Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-15-Speech-4-210"
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"en.20011115.11.4-210"2
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"Mr President, some people may wonder why we are devoting time to discussing flooding – even flooding on this scale – in Algeria. In fact a debate is currently raging about this idea of concern. Recently, at a large meeting in Nuremberg, a leading German Orientalist complained that in parts of the Islamic world people were not concerned enough about the atrocious events in New York. At the time I replied that we too have shown very little concern about Chechnya, where over 100 000 people have been murdered, or Iraq, where over 100 000 people, mainly children, have starved to death. In fact there is a kind of partial culture of concern which is divided along cultural and geographical lines.
That is why we need to ensure that we also have compassion for our Muslim and Arab partners when they are hit by catastrophes of this kind, so that terrorists cannot – and after all this was the aim of 11 September – play off one civilisation against another and actually orchestrate the 'clash of civilisations'. The dead in Algeria are also our dead. The homeless in Algeria are also our homeless. If we speak of a global village in economic terms then we must also speak of a global village of compassion and solidarity.
That is why, where our partners in the Mediterranean, in the Arab world, are concerned, who are on our doorstep and with whom we need to work more closely than ever, it is the European Union's duty to provide substantial humanitarian aid, and also to ensure that Algeria is put in a position where it is more capable than it has been in the past of helping itself. Helping people to help themselves must be our overriding aim, but of course our aim now must also be to provide the victims of this disaster with direct practical help, not only by giving them money, not only by writing them a big cheque, but also by making it clear to them that what happens to them is something which we Europeans are deeply concerned about, something which matters to us as much as what happens to ourselves."@en1
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