الإسلام والغرب: نحو عالم أفضل

Islam and the West… for a better world @

massacres in Algeria. Concerning the last example, not only the “collective trauma” caused by French colonialism was ignored but the French Parliament “poured salt on them” by adopting in 10 February 2005 - more than four decades after the independence of Algeria – a bill glorifying the “positive role” of the French presence in Algeria. The contribution of the Muslim world in reducing the tensions at the international level could be through the following processes: a) The proper management of the huge number of conflicts in the Muslim world, a space where live more than 1.2 billion people, which registers a high density of inter- and intra-state conflicts. This requires the training of conflictologists and the setting up of research centres for a better approach to conflict, conflict prevention, conflict resolution and the transformation of the conflict into a positive driving force in the society, based on the new principles and techniques developed in the West and their projection and adaptation to Muslim societies taking into account their historical context and cultural specificities. b) The proper management of the conflicts between parties from the Muslim world and other parties from the West, based on a set of ethical requirements, mainly justice and impartiality in approaching a conflict, and on the accurate evaluation of the legitimacy of the incompatible goals of the two parties. If the conflict is between one party with legitimate goals and a second party with illegitimate goals, then the resolution of the conflict requires necessarily the achievement of the goals of the first party, especially if they are of the order of basic needs, and all legitimate means, including resistance, can be used to this effect. For conflictologists “basic needs cannot be negotiated”. However, if the incompatible goals of both parties have some legitimacy content, then the resolution of the conflict requires a dialogue between the parties and a great deal of creativity in order to

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