The existing relations between cultures from the perspective of Spain

 TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH

On June 5th 2008 I organized a conference at the Residency in London of the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom under the title “The existing relationships between cultures from the perspective of Spain”, in which several Spanish officials and diplomats participated. They delved in the coexistence between Christians, Muslims and Jews in secular Spain.

Samir Nassif from Al Quds Al Arabi wrote an article on this conference under the title: “Conference organized by the Spanish Embassy in London: America’s provocative and unilateral policies are over and Europe must take unified positions to confirm its coexistence with Islam”

You can find the original article by clicking here. 

Al-Quds al-Arabi (London-based Qatari newspaper)

Volume 20, June 7/8, 2008

London, Al Quds Al Arabi, Samir Nassif:

The Spanish Embassy in London has organized a conference under the title “The existing relations between cultures from the perspective of Spain”, in which officials and experts on the coexistence between Christians, Muslims and Jews in Spain have participated in a secular society that covers various trends.

The conference took place at the residence of the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Carlos Miranda, and was attended by Arab and European ambassadors who participated in the discussions, presentations and suggestions raised there together with other specialists, and which have been organized by the Cultural Counselor of the Embassy, Mon Gonzalez. 

After the Ambassador welcomed the participants, Máximo Cajal, representative of the President of the Government of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and former Secretary of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave an outstanding speech in which he spoke of the group of the Alliance of Civilizations, which has been created in recent years, and which Spain officially supports with great interest, especially its President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos.

Cajal noted that “the unilateral world controlled by the United States after the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the last decade of the 20th century is about to end, which will end the role of the United States as the only force of importance in the world".

Cajal considers that “the world is on its way to a new stage in which the United States will no longer be the fundamental ethical source of the values ​​of Western societies, since there is a need to impose a new understanding of international legality, the role of the United Nations, human rights and democracy. Consequently, the multilateral world imposes itself over the principle of unilaterality; and ethical human thought is on the way to putting an end to the wrong principles imposed by the neoconservatives in the United States and their allies in Spain, between 1996 and 2004, and which led to the human disasters that have afflicted the world.”

Cajal led a violent attack on extremist American politicians and ideologues who attempt to use the United Nations as a springboard for achieving America's aggressive objectives in the world.

And he added that "the decision taken by George Bush Jr., Tony Blair and the previous Spanish President, Aznar, in 2003, in relation to the invasion of Iraq, demonstrated its erroneous foundation after the Madrid attacks on March 11, 2004. As a result, a new way of facing the dangers of terrorism has emerged in Spain, along with an attempt to solve the severe crises in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan, and the relationship between the West and the East, which threatens to create more terrorism.” For this reason, the Spanish Socialist Party, under the leadership of Zapatero, in his words, “has helped the general trend of Spain towards change, not only with the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq, but also with the new way of acting in relation to the problems of the Arab and Muslim world and the minorities, both Muslims and those of other beliefs, in Spain.”

Cajal stressed that “security and peace in the world will become widespread only when the role of the United Nations, international legality, human rights and democracy are reinforced, and unilateralism when making crucial decisions is ended.” And that "the President of the Government of Spain considers that there is a clear link between the application of all international resolutions in the Middle East and the fight against terrorism, so there is no need to resort to eclecticism in this area". Zapatero considers, as Cajal has said, that "the danger of global terrorism increases when democratic States betray the principles on which they are based and abandon the guarantees offered to the rest of the countries of the world by international commitments and the legislation on human rights to undertake military operations and invade other countries, thus contravening legality and forgetting the legitimacy of just wars.” The war against terrorism requires, in his opinion, a return to those fundamental principles of democracy.

The Deputy Director of Religious Affairs of the Spanish Ministry of Justice, Juan Ferrero, spoke about the relationship of the Spanish State with the various religions present in Spain. And he pointed out that “article 16 of the Spanish Constitution recognizes the right of religions present on the Spanish territory to practice their rites and cults not as a gift from the State, but as a right of the Constitution and the Laws. And this applies to both Catholic Christians, Protestants, Muslims and Jews, although the Constitution prohibits any religion or group from using this right to violate the peace and security of the other inhabitants of the secular State of Spain. It also prohibits infringement of the rights of other inhabitants and any attempt to impose one religion on others by force.” The Spanish State, in his words, “does not distinguish between one religion and another, nor between Christian, Muslim, or believer of another tendency, that is, it does not have preferences between Catholics and Protestants, nor between Shiites and Sunnis, nor between conservative, liberal and orthodox Jews, nor does it prefer those who do not have religious beliefs. Everyone has the right to coexist in Spain, so that they do not live in isolation. They can relate to each other in a mature and vital society.” The Spanish State, to the extent of its possibilities, in his words, “will try not to intervene in the internal affairs of religions and religious groups, and will provide them with economic resources to support educational institutions belonging to these groups. The Spanish State, for example, will offer resources, if requested, to train imams from abroad, so that they can direct the Islamic cult in Spain. It also strongly supports conferences such as the one in Córdoba, which was held last year, and in which groups from all parts of the Arab and Muslim world participated and explored in depth what true Islam is like and what its real capabilities are like to coexist and interact with the rest of the religions.”

While Spain, as he explained, “does not allow religious men of any group or religion to participate in the electoral political process as such, it encourages them to intervene as Spanish citizens. The Government accepts criticism from everyone, whatever their tendencies, since the issuance of laws and regulations is carried out only through the Spanish Government."

And he pointed out that most of these trends open to other religions have emerged since the promulgation of the new Spanish Constitution in 1978, and subsequently, after the signing of agreements between the Spanish Government and the different religions, based on the Catholic Church in 1979, and continuing with agreements with Protestants, Muslims and Jews in 1992.

The Spanish female Ambassadress at large at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Jewish Communities in Spain, Ana Salomon, spoke about the relations between the Spanish State and the Jewish groups in the country and explained that the number of components of the Jewish colony in Spain does not exceed forty thousand, and that Spain's interest regarding the issues that matters to Jews, such as the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, is at a good level.

José Mª Ferré de la Peña, Ambassador at large at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Relations with Muslim Communities and Organizations in Spain and their links with other Muslim groups abroad, stressed that “the history of the relationship between Christians and Muslims in Spain has not always been white and has been marked by bloody events," and added that currently the majority of Muslims in Spain are emigrants from the Arab Maghreb (about 4 million have come from the Maghreb, and others from Asian countries and the Middle East), and many of them, it says, “have obtained Spanish nationality after having resided in the country for more than ten years.” De la Peña has assured that the terrorist attack that occurred on the Madrid trains in 2004 "was a great shock to Spanish society, and many believed that this was going to lead to an increase in Islamophobia in the country." But Spanish society is, in his opinion, “open and understands that true Islam does not tend to violence with regard to other religions or towards other peoples.” After these attacks, the Spanish Government took the necessary measures to calm the environment, in his words. And although Spain, as he indicates, “is new in the field of relations between religions and religious tendencies compared to Great Britain, France and Germany and the demographic situation in it is different, it does everything it can to avoid that the events of 2004 be repeated.”

Many of the participants in the London Conference have felt that Spain's policy in this area is preferable to those of Great Britain, France and Germany, which are increasingly seeking to incorporate Muslims into the countries to which they have migrated instead of offering them the opportunity to preserve their social identity, on the condition of respecting the laws of the European States in which they live.

The most important thing that emerged in the questions and answers of those attending the sessions was Professor Juan Ferrero's answer to the question of a Jewish rabbi who attended the Conference. The rabbi raised the possibility of disagreements between Muslim groups and organizations present in Spain on specific issues and on the way in which the Spanish State acts with them. Ferrero responded: “The Spanish State has not taken a position regarding the discrepancies between one trend and another. We do not think that Sunnis are better than Shiites, and we also do not consider that the positions of Catholics are preferable to those of Protestants. And since the State does not refrain from playing the role of supervisor of dialogue for the benefit of all, everyone has the right to express their positions and opinions on the condition that they do not impose them on others by force.”

Ambassador De la Peña pointed out the importance of the Córdoba Conference, held last year in Spain, to confront Islamophobia, and added that “80% of Muslims in Spain are like Muslims in Great Britain, they oppose the war of the United States and Great Britain in Iraq. But Muslims in Europe and others like them can oppose that war by voting in European legislative elections, without resorting to violence. In all likelihood, other conferences like the one in Córdoba will be organized in the future.”

Then a forward-thinking Muslim intervened and asked him the following question: “Why don't European states coordinate to propose a unified policy when dealing with European Muslims instead of each government facing the problem alone?” And the Spanish response was the following: “The current situation is that each European State deals with the matter in its own way and alone.”

And the question is thus posed: when Holland or Denmark carry out a policy that allows Islam and Muslims to be insulted, why should Spain or Great Britain or their people pay the price? Either there is a sensible European policy towards Muslims or anarchy will allow unjustified terrorism against Europe to continue.

Note: I want to thank the Office of Language Interpretation (OIL) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (MAEC) of Spain for the initial translation they made of this text from Arabic into Spanish after the conference at our request from the Spanish Embassy in London.