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Dialogue must for co-existence
DUBAI — The distinguished speakers at the Interactive Discussion organised by the Khaleej Times International Forum on 'Muslim World and the West: Co-existence of Civilisations' have opined that dialogue alone was the way forward for cultures and civilisations to co-exist.
The discussion, held yesterday evening at the Khaleej Times office, provided a venue for three distinguished British dignitaries, two members of the House of Lords and the President of a major think-tank, to have a no holds-barred open interaction with a distinguished multinational audience consisting of academics, senior diplomats, businessmen, scribes and intellectuals.
The discussion assumed especial significance in the backdrop of the controversy on blasphemous cartoons published in some Western newspapers. The issue came up repeatedly during the speeches as well as the Q&A session.
All the speakers, the Rt. Honourable Lord Merlin Victor Hay, the Earl of Errol & Lord High Constable of Scotland and Member of the House of Lords, UK, the Rt. Honourable Lord Ahmed of Rotherham and Member of the House of Lords, UK, and Lady Olga Maitland, President, Defence Strategic Forum of UK and a former Member of Parliament, voiced their deep anxiety at the deterioration of relations between the West and the Muslim world as a result of irresponsible acts by a few in both the cultures.
Lady Olga Maitland initiated the discussion by drawing attention to the ominous prediction made 10 years ago by Professor Samuel Huntington that an era of misunderstanding and resultant cultural clash between the West and Islam was imminent.
She stressed that it was high time that the we tried to bridge the gap, lest it gets out of control and consume the whole world. "You have a West which is fabulously rich and strong, whereas the Muslim society by and large lives under miserable conditions of poverty and dispossession. The Muslims legitimately feel frustrated that they have been deprived of sharing in this prosperity and overall growth," she pointed.
She concluded by saying that the West did not face any threat from Islam. "The Muslims do not hate the West. What they hate is, however, some policies of certain Western countries," she stressed.
Lord Merlin Victor Hay, the Earl of Errol, hailed the holding of the discussion as a wise step and said: "Poverty is a major issue that feed much of the trouble today. We have to come up with even more effective ways to reduce poverty and provide dignified living conditions for people."
The Earl of Errol ended his talk by suggesting that one remedy for the crisis was to make sure that people had an outlet for venting their frustrations.
"Unless they are able to give vent to their anger and despair, societies will explode. We need to learn to manage cultural change better. We have to pick up the good elements from all cultures and teach them to our children," he exhorted.
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham began his speech by saying that there were two major points of conflict in history between the Muslims and the West — one was the crusades and the other was colonialism. Most of the Muslim communities fell under the yoke of colonialism, he said.
Lord Ahmed criticised the hypocrisy characteristic of Western attitudes toward the issues of the Muslim world. While lamenting the terrorist attacks of 9/11, 7/7, Nairobi, Dar es Salam and others, he said it was equally important to remember the millions of people killed by Western powers.
"One million Afghans laid down their lives fighting our battle against the Soviets. The Pushtun people had nothing to do with 9/11. Not even one Afghan was accused in the 9/11 attacks. Still 30,000 of them had to pay with their lives during America's attack in the name of 9/11," he said.
In his opening remarks, Javed Malik, Consultant, Khaleej Times International Forum, set the tone for the discussion by stressing that the publication of the blasphemous cartoons cannot be called 'freedom of expression'. "Journalists will tell you that freedom of expression does not require them to attack anyone's religious beliefs," he said.
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