Mur Lura
LECTURE BY H.E. PROF. GUIDO DE MARCO, PRESIDENT OF MALTA, ON "The Mediterranean – Europe’s Reluctant Agenda?" AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG – FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
06/11/2001
Ladies and Gentlemen,
| It gives me particular satisfaction to have, at the | first stage of my visit to Germany, this meeting in Heidelberg. Heidelberg – a centre of academic excellence, a University which for centuries has been a seat of learning for Germany and for Europe, and a living force of German intelligentia. |
| I have been close to University life and to my alma | mater for close to half a century. The University of Malta was founded in 1592, and I was there as an undergraduate from 1947 to 1955, ending up with my doctorate in law, and since 1967 have been a lecturer and later a professor of criminal law. |
| Heidelberg is in the heart of Germany and in the | heart of Europe. It has seen its fair share of turmoil through the ages. Heidelberg, today, as the greater part of Europe, has managed to achieve a general quality of life which is enviable in many other parts of the world. This success also carries a responsibility – that of not getting detached from the wider world beyond our immediate horizons. In this respect, I believe that academic institutions carry an added responsibility in directing and leading the rest of society. We have no right to live in an ivory tower. |
| Conflict and warfare, strife and terror, result from | short and long-term causes of tension and from a difficulty in the reconciliation of aspirations and realities. More often than not, conflict results in a lose-lose situation. More often than not, short-sightedness hampers possible openings of peace. |
| Rhetoric is that element which leads towards a | situation of tension. Within a context of conflict, rhetoric and propaganda assume an important role in the increase or decrease in tension. |
| Words reflect thoughts and feelings. Words reflect | our ideas and values. Words compose ideologies. There is no ideology which is not expressed. Ideologies affect actions and deeds. Uncompromising ideologies were the scourge of 20th century history. Ideologies that do not allow for compromise in their vocabulary still haunt our existence today. |
Conflict and violence pull disaccord to an extreme. It is a breaking of the overlap of concentric circles of convergence. I imagine it like the tearing apart of the circles of the Olympic Games.
| Conflict marked life among neighbours and nations in | Europe for centuries. As Eric Hobsbaum writes, the 20th century was the age of extremes. After the devastation of the first half of the last century, European nations were stimulated, by the founding fathers of European integration, to highlight similarities and affinities, political and social aspirations as well as economic goals. Today, the European Union is the most accomplished exercise of unity in diversity, with a continuous array of distinct overlapping circles of convergence – representing common and shared values and principles. |
| Since ancient times, the Mediterranean Sea has acted | as a great trading route, linking littorals and peoples. Peoples interacted, and through the resulting cross-fertilisation of ideas, civilisation flourished. |
| It was possibly in 14th century Andalucia | that an apex of cultural interaction was reached. Allow me to call it the Ibn Khaldun or the Averroes Syndrome. Because Averroes represented a meeting and synthesis of the virtues of the Arab and the European worlds. |
| The great wonders of Andalucia are still there for | all to see. |
| Through the centuries, this sea of culture and | civilisation, has also acted as an impermeable frontier among peoples. |
| A few kilometres of sea have made of neighbours, | strangers. Paradoxically, better communications and the advent of the information age have not helped to dispel trends of cultural estrangement. This has even led to a situation where the effects of globalisation can be viewed as an affront to fundamental values and tradition. |
| Different narratives have developed on different | shores of the Mediterranean. Even in Europe itself, different narratives developed in different geographical areas, in different historical times. Compare the use of narratives between the first half and the second half of the 20th century in Western Europe, and this gives you an idea of the varying scales of their use. One can also compare the result of narratives between East and West before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall. |
| Admittedly, there exist more cultural, | socio-political and economic differences between Europe and North Africa than among European nations themselves. However, much more fundamental are the overlapping interests and concerns than contrasting trends. One such common and fundamental objective is the need to foster a climate of peace and stability where the generation of wealth will not be unduly hindered by security concerns. It is not only petroleum stakes that can actively engage our mutual attention. |
| Two months ago in America, we witnessed the tragic | consequences of extreme ideologies. Osama bin Laden’s creed is an extreme ideology, not an extreme religion. Though thousands of kilometres away, the concentric circles of convergence in the Mediterranean shook. Within this context, our shared duty and interest is to restore and enhance dialogue and partnership. |
| September 11th was a watershed in our | history. As was November 9th, 1989. As was June 28th, 1914. |
| On September 11th, we witnessed those | images of devastation at the Twin Towers and at the Pentagon. America was wounded. Our shared notion of civilisation is wounded. In condemning in absolute terms all forms of terrorism and in acknowledging the necessity to embark on actions to debilitate these forces of evil, we also have to ask ourselves why this senseless destruction, and what fans this warped logic of hatred. |
| Following the worst terrorist attacks in history, the | international community is seriously trying to address issues of security – both for the short-term as well as for the long-term. The multifold struggle against terror also demands that we take the wind out of the sails of these pirates of evil, that is, by also addressing causes of discontent which are used as excuses for actions by terrorists and their fellow travellers. |
| Various groups have been carrying out actions of | terror in the false name of Islam, throughout the past years. Their objectives have been varied. A struggle for the values of Islam has been their excuse, a jihad against the infidels their battle cry. |
| Their places of origin range from the Philippines to | Algeria, from Yemen to Indonesia, from Somalia to Chechnya, from Afghanistan right into the midst of our societies. In the majority of these countries, large sectors of the populations have not gained from the fruits of globalisation, the benefits of which they seem only to admire in a reality beyond their reach, mainly in the Western world. For the majority of these populations, poverty is often rampant, destitution endemic. Coupled with the experiences of colonization and an often negatively perceived post-colonial interaction, there exists widespread resentment and distrust. |
| This is the ideal ground where ignorance marries | misery, fathering extremism. |
| This is the ideal ground for the breeding of | terrorism. Make no mistake – poverty and underdevelopment in themselves do not breed extremism or terrorism. However, they are the keys for manipulation by those elements who know no cause beyond evil itself. |
| Terrorism in Algiers or in the skies, in New York or | in Berlin, in Gaza or in Tel Aviv, is terrorism all the same. The massacre of scores of tourists in Luxor, Egypt, in November 1997, carries the same hallmark of evil senselessness as that of New York. |
Afghanistan is currently the accidental battleground. I believe that the key to many an issue lies at Europe’s southern border – in the Mediterranean. It is in the Mediterranean that the three great monotheistic religions meet – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is here that religions embrace, or ideologies divide. It is here that narratives of creed and culture necessarily overlap, and it is here that we cannot afford to dissolve apart the circles of convergence among peoples.
| For these three religions have created their own | cultures, their own philosophies and their own belongingness. Unfortunately, for many, the emphasis is not so much on the common monotheistic belief but on their differences built on the prejudices of the past and the errors of history. Economic considerations bring to bear on the load of politics involved. |
| For the Mediterranean is closely linked to the Middle | East, extending to the Gulf. The Mediterranean is the major sea route for the flow of oil to consumers, mainly in Europe, from the producer states in the Gulf, the Middle East and North Africa. |
| Fernand Braudel, in his monumental work The | Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, writes: |
| "All civilisations can be defined as a struggle, a | creative battle against the odds: the civilisations of the Mediterranean basin have wrestled with many often visible obstacles using sometimes inadequate human resources, they have fought endlessly and blindly against the continental masses which hold the inland sea in their grip, and have even had to contend with the vast expanses of the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans." |
Within certain Muslim societies, some find themselves at odds with what they consider to be Western civilisation. Many may feel that their way of life, their own cultures and customs are threatened by a process of modernization. They consider that the materialism of the West is fragmenting their religious traditions. This culture shock is creating struggles in certain strata of their societies.
In my considered view, the Mediterranean is not to be kept at a distance, save for tourist enclaves of sun and sand, and as a shortcut for that oil from North Africa and the Middle East to consumers in Europe and elsewhere. The Mediterranean is a reality, with its cultures, its suffering, its complex beauty, with its peoples proud in their history and traditions, aspiring to give a future to their children.
We have read that bin Laden, from his hideout somewhere in Afghanistan, has made a call to arms urging Muslims to rise up against the so-called Christian Crusade against Islam. If bin Laden were to be heeded, one may be giving credibility to Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilisations theory. According to Huntington, with the end of the Cold War, the conflicts are no longer between ideologies but between cultures. I do not agree with Huntington’s theory, especially if the problems of the Mediterranean be properly addressed.
As far back as 1972, Malta’s initiative in the CSCE led to the adoption in Helsinki in 1975 of the so-called Mediterranean basket, whereby the interlocking of security in Europe and in the Mediterranean was accepted. But little has been done.
We have a choice. The Mediterranean Sea can either continue to accentuate the great divide, perpetuate problems and escalate struggles, or it can act as an area of convergence among peoples, among cultures.
For in the Mediterranean, it is not only geography and history that we share. More importantly, we share a common future and destiny, which we necessarily have to as neighbours and partners, in a context of a globalised proximity.
Europe can serve as a catalyst, putting life in the Barcelona Process means bringing the Mediterranean back to the front-burner of the international agenda. We need political vision. We need initiatives. We need the commitment to implement these initiatives.
Europe and the United States can, through solid cooperation, bring to bear their logic of persuasion on both Israel and the Palestinians, by acting within the parameters of United Nations resolutions, promoting a viable state for the people of Palestine, and secure and recognised frontiers for Israel.
But the Mediterranean is not only the Middle East. It involves so many others who can together build that Euro-Mediterranean Partnership on a dialogue of understanding and economic revival, a stability architecture and a people to people approach.
For we believe, not only in theory, that prosperous and advanced societies are less likely to embrace doctrines of struggle and conflict. We will thus be reconciling narratives of purpose, strengthening overlapping circles of common interest, common concerns, and a common heritage.
We have to see in the Mediterranean, indeed a mare nostrum – our sea – in full respect of cultures of peoples and the sovereignty of states, creating thereby a Pax Mediterranea.
Europe cannot afford to be further reluctant in its Mediterranean agenda. There is so much to lose. There is a future of peace and prosperity to gain.
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