Editorial
How to work against bilateral deafness?
The CERMAM Letter now also exists in Arabic. We are not aiming for an exact translation of the French one, but are looking to put forward messages to our Arabic-speaking readers. We will try to reinforce communication between Europe and the Mediterranean world.
One of the main barriers is that of language: Europeans simply have no idea what is written about them, or what happens in the Arab world, and it is the aim of the CERMAM Letter to try and fill in these blanks. The opposite is also true; communication is indeed bidirectional. The CERMAM Letter in French is for European readers – the Arabic-speakers already know about the topics it develops. It would be useless to translate it literally. The Arabic and the French Letters need to have different contents.
What do the European media say about the Arab world? Is the Arab world aware of what western media say about it? Both cultures evolve and mutually ignore each other. It could potentially lead to catastrophes, as was illustrated by the July 2005 attacks in London. That attack will probably not be the last of its kind, and already, it is fuelling anti-Muslim feelings in Europe and raising suspicions regarding the Islamic culture.
For example, to serve the interest of the Arab-Muslim and of Euro-Mediterranean relations in general, at least three things need to be done:
1. Arab people from Arab countries must expressly condemn extremist who kill in the name of Islam
2. The religious authorities must explain to the Europeans when the Qur'an condemns terrorisms and in what cases it does not
3. The religious people have to explain to their own fellow citizens, as well as to the Muslim population in Europe, why terrorism is a crime in the eyes of Islam.
How will we get this message over? Well, thanks to CERMAM perhaps…
-- Victoria Curzon Price
President of CERMAM
Translated into English by Marguerite Cornu, Research Assistant trainee
Permanent link to this entry (permalink)
- Origin CERMAM
- http://www.cermam.org/en/logs/editorial/how_to_work_against_bilateral/
- Publié le 9 September 2005