Monday, February 27, 2006

Wafa Sultan - "Civilizations do not clash"

Wafa Sultan speaks out courageously on Al-Jazeera. She packs a punch with six words.

The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on the other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts and those who treat them like human beings.

What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

translated from Arabic by the MEMRI TV Monitor Project

No comments: