UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is due to be presented with a plan of action to ease increasing polarisation of Muslim and Western societies. The report is by a group of prominent international figures, including Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and ex-Iranian president Mohammad Khatami. They have been brought together under the United Nations initiative, the Alliance of Civilisations.The report will be presented at a ceremony in Istanbul. It is the product of 20 minds: prominent international figures from a variety of religions.
They have been meeting over the past year to examine the root causes of the increasing divide between the Muslim world and the West.
| We could have told them and it wouldn't even require a trip to Istanbul. |
The high-level group questions the theory that a clash of civilisations is inevitable; its report is expected to say that the chief causes of tension are not cultural or religious, but political.
| And politics, as we all know, has nothing to do with culture or religion. Especially Islam. |
Among proposals to help promote respect and understanding are youth education programmes and a focus on cultural ties. But this group is expected to make it quite clear that such schemes will have limited impact unless the political causes of tension are addressed.
| I confess: Khatami is good. He's pulling the wool over their eyes (granted, they want to be blinded) and doing the hand-waving trick to confuse us kufirs about the real intent of radical Islam. |