Early November in the pink city of Marrakech, Morocco, Liberal International Congress of more than 85 member parties emphasised a comprehensive approach to deconstruct terror. Lord Alderdice, President of Liberal International, said in his opening speech that it was extremely essential to have a dialogue with the enemy. He proposed a semi permanent conference on peace and security in the Middle East. The Quartet did not have direct representation from either the Arabs or Israel. It was necessary to have a forum where all parties in the Middle East could sit at the table along with external stakeholders for as long as it was necessary.
Lord Alderdice reiterated the need for dialogue again and again throughout the conference. At a panel discussion on response to terrorism, he appealed to Prime Minister Blair to initiate a dialogue with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. The Congress was attended by leaders of Liberal parties from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. The delegates welcomed Lord Alderdice’s call to engage all parties in the Middle East in a peace-building process with thunderous applause.
Graham Watson, Leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, also called for dialogue and open mind. It was necessary to lower the drawbridge that connects us to the world and reach out to others, he observed. Unfortunately, the reaction of many countries in response to globalisation is to pull up the drawbridge and isolate themselves rather than deepening the interaction between people.
Liberal International had invited Sundeep Waslekar, President of Strategic Foresight Group, to address the Congress on terrorism, as well as future visions for the Middle East. He appealed to the delegates to provide a response to terrorism in the realm of ideas as well as to take practical measures. “Terrorism is as much as an intellectual challenge as an operational issue.” He asked delegates to come up with alternative visions of society than the one provided by extremists. In a special session on the Middle East, he proposed Arab Islamic Renaissance as a possible basis for future vision. He said that such a vision must embody the three principles of societal relations that made such a Renaissance feasible a thousand years ago: complete freedom of critical enquiry, plurality, and state support to promote science and rationality in the society. At the operational level, he proposed in the session on terrorism that it was essential to create a mechanism for dialogue between political leaders of Western and Islamic countries.
Secondly, it was also necessary to have a compact of 3Ds – democracy, development and dialogue – in all countries and societies. Such a compact would have to be designed as per the local situation.
The leaders from different parts of the world strongly supported observations made by SFG President in their speeches. Neric Acosta, MP, House of Representatives of the Philippines and Secretary General of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats said: liberal responses are required to deal with the deficits of democracy, development and dignity. In his concluding address to the Congress, Lord Alderdice observed: “Today Sundeep Waslekar told us that the impact of terrorism could not be measured only in terms of the numbers of direct causalities. Since 9/11, about 5000 people have been killed in attacks launched by Al Qaeda and its affiliates. About 50,000 to 500000 people have been killed in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and terrorism in other parts of the world ranging from Sudan to Nepal. However, he reminded us that during the same 50 million children were killed due to starvation and malnutrition. These are the deaths of policy neglect due to the obsession of global policy makers with terrorism. These are the indirect casualties of terrorism.”
 Print this Article
<- Back to Archives
|
