2009 10
Alliance of Civilizations gathers steam
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
In 2004 Spain´s on the aftermath of the bloody March 11th Madrid train bombings that left over 200 dead and 1000 injured, President Zapatero and his administration came up with the concept of the Alliance of Civilizations between Islamic civilization and Western Civilization. The idea, not a bad one in my view, is that rather than fight each other moderates on both sides should get closer to each other. Along those lines, Club de Madrid (the organization of the former presidents) and Safe Democracy, my foundation, organized the largest conference ever hosted centered on the issue of global terrorism. And last year in January this was followed by the first conference of the Alliance of Civilizations. Unfortunately it was not particularly well attended to the point that the opposition leader Mariano Rajoy made a mockery of the meeting mainly due to the insufficient international relevance of those who attended. Personally I always thought this was a great idea in the sense that if I have to choose between clash and alliance I go for alliance. And the movement went on with the leadership of the United Nations to organize a second meeting set to take place in Istanbul. Now the surprise of the day is that Obama has just said that he will attend the Istanbul meeting and this gives a whole new relevance to the concept of Alliance of Civilizations. For Zapatero this will be the first big win of his troubled foreign policy. Now being Jewish myself I just wonder on which side of the alliance “we” are in. I hope that there is a little room left for Jewish civilization in the whole project and the future of the State of Israel in this project alongside with the creation of the Palestinian State along the lines of the Oslo Treaty.
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Mankel on March 10, 2009 ·
@Winga. Precisely this kind of FUD is why it is more necessary than ever to build an alliance of the moderates. What is necessary is that people as Sabaoui (if he really exists, if he really thinks that…) have no chance of achieving power. Anywere.
Winga on March 11, 2009 ·
No Mankel, you do not understand the arab mind.
When you negotiate with them, they see this attitude as a sign of weakness.
Marc on March 12, 2009 ·
@Winga
This text is an hoax – there is no Mohamed Sabaoui at the Catholic University of Lille – please read (in French) this post from this University : http://post-frontieres.nordblogs.com/media/02/02/ecfdb5a55121e7d223d343c428ebc030.doc
Next time Winga, please check your sources before posting a text like this
winga on March 14, 2009 ·
I will check it.
Anyway, there are another muslims that have said the same things.
winga on March 14, 2009 ·
Marc,
I can fake a lot of docs like that.
Flug Australien on March 17, 2009 ·
I think it is a little step in the right direction. Obama attenting the conference is a positiv sign and makes clear the importance of the whole topic. Showing presence and keeping in contact with the partners is very important to take a firm stand on terrorists.
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Winga on March 10, 2009 ·
Ayyy Martincito … you don’t get it …
I thought you might be interested in an article from a French newspaper that a friend who is a retired French police officer sent me. With luck it will scare the French into action. The translation is not 100% reliable, as I do not speak French all that well.
Please note that this “article” is a reprint in the journal of a right-wing French political party of a much older interview, and the events described did not come to pass.
Roubaix: First Occupied French Town?
Here is what Mohamed Sabaoui, young sociologist at the Catholic University of Lille, of Algerian origin, naturalized French, is saying:
“Our peaceful invasion of Europe is not yet finished. We intend to operate in all countries simultaneously. As you put us more and more in place, it would be stupid for us not to take advantage of that. We will be your Trojan horse. You have become hostages of the human rights that you proclaim. Thus, for example, if you were to make remarks in Algeria or Saudi Arabia to me like I am making to you, you would, in the best case, be arrested immediately. You other Frenchmen are not imposing respect on our young. Why would they respect a country that capitulates to them? One respects only that which one fears. When we have power, you will not again see a single Arab set fire to a car or target a store. The Arabs know the inexorable punishment that the thief deserves, the amputation of the hand.”
In another interview, Mohamed Sabaoui said:
“The laws of your Republic do not conform to those of the Koran, and should not be imposed on Muslims, who can only be governed by Sharia law. We are therefore going to seize the power that is our due. We will start in Roubaix, which is in currently a town with a Muslim population of over 60%. After the future municipal elections, we will mobilize our strength, and the next mayor will be Muslim. After negotiation with the state and the region, we will declare Roubaix an independent Muslim enclave, and we will impose Sharia (the law of God) on all the inhabitants.
“The Chirstian minority will have the status of dhimmis [non-Muslims with fewer rights]. This will be a category in which you will be able to buy back your rights in exchange for a tax. Some tens of thousands of Frenchmen have embraced Islam of their own free will, why not the Christians of Roubaix? Today at the University of Lille, we are putting in place brigades of change, charged with converting the recalcitrant Christians or Jews who are residents of Roubaix, to make them join our religion, because that is what God wants! If we are the strongest, that is what God wanted. We will not have the constraints of the Christian obligation to provide assistance to orphans, the feeble and handicapped. To the contrary, we will be able to crush them if they are an obstacle, especially if they are infidels.”