EU Weighs Talking to 'Moderate' Islamists

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http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5691340&cKey=1113651327000

LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers were urged on Saturday to consider the previously taboo idea of dialogue with Islamic opposition groups in the Middle East to encourage a transition to democracy.

They discussed ways to strengthen emerging democracy movements in several Arab states and how to persuade authoritarian governments to relinquish some power and accept the principle of alter nation, diplomats said.

On the second day of an informal brain storming session at achateau in Luxembourg, the ministers were presented with a paper that suggested, at least in the form of questions, that the EU should reach out beyond its traditional secular interlocutors.

"In the past the EU has preferred to deal with the secular intelligentsia of Arab civil society at the expense of the more representative Islam-inspired organizations," diplomats quoted the paper as saying.

"Has the time come for the EU to become more engaged with Islamic "faith-based" civil society in these countries?" the paper co-authored by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the bloc's Luxembourg presidency asked.

What a concept. Dialogue instead of bullets and bombs. I bet it would work too. It even may have had a good chance of working in Iraq at one time? At least before the USA tried to Shocked And Awe them into submission.

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1. The EU has engaged the Arab world at many levels

The Frankfurt Book Fair from last October was a good example. The focus was on the Arab world, its thought, literature, and history. About 270,000 people attended, with less than half of the exhibits focused on books, there were readings, discussions, forums. Nearly a third of the visitors attended at least one of the events.

Just to give a brief idea, here is a random pick of topics:
In “Arabic Literature in Translation: A Survey,” Peter Ripken gives a historical overview of the translation of Arabic literature into Western European languages and sheds light on the causes for the lack of translations from Arabic available on the Western book markets today.

In “Translations as Caricatures of the Arab World?” Samir Grees challenges the contention that translations from Arabic are chosen exclusively on the basis of Orientalist stereotypes of the Arab world and political sensationalism while expressing harsh criticism of the Arab League for its perceived lack of support for literary production.

In “Authors Without Books: Young Yemeni Literature Is Looking for Its Place,” Arab Literature expert Günther Orth uncovers the hidden pearls of a virtually unknown literature and describes the struggles its authors face in a land where the publishing tradition is only just being born.

So that's just one little example, one fair, one place, one time. This year's "guest" is Korea, and I know that Korean trade groups are contacting German businesses for possible deals.

I don't see any indication in the article what exactly the ministers will be talking about, but at least they have enough confidence in themselves to be able to talk to people of other cultures.