Tensions between north and south relative to religion and society need to be resolved in dialogue, though it must be unbiased to work, writes Bahey El-Din Hassan* The nature of the relations between religions and societies has for long constituted a root cause for tension in the southern and eastern Mediterranean communities. During the past few years, this relation has even become a source of tension in northern European communities, as well as between northern European societies on the one hand, and eastern and southern Mediterranean ones on the other hand. The Danish cartoons crisis was only the last instalment. It had been preceded by other significant thresholds, such as Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, the ban on wearing the hijab (head cover) in French schools, and the assassination of Dutch director Theo van Gogh for a movie considered by his killer to be offensive to Islam. These are but a few of the significant milestones that have attracted the attention of media and public alike. Yet, there is a huge number of less famous incidents that have played a vital role in fostering tension that remained permanent between the most famous incidents. Not much difference can be noticed in the southern Mediterranean, even at the levels of symbolic or physical violence. It could be sufficient in this snapshot to refer, for example, to the assassination of the secular Egyptian intellect, Farag Fouda, the attempted assassination of the Nobel Laureate in literature Naguib Mahfouz, the fact that a number of secular authors and intellects in Egypt had to seek the protection of their place of residence by the security forces, or that others had to leave their countries and live abroad, such as the professor of Islamic Studies Nasr Hamed Abu Zeid. Another author, namely Sayed El-Qemni, was forced to declare his repentance and has publicly recanted all his books in response to the warning levelled at him by a religious group. Otherwise, he would have been killed. It is worth noticing that the accusation levelled at all the above mentioned is "offending Islam", which is the same accusation levelled at the Danish cartoonists. If this high religious tension in southern Mediterranean societies can be attributed to their inability to resolve the problematic relation between religion and the state, the new patterns of tension in northern European societies -- which had for long succeeded in settling this equation -- as well as those tensions between northern and southern Mediterranean communities, could be explained by their failure to integrate Muslim immigrants and by EU foreign policy towards some Middle Eastern issues. It could also be due to globalisation dynamics that have caused European embassies in the southern Mediterranean to be set on fire for cartoons drawn in the extreme north. This context poses a number of questions for all those concerned with the relation between religion and community/state within the framework of the dialogue between cultures. These questions include the following. First, are we facing a clash of civilisations (north/south... West/Islam) or are we, in fact, facing acute tension within each civilisation on both banks of the Mediterranean, which might have certain common features and results, like not having a unanimous stance as regards these events within each community in both the north and the south (such as the cartoons, hijab, etc)? Second, mounting tension raises a question/ challenge as regards the future of the Barcelona process that was aiming at transforming the Mediterranean into a lake of communication and dialogue between cultures. Along the course of this process, which has exceeded a decade, cultural/religious tension has mounted across the Mediterranean. Such tension has taken more and more violent forms, which reached their peak in the Danish cartoons crisis. This crisis has also proven that certain governments, northern and southern on the Mediterranean, which are signatories to the Barcelona Declaration, failed to honour their signatures. Worse even, they were ready to let go of the course of events, which should not have reached such a state of violence, especially that other offences rather more injurious to religious feeling and emotions that took place months earlier did not give rise to the same response as that to the Danish cartoons. Third, five years have lapsed since the tragic 9/ 11 events and the waging of a global war in the north and the south against terrorism, using weapons, legislation, administrative, security and media restrictions. Yet the dangers of terrorism are increasing in both the north and the south, to the extent that a similar operation to 9/11 was almost successful before British authorities managed to discover it. Additionally, the range of recruited terrorists is getting wider, as it includes immigrants born in Europe and raised in its culture. This eventually poses a big question, not only as regards the correctness of anti-terrorism strategies in the north and the south, but also about the wholesomeness of the strategies followed to integrate immigrants in European societies and about the role governments, religious institutions and civil society NGOs should play in the south in this regard. Fourth, the contact line between religions and the freedom of literary and artistic creativity is the most tensioned point in the relation between religions and societies. Most incidents are closely related to this contact line, whether within the framework of Mediterranean societies, each separately, or within the course of the cross- Mediterranean relations between north and south. This problem is aggravated by accusations pointed by the south to the north of double standards. For instance, many people could not understand how Danish cartoons illustrating the Prophet of Islam in a defamatory manner could be defended as a matter of freedom of expression while the same values of "freedom of expression" could not protect cartoons depicting Jewish characters. Why could not the former be considered a provocation of religious hatred and racism, while the latter was considered as such? Fifth, the contact line between religions and the freedom of scientific research is also considered as a blazing issue in the southern Mediterranean, particularly in the field of research in crucial and sensitive areas of the history of religions, or in the field of explanation and interpretation of sacred texts. The victims in these fields throughout the history of southern Mediterranean until the 20th century are too many for such a brief working paper to tackle. It has been, and still is, impossible to strike demarcation lines between the sacredness of religions and academic freedom: where should the first end, in order for the second to start, or vice versa? This issue has, recently, become a source of additional tension across the northern and southern Mediterranean because many people in the south cannot understand why Europe draws an iron curtain on the Holocaust, i.e. on the right of those who try to raise "scientific" doubts as regards a horrendous and painful historical incident, often specifically the exact number of its victims. This could not be understood by many, including those in the southern Mediterranean who believe that academic freedom should be absolute, regardless of the considerations of religious sacredness or of those who do not question the Holocaust, or the number of its victims. In all cases, double standards constitute additional wood for the fire pits of trans- Mediterranean tension. This question, like other issues previously referred to, needs deep, serious and responsible attention. Within this context, we should not disregard the point that there exists a no less urgent need, namely conducting an open dialogue with no borders or taboos within the societies of the southern and eastern Mediterranean as regards the same issues -- an endeavour that likely will face freedom of expression restrictions in this part of the world. * The writer is director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.
