the "alliance of civilisations" launched.

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Friday July 15, 2005 13:21 by .:. iosaf ·.· ipsiphi

launched today by the UN co-sponsered by Spain & Turkey.

Last 21 of September 2004, Zapatero addressed most of the United Nations representatives (Israel was absent) on the proposals from the peninsula for
"An Alliance of Civilisations"
at U.N. level and reaching into all inter-cultural and trans-national initiatives as a key mechanism in the combat against emergent forms of imitative terrorism which use extremist islamic fundamentalist beliefs to recruit, fund, plan and execute attacks on civilians.

At its most basic, the proposals which today got aproval of Kofi Annan and the United Nations mean asking and answering these questions:-

Who are you?

Where do you live?

What do you believe?

Do you have any special eating requirements?

Do you need infrastructure development aid?

Do you need assistance with good governance?

Do you need someone to explain where you stand on the girl on girl thing?

How do you feel about your holy books being subject to abuse?

Any thoughts on the Guantanamo thing?

Any thoughts on the illegal invasion of Iraq by the USA and UK? = speak up. we're listening, a lot of us agree with you.

Any thoughts on the continued injsutice against the Palestinian people?

Was your independence deal a bit sour?

Why is that partition of your lands on religious grounds fifty years later sees base issues unchanged, and a climate of extremism and desperation?

What do your young people do?
*What would they like?
*Do they need jobs?
*Do they need to get married and date more?

What's your version of apocylapse?
*How have you reacted at mass psychological level to the clash of civilisation publicity by Hollywood & Washington?

Don't you agree bush is a plonker?
= relax he'll go within 4 years. He's not the first bad US president we've had.

Have you realised that at your most rightwing you have natural allies in the west, you know the "girl on girl" and "eggy" thing?

= have a chat with them, go okupy their churches.

Have you realised that at your most leftwing you have natural allies in the west?

= have a chat with them, they'll help you okupy a church.

Of course these complex proposals go on and on...

As a member state of the EU leading the state responses to migration and security issues and having suffered the _worst terrorist attack_, Spain has seen her migrant population increase in 5 years from less than 4% of total population to almost 14%. Unique amongst her EU partners, Spain has offered amnesty to migrants in an attempt to bring them into the normal protections, rights and responsibilities of other citizens and employees. Spain has favoured the "night class in our constitution approach" to islamic communities which have vered to interpretations of religion which _do not_ match the civil, gender and social rights of european citizenry, based on the input to wider society by that community itself. No mosque needs european spies, every mosque in Europe ought count europeans _in every sense_ amongst its worshippers. Who feel themselves integrated into the section of Europeans who support religious based political doctrines, ethics and campaigns, and realise that europe operates a secular system of collective governance.


The migration burden of Spain has not been matched by other states with a traditional, and cultural obligation to assist citizens of certain states in their rights to the pursuit of liberty, prosperity and a new life.

The percentage of migrants from the sub continent of India & Pakistan & Bangladesh seeking spanish citizenship has jumped, as their traditional ties with Britian are subject to yet more and more controls. Britian's partner Ireland likewise has been slow to accept a proper "quota" of migrants from the sub-continent which was partitioned on religious grounds by the British in their immediate post-war response to empire downscaling.

No-one can underestimate the importance of the abuse allegations in Guantanamo and the desecration of the Holy Koran in kindling Islamic fundamentalism, hurt, and anger.

Since independence the populations of both India and Pakistan have grown at an astonishing rate, and the two states have gone to war many times, diverting exceptional amounts of their fiscal revenue to an arms race which has most recently become nuclear. There is little sign that the British establishment have taken their post-imperialist responsibilities seriously in mid Asia. The influx of migrants from mid Asia in the post war period were poorly integrated, and are overwhelmingly found in marginalised urban areas.

The UN initiative is co-sponsered by Spain and Turkey.
*****************************************************
There will be more on this.
Its nothing new.

The ideas of how to promote these *connections* rather than *differences* ought be perfectly apparant to us in the civil rights, human rights and wider justice, liberty, democracy and anti-globalisation movements.
On the level of social movements many of the themes have been explored by the first social forum for the mediterranean (the common area of "european" and "islamic" civlisation) held in Barcelona june 16-19th 2005.
On the level of European Institutions these themes will be explored at the Euro-Mediterranean conference also in barcelona in November, which will see the UK EU presidency *listen* to the voices of Islamic societies of many types from Morroco to Lebanon, Egypt to Turkey.

The British have to learn to *listen*, and except that many of their "solutions" in the past failed and sowed the seeds of the current global crises.

links:-
http://actualidad.terra.es/nacional/articulo/onu_alianza_civilizaciones_403001.htm
http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impreso/noticia.html?id_nota=293867&tabla=notas
http://spanish.peopledaily.com.cn/31618/3546130.html
http://www.lavanguardia.es/web/20050715/51189108221.html