Conflicts between the North and the South

              of the Mediterranean

                          Sommary 


            di Fifi Bernaboud






            "How  can we be Persians?" This notion or statement of  Montesquieu  is 

            conveyed at one point, as basis of human relations. In the Time of  the 

            Great  Mediterranean  Empires  (Phoenician, Roman,  and  Ottoman),  the 

            Mediterranean  region  was considered a  crossroads  of  civilizations, 

            religions,  strategic interests and a place of commercial and  cultural 

            exchange.  This  link  is revealed through all  aspects  of  life.  The 

            migration  movements and the social human problems that exist  are  the 

            characteristic    components   or   elements   of    transmediterranean 

            interdependence  that do not reflect or dicipher enough, the  icons  of 

            this area.

            Unfortunately,  the  Mediterranean  area is a place of  more  and  more 

            conflicts  between the North and the South, the rich and the poor,  the 

            West and Islam. The various and multiple problems maintain the image of 

            de-unification  of the continents that link the Mediterranean.  In  the 

            north and south of the Mediterranean, the social agitatyion, the racial 

            tensions, amd the religious conflicts are the factors that deepen  more 

            and  more  the  de- unification or the gap among  continents.  In  this 

            global village which we have been living for few years, a form of unity 

            exists insiduously on the economic, social and bureaucratic levels, not 

            to  mention  the ambiguous progress of the information system  and  the 

            mass media. 

            It seems that the insiduous unity of the Mediterranean is an answer  to 

            that  challenge  and  the danger that we aware of at the  end  of  this 

            century.  People of the Mediterranean are claiming back their  identity 

            and  the  decolonization  from the West. In the last  quarter  of  this 

            century  we are witnessing differences and conflicts among  big  powers 

            and  specific differences among small ones. Only our  diverse  cultures 

            and  traditions  will  allow  us to find  the  necessary  balance.  The 

            developments in the claiming back of the differences and the collective 

            identities constitute a vital balance in this changing world. 

            North-South  relations  are  founded  on  inequality,  domination,  and 

            unequal  confrontations that are not tolerable anymore. We are  tempted 

            to  avoid an economic power that is getting stronger and stronger  that 

            rules our future. In order to avoid the political power that is cutting 

            people's  aspirations  in  the Mediterranean, we are  tempted  to  hide 

            behind our ethnic, cultural, and religious particularities. 

            Nowadays,  the diversities explode a little bit everywhere against  the 

            threat  of  universal  unity.  This  rebellion  can  lead  to   another 

            conservative  retroversion  of  values and  old  fashioned  models.  In 

            addition it can lead to a desperate anarchy that will result in a  more 

            profound  and  general  crisis,  such  as:  thinking  process   crisis, 

            generating  new conflicts and new wars, and the conflicts of  political 

            and economical interests. These are the predominant signs that  reflect 

            an  upheavaled  future. This crisis at the end of the 20th  century  is 

            demonstrated  differently depending on if you are rich or poor. In  the 

            North the state of mind does not offer any promise of peace due to  the 

            fortress  siege  they are living in, the state of mind can  lead  to  a 

            fight  for  one's identity by alienation and ethnic  purification.  The 

            racism with the incompatibility of cultures can be an infernal  recipe. 

            This  is what we could call the "differential racism"  it's  foundation 

            based upon the idea that various cultures are perceived as a threat and 

            a  danger to the national identity. This state of mind erases  historic 

            memoires and the richness of exhange and new contributions.  Therefore, 

            the  new immigrants are seen as the trouble makers because on  the  one 

            hand, they are carrying with them those differences that are considered 

            as unacceptable and on the other hand they announce the possibility  to 

            create cultural pluralistic societies or to transform the host  society 

            at its core.

            The  southern  countries are in a changing process, affected  by  world 

            events,  wars, internal conflicts, and frustration. They are no  longer 

            handling their political and economic destinies because they are facing 

            their  own poverty and are becoming more and more dependent on the  big 

            powers.  They  feel disarmed, impotent, and ostracized  in  a  smashing 

            world. Their only alternatives are to be tempted to enclose  themselves 

            in  their  own cocoon and return to their roots. We then arrive  to  an 

            "excessive  identification"  that takes all  facets  of  contradictions 

            without  leaving a place for comprehension and change. The religion  is 

            one  of the essential elements of the societies, it seems logical  that 

            these people hide behind this search for an identity. 

            Religion creates a space for resources and reflection in an unjust  and 

            unbalanced  world. Religion is interpreted in the most extreme  fashion 

            or  form due to this unbalanced world. The mingling of frustration  and 

            religion  is explosive in the Mediterranean region. Eugene Enriques  of 

            the Delphes Forum points out the risk of "religious sacred culture,  is 

            that  other cultures are considered dirty, explotive,  and  colonizing. 

            Culture is identified as trascendent sacredness forcing its members  to 

            enclose themselves in their cultural cocoon". 

            It  it difficult to draw a line where the cultural comprehension  stops 

            and where the religious intolerance starts. There is a real link  these 

            two preceding notions go hand in hand. We are losing an important trait 

            of those last centuries: tolerance as a principle or "laical humanism". 

            The people of the North adopt the logic of the Crusaders by showing  in 

            any form Moslems as evil. 

            The  Bosnian  war is a living example in the heart of  Europe.  On  the 

            other  hand, Islamism, the fantic and extreme interpretation of  Islam, 

            rejects  all modernism and openness. This religious intolerance is  not 

            an  integral part of Islam. In fact, Islam since the beginning  of  its 

            time  tolerated Jews as well as Christians, who were left  to  practise 

            their  religion  freely  in a Moslem city. It  is  only  through  men's 

            interpretation  in a period of crisis that shows the image of  religion 

            where the tolerance is excluded.

            Religious  tolerance implies that no discrimination takes  place  among 

            human beings regarding their will. It also implies the freedom of their 

            external   behaviour   according  to  their   convictions,   the   only 

            restrictions  are  coming  from  the demands  of  their  social  order. 

            Religious tolerance is to allow the others the subjective right'  which 

            is  the  free will to choose a specific religion. The idea that  is  we 

            always  hold  the truth and that others are wrong should  be  rejected. 

            Religious  tolerance  is the respect of social  consciousness  and  the 

            people who live in another religion different from ours. The article 18 

            of the United Nations' Charter states the right to freedom of  thinking 

            and  considers  the principle of tolerance as sacred.  The  ideological 

            crisis  leaves room for national, religious, and ethnic  fanatism  that 

            denies  even the possibility of a peaceful coexistence and attempts  to 

            rehabilitate the solution of rejection, even genocide.

            In  the  face  of this civilization game or  politics,  Michael  Alliot 

            explains  it adequately by saying: "why don't we consider in a  humble, 

            brotherly,  just, loving, faithful spirit, our different visions  under 

            the light of experience and learning from others, and not to propose to 

            others the adoptation of our vision of the world, but to enlighten this 

            vision of others". 

            We have to explore the different patterns of a community respecting the 

            collective   identities  and  individual  rights  by  negotiation   and 

            dialogue.  Facing  the  growing xenophobia,  extreme  nationalism,  and 

            religious  integrity, there is an absolute necessity to  re-affirm  the 

            thesis  of  solidarity at the international level and  consequently  to 

            participate  in the development of a new system of values,  susceptible 

            to structure differently the relations among the Mediterranean  people. 

            As  a  civil Mediterranean society, we should transform  our  cultural, 

            ethnic,  religious  diversities  into richness. The  challenge  in  the 

            future  is  to implement and reinforce the actions, dynamics,  and  the 

            articulations from where the needs of people will result in  solidarity 

            and  common  projects. The claiming back of the right of  identity  and 

            diversity   that  are  demonstrated  strongly,  are   compatible   with 

            integration  and  within the wider range as long as  comprehension  and 

            acceptance of differences exist. 

            It  is  necessary  to  reinforce dialogue,  and  comprehension  at  the 

            Mediterranean level for the emergence of priorities and thinking  modes 

            of  each  person, in order to establish a contract  or  agreement,  and 

            avoid  confrontation. It is true that it is difficult  to  reconciliate 

            passion  and  reason, even though this gloal must be met  in  order  to 

            avoid the acceleration of inequalities, the unbalance, and the violence 

            that takes over the regional social domain.

            In sum, how is it possible to conclude or close such a subject, without 

            this statement of J. Berque "it is the pluralistic world, from which it 

            takes  its power, if not from the creative energy of rapport among  the 

            societies, their nature and the nature per se".