Egypt Slumbers
What has happened to Egypt’s democratisation? After a few minor concessions, the regime is once again closing any real space in the political arena to the opposition, whose only voice today seems that of bloggers. The price of essential food has risen by 60%, a blow to 40% of the population obliged to survive on less than one dollar a day. Further damage to the country’s image came when the Foreign Minister triumphantly announced in New York the release of the eleven tourists kidnapped in the desert, who instead were held hostage for another week. Would change not be good for such a country?
MEDIA
The Current Wars in Iraq
As one looks back over the past six years of public debate about the war in Iraq one sees a shifting array of justifications for fighting it. Too often, misperceptions have filled the empty space. But many of these misperceptions have not been random or merely the product of a uniquely American strain of intellectual laziness or ignorance. Rather, they have been the product of the nature of contemporary television and calculated efforts to shape perceptions. Television has been used as an instrument of deception aimed at people ill-equipped to defend themselves against highly charged but intellectually bankrupt and mendacious claims made repeatedly by the Bush administration and its neoconservative allies in US Congress and the political intelligentsia. News in the United States too often is what officials say it is.
GANDHI
One World, responsibilities included
“I believe in Gandhi dream of ‘One World’, one single world with many cultures. But this means that we are all equally responsible for all that happens on our planet, for everything that affects our lives, for the bomb that explodes in Tel Aviv and those who die of hunger in Rwanda”. With these words, the Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanebgloo explained in a video-chat room what he considered to be the Mahatma Gandhi’s spiritual, cultural and political legacy, expressing his thoughts on Friday September 26th on the Telecom Avoicomunicare.it website.
TAHAR BEN JELLOUN
“The financial crisis will result in greater racism”
Small daily gestures and fears generated by the economy, this is what leads to racism according to the author Tahar Ben Jelloun, interviewed in the video-chat room on Telecom’s new website Avoicomunicare.it. “I fear that this economic and financial crisis will have consequences in European society. It will result in greater unemployment, and therefore people will look for a scapegoat, and it is possible that they will find it in foreigners”, warned the author, who also spoke of what it is like to be a foreigner, the role played by religion and what questions he would ask Mahatma Gandhi today.
MIGRATIONS
Illegal Immigrants, the Pariahs of the Western World
They leave their whole lives behind, risking their lives on journeys that at times are with no return. Those who succeed, wander around our cities without a name, exploited by ruthless entrepreneurs and labelled as enemies by populist politicians. Public opinion recently learned off yet another massacre off the coast of Malta. Illegal immigrants have however played a leading role in some of the saddest stories of this Italian summer; a man killed while travelling under an articulated lorry, another arrested after reporting a crime. The victims of poverty and fear, these are the new marginalised people, the pariahs of the West.
RELIGION AND POLITICS
Is ‘Muslim’ Democracy Synonymous with ‘Constitutional’ Democracy?
The complexity of the Turkish context sometimes remains partly invisible to the observers’ perspective, especially if they are looking to find some ‘otherness,’ and if out of sheer good will they portray this ‘otherness’ that they encounter as something necessarily and unquestionably benign. That is partly what happens to European and American liberals when they analyze a predominantly Muslim country such as Turkey. In order to oppose the essentialistic and hostile attitudes towards Muslims within their communities, they attempt to emphasize the positive qualities of Muslims or Muslim way of life, while sometimes neglecting to apply the normative and critical standards that they would apply in their own countries to the issues that they encounter in their own political contexts.
MEDIA
Journalism in times of conflict. A weapon of war
How badly can media affect relations between the Muslim world and the west? Well, very badly. The same is done by politicians or by we who are ordinary citizens. Ayman Al-Zawahiri once said that “More than half of the battle is taking place on the battlefield of the media.” And Donald Rumsfeld declared: “A single news story … can be as damaging to our cause … as any other method of military attack.” After 9/11 these feelings of disconnect, this sort of war of the words increased. The fact was that Arabs, Europeans and Americans had very different perspectives of the conflict, and this is particularly true in the US where we have essentially seen no other viewpoint.
EUROPE
Forgotten Bosnia
Since the war ended in 1995 Bosnia no longer makes the headlines. Kosovo has stolen the centre-stage. But Sarajevo may soon return to be in the news. The central government has limited power, the country has serious economic problems and ethnic divisions are also reflected in the existence of two different states that are totally separate: the Srpska Republic (with a Serb majority) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Croatians and Muslims coexist. The Serbs threaten independence and look to Belgrade. "But Bosnia will live” , as Wolfgang Petritsch, the International Community’s former High Representative for Bosnia explains to Resetdoc.org. This time Europe will have to pay attention and not be taken by surprise.
MIDDLE EAST
Defining identity, the dilemma facing Arabs in Israel
Nowadays what does being an Arab actually mean? It doesn't define a nationality. Maybe it defines an ethnicity, but it is not enough to provide an identity or a deep sense of belonging to a people. Furthermore, the term "Arab-Israeli" defines a minority in Israel, one not even fully integrated into Israeli society. Israelis often refer to Arab-Israelis as "the sector" (Migzar) as well, which doesn't help the community to feel part of a society. Let alone clarify its own identity. The Arab world, in contrast, refers to Arab-Israelis as "Palestinians of 1948" or as "Palestinians of the interior," meaning that Israel represents the interior of Palestine. But even this terminology doesn't lead to clear outcomes.
AKP
The Decision of the Turkish Constitutional Court: the Way Ahead
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) will not be closed. It is the right decision. But I am surprised that many optimistic opponents and pessimistic supporters of the AKP now seem to act almost as if a party closing did take place. The project of democratic innovation must go on, and the only road for it is that of constitutional amendments, indeed preferably a new constitution. But it can be achieved, in a divided society, where there is no political revolution, only by a highly consensual approach. Many supporters of the AKP seem to believe that no consensus is possible.
IDENTITIES
"Why I am proud of being a European"
“During any given day, most of the time I feel European, and this feeling has become stronger ever since my native country, Bulgaria, entered the EU”, says Tzvetan Todorov to Resetdoc. He sees the foundations of a European identity in the protection of diversity and in an “obligation of tolerance”. The French-Bulgarian philosopher and linguist, who recently published La Littérature en péril, says that he is “very proud” of being a European, and hopes for greater continental political integration, while believing that national traditions are not destined to disappear (“I do not think that we will ever speak ‘Europeanese’”). The author of The Conquest of America also hopes that Tony Blair will not become the President of the EU and asks us not to identify the culture of Muslim immigrants with their religion: “I do not think that there is such a thing as an encounter between the West and Islam”.
INTEGRATION
Euro-Islam: at what point are we?
“We need a communications strategy emphasising above all the image of a moderate Islam”, as the new President of the French Muslims, Mohammed Moussaoui, told Resetdoc. Moussaoui presents himself as an enlightened and polyglot Muslim, but he too appears to represent an Islam “imposed from above”. Relations between Islam and Europe continue to be marked by misunderstandings, timid steps forward and ambiguity. As proved by the French example, representative bodies are all too often “managed” by the State, and their internal level of democracy leaves a great deal to be desired. What is happening as far as the integration of European Muslims is concerned? Who represents them?
MEDIA
On the Public Sphere, Deliberation, Journalism and Dignity
“We are facing a generation who is getting all its information online. The consequence is that one’s points of reference are so multiple that they may not intersect and a common world may not emerge. But fragmentation can also bring effervescence - says Seyla Benhabib, philosopher and Professor of political science and philosophy at Yale, interviewed by Karin Wahl-Jorgensen - One medium that is in great crisis is television. I would like to see a citizens’ forum, rather than these continuously self-referential talking heads and so-called experts. We extend the boundaries of our sympathy by understanding the conditions of others who may be radically different than us – she concludes – At its best journalism does this; it extends your vision of the world by making you see the world through the eyes of the others.”
MERLEAU-PONTY
The primacy of perception in the era of communication
To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, an international congress held at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris discussed once again the concepts of space and time introduced by this philosopher, whose work seems a seamless dialogue with other sciences such as psychology, neurology, physics, literature and art. A opportunity to debate not only his philosophical position set in current times, but also for using the instruments provided by his phenomenology so as to readdress the idea of space and time in the era of communication.
MEDIA
When Enemies Increase the Ratings
The arrival of Arab satellite channels is changing the world of global communication. Now that Al Jazeera too has an English language channel, world markets are enriched by another point of view. The Americans, the English, the French, the Russians, the Arabs and the Germans, all have at least one channel dedicated to global viewers. With increased competition is has become increasingly hard to hide the truth, but there is also the risk that the battle will be fought above all playing on sensationalism, feelings and prejudices. After all, an enemy always increases the ratings. Ideas and thoughts for avoiding a media clash of civilisations.
BARACK OBAMA
The Multicultural Candidate
Kenya, Kansas, Indonesia, Hawaii. The biography of Democratic candidate for the White House, Barack Obama is unique. Young, black, well-educated, open and an optimist, the Illinois Senator portrays everything that is the opposite of America’s last eight years. He represents the America we have always loved, and, for this reason too, Europe and world are rooting for him in the November presidential elections. But is America ready to elect its best son? What will be the most important issues addressed in the campaign opposing the Republican candidate John McCain?
POLITICS AND RELIGION
Can Islam Accommodate Democracy Or Democracy Accommodate Islam?
It is absurd to think that Islam cannot accommodate democracy or that democracy cannot accommodate Islam. It is not Islam per se, but religion tout court that stands in some tension with secularism and with democracy – a tension that is healthy rather than unhealthy in a free society. Like Christianity and other religions, Islam is a religion practiced in many cultures and societies, sectarian, stratified, schismatic and pluralistic. To the degree Islam is fundamentalist, so is religion in many places, because in our secular age religion is under siege and fundamentalism is above all a reaction to religion under siege.
PHILOSOPHY
A “post-secular” society – what does that mean?
I have thus far taken the position of a sociological observer in trying to answer the question of why we can term secularized societies yet “post-secular”. In these societies, religion maintains lays claim to a public influence and relevancesignificance, while the secularistic certainty is losing ground that religion will disappear worldwide in the course of accelerated modernization is losing ground. Above all, three overlapping phenomena converge to create the impression of a worldwide ‘resurgence of religion’: the missionary expansion, a fundamentalist radicalization, and the political instrumentalization of the potential for violence innate in many of the world religions.
WHITE HOUSE
US foreign policy after January 2009 (If Obama wins)
Obama enters the White House, and what happens? Liberal Internationalism is the name that his advisors have chosen for what they hope will be his foreign policy. But what does it mean? The end of Bush’s unilateralism, a new position on global warming, maybe some indication of a willingness to join the International Criminal Court, a different approach to the World Trade Organization, a stronger commitment to “the responsibility to protect” in places like Darfur or Myanmar, a clear recognition that the “war” against terrorism is mostly police work and political work, a withdrawal from Iraq (maybe), more troops in Afghanistan, a diplomatic initiative in Israel/Palestine and also in the larger Israel/Arab conflict. A new American foreign policy may not however make a significant difference.
RELIGION
Where is Benedict XVI's Church going?
“He and I represent two different ways of being Catholics, one in the sense of the Roman Curia, one in the sense of the Second Vatican Council. And I am not alone; there are many who share with me the persuasion that the Church is in need of reforms”. This is how the great Swiss theologian Hans Küng described to Giancarlo Bosetti - editor-in-chief of Reset - his relationship with the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, and also explained why he is disappointed with his papacy. Has the Catholic Church abandoned the spirit of the Second Vatican Council?
RELIGION
Being a Christian in the Middle East
They are “People of the Book”, and they share the same values as Muslims. And yet, the lives of Christians in the Middle East seem to have become more difficult in recent years. Many emigrate, their numbers dwindle, and their political influence is reduced while threats increase, from Iraq to Egypt and even Turkey. This, to the extent that a few months ago the European Parliament almost unanimously voted a resolution expressing serious condemnation. How do Christians live in the Middle East? What role do they play in societies where there is a Muslim majority?
ITALY
And the winner is: Fear
The Italian elections held in April have returned the centre-right government to power. Silvio Berlusconi is once again Prime Minister, leading a coalition that is even more right-wing than the previous one. The Northern League, gambling on people’s fear of foreigners, managed to address a widespread need for social and economic security, and will now play a pivotal role in the government. What are the real reasons for this party’s success? Relations between Rome and Arab capitals are destined to be overturned. In what sense will Italy’s foreign policy change?
ISLAM AND CATHOLICISM
Rage and Pride: The Conversion of Magdi Allam
Baptised by Pope Benedict XVI himself during the Easter Vigil and at St Peters, the conversion of Magdi Allam has created a stir, but it’s the ‘spectacular’ approach of the conversion from Islam to Catholicism rather than the conversion itself which has aroused debate. Voices of protest are heard from the Arab and Muslim world, which view this episode as another provocation towards Islam, a bit like the Pope’s well-known speech in Regensburg. The Vatican has kept its distance, stating “they are his beliefs, not ours”. For the disputed controversialist and deputy editor of Corriere della Sera, it is the end result of a turbulent journey. The debate is open: how will the public role of Magdi Christian Allam change? Can Corriere della Sera, the most prestigious daily newspaper in the country, leave the Islamic question in the hands of an enraged convert?