30. October 2007: What Unites US and What Divides Us: Tough Questions for Islam and the West

The conference was opened by RFE/RL director Jeff Gadmin, who underlined the fact that Radio Free Europe has continued to spread the ideals of human freedom after the fall of most Communist regimes especially in the Islamic world. US ambassador in the Czech Republic Richard Graber pointed to the necessity of dialogue with moderate Muslims. Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Alexandr Vondra did not hide his doubts about the ability of the West in facing the challenge of radical Islam. He also emphasized the role of Turkey as an example of a prosperous and moderate Muslim state and voiced his support for Turkey´s inclusion in the EU. All three speakers thanked the OI for organizing the conference. OI Director Roman Joch praised the intellectual climate in the Czech Republic which makes it possible to freely discuss the questions of Islam and Islamism. He then underlined the difference between Islam and Islamism, pointing to the inability of Western liberal intellectuals to understand the deep religious feelings of the Muslims. Joch then called upon the European Muslims to stand up against the 10-15% strong minority of radicals within their ranks. Tomislav Delinić of Konrad Adenauer Foundation focused on the situation in Germany, especially on the problems resulting from the mass immigration from Turkey.

The first panel was entitled A Look from the West: Are Muslim Values Compatible with Western Ones? The participants included the Czech/French Arabist Zdeněk Muller, Alexander Ritzmann (European Foundation for Democracy), Michel Rubin (Middle East Quarterly) and Sebestyen Gorka (Institute for Transitional Democracy and International Security – OI partnership organization from Budapest, Hungary). All of them emphasized the fact that the presence of Muslim imigrants in the West is irreversible, however, the acceptance of basic values of their host countries has become a necessity. They also pointed to the fact that official representatives of Muslim communities in Europe and USA do not necessarily reflect the views of these communities as a whole. These leaders are often financed by Saudi fundamentalist sources and display considerably closer links to Islamic radicals then average Muslim immigrants.

The second panel was composed of participants from the Muslim world (Mustafa Akyol of Bospor University in Istanbul, Muhamed Jusić from Bosnia and Hercegovina, Abubakar Siddiqui and Akbar Yazi of the Afghan Section of RFE/RL). Most of them underlined some negative aspects of the war on terror. The Muslim panelists expressed an overall view that the Islamic world is under Western pressure, it is often misuderstood and too simplisticly described as a radical, hostile civilization. Such distorted views then in turn tend to generate negative reactions in the Muslim world.

The third panel provided the panelists with a space for open discussion, which turned out to be both lively and stimulating. The conference was then closed by the RFE/RL presentation of its programme dedicated to the problems of the Islamic world.

Thank you here in the forum will act as a decent people.
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