Berlusconi's talk of Western cultural superiority criticised

Berlusconi's remarks on Wednesday in Berlin “crossed the limits of reason,” Amr Musa, secretary general of the 22-nation Arab League, said on Thursday in Cairo. “We don't believe there is a superior civilisation and if he said so he's utterly mistaken.”

The conservative Italian premier's comments — quickly condemned by other Italian politicians — came as the United States is trying to build a coalition with Islamic countries to stamp out terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11 suicide jet strikes on America believed to have killed more than 6,000 people.

Coalition-building with Middle East nations already is difficult because many have uneasy truces with homegrown Islamic extremists that easily could be shaken — and moderate Muslims could harden their views if they feel their faith is under attack.

Speaking at a news conference on Thursday after talks in Berlin with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Berlusconi said, “We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and — in contrast with Islamic countries — respect for religious and political rights.”

He added that he hoped “the West will continue to conquer peoples, like it conquered communism.”

Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, sitting next to Musa at a news conference at Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Thursday, condemned Berlusconi's contention.

“It's totally contradicting the values in which we believe,” said Michel, leader of a European Union mission to the Mideast trying to drum up support for an international coalition against terrorism.

US President George Bush has taken care to say the enemy is terrorism not Islam, but uneasiness remains over other diplomatically uncouth remarks.

Bush recently apologised for saying he was on a “crusade” against terrorism — a word that harkens back to the Christian wars centuries ago to retake the Holy Land from Muslims.

And the United States changed the name of its military operation from “Infinite Justice” to “Enduring Freedom,” recognising that in Islam “infinite justice” is considered something provided only by God.

Egyptian presidential adviser Osama Al Baz told reporters the Italian premier “never indicated any superiority of any civilisation” during a meeting on Tuesday in Rome with President Hosni Mubarak.

When talk of a clash of civilisations came up, Baz quoted Berlusconi as saying “we are all in the same boat.”

Ahmed Al Baghdadi, head of the political science department at Kuwait University, said Berlusconi's remarks were ill-timed, but were “relatively correct.” While the Koran's principles are good, he said Islamic civilisation has not encouraged freedoms.

“We are carrying a heritage that we haven't been able to discard,” said Baghdadi, who specialises in Islamic political thought. “We have no freedom of thought or civil freedoms. ... How many Arab writers are in prison, exiled or killed? What Islamic university has a comparative religions department?”

By and large, however, the response to Berlusconi's remarks was indignation.

In Bahrain, a Gulf nation strongly supportive of the United States and home base to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, the English-language Bahrain Tribune said in a front-page editorial that Berlusconi's comments “prove that the man is shallow and racist and does not merit the post he is holding.”

“The world is on the brink of a crucial war against terrorism, with countries supporting one another and old foes ironing out their differences to accomplish the task. But Berlusconi chose to launch a grotesque war against Islam and Muslims,” the newspaper said.

Islam, it said, always has championed human rights and dignity and promotes compassion, tolerance and knowledge.

The newspaper said it did not want to “stoop to the low level” of Berlusconi, but added: “We can remind him that the `superior' European civilisation has killed millions of people in Africa, Asia and America, plundered dozens of countries and carried out genocides.”