The Common Ground News Service, January 4, 2005
The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations.
Please note: The views expressed in the articles and in CGNews-PiH are those of the authors, not of CGNews or its affiliates.
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UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL ARTICLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR RE-PUBLICATION.
Article #1
Title: If and when Turkey Joins the European Union
Author: Elias H. Tuma
Publication: AMIN.org
Date: January 1, 2005
Writing on what has been a popular topic of late, Tuma tries to pull out the benefits and challenges that Turkey and the EU will each face as negotiations over Turkey's inclusion in the Union begin in 2005.
Article #2
Title: Arabic literature finds an audience in Europe
Author: Isabelle de Pommereau
Publication: Christian Science Monitor
Date: December 29, 2004
Until recently, Western authors have dominated the mainstream market in Western-Islamic literature. Pommereau looks at the burgeoning entrance of Arab writers in this space and their impact on the Western-Islamic understanding.
Article #3
Title: American Muslims push for role in policy planning
Author: Muqtedar Khan
Publication: Daily Star
Date: December 21, 2004
Ready to play "a very active role in helping improve the U.S. image and to counter the tide of extremism and anti-Americanism in the Muslim world," a group of American Muslim scholars, activists and community leaders recently met at the Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy to launch a new initiative - the American Muslim Group on Policy Planning (AMGPP). Khan describes how they hope to work with the U.S. government to shape policy.
Article #4:
Title: Encountering the "Other"
Author: Meena Sharify-Funk
Publication: ~ Search for Common Ground Commissioned Article ~
Date: October 31, 2004
The sixth in a series of articles commissioned by Search for Common Ground in partnership with Al Hayat, Sharify-Funk advocates a new dialogue based not an expectation of immediate rewards and conflict resolution, but instead on a desire for understanding and the development and identification of common interests and goals.
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Article #1
If and when Turkey Joins the European Union
Elias H. Tuma
The European Union (EU) has promised to begin negotiations with Turkey sometime in 2005 for admitting Turkey it the Union. By doing so the EU acknowledges that Turkey has taken important steps to qualify for membership. Turkey has reaffirmed its official position as a secular state, has abolished the death penalty, and has improved the status of women. Turkey has also been cognizant of the need to take steps to comply with the economic requirements of the EU, especially regarding budget deficit, current account, and trade regulations. The negotiations will presumably assess the degree of compliance with the EU terms that has been realized, and make recommendations for remaining steps to fully qualify. The negotiations will thus be a part of the process of admittance to the EU membership, which may take up to ten years, according to some observers. Even so, if and when Turkey gains admission, it will have achieved a breakthrough by elevating its status from a traditional developing country to a modern fairly developed country. It will also have undergone a revolutionary transformation in its state philosophy, institutions, and system of administration, all of which contribute to its new status.
When Turkey joins the EU it will gain many benefits. Some benefits are diplomatic, psychological, and nationalistic, and others are economic, technological, and qualitative. Not only will Turkey enjoy the open market of the EU, but also its labor force will be able to compete for opportunities within that larger market. However, to enjoy the benefits of the larger market, Turkey will have to raise the level of scientific and technical training of its labor force. It will also have to apply advanced technology in its production system to lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of the products and services it offers. In other words, it will have achieved the objective that has eluded its leaders for decades, namely being recognized as a developed country. The breakthrough will come with the commitment of Turkey's political and business leaders to a philosophy of development as the means to gain access to the EU membership. The commitment to such a philosophy will almost automatically lead to the building of institutions that facilitate development, including emphasis on science and technology, and rational decision making in the economy and the administration. This revolutionary transformation will be reflected in the daily life of the people.
Probably one of the most significant changes will be the higher cognition of the value of time. It will become important not to "waste" or use more time than necessary to perform any given function. Turkey and most of the Islamic and developing countries are often described as the "Inshallah (God Willing), Bukra (Tomorrow), Ma'alesh (Never mind)" or IBM societies whose motto is the following: You do things if God wills; you do them tomorrow rather than today; and if you do not do them at all, it does not matter. As a result, responsibility is put on God rather than on the doer; actions are postponed for convenience; and the failure to act goes unaccounted for. To join the EU Turkey will have to divorce itself from the IBM attitude and adopt the philosophy that time is scarce and therefore has value and must not be wasted. It will also become essential that the individual or the group is accountable for the use of time and the improvement of factor productivity. Achieving mem
bership in the EU will give Turkey another benefit that relates directly to productivity, namely a feeling of equality with advanced countries instead of the feeling of inferiority, which has permeated most Islamic, and developing countries. That feeling of inferiority, while vehemently denied, is reflected in the preference given to foreign products and foreign experts, and in hesitation to bid for projects that require advanced science and technology. This feeling of inferiority is often described as the "Khawaga Complex," or the foreign superiority complex. Kemal Ataturk initiated the movement to achieve Turkish equality with the European countries in the mid-1920s. Much has been achieved in the meantime, but the Khawaga Complex tends to persist, as reflected in government policies, educational institutions, and in the market place. Now Turkey can rid itself of that stigma, adopt the technology it needs, and improve its scientific and technological standards as needed. While Turkey describes itself as a secular state, it now will have the opportunity and the responsibility to separate the state from religion, not only in rhetoric, but also in action. Religion becomes a matter of personal conscience, belief, and behavior, rather than an affair of the state, educational institutions, or business management. The reaffirmation of secularism should lead to changes in the status of women towards equality with men. The liberation of women from the religious and traditional constraints imposed on them will release an immense stock of human capital, which would be a great asset to the economy and the family.
Probably the most important international effect of Turkey's membership in the EU is that Turkey will become a model for other Islamic and developing countries by showing the way out of underdevelopment. By joining the EU Turkey will show that Islam can be reconciled with modernity, with secular government, and with rational economic and administrative decision-making. Turkey will also show that advanced science and technology are not an exclusive property of the developed countries, but are accessible and achievable by the countries that are lagging behind.
However, the benefits of Turkey's membership in the EU will also accrue to other members of the Union. They will have an enlarged market. They will have smoother relations with their own Muslim minorities, and they will free themselves of the charge of discrimination against Muslim countries in their public and international policies. Furthermore, admitting Turkey to the EU may be another way of combating fanatic Islam that calls for war against the "Christian West".
Another benefit the EU members will gain is access to the Turkish labor market. Now it will no longer be necessary to accommodate illegal migrant workers. Turkish workers, at all levels, will be able to compete for jobs within the EU market, but without legal residence or citizenship. When they finish the job they go home. The benefits to either side will not be free of costs. Turkey will have to abandon old traditions, customs, and behavior patterns that relate to economic and international relations. It will have to transform its institutions in ways that may have negative effects on certain vested interests. Turkey will also have to face much stronger economies in the competitive market of the EU, which may cause short-run dislocations to realize long-term gains. On the other hand, the EU will have to compromise by admitting a country long considered an outsider in culture, religion, level of development, and ideology. Though Turkey will have made the required changes in all these areas, for the EU to make such a compromise will still be a radical move.
Yet, compromise is basic to building international relations, trading in as large a market as possible and maximizing benefits to the largest number of citizens in the interacting societies. Turkey's membership in the EU should be a boon to both parties, but only if they both work together to make the larger union a reality.
**Elias Tuma is professor emeritus of economics, University of California, Davis, CA.
Source: AMIN.org
Visit the website at: www.amin.org
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.
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Article #2
Arabic literature finds an audience in Europe
Isabelle de Pommereau
Arab authors were the guests of honor at the world's biggest book fair, in Frankfurt this fall.
FRANKFURT - Iraqi novelist Alia Mamdouh has a message for the West: "How can you expect me, an Iraqi, whose country is being subjected to destruction, to trust Westerners - Americans - and to accept that they're the only ones on Earth and in the universe to possess the truth, when they don't take a step toward my culture, my existence, my language?" she asked in an interview with the International Parliament of Writers, a support organization for persecuted scribes.
Ms. Mamdouh is trying to bridge that cultural divide. She was one of 200 Arab authors who presented works at the Frankfurt Book Fair this fall, the world's biggest annual publishing event.
Since then, she has been touring Europe to promote her newest novel, "Passion." Set in England, where four Iraqi exiles meet after the US invasion of Iraq, the book explores the relationship between a polygamous man and his second wife. It's just one of 50 Arabic novels translated into German this year.
Far from the geopolitical battlefields that have brought Islam and the West face to face since Sept. 11, 2001, Arabic literature, unexplored in Europe just a decade ago, is making significant inroads here - and is helping to break down long-held stereotypes.
While still relatively small, the number of Arabic works translated into German, French, and English has been rising. Previously confined to specialized publishing houses, Arabic literature is now reaching mainstream publishers. "For the first time in the history of German publishing, there is a public debate about what Arab literature is," says Peter Ripken, director of the Society for the Promotion of African, Asian, and Latin American literature, in Frankfurt.
Since 9/11, books that deal with Arabic and Islamic issues have abounded. But they are often written by European experts and present "a false image of the Arab world," says Hachem Moawiya, head of Avicenne in Paris, one of Europe's biggest bookstores devoted to Arab authors.
"There is not only very latent but also very manifest racism when it comes to Arab literature," says Mr. Ripken. "That's why it's so important to read books by Arabic authors, because they have a different perspective than the Arab 'experts' who explain the Arab world to us."
The heightened profile of Arabic literature comes against a backdrop of controversy following complaints by the Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish rights groups, that at least eight books at the fair contained blatant anti-Semitic messages. "A book fair must celebrate the values of tolerance and not allow itself to endorse a cult of racism and hatred," Shimon Samuel, the Center's director for international liaison wrote in a letter to the book fair's president, Volker Neuman, urging him to remove these books and examine the shelves of all exhibitors.
Frankfurt prosecutors reviewed the claims but said they didn't have enough information to open a formal investigation. Tom Forrer of Lenos, one of two main publishers of Arabic literature in the German-speaking world, stresses that the Arab authors translated into German shied away from political themes.
At a time when much of the world associates Arabic culture with oppression, terror, and contempt for women's rights, Arabic novels are tackling such universal themes as love, death, and women's issues. Many of the new writers are women. In "The Hatred," for instance, Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifa tells of the prohibited love between a Muslim and a Christian in a village near Jerusalem, presenting a woman's view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In Mamdouh's most successful novel, "Mothballs," which is available in English, the plot focuses on a young girl's relationship with her father in 1950s Baghdad. Meanwhile, "Passion" tackles the issue of identity, exploring what it means to be an Iraqi.
Ripken, whose organization promotes little-known writers, says reading Arab authors should allay fears among many Europeans that Turkish accession to the European Union will mean that a river of Islam will flow through Europe. "Good Arab writing is against prejudices and clichés," he says. "Most of good fiction is critical fiction."
Mr. Neumann says he chose to showcase Arabic writing at the fair because it is still so rarely translated into English, German, or French. "The West and the Arab world are largely foreign to each other when it comes to literature, philosophy, or political debate," he says.
As she went from stand to stand at the book fair, Jordan's minister of state, Asma Khader, said she hoped that this budding interest in Arabic novels would "show the world the reality, the richness of our culture."
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Website: www.csmonitor.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
To request copyright permission please contact lawrenced@csps.com.
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Article #3
American Muslims push for role in policy planning
Muqtedar Khan
A group of American Muslim scholars, activists and community leaders is determined to carve a role for American Muslims in policy making. They met after a conference titled "Bridging the Divide" which was hosted by
the U.S.-Islamic World Project at Brookings Saban Center for Middle East Policy on Dec. 13, 2004 and launched a new initiative - the American Muslim Group on Policy Planning (AMGPP).
The group will focus on directing American Muslim energies toward engagement with the policy community and the U.S. government. Its foundation is based on the premise that the American Muslim community is not only capable of providing valuable assistance to the U.S. in the "war on terror" but can also play a pivotal role in helping build bridges of confidence, trust and communication between the U.S. and the Muslim world. The AMGPP will work to bridge the three crucial gaps between the U.S. and the Muslim world, the U.S. policy making and American Muslims, and between American Muslim interests and their capacity. In all cases the initiative will seek to educate, inform and advise without actually indulging in advocacy.
The AMGPP is willing to play a very active role in helping improve the U.S. image and to counter the tide of extremism and anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. The group is eager to take a leadership role on issues of public diplomacy and outreach on behalf of the State Department and also act as a spokesperson for American policies, concerns and interests. However, in order to be able to play the role of an honest broker, the AMGPP must be convinced that the policies it is willing to defend and explain are deserving of defense. This can be accomplished only by the inclusion of American Muslims in the policy making process. American Muslims cannot explain or defend policies that they disagree with and most importantly have had no hand in making.
Toward this end, the AMGPP will focus on providing policy input to government officials through regular dialogue, conferences, meetings and briefings. It will also work at community capacity building and outreach. The U.S. Congress has made multiple allocations for various policy goals, such as the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), that seek reform and development in the Muslim world. The AMGPP will seek to link Muslim NGOs with public and private funding sources in order to promote American Muslim initiatives in the area of economic development and strengthening of civil society.
The Brookings conference itself touched upon many of the policy issues that the AMGPP could potentially inform. The conference was jointly convened by Dr. Peter Singer, co-director of the U.S.-Islamic World Project and myself, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. The speakers at the conference included Dr. Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, Adam Ereli, the deputy spokesperson of the State Department, Dr. Sulayman Nyang of Howard University, Farid Senzai of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, Salam al-Marayati of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Dr. Zahid Bukhari from Georgetown University and Hady Amr of Amr Group. Dr. Islam Siddiqui, a former undersecretary of agriculture, and to date the highest-ranking American Muslim government official, delivered the luncheon keynote address.
Conference attendees included prominent scholars such as Dr. John Esposito and Dr. Steve Cohen, prominent community leaders such as Dr. Yahya Basha, Muhammad Shakir and Dr. Maqbool Arshad, several officials from the State Department, the Pentagon and Senate staff. MSA President Hadia Mubarak, and Executive Director of the Progressive Muslim Union, Ahmed Nassef, also participated in this important event.
There were two key conclusions at the conference. One, the U.S. had lost its credibility in the Muslim world and desperately needed moderate Muslim support to restore its credibility. A State Department official explained the situation in these words: "We know things are terribly bad, we need help, and specially we need American Muslims to help de-demonize the U.S." The second conclusion was that Islam and Muslims are being demonized in the U.S., their civil rights situation was terrible and Muslims are routinely excluded from policy deliberations; so how can they help improve the U.S. image unless things improve on the domestic front? Those extremists in America who propagate hatred of Islam and Muslims must be treated as extremists, and the government must move forward to include Muslims in policy making. Muslim input is valuable both in the articulation as well as in execution of policy.
One of the questions constantly raised after Sept. 11, 2001 is: "Where are the moderate Muslims?" So far many of them have been working as individuals or as part of mainstream American Muslim organizations that are already overwhelmed with the challenge of rising Islamophobia in the U.S. Now with the constitution of the American Muslim Group for Policy Planning, moderate Muslims in America have a name and an address. They are here, they are now organized and willing to provide their input for policy making and their assistance in policy implementation. The ball is now in the government's court; hopefully they will respond and help build a partnership with American Muslims.
**Dr. Muqtedar Khan is a non-resident fellow of the Brookings Institution. He is the author of "American Muslims" (2002) and "Jihad for Jerusalem" (2004). His website is www.ijtihad.org.
Source: Daily Star
Visit the website at: www.dailystar.com.lb
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.
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Article #4
Encountering the "Other"
Meena Sharify-Funk
From both humanistic and practical standpoints, the current estrangement between Islam and the West is unsustainable. The events of September 11th and the subsequent American military campaigns have left Muslims and Westerners increasingly distrustful both of each other and of the more humanistic and life-affirming values within their traditions. At the same time, Westerners are finding that they cannot retain a fully "Western" way of life without peaceful relations with Muslims - insofar as the term "Western" is intended to evoke respect for free open societies, democracy, human dignity, and human rights. Democracy, after all, cannot be protected or projected through undemocratic means. Likewise, many Muslims are discovering that they cannot fully realize the potential of their faith tradition as long as they find themselves locked in antagonistic relations with a "Western Other." Such relations empower extremist factions that are willing to jeopardize the rich and diverse heritage of Islamic civilization in their pursuit of an elusive ideal of cultural purity.
Individuals on both sides of the cultural divide have much to gain from moving beyond preoccupation with tired images, symbols, and postures, and toward genuine openness to a new experience of the Other. Narrow attachment to preconceived images, inflexible doctrines, and fixed political positions prevents dialogue. Most important for both communities at this time is the need to move beyond reactionary impulses triggered by solipsistic discourse-- that is to say, self-serving and ethnocentric "either/or" value dichotomies that split the world into opposing camps.
In contrast, dialogue as a tool for transforming conflict implies seeking power with the Other rather than power over an alien culture. Ideally, such egalitarian cultural engagement should not merely be an elite endeavor, but rather a more broadly participatory process in which members of estranged cultures rediscover their respective traditions and motivations. Rather than focus primarily on the negative task of debunking stereotypes (as manifest in tendencies of Orientalism and Occidentalism), dialogue seeks to develop new, mutual understandings on a collaborative basis. Such active engagement through sustained dialogue can help us to discover shared meaning amidst fear, anger, insecurity, and incomprehension.
Dialogue across cultural boundaries makes it possible for members of communities that are in conflict to rediscover their own traditions. By seeking ways of understanding that accommodate present realities as well as external criticisms, practitioners of dialogue allow their traditions to speak to new contexts. In the process, they gain access to empathetic understanding of other cultural systems, and thereby begin a process of broadening and reconstituting the cultural foundations of their own identities. Though this need not mean sacrificing one's own original loyalties, at a minimum it does require more intercultural habits: experiencing other contexts into one's own identity.
Moving beyond reactionary attitudes and ethnocentric behavior requires that the West and Islamic world know one another. Retreating from the challenges of active engagement only serves to strengthen the position of fundamentalists in both communities. In the modern world, retreat to a cultural or political ghetto by any group - be it Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or Hindu - is not only a denial of the rich diversity of the contemporary experience, but also a rejection of responsibility for future generations. We need to develop processes of intercultural communication capable of generating respect for diversity within our own communities and outside of our own communities, trust in difference, and critical self-critique. Participants should not expect immediate rewards, a decisive end of conflict, or "definitive" understanding. Rather, they should seek to help each side understand how the other community reads its identity into the world, while encouraging both sides to work together in the discovery and creation of shared meanings and priorities. Dialogue of this nature would challenge Westerners and Muslims to better understand their own values and ideals as they learn to share them in new ways.
Because the present world affords no scope for authenticity in isolation or security through rigid boundaries, Muslims and Westerners need to experience themselves "in relationship" rather than "out of relationship." Fostering relations of peaceful dialogue in the present climate of mutual recrimination and renewed claims of inherent cultural superiority will not be an easy task. Dominant American and Middle Eastern narratives are remarkably similar in the ways they construct enemy images through selective appropriation of history. As products of ethnocentric behavior, such narratives make war appear natural. Peaceful dialogue, in contrast to war, is proactive and requires deliberate effort to move from the superficial to the relational, from morbidity to creativity, from defensiveness to openness, from a competitive focus on the negative to a cooperative affirmation of positive possibilities, and from the politics of fear and projection to the politics of hope. Positive dynamism requires full engagement of the Self with the Other, together with an awareness that "Islamic" and "Western" relations bear within themselves not just the burdens of past conflicts but also resources for peacemaking in the present.
**Meena Sharify-Funk is currently an Adjunct Faculty member at American University's School of International Service in Washington, DC where she co-teaches a course on Islam and democracy.
This article is part of a series of views on the relationship between the Islamic/Arabic world and the West, published in partnership with the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) and is available for reprint.
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The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. This service is one result of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.
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Editors:
Emad Khalil
Amman Editor
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Rabat Editor
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& Elyte Baykun
Washington Editors
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