Euromediterránea

The Spanish president José Zapatero made some interesting points today in his speech before Arab League leaders, reported by abc.es.


"Liberty is the best barrier to intolerance and fanaticism," he said, proposing an Alliance of Civilizations, which he and Kofi Annan have in the works.

Democratic reforms are now "changes perceived as necessary for Arab peoples and governments."

He called for definitive action in order to avoid "a wall more subtle and dense" than the Berlin Wall, this one rising between the West and the Arab World.

He also said that "cada cultura es una forma absolutamente legitima de aproximarse a la realidad"; that is, "each culture is an absolutely legitimate form of approaching reality."

Finally, he called on his fellow Spanish citizens to be "traductores" (translators) in this effort, that is, "facilitadores de diálogos".


This determined call for new efforts in Western-Arab relations shouldn't be surprising, though Zapatero takes a more diplomatic tack than President Bush first pursued. Americans and Spaniards understand terrorism's threat on a very personal level.