الإسلام والغرب: نحو عالم أفضل

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Civilization, Conflicts and Coexistence @

of our time have been internal to one civilization (the Second World War or even more recently Cambodia or Rwanda). Within this wider framework there is indeed a culture of conflict that needs to be addressed. It is difficult to define but it permeates entire societies and it makes war and conflict appear if not good at least not bad or as the lesser evil. There is a culture of the enemy that must be addressed and defeated. We have no space for an in-depth analysis of this. I would only like to point out that with the term “culture of the enemy” I would like to define it as an attitude of confrontation towards everything and everyone that is not in agreement with me or my side. Everything that falls short of being with me is against me and thus must be feared and if possible destroyed. But fear is a bad advisor and we cannot build on it. Fear makes any inter-action between different impossible. In a world where, on the contrary inter-action is the norm we are bound to end up confronting a daily clash that will eventually and inevitably become violent. I am thinking about the phenomenon of immigration because it is crucial in understanding both the clash and the ways to progress towards a better world. It is not only Islamic immigration in the West (this is more a keyword of the Western Media), but I also think about the debate on immigration in the US at present, the fear and reactions it generates with the creation of an elaborate “defense system” . But is also true in Italy where the number of immigrants, both legal and illegal, is far less than what would be needed for the country. Still immigration (I am now talking about the illegal one), also thanks to a cynical attitude of the media, has been portrayed as an invasion, as an unstoppable tidal wave that will crush Italy and its civilization if it is not stopped. Can we build on this? No coexistence can be based on a false assumption. There is no invasion nor unstoppable tsunami of illegal aliens pushing at our borders. As there is no great movement of conversion in our respective areas (another topic that is so dear to much of the media). No civilization is threatened by immigration and no religious background either. But most of the people would not think so. This may generate and is

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