, con énfasis especial en la erradicación de la pobreza, y se alienta a la aplicación de programas de integración social de jóvenes inmigrantes en países desarrollados. El documento, sin embargo, deja claro que todas las actuaciones que se lleven a cabo en la lucha contra el terrorismo en el mundo deben ajustarse al derecho internacional y concretamente respetar los derechos humanos.

El embajador español, Juan Antonio-Yañéz-Barnuevo y su colega de Singapur, Vanu Golapa Menon, presidieron las intensas negociaciones, que empezaron a finales de abril para elaborar el documento, labor que ha sido ampliamente elogiada.

"Es un gran día para la ONU, porque se ha podido aprobar por consenso esta estrategia, que representa un hito en la historia del organismo mundial", declaró a Efe el embajador español.

Yañez-Barnuevo resaltó que el documento está "vivo" y que su aplicación se revisará periódicamente, por lo que se espera que al cabo de dos años se vuelva a discutir en la Asamblea General para introducir nuevas medidas. "Su aprobación representa también una victoria para la Asamblea General, ya que muchos países consideraban que el Consejo de Seguridad había tomado la delantera y monopolizado el tema de la lucha antiterrorista", agregó.

Pese a que se unieron al consenso, algunos países expusieron sus reservas al documento y criticaron especialmente que no se haya definido el controvertido término de "terrorismo", que no haya una diferenciación con los actos que llevan a cabo algunos grupos en territorios ocupados y que no se mencione tampoco el "terrorismo de Estado".

Se abren Talleres contra el peligro de 'divorcio de las culturas'

El primer Taller cultural Europa-Mediterráneo-Golfo se abrió hoy en París con el reto de ayudar a 'restablecer la confianza en un mundo amenazado por el miedo y el odio', según el presidente francés, Jacques Chirac.

'Porque el Mediterráneo se ha convertido en el punto focal de las incomprensiones entre los pueblos, le corresponde llevar la promesa de un universo' en el que cada uno 'aceptará el rostro y la voz de la diferencia', afirmó Chirac, al abrir la conferencia en el Palacio del Elíseo.

Tras evocar el auge de 'la incomprensión, intolerancia y resentimiento' evidenciado por las 'amalgamas injustificables' que siguieron a los atentados de 2001 o las violentas reacciones a las caricaturas de Mahoma, advirtió de que 'estamos amenazados por un divorcio entre las culturas. Occidente contra el Islam, laicos contra religiosos, Norte contra Sur, ricos contra pobres'.

'Si queremos hacer del Mediterráneo y del Golfo un lazo de unión político y un espacio de solidaridad y conjurar la amenaza de un enfrentamiento, que sería el choque de la ignorancia, la estupidez y la arrogancia, debemos imperativamente reencontrar la vía del diálogo entre los pueblos', recalcó.

Un objetivo subrayado igualmente por la Primera Dama de Egipto, Suzanne Mubarak, el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores turco, Abdulá Gul, los príncipes Moulay Rachid, de Marruecos, y Ghali, de Jordania, y otras personalidades que intervinieron en la apertura del Taller.

Este, que reúne en París hasta el viernes a 250 participantes de las dos orillas del Mediterráneo y del Golfo, es fruto de una propuesta lanzada en la cumbre euro-mediterránea de Barcelona y está en línea con la 'Alianza de Civilizaciones' promovida por los jefes de Gobierno de España, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, y Turquía, Recep Tayip Erdogan, y retomada por la ONU.

La reunión concluirá el viernes con discursos de los ministros de Exteriores francés, Philippe Douste-Blazy, y español, Miguel Angel Moratinos, y del director general de la UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura.

El Taller continuará en Sevilla (España) el próximo febrero, en la sede de la Fundación 'Tres culturas' (de la que directivos están presentes en París), y culminará en Alejandría (Egipto) el próximo junio, con la ambición de lanzar proyectos concretos, como la re-escritura de manuales de Historia o co producciones audiovisuales de las dos orillas del Mediterráneo.

Chirac propuso añadir otros tres proyectos, incluido un 'Erasmus Mediterráneo' (como el programa europeo de becas para intercambios de estudiantes universitarios) con el fin de 'acercar' a los jóvenes y que podría 'inspirarse en la figura de Averroes'.

También sugirió una cooperación para la 'codificación y reforma del Derecho'y 'una Carta del diálogo de las culturas que fije las reglas de la convivencia en la globalización'.

Para Chirac, los conflictos del Oriente Medio se han sumado a los 'malentendidos y rencores' del pasado en la región para propagar por el planeta sus 'efectos desestabilizadores', como lo muestra 'la cruel lección del terrorismo', y alimentar la convicción de que 'los valores universales no se aplican equitativamente y pueden servir de pretexto para negar la diversidad de las culturas'.

'Hay que disipar los estereotipos, los miedos y los malos recuerdos' para 'superar lo que nos opone y construir nuestro futuro compartido', insistió el presidente francés.

Al abogar por soluciones negociadas a los conflictos de Oriente Medio, recalcó que 'nada' se resolverá por la fuerza y 'nada tampoco se apaciguará' por medio de la 'caricatura y la exclusión', y pidió combatir 'en común' tanto la 'diabolización de Occidente como 'la sospecha hacia el Islam.

'Al espíritu de cruzada basado en la ignorancia, al proselitismo militante que inspira una visión totalitaria de la humanidad, opongamos el espíritu de diálogo basado en el conocimiento, la tolerancia y la voluntad de apertura', subrayó Chirac.

Ahondar este diálogo es el objetivo del Taller, articulado en seis temas. El primero, 'Brechas culturales, memorias, historias y preservación de los patrimonios', analizará 'los conflictos de las memorias', desde la colonización hasta la escritura de la historia.

El papel de los medios de comunicación, sobre todo la televisión, en las tensiones entre sociedades es otro de los temas abordados.

Las relaciones entre musulmanes, cristianos y judíos centrarán una tercera mesa. En otras se abordarán la modernización social y democratización de las sociedades, la educación, el respeto de la diversidad cultural y los valores comunes.
Terra Actualidad - EFE 13-Septiembre-2006

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