“ Pope Benedict has condemned the decapitation of three girl students in Indonesia and prayed that the attack would not produce the further shedding of blood between muslims and christians in the country”, reports a story on the front page of The Catholic Herald (04/11) under the headline: “ The Pope’s fury at the decapitation of the Indonesian Christian women“. “ What happened to these girls is incredibly sad“, comments the spokesman of Aid to the Church in Need, John Pontifex: “ it is difficult to imagine anything so full of hatred and devoid of humanity. We would like to hope that both sides, Muslims and Christians, have the maturity to prevent the tension from growing“. The editorial “ Lust for power” on the same question comments as follows on the tragic circumstances of the case: “ When the Christians of the west [of Indonesia] are directly struck by the killing of three girl students, we must not conclude that their assassins are killing on behalf of the Muslim population or of the Islamic faith. We must regard them for what they really are: not just fighters, but depraved and desperate criminals who stop at nothing to pursue their political ambitions“. The riots in the suburbs of French cities are a burning issue in Europe at the present time, and are also given extensive coverage in the German press. The Frankfurter Rundschau (09/11) comments as follows: “ The rebel youth in the neglected dormitory towns are struggling… against the promises made for years and never kept by the governments both of right and left of this republic, against a President who has been in office for ten years and is more than ever alienated from them, and against a political class in the country, which together with the majority of the population prefers to avert its gaze rather than commit itself with constancy to the grave problems of these urban areas. Of course: Dominique de Villepin, if he wants to restore public order, does not have any other legal option but that of this law on the state of emergency. But he must also […] ensure that not only the police baton, but also a prompt helping hand, be brought to bear on the situation“. Die Welt (07/11) comments: “ So, just like the French and the Dutch, the French deceived themselves into thinking they had at least an acceptable, albeit imperfect, model of social cohesion. But today, in the suburbs abandoned to themselves in which the state structures are beating a retreat, leaving for the most part areas beyond the pale of the law, we see a lost generation on the streets, trapped and stigmatised. High rates of unemployment and the feeling of rejection based on racism are the seeds of the disaffection of the young that is no longer curbed in their disintegrated families. The State and the politicians, irrespective of the party to which they belong, have abandoned to their own devices the young immigrants in the Cités. It is not enough for them to be French. They want to profit from the liberty, equality and fraternity” to which they are entitled by French citizenship , “which too often is revealed as an illusion. […] Nonetheless, the government cannot… capitulate… France has a need of social and employment programmes for those who whom the Minister of the Interior, with boundless arrogance, has called ‘scum’. The country is burning, and Chirac no longer has the strength to quench the flames. Where’s a new de Gaulle?“. And the weekly Der Spiegel (0 7/11) notes: “ Integration à la française, which turned immigrants of whatever origin into citizens with full rights ever since the days of the French Revolution, has failed. The social cracks in French society now run along ethnic and religious lines that simultaneously mark deep cultural divides. Officially, France has always condemned multiculturalism and now she has to tackle the consequences of this. In this context a sacred principle of the concept of republic becomes illusory: the rigid separation between State and religion. It’s true that it is not the Jihad that is fomenting civil war: but Islam forms an inalienable component of this concept. […] Integration? 60 percent of the million Dutch Muslims consider themselves primarily as Moroccans or Turks; they are proud of their own laws and values; and they seek security in their own community. In this way parallel worlds are being created. The children of immigrants speak of the “Dutch” as enemies. Their brothers attend schools of the Koran; you see ever more Muslim women wearing the headscarf in the streets“. “ So far away” is the title of the editorial in La Croix (08/11), which is devoted to Kashmir, forgotten by the world, at least that of the media, after the terrible news of the over 70,000 dead in the recent earthquake. “ The tsunami in South-East Asia seems to have drained away all the compassion of the world“, comments Dominique Quinio, adding: “ Though the UNO and the non-governmental organizations have sounded the alarm bells, international generosity no longer responds“. The editorialist urges that the funds already raised be finally used in this region.———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1429 N.ro relativo : 78 Data pubblicazione : 11/11/05
