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Two Worlds on a Collision Course
Europe and the Clash of Civilizations
By Helmut Schmidt
The West and the Muslim world seem far removed from a stable and
peaceful co-existence. Can one rule out the possibility of an almost
global conflict between Islam and the West? And will Europe resist any
inclination to be drawn into such a general clash with Islam? These are
the two key questions examined by Helmut Schmidt, Germany's former
Chancellor.
I take it as a certainty that almost all Europeans and Russians share a
vital interest in avoiding a clash of civilizations with Islam.
Islam on the rise
This is because hundreds of millions of Muslims are living in places
that are geographically very close to Europe and Russia, as well as
millions living inside Russian borders and even more living inside
London, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam and so on.
Whether we believe in Samuel Huntington's analysis or not, nobody can
rule out the possibility of an almost global conflict between Islam and
the West.
It might not happen in the form of a great war. It seems thinkable that
in an atmosphere of lasting general animosity on both sides armed
conflicts or wars particularly terrorist activities and guerrilla
activities may be triggered time and again.
One proper to rule
Of the nearly 200 states on our globe, Muslims populate almost 60. Most
of these states are poor. Some of them are utterly poor and, at the
same time, difficult to govern.
Very few of them enjoy boundaries with historical legitimacy that goes
back further than World War I or II. Very few of them have historically
evolved boundaries.
Little knowledge
Even fewer of these states enjoy a functioning democracy. Most of them
can now and since their beginning only be ruled in an authoritarian
or dictatorial way.
The Western public and the Western political elites has only a very
limited knowledge of Islam and its history. We tend to forget, for
instance, the concepts universal individual rights and democracy are
Western achievements of just the last two centuries.
Thomas Jefferson did have slaves, just like Pericles in ancient Athens
tow millennia earlier. The Torah, the New Testament and also the Koran
have given all of us commandments, but not rights.
It takes time
It needed the Age of Enlightenment 250 years ago, to conceive of equal
rights for any human being under a rule of law and democracy. These
concepts evolved step-by-step in England, America, Holland, France and
elsewhere and quite a bit later in my own country.
Yet, they did not develop in Arab regions, the Middle East, in Iran,
Indonesia, India or China. Enlightenment has not as yet reached most
Muslim people. And it particularly has not reached the Islamic masses,
altogether about one-fifth of the global population.
Enlightenment light?
It is rather unlikely that one could condense the process of
enlightenment which in the West has needed centuries into a short
period of years and bring it about in the Islamic world by military
power.
I often wonder about our Western attempts to proselyte the Muslim masses
into democrats. They will easily accept television, automobiles, Coca
Cola and Western technologies that we export to them.
But to convert them into democrats will take generations and it will
take understanding and economic aid as well as tolerance.
I believe it would already be an enormous success if we could bring all
their states and governments to acknowledge and obey the rule of
international law and to obey the Charter of the United Nations.
Believe in the UN
But alas, in the meantime, we sell weapons and military technologies to
them.
I would hope that arms limitation is to remain on the international
agenda. Poverty, population explosions, and migrations will probably
make for future armed conflicts and not to forget petrol and natural
gas.
Unrest for years to come
For all of these reasons, not only the Middle East will remain a region
of unrest and conflict but great parts of Africa and central Asia as
well.
More than one-fifth of the total population of the globe is made of
Islamic believers and their share is growing. Therefore, I take it as
a certainty that Europe will try to resist any inclination towards a
general clash with Islam.
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