When the Afghan parliament approved the "Family Law for Shiites" effectively legitimising rape against women, our website published Emma Bonino’s appeal and petition to the Afghan government. Former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato signed the petition and on the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore asked why moderate Muslims such as Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd and Tariq Ramadan, two reference points for European Islam, remained silent. Abu Zayd has chosen Resetdoc to clarify his positions. Ramadan has not yet responded, but will certainly do so at the next Resetdoc Istanbul Seminars, where he will discuss the East-West relations together with other influential Arab, Israeli, American and European intellectuals.

These are the most important elections for the world held this year, or at least for a dialogue between the West and the Islamic world. On June 12th Iranian citizens will elect their new President. Two competing factions are divided and the result is uncertain. Will we have the controversial outgoing President Ahmadinejad for another four years, or will one of the two reformist candidates, Mousavi or Karoubi, win the day?

The veil makes them more visible than their men and hence exposes them to racism. Traditions and prejudices do not help them and are often the first obstacles they must overcome. How is the condition of Muslim women evolving in Europe and in the Arab-Islamic world? How is Family Law changing in Arab countries? A journey at the centre of a debate that goes well beyond the female body and closely affects relations between Islam, democracy and the West.

This year’s general election in India is numerically the largest ever held in history, with 714 million citizens (41 million more than in 2004) being called upon to vote and choose their representatives from over one thousand political parties. This is a phenomenal event that will last four weeks, until May 13th. A sign of democratic vivacity that seems, however, destined to result yet again in an unstable government, marked by opportunistic post-electoral alliances. Historian Ramachandra Guha explains why regional parties are so successful.

“The veil appears as a regression only if we assume progress to be teleological and linearly moving towards secularization”. Yale political philosopher Seyla Benhabib has discussed in Genoa the struggles over cultural identity in the scenario of contemporary Europe. In occasion of her lecture, we propose here a conversation with the Editor in chief of Reset Giancarlo Bosetti. 

The winner of the Algerian presidential elections to be held on April 9th is already known. He is the outgoing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who had the constitution changed so he could run for a third consecutive term. In the last ten years this country has at last seen the end of the civil war, but has not yet been capable of finding the path to modernity. The political system remains tragically closed, with “pluralist” elections that, however, do not indicate any opportunities for change. As a protest against the president’s coup de main, the main opposition groups have in fact boycotted this election.

“Dissent is a constitutive virtue of democracy” writes Nadia Urbinati, Professor of Political Theory at New York’s Columbia University. “Rather than corroding social ideals, as authoritarians and conservatives believe, it strengthens partiality and cooperation between citizens. Dissent reveals a fundamental loyalty to a country, a society or a community.” But how is dissent developing nowadays in the Arab world? And what should the West do to support it?

In a recent referendum, 60% of Swiss citizens voted in favour of the free movement of labour between the Confederation and the E.U. (Bulgaria and Romania included). This was a surprising vote that reversed the country’s isolationist stereotype, and that also goes against the trend (see controversies on Italian workers in Great Britain and Lieberman’s success in Israel). The Right, waving the spectre of an invasion of cheap foreign labour, lost the election. The election was instead won by those choosing not to be afraid of foreigners and the economic crisis.

In Italy the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Gianfranco Fini, has proposed that only the language of the country mosques are in should be used for preaching. Is this a measure that could encourage integration, or is it dictated only by security concerns and the need to control the words spoken by Imams? The debate has begun. In the meantime, once again in Italy, for some time now the Islamic Council has stopped holding meetings.

On February 10th Israeli citizens will be called-upon to vote in a general election. Their future is at stake, as is that of their neighbours the Palestinians. How will voting be conditioned by the recent war with Hamas? What effect would a victory by Benjamin Netanyahu’s right wing Likud party have on peace negotiations? Resetdoc talks to author Etgar Keret and Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy, who explains the reasons for the bitter controversy between himself and Abraham Yehoshua during this conflict.