Rethinking dialogue

“Recent events confirm that the Arab “Springs” strive to deliver positive results and show that the path leading to democratization will be long and full of obstacles”. At the same time, t the Western world, notably Europe, is being asked to “reconsider the re-establishment of relationships, which in fact, have never delivered true economic and social development” in the Middle East and North African countries (MENA – Middle East and North Africa). In fact, “neo-colonialist and ancestral fears have acted as a thrust towards the Islamic world”, notably Egypt and Syria. Rony Hamaui, Arab Jew, professor of Economics at the Catholic University, author of the volume “Il Mediterraneo degli altri. Le rivolte arabe fra sviluppo e democrazia” (The other shore of the Mediterranean, Arab revolts from Development to Democracy, trans.’s note – Egea ed.s October 2011), delivered a panel lecture during the meeting “The Mediterranean, a new challenge for Europe”, held in Rome on November 22, under the auspices of the European Commission in Italy.Dignity and identity. In considering “the democratic development that characterised many countries of Eastern Europe, Latin America and even Africa, over the past twenty years”, the “regrettable exception” of MENA countries, the so-called “Arab anomaly” is hard to explain, states Hamaui. In fact, he says, “there isn’t a univocal answer”. For “the Gulf countries the ‘theory of the oil curse’ was developed, namely, very rich countries with low taxation rates allocated subsidies and funds to gain consensus, along with conspicuous investments in the area of defense”. Other MENA countries’ situation can be explained with a wide range of factors such as “low levels of openness to the rest of the world, fragmented societies at religious, ethnical, and cultural level and in their local traditions. These are all elements of weakness that curb democratic development”. For Franco Rizzi, professor of the History of Europe and of the Mediterranean (Roma Tre University), author of the volume “Mediterraneo in Revolta” (Castelvecchi, Rome 2011), “in order to understand these revolutions it is necessary to revaluate concepts and values that have been completely annihilated for decades by one or more dictatorships whose rulers the Western world often helped achieve positions of power”. “A young man that sets himself to fire on the street is seeking to reaffirm his dignity – he underlines. Also today the Egyptian population has undertaken a long journey towards the achievement of self-identity: dignity and identity, prior to democracy”.Where is the Mediterranean going? “The West – underlines economist Luigi Ruggerone, co-author with Hamaui of the first volume – undoubtedly wavered, and did not grasp the full picture from the start. Mubarak had guaranteed the region’s stability for 40 years. It was impossible to ask for NATO’s intervention without the endorsement of the U.S. Over the past decades Europe has adopted a myopic policy, focused on the acquisition of business agreements. There appears to be a chink of light coming from the G20 in Marseilles of past September, which appropriated 111 billion dollars in two years for these countries’ development, endowed with skills and human – but not financial – resources”. “Putting the money on the table is not enough – Rizzi replied – Europe should be asking itself where the Mediterranean is going. It should also analyse the global policies that the Treaties of Rome developed to its regards. We need a phase of reflection and rethinking in order to eliminate policies based on mystification and clichés that have gone unquestioned for years”. “Europe must not only provide economic help and technology – Hamaui points out – most of all, it has to share its institutional know-how, but in order to do so we need enlightened political leaders and the unity of intentions among EU partners”.Conscience burden. Hamaui said he is “very positive about Tunisia that appears to have made a good start”, while he declares himself to be “very worried about Egypt – which besides, has always had a political and cultural leadership role in the region – for Yemen and Syria”. “The success or the failure of the revolts – he claims – will mostly depend on the Arab themselves, but without a strong middle class and without cultural and economic development, the yearning for democracy won’t suffice for the completion of the democracy process”.. “The West must also accept the idea of an Islamic democracy – Ruggerone said -. We have never experienced it, let’s test it out”. Syria, where street riots have been ongoing for the past year, with a balance of almost four thousand dead, remains an open question. Only on November 22 were killed five children, while there is talk of civil war and humanitarian emergency, Russia and China support Bashar el Assad, and Turkish president Abdullah Gul defines a change at the lead of Damascus “unavoidable”, but “without external interventions”. “Four thousand dead – claims Hamaui – weigh heavily on our consciences, but we have to be very cautious before intervening since Syria is a complex country from the political, ethical and cultural angle. Also the opposition front is divided at internal level”. “If Syria exploded”, Rizzi concludes, within the framework of open questions with Iran and Turkey, “we could be facing and apocalyptic scenario. For the time being, the logic of the lesser evil seems to prevail”.