Towards a Federation

We need some kind of unanimous voice which will stand up to the threats from radicals in the Middle East, which will make clear the benefits of having peaceful democratic states cooperate in the region, seeking peace with Israel; the only democracy in the region, however flawed it may be. We need America to spread an optimism about just how much this will improve the lives of the people there, scarred by war and internal, ethnic conflicts. We need Israel to feel secure and thus find the strength to curb their right-wing, which is causing so much corruption. Radicalism is an expression of emotion, of fear of 'the other'. It can't just be supressed, moralised away- the conflict-based landscape in which radicals thrive needs to be altered.

It is easy for outsiders (such as this writer) in more peaceful regions to moralise, but what would they do, in a similar situation? I'd argue that, left with the feeling that their very survival was at stake, at least some of them would fall into the maze of terror and repression that poisons this regional life. Fear and an urge to intimidate lies behind this just as much as rage. Peace can come when the fear subsides- when there is no longer anything to be afraid of. Then, common interests will take over.

I remain convinced that a peaceful, democratic federation, something like the EU, is the only answer to the regional problems. Fundamentalist Islam, like fundamentalist Judaism, Christianity or any other one, is destined to be a private affair, with no business controlling governments at the expense of the rights of ordinary Muslims, Jews, Christians, or Bahais. It may be an essentially Christian thought, but we need to separate religion from politics and also bring politics back to rationality, or we risk losing what we seek to gain by such activities in the first place. Love conquers all. The selfish human will conquers nothing!