11 September: at the cross-roads of history” “” “

Does 11 September 2001 mark for the world the start of a tragic period of conflict between civilisations? A turning point in international relations? These are important questions, but the enormity of the event is above all indicative of the global mediatic world society into which we have entered, and it must be considered in its historical context. This context is a new “time of iron”, which began in 1914 with the futile and absurd slaughter of the First World War and from which humanity has been unable find a way out. Of course, Europe today provides an example of a continent committed for the last fifty years to democratic unification, a process unprecedented in human history, one where dictatorships and violence as methods of government have disappeared. However, it must not be forgotten that this time of peace began only recently and that it follows a long period of violence, of totalitarianism and of State terrorism. Europe, therefore, should seek the meaning of “11 September” in her own past and look for answers in the light of her experiences (past and present) and of her responsibilities to the world. It is not a matter of giving theoretical lessons or of organising military intervention, but of offering the strength of example and the search for a true partnership with the rest of the world, especially with the poorest part. The example to offer is that of the will demonstrated by certain Christian-inspired politicians who, some decades ago, made a historic decision: they said “no” to the tragic destiny of war. The exemplary overcoming of the difficult relations between France and Germany demonstrates how, where the will exists, that will can overturn a huge and at times tragic historical patrimony, and truly construct a new future. It is impossible to overstate the topical importance of this experience of two European countries. By “partnership” I mean the capacity to seek an agreement with other peoples, to resolve so many problems that seem eternal and to which no solution is in sight. The scandal lies in the apparently endless duration of problems and crises, the solution of which requires strong and determined intervention: 54 years of uninterrupted war in the Middle East, decades of civil wars, of hunger, of sickness, of environmental damage. These almost permanent crises represent fertile territory for the growth of various kinds of more or less aggressive fundamentalism. Resentment, humiliation and fear are the most effective conditions for the recruitment of the desperate and the extremists who constitute the army of terrorism. More than ever before, political will must be accompanied by a dose of generous imagination, a breath of air, to illuminate a future that seems to be moving into the dark, The great eighteenth century French jurist Montesquieu said that “the present of the past is memory” but “the present of the future is imagination”. Europe, one year on from an unprecedented event and 63 from the Second World War, stands at the cross-roads between the memory of the past and the imagination that is indispensable for building – together with the rest of the world – security at all levels.