Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (right) and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos (left)
Photo: Dmitry Azarov
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On the Other Side of the Caricature
// The Foreign Ministers of Russia and Spain write exclusively for Kommersant
In the midst of the uproar over the caricature of the Prophet Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos have coauthored this article, in which they attempt to answer the question of what lessons the world community can learn from the crisis surrounding the scandalous publication. They submitted their article to Kommersant.
A preliminary account can already be taken of the crisis that has arisen in the last several days because of the caricature. The most serious and irremediable result has been the deaths of several dozen people in various incidents. It can be stated that misunderstanding and mutual enmity exist at all times and are ready to surface unexpectedly at the first possibility.
But we have also learned several lessons that will help us prevent such escalations in the future.
First, a valuable discussion of freedom of speech has been started. The majority agree that it should be limited only by law. Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental pillars of our society. Every editor-in-chief decides what to publish and what not to publish and no democratic government has the right to interfere in his work. But he, like every journalist, must feel personal responsibility. The way in which we use our freedom of speech can lead to unexpected consequences, as we have witnessed in the past few days. Political leaders urge people to responsibility and respect for members of other cultures. That applies in equal measure to the need not to allow the media to be used for the incitement of terrorism.
Second, the offense of their religious feelings felt by many Muslims in no way justifies their violence. We have seen the burning of the diplomatic offices of countries and we are in full solidarity with those countries. Al the facts should be carefully investigated by the states on whose territory the incidents took places. There were also peaceful protests in many countries and many Muslim leaders, such as Ali al-Sistani, expressed their regret over the publication of the caricature and publicly condemned the spiral of violence that followed it. We should not fall into the trap of hoping to use the situation for our own interest.
Third, the incident yet again convinces us of the timeliness of the initiative to form the Alliance of Civilizations, which was supported by the UN General Secretary in July 2005 when it was presented by Turkey and Spain. In October of last year, a joint article was published that emphasized that cooperation between civilizations and the coexistence of different cultures both within and beyond our borders, is one of the most meaningful challenges facing the international community in the coming decades. We cannot under any circumstances allow conflicts on ethnic, religious or cultural grounds to replace the ideological conflicts that lead to the confrontation of states in the Cold War.
The Alliance of Civilizations is a response to the desire to provide the international community with new instruments for mutual understanding and cooperation between the Muslim and Western communities. That Alliance of Civilizations seeks to form a broad coalition against extremists. It is an alliance against intolerance of any kind and against a simplified view of conflict situations that does not correspond to the realities of an ever more complicated world. We cannot allow those who have turned to violence to triumph in the struggle of ideas against their propaganda of hate that contains no solution and is doomed to failure.
Spain and Russia and, unfortunately, many other countries have experienced grave terrorist acts on their territories, sometimes organized by parties using religious motives. Nonetheless, our citizens are able to differentiate religious feeling from the manipulation of them that many fanatics carry out. No religion calls for violence or hatred. Great religions are incompatible with calls to violence and terror in their essence and that is why they deserve great respect.
At the end of February, the second meeting of the High-Level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations will take place in Doha.
We expect that it will be a good opportunity to move forward on the path to determining the political and other problems that are based on misunderstanding and mutual mistrust. We must learn to identify our common values, which will help us determine common directions for political action to mobilize the will of an enormous number of those who live on the Earth who are seeking dialog and tolerance. The time has come to intensify the dialog to develop joint initiatives.
Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; Miguel Angel Moratinos, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain.
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 10, 2006
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