Ideias brilhantes
Quando discursou na ONU, esse impagável Zapatero propôs uma aliança entre civilizações. Claro que é uma ideia peregrina, mas do Zapatero o que é que se pode esperar?Hoje, li no Telegraph que uma conferência realizada em Córdoba para uma melhor compreensão mútua entre muçulmanos e cristãos deu barraca. Eis um excerto da notícia:
The conference organisiers, led by the financer of the event, the Kuwaiti tycoon Abdul Aziz al-Babtain, set out to confront stereotypes of Islamic extremism.
But even the supposedly benign field of Islamic poetry and the history of Andalusia - known to the Moors and to modern Arabs as al-Andalus - touched raw nerves.
An academic speaking in English was heckled by jeering Arabs even though there were extensive translation facilities. In the end, he spoke in Arabic.
But the peace was shortlived. There was more shouting when European historians touched on Islamic sensibilities by discussing the more liberal era when Muslim women did not wear the veil. An African Muslim was also heckled for complaining of Arab dominance of his faith.
The only Jew to speak was heard in polite silence, but it was assumed that was because he was preaching the destruction of Israel, which he described as an apostatic state: a point of view which presumably went down rather well with the audience. It was uncertain, though, how this squared with the seminar's title of "Arab-Islamic civilisations and the West: from Disagreement to Partnership".
The organisers described the event as a success but the angry tone of the debate will have disappointed Spain's new government.
A compreensão mútua é necessária, mas é também preciso que os árabes não queiram sempre impor as suas visões. Se eles nos podem criticar, nós (os ocidentais que mandamos às malvas e para o caixote do lixo teorias de Orientalismo do Said) também os podemos criticar. Enquanto não estiverem prontos a aceitar este ponto, o diálogo será sempre de surdos (pelo menos, de uma das partes).
