“Wars are not the only cause of terrorism. But they are a pretext for it, or one of the pretexts”. Referring to the request of President Jacques Chirac, during his recent meeting with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to “put an end to conflicts, fertile breeding ground for terrorism”, Bruno Frappat, in his editorial in La Croix of 17/3, says that “of all the conflicts the one whose end could relieve the world of the burden of enmity and fanaticism” is “that of the Middle East, the conflict of conflicts. After 11 September, American power ought to have realised this. But it preferred to ignore the question”. Yet, according to Frappat, “ anyone who were to ‘de-mine’ the Middle East would reassure the whole world”. “A contemptible thesis”: that’s how Le Monde (18/3) defines the conviction diffused “ by various media” that “the fear of terrorism led the Spanish electorate to support Zapatero. It is a thesis that does not do justice” to a people “who daily have to live under the threat of terrorism”. So it was a vote dictated not by fear, but “by anger against those who tried to manipulate the news” on the eve of the elections, “thus reviving the memory of other lies, for example on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq”. In the view of the French daily “the vote of the Spanish people, far from being a surrender to terrorism, is a lesson in democracy”. To the horror of the atrocities in Madrid ample coverage is also devoted in the German press. “ The terrorist attacks in Madrid mark the emergence in Europe of a total terrorism which must also prompt Germany to reflect anew on its internal security“, says the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ( Faz 13/3). “ Islamic terrorism against Spain is not a ‘Spanish problem’ from which other Europeans can run away in the hope that it concerns only the countries of the ‘bad guys’ (Aznar, Blair and Bush)“, says wie (15/3). “ Now we will see whether Europe is an idea of common currency or of common values, effectively defended. Now there’s a need not just for policemen, but also for philosophers. But can this Europe, that does not even recognise its origins from Christianity, win this battle?” asks Guido Heinen in Die Welt (15/3). “ With the massacre in Madrid terrorism acquires a new quality: for a long time, the only concern of assassins was to sow fear and terror“, comments the weekly Der Spiegel (15/3). “ The sole idea, diffused in the Islamic world, that young people without fear, belonging to the Jihad, have terrorized and filled with fear the powerful West, is a victory in itself“. An article in the Spanish daily El Periódico (17/3) says that “Spain will no longer block the Magna Charta “. The paper explains that “Spain will accept the new voting system based on double majority”. The first “European shift of Spanish foreign policy announced by José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero” is that it would “no longer block the European Constitution”. The Spanish representatives in the European Convention, adds the paper, “have asked the Irish Presidency of the EU to convene a new session of the intergovernmental Conference to re-open the negotiations”. Two days before the anniversary of the US attack on Iraq (20 March 2003), an article in the Herald Tribune (18/3) signed by Ian Buruma expresses the conviction that “ the future of Iraq will depend not on the conflict between East and West, or between Muslims and Christians, but on that between Shiites and Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs. The main line of division within Moslem society is not in fact between the secular and the religious, but between Muslims with different ideas of the role of religion”, between “fundamentalists and moderate reformers”. Nonetheless, Buruma insists, “Iraq is so violent and chaotic today that a withdrawal of the troops would be a gravely irresponsible act”. Writing in the Italian Catholic weekly Famiglia cristiana (21/3), the Bible scholar Gianfranco Ravasi warns of the risks of Mel Gibson’s controversial film “The Passion of Christ” (due to arrive in Italian cinemas on 7 April). In today’s media society, he warns, “events like this become almost celebrations, and unfortunately may have a greater resonance than the discourses of the Pope”. According to Ravasi, “instead of trying to condemn or justify it, let’s start out from the film to return to impacting on the knowledge that Christians have of the Gospel. It’s a great opportunity to speak of Jesus he concludes but let’s beware of remaining hooked to Gibson’s interpretation of it”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1281 N.ro relativo : 21 Data pubblicazione : 20/03/04 ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1281 N.ro relativo : 21 Data pubblicazione : 20/03/04
