The article below originally appeared on Barack Obama’s website as “Friends Waiting to Be Made in an Alliance of Civilizations” on January 22, 2008. I am re-publishing it now especially to share it with my compatriots in Spain, such as those in “Obama Supporters in Spain”, a group of friends of Barack’s which I joined today, 1st February 2008.
As this re-release of “Friends Waiting to Be Made in an Alliance of Civilizations” is aimed at readers who may be more familiar with Spanish politics, I should also provide the caveat beforehand that I have serious reservations about the Zapatero Government’s apparent willingness to negotiate with groups which use violence and vandalism in an attempt to achieve their objectives and its fuelling the flames of independence-seeking movements within Spain, a country I love almost as much as my own. Furthermore, I question the warm relations Zapatero’s Spain has sought with regimes like Castro’s Cuba and Chavez’s Venezuela, relations which are already bearing bitter fruit for Spain. However, I strongly support the Alliance of Civilizations as an initiative to promote peaceful relations between countries and peoples. I encourage US policy-makers like Barack Obama and those Israeli policy-makers inclined towards peaceful relations with their Palestinian neighbors to engage in the Alliance and other initiatives which aspire to create a more peaceful world.
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The American foreign policy I have known and loved is one in which war is a last resort. Sadly, in recent years, a very different policy has emerged in the current culture of fear propagated by America’s own leaders. Regarding one of the conflicts in which the US is currently mired in particular, Barack Obama says, “…the war in Iraq should never have been authorized, and it should never have been waged.” (1) With the truth better known about the Bush Administration’s real motives for the invasion of Iraq as opposed to what the public and even high-ranking officials in the Administration were told in the build-up to the war, it is now even more clear that precious US credibility was lost precisely at a time when it was most needed.
Barack Obama offers a fresh change of course for innovative leadership to restore America’s standing in the world and enable the US to once again be the protagonist for peace in the Middle East it has been when peace in this region was at least in sight, if not in reach. As an American residing in Spain, the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC), a United Nations initiative underway since 2004, sounds as tailor-made for Barack Obama as those trendy gray suits he wears. US participation in the Alliance or in some other similar peace initiative, led by an Obama Administration, could result in peace and understanding winning out over war and extremism.
Spain has had many centuries of experience with Muslim countries and peoples. Its record is most certainly a mixed one of being a bridge between Europe and Africa for finding common ground, but more often, of confrontation led by religious zealotry on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar. From its history and geographic position on the planet, Spain is a place where Christians, Jews and Muslims have, in its better moments, lived together in harmony, and in its worst, clashed in confrontation. However, in today’s tumultuous world, Spain would seem to have learned from its own experience.
Spain’s version of 9/11 was 3/11, that tragic day in March, 2004 when 192 innocent lives were taken by terrorist bombers on early-morning commuter trains in Madrid. Instead of lurching to the right and pursuing a policy of war in a culture of fear as might have been expected, the Spanish people rose up and swept a progressive new president, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, into power. He has taken a markedly different approach to addressing the fundamental issues dividing people in our world.
On September 21, 2004, Zapatero presented a proposal for an Alliance of Civilizations at the 59th General Assembly of the United Nations. According to the Mission Statement for this innovative organization, “The Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) aims to improve understanding and cooperative relations among nations and peoples across cultures and religions and, in the process, to help counter the forces that fuel polarization and extremism.” (2)
The Alliance of Civilizations fits hand-in-glove with Barack Obama’s goals to fundamentally change the approach of American foreign policy. At a speech to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in April, 2007, Obama stated, “In today's globalized world, the security of the American people is inextricably linked to the security of all people.” In the same speech, he provides five ways in considerable detail “…to let the world know that we are committed to our common security, invested in our common humanity, and still a beacon of freedom and justice for the world.” One of these five measures in summary is “…to invest in our common humanity - to ensure that those who live in fear and want today can live with dignity and opportunity tomorrow.” (3)
This approach represents the America which in its best moments has been a proactive positive force for international relations based on peace and shared prosperity for all peoples. The Alliance of Civilizations has already been putting machinery in place to constructively work towards the goals and vision presented by Barack Obama. Notably-absent US and Israeli membership and participation in the Alliance are crucial if its good intentions are to be converted into potentially dramatic progress towards a common security rooted in our common humanity. US leadership and dialogue between warring nations is essential if there is to be peace in the Middle East. Sadly, the absence of that US proactive and positive intervention in recent years has created a void in which extremist elements have won out over more moderate ones and conflict has spread like a wildfire in that critical region.
Nobel-Peace-Prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu says, “An enemy is a friend waiting to be made.” (4) Barack Obama understands that talking to so-called or even self-proclaimed enemies is essential if there is going to be any chance for peaceful resolution of conflicts. Some individual representatives of nations may speak of other nations being sworn enemies and of wiping them off the map (often for domestic political consumption), but without US dialogue to “give peace a chance”, those flames are only fanned further and there is little if any chance for cooler heads to prevail.
In addition to concrete on-the-ground steps for fostering understanding and cooperative relations among nations, such as those taken at the Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Madrid on January 15-16, 2008 (5), the AoC provides a setting in which constructive dialogue can take place. However, US involvement to bring all parties to the table and US pressure on all sides to bring them to agreement will be needed to settle long-running disputes.
I wonder what has happened to US leadership as a problem solver. Barack Obama’s insight gives me hope that the US will once again take its place as a confident leader to make real progress on issues like world development and world peace, two issues which both Obama and the Alliance of Civilizations program recognize as intimately related. A strong US role is needed in the AoC or some other similar initiative which can offer some hope for Middle East peace. Barack Obama offers the vision we need to lead again and for peaceful resolution of conflicts in the world to be paramount to US foreign policy.
1 Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: “Lessons from Iraq”; De Moines, Iowa; October 12, 2007 (available on www.barackobama.com)
2 Alliance of Civilizations Mission Statement; AoC website, www.unaoc.org
3 Barack Obama speech, “The American Moment: Remarks to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs”; Chicago, Illinois; April 23, 2007 (available on www.barackobama.com)
4 Comments by Archbishop Despond Tutu; video interview; Alliance of Civilizations website, www.unaoc.org
5 Major Outcomes of the Alliance of Civilizations Forum; AoC website, www.unaoc.org
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