Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-02-14-Speech-3-251"
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"en.20070214.20.3-251"2
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".
Madam President, when this House discusses the fight against terrorism, there is the risk of us promptly falling back on politically correct commonplaces which hamper effective policy, or even make it impossible. As the report rightly suggests, international terrorism currently represents the biggest threat to peace and stability in open societies, and the most direct threat to freedom, security and human dignity. International terrorism has declared war on the whole of the western world, and that includes Europe.
It is therefore of the utmost importance for us to clearly identify this threat. When I read in recital A of the report words such as ‘international terrorism and the associated ideology’, then I fear that we are going the wrong way. Terrorism is not an ideology in itself, and neither is it a goal in itself. As the chairman of the Arab television station al-Arabiya asserted a few years ago, it is a painful reality that these days, although not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim. It is a witticism which, like all witticisms, contains a grain of truth. It is fashionable in Europe to say that we do not want a Clash of Civilisations, but whether we like it or not, this Clash of Civilisations is in full swing. We must continue to fight poverty, and, of course, give our support, but we should not be naïve in thinking that this will also fully address terrorism. The perpetrators of the attacks in New York, London and Madrid were not poor; quite on the contrary, they were middle-class and highly educated. It would therefore be in the EU’s interest to introduce democratic ideas, including the free expression of opinion, into the Islamic world. What should really be established over there on a big scale is a kind of
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Is this a plea to stigmatise all Muslims? Not at all. What is important, though, is that within Islam, such things as self-criticism and introspection should be promoted. A few weeks ago, it turned out that the chairman of the Muslim Executive in Belgium – this is the official government body, funded and recognised by the government – had given money to a convicted terrorist who is held in a Belgian jail. This is bad enough as it is. What I find worse, though, is that there was no reaction whatsoever to this incident from the Muslim quarters in Belgium. Quite the reverse; the resulting silence gave the impression that, at the least, people in those quarters were not at all shocked that the Chairman of the Muslim Executive, who claims to speak on behalf of all Muslims in Belgium, should give indirect support to terrorism. This is disquieting and we should challenge it."@en1
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"Radio Freedom"1
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