A RESOURCE FOR EUROPE
1. The Mediterranean has never only been a sea
that separates Europe from the Near East and Africa, or as Braudel
would say, a split in the earth’s crust that runs from Gibralter
to the mouth of Suez and the Red Sea. The Mediterranean is a sea
where greatly different territories meet; of cities and deserts,
nomadic and settled cultures; widely different forms of life that
have been in some ways determined by a heritage of confrontations
and hostilities. On the shores of the Mediterranean modern and
traditional societies have developed: some great cities of modern
type and others rooted in an immutable past that have remained
static, and which have frequently been in contrast with each other
in contexts of hatred and hostility. But above all the Mediterranean
is a sea that was the cradle of civilisations, that has both united
and divided cultures and has placed them in relation to one another,
and has witnessed them in deadly conflict. These cultures extend
from the very first in the Eastern Mediterranean to the cosmopolitan
ones of the Egyptian are, to those of Mesapotamia and Asia Minor,
right up to that of Rome whicht was able to withstand the “oriental”
thrust for dominion of the Mediterranean and to spread beyond
it.
2. It is in the Mediterranean that the great
cultures developed that gave its identity to Europe, and to the
countries of the South that lie on its shores. One should never
forget this, nor that on the coasts of the Mediterranean arose
the idea of one God, the principle of Being, and of the unity
of opposites that spurred Heraclitus to say: “It is from
contrasting principles that the greatest harmony is born: everything
comes into being through contrasts”. But what I wish above
all to suggest is that the single deity common to the Jewish,
Christian and Arab faiths is a God that is different from all
the others and reigns with order and justice in the world. The
Old and New Testament and the Koran represent the texts and springs
of life arising from this monotheistic culture. And finally, it
is around the Mediterranean that true philosophy was first born,
in Magna Graecia before even Greece itself, and gave rise to the
first polis based on the attraction and sense of realism of Pythagorean
thinking; and likewise the first orders that gave substance and
realism to many political cultures. Peace and war, dialogue and
conflict have written the history of this sea, around which there
have been both t encounters and struggles between contrasting
forces, but also of civilisations, cultures and ideas. The struggle
in the Mediterranean has been and still is one between philosophies
and attitudes to the world, even more than one between conflicting
interests. The bitterness that has so often characterised these
conflicts cannot derive exclusively from a conflict of interests,
however central, but carry with it something deeper and more radical
which has frequently become a lack of mutual recognition and a
fight for life and death. Only a cultural struggle can bring this
about; only a struggle based on identity can bring about the reciprocal
desire for destruction.
3. How often has this been fully understood by
the ruling political classes, above all at a European level? Very
seldom; many words have been spoken on the subject, but very few
actions have followed. The general interpretation of the various
conflicts and wars is repeatedly that geopolitical interests,
and on the subsequent attempts at a mere re-establishment of economic
and political equilibriums. All this is very important, but it
is not enough, and on the contrary, in the end it has all lead
to a blind alley.
4. This is why the dialogue between cultures
assumes a decisive importance, as a condition to ensure a true
peace, and hence the possibility of their development and growth
in the context of reciprocal understanding. The conditions for
such a dialogue exist, precisely because the cultures of the Mediterranean,
and above all those founded on deep religious roots, can come
to an understanding. Greek, Jewish, Christian and Moslem thought
are western in origin and can find a path towards the rediscovery
of common ideals. But even without such an ambitious goal, the
various cultures present on the shores of the Mediterranean can
and must rediscover a basis for an interface that allows them
to mutually recognise each other’s positions. This should
not be a general or ideal dialogue, but based on concrete cultural
experience; on the knowledge that has been handed down and then
developed in different forms; on concrete work based on a past
that is still alive, on the science of this sea, of its environment,
its common archaeology, its food, and on its capacity for production,
technology and transformation.
5. From this derives the extraordinary importance
of the Academy of the Mediterranean-
Maison de la Méditerranée, as a space which by its
vocation is going to become a common venue for this interface.
The Forum of Barcelona of November 1995 put into motion other
aspects of this dialogue, but remained almost silent on that of
culture, even if it was aware of its importance. On 10th October
1998, the Mediterranean Foundation created the Academy
of the Mediterranean-Maison de la Méditerranée.
This was an objective that had been set in December 1997 by the
Second Euromed Civil Forum, at which over 2000 people representing
36 countries participated, with the specific purpose of initiating
a radically new form of dialogue between cultures, and as we have
said, between traditions and knowledge, technology, ways of life
and the concrete history of societies. The extraordinary number
of members that have joined the Academy demonstrates that it has
sparked off a demand that existed and waiting to be interpreted,
to be made operative in a territory where the cultural project
becomes the premise for economic growth and development. The Academy
of the Mediterranean-Maison de la Méditerranée proposes
to become an economic means for the development of the South of
Italy through the definition of “Mediterranean” projects
eligible to benefit from European funding specified in the 2000
Agenda in the context of the policies for cultural and economic
internationalisation.
6. The Fondazione Mediterraneo inaugurated
its headquarters of Academy of the Mediterranean-Maison de la
Méditerranée in Naples on June 22nd 2002. All the
work, when viewed on a larger scale could become of decisive importance
for a Europe that is expanding beyond its traditional confines.
Europe has elected to have and has a Mediterranean policy that
looks at itself and beyond itself. The interface between cultures
will make this work easier and will make its the possible interlocutors
grow and strengthen. Europe as a political force in a world that
is becoming ever more global needs to view at the Mediterranean
as a sea of great development, peace and civilisation. Hegel said
that freedom develops and grows on the shores of the sea; his
prediction can become historical truth precisely when the current
globalisation requires everyone to remember their roots, and to
stand up for them in a context of reciprocal recognition.
Claudio Azzolini
Member of the
Maison de la Méditerranée
