Ikhwanweb :: The Muslim Brotherhood Official English Website

The forum of the Alliance of Civilization opened last Tuesday in Madrid . It has been a two-day meeting with the theme of improving dialogue and understanding between both Western and Muslim countries.
 
The Alliance of Cilvilization (AoC), the UN-backed initiative, has first started with a proposal from Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to the UN General Assembly in September 2004. Afterwards, Turkey became a co-sponsor of the project, and was later adopted by the United Nations in 2005.
 
The initiative is backed now by more than 100 countries including Egypt , Iran , Jordan , and Malaysia .

The forum was attended by more than 350 delegates from all around the world, including government members, representatives from media foundations, besides representatives of international organizations and civil societies.

"Never in our lifetime has there been a more desperate need for constructive and committed dialogue, among individuals, among communities, among cultures, among and between nations," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he opened the two-day forum.

It’s noteworthy that the opening of the Alliance of Civilization forum included welcoming statements by former President Jorge Sampaio, High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of Turkey, José Luis Rodrيguez Zapatero, President of the Government of Spain, and the U.N. Secretary General.

Jorge Sampaio believed  that this initiative is just a start saying, "The alliance is a manifestation of awareness. In the opening phase you can"t expect to have everything solved, but you can expect to lay the basis for a second chapter — how we are going to be successful in pushing forward some of the projects that we have."

While Jose Zapatero said the alliance "aspires to build bridges that can help us to manage the differences existing in the world, particularly those linked to religious or cultural issues."
 
He also added at the meeting that the Alliance hoped to prevent a "clash of civilizations by promoting security, understanding, tolerance and mutual respect in a globalized world."

On the other hand,the Iranian 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner “Shirin Ebadi” commented on the aim of the alliance saying,"The civilization clash is a mistaken theory politicians use to sell their weapons,". She said that the West had trumped up the idea of an Islamic enemy to replace communism following the end of the Cold War.

The alliance has set education, migration, the media and youth as its four areas for special attention. And according to the forum agenda, the meeting would include workshops on issues ranging from building cross-cultural understanding of conflict prevention, religion and politics at the community level.

The meeting would also include working sessions related to youth approaches to intercultural and inter religious dialogue, conflict prevention, religion and politics at the community level, and the role of religious leaders and communities in promoting shared security.

Besides workshops on innovative uses of mass media to promote cross-cultural understanding in which “Amr Khaled”, a famous Egyptian Islamic figure.

During the forum, organizers said they planned to announce details of a media fund aimed at supporting major film productions that promote cross-cultural understanding and combat stereotypes.

Organizers also said that the Qatar Foundation Chairwoman, Sheikha Mozah, would make an announcement that promises financial funding for a global youth employment initiative involving corporations, major multilateral organizations and governments.