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August 2008 Edition

Riaz Quadir
Versailles

Five years ago in one of the first letters I wrote for this  column, I had praised the creation of the EU as a political entity that sought to encompass a larger mass of humanity within its civic body and thereby extend its domestic egalitarian spirit to all those who were accepted within this brotherhood. The right to this brotherhood was - and still is, deeply rooted in the historical xenophobia based on race, colour and religion as Turkey has - much to its chagrin - discovered in recent years. Even though declaring Christianity as a part of its official identity was bitterly contested by secular countries such as France, no one tries to mask that in reality it is indeed the case.

Less naïve now, I am far more pessimistic about the unveiling of the Mediterranean Union (MU), the sly brainchild of the pathologically ambitious French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. It is a political scheme befitting Sarkozy. Designed to include all the nations littoral to the Mediterranean with France as its unquestioned head, it is ultimately linked to the EU itself. In Sarkozy’s original blueprint the EU was to be there merely to provide the financial and political power from the background but without much real say in the decision-making process. Of course, this being the real world, EU big gun, Germany’s Angela Merkel, wouldn’t have such a con job foisted on them.

In the original it looks like a Napoleonic battle plan for a new French era of influence. The carrot of joining an extended form of the European Union was being offered to most of the old French colonies in North Africa and the Middle East to counter the other existing alliances like NATO and the EU itself (of which France is not only a member but the current President). Originally created to counter Turkey’s rejection by the EU, it agreed to join only when promised that membership in the MU wouldn’t automatically eliminate it from the EU.

In one grand loop the MU would contain the most powerful and resource rich countries in one of the most important regions in the world. Lowering of trade barriers within the MU would provide France control over the vast resources of the group and access to its market of 800 million people. With the contentious nations of the Middle East as its members, France would also regain the diplomatic edge on the peace process it believes it once had - and still covets. It has often been said that every national leader frazzled by the frustrating realities of everyday domestic issues escapes to grandiose fantasies of foreign policies. Unfettered by accountability to his constituents he can indulge in impossible schemes and not be answerable to anyone but history. And history has rarely been kind to such men. In just over a year after winning the French presidency, Nicolas Sarkozy has been voted the most unpopular first-term President in 52 years. And not all of it can be blamed on his ‘bling bling’ lifestyle or his supermodel wife. He would have got here, irrespective.

In neighbouring Italy his counterpart Silvio Berlusconi puts to shame all the Italians who have been trying hard like many other Europeans, to put their unsavoury fascist past behind them. That Italy, which, within the living memory of half its population saw the end of a despicable leader Mussolini, who had joined hands with Hitler to commit the greatest atrocities in human history, has now restarted on its horrifying road to shame by its blatant persecution of the Roma and Sinti people (the gypsies) is not totally surprising.
That all the other European nations including the UK, France and Germany have been completely silent on the issue sends a chill down the spine when one imagines the sheer possibility of a rapid decline to the horrific madness of the 1930s. Unlike the atrocities of Africa, Asia, South America and other less ‘civilised’ places of the world the atrocities taking place in present-day Europe are rarely global news.

The fire-bombing of the Roma people in Italy and the decision of Berlusconi’s government to ID and finger-print them in future has not even made it to the inside pages of foreign newspapers. The response of Roberto Maroni, the Interior Minister in Berlusconi's government to the firebombing and ethnic cleansing was a bone-chilling: “That is what happens when gypsies steal babies.” Yet this inhumane remark did not raise even a ripple among the European leaders who were seen back-slapping Berlusconi during the G8 summit a few days later instead of sanctioning him. No! Sanctioning is for the Ahmedinejads of this world who lack the suave sophistry of market-trained spin leaders of powerful nations and threaten their monopolistic grip on the world.

The latest figures here in Europe show rampant increases in food prices in the last one year of over 20 per cent. The BBC reported that at the Farnborough Air Show, military purchases of planes continued to increase as though buyers had all the money they wanted.
The economic forecast for the developed world, both short-term as well long-term, is rather gloomy – and brings to mind something I once heard a wise man say: It is easy to be generous when you have plenty, real generosity is to be seen when you have very little. As the material quality of life is being negatively affected in the Western World (for the first time in modern history) signs of diminishing humanity, in all its forms, can be seen across the landscape.

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