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	Interview with Professor Tariq Ramadan on the Cartoon Controversy by George Negus SBS - Dateline   Feb 2006   In today"s fraught global climate, Professor Tariq Ramadan, a prominent Islamic scholar and thinker, is no stranger to controversy. He"s an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration"s policies in Iraq and the Middle East and he also rejects Muslim terrorism, condemning it as "anti-Islam". A Swiss citizen, he has been banned from the US under the Contentious Patriot Act but after the London bombings last year Tony Blair invited him to participate in a task force to counter terrorism. Earlier today George Negus talked with Professor Ramadan from Geneva.   GEORGE NEGUS: Professor, you were actually in Copenhagen in October when the cartoons provoked the first demonstrations. But three months later why do you think this has burst into a "global crisis", as the Danish Prime Minister describes it?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN, ISLAMIC SCHOLAR: What happened in Denmark in October was quite OK and, you know, I met Muslims asking me what was my advice and I told them to not demonstrate just make your point heard, that it is hurtful and you don"t think it is wise to do this and it was OK.   Three months later you had a group of Muslims going to the Middle East and they used photographs and cartoons and other things just to show this to the people and you got there Governments very happy just to show to their own population that they"re the great champion of Islam and the Islamic tradition so I think that three months later it was instrumentalised by some governments to let the Muslims express their anger against the West.   It"s not by accident that it started in Syria and that are now we have Saudi Arabia behind the whole thing. On the other side we have also far-right parties very happy just to show to the people. "Look we told you, these Muslims are not ready to integrate and they"re not respecting our values and the first of values is freedom of speech."   GEORGE NEGUS: You have said that the world has at a crossroads. Do you believe the situation will get worse before it gets better?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: I think it is already very, very bad and very, very negative and we know that some people on both sides are ready to instrumentalise everything into us versus them theory or the clash of civilisations.   Let us say to the Muslims, OK this is against our religion, we are not used to laughing at religion or to make fun out of religion. And we have just to say this to the people. On other side it"s really important that our fellow European, Australian, Canadian citizens understand that, yes, we cherish freedom of speech, but we also need our fellow citizens to understand that it is a question of respect, it is a question of a civic sense of responsibility.   We are not asking for more censorship, we are asking for more respect, but we all understand that now we"re dealing with very sensitive issues and if we are not cautious with this we are nurturing emotions and polarisation in our world and the extremists are going to use it.   GEORGE NEGUS: Professor, in Western countries there is a feeling that the Muslim reaction has fuelled the situation, actually worsened it. What can be done to calm things down now?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: I think first Muslims should say, "We have to stop," killing people - this is not acceptable. Even the Prophet of Islam himself, when he was attacked, he was patient and he was reacting with the wisdom and we have to say to the Muslims, "This is not the way to react, we have to stop." So Muslim voices should be heard saying that.   At the same time don"t continue to provoke - and I think that the newspapers who just published it afterwards, it was not wise. We are now not in a debate, it is something which is a power struggle. We all - and you in Australia, as us in Europe, in the States, in Canada - we have to understand something. For the last decade I was saying, what is going on in the Western countries will have a tremendous impact on what is going on in the Muslim-majority countries. And this is exactly a signal for us.   GEORGE NEGUS: If reason and sanity don"t prevail what do you think is the worst-case scenario?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: It is a war - psychological and religious and civilisational. You know, against two civilisations, just death to each other, so we are not listening, so the worst-case scenario is to continue in that way and just to make the people understand it is the West against Islam and it could lead to something which is a real fracture between two worlds.   GEORGE NEGUS: Are we really talking about mutual ignorance here? Is that what we need to break through?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: This is what I am asking for - national movements of local initiatives in the Western societies to let the people know each other better and when you work with people, when you are partners at the grassroots level you know each other and you respect each other but let us not be naive - there is a political aspect of the whole question, so here we are also dealing with geo-strategic interest, political instrumentalisation and it is not a question of ignorance here, it is a question that some political parties, the far right parties and even what we have now with the neo-conservatives in the States using the whole idea that the other is a threat, that there is a war on terrorism, the global ideology of fear, using this.   GEORGE NEGUS: What is your assessment of the impact of this crisis over cartoons on the fragile situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the Palestinians-Israeli conflict, on terrorism and even the war on terrorism?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: I don"t think that the cartoons just make it, they are just revealing the state of affairs. It is really bad, you know? Iraq and Palestine and all these issues just are nurturing this sense of victim-hood - us versus them. We want democracy in our societies but we also want democracy for other societies and we have to respect the rights of the people.   GEORGE NEGUS: Are you referring to the complaint of the Palestinians that the West won"t recognise their democratic choice, that the militant Hamas is now actually the governing authority there?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: You know, the feeling today is that the West has double standards. We speak about democracy but when they are winning the elections the perception is you are not accepting this. They will use the cartoons to express their frustration and their frustrations are legitimate.   GEORGE NEGUS: Professor, you"re admired in the Islamic world and in the West but you have also been accused of supporting suicide bombing. Does this undermine your authority to speak out on this issue?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: I never supported suicide bombings and there is not in my work. As I am critical towards the policy of the state of Israel, the government of Israel, of course some people don"t like that so they are confusing the whole picture because they don"t want my words to be heard.   But let me tell you something - from the very beginning I knew that my project was controversial because I"m speaking to two worlds. I was raised in the West, I am just rooted in Islamic tradition and I am building bridges, and when you build bridges you"re just disappointing the people on both sides.   GEORGE NEGUS: So are you saying, Professor, that ironically, something like this, as awful as it seems, could be a wake-up call for all of us?   PROFESSOR TARIQ RAMADAN: It is, it is, exactly. You know, the fact that you"re inviting me, that we have this program tonight is just exact evidence that this is what is needed and it could be a wake-up call and it is. I really think that if we are passive and we"re looking at what the extremists on both sides are ready to do we all lost so it"s a wake-up call, yes. Visit the related web page
	Haiti Votes for Democracy by CNN / BBC News / Reuters Haiti   Port-Au-Prince, February 17, 2006   Rene Preval faces a daunting task in impoverished Haiti after winning the presidential election. (CNN)   Crowds of supporters celebrated in the streets of Haiti"s capital Thursday after the country"s electoral council declared former President Rene Preval the winner of last week"s presidential election.   Preval had 51.5 percent of the votes counted Thursday after electoral council members decided not to count large numbers of blank ballots. With those votes included in the total number of ballots cast, Preval -- who had a strong lead in early returns -- had fallen short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff.   Preval, who was president from 1996 to 2001, is the only leader since the country"s founding in 1803 to have won a democratic election, served a full term and peacefully handed over power.   Both the Organization of American States and the United Nations, which has a 9,000-member peacekeeping mission in Haiti, have announced their support for the electoral council"s decision. There was no immediate comment from the president-elect.   At the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan said the electoral council made its decision after negotiations among the government, Preval"s supporters and his opponents. "It was a reasonable way to attempt to resolve a conflict and an impasse that could have led to serious conflict and violence in the society," he said.   OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza arrived in Port-au-Prince Wednesday to help seek an election settlement and called Thursday"s result "a significant step towards building the country"s future on democracy," the group said in a written statement.   A U.N. statement said neither Insulza nor U.N. representative Juan Gabriel Valdes "had taken part in the council"s discussions leading to the declaration," which the OAS said was reached in a 7-2 vote by the electoral council.   The U.N. statement said Preval supporters in Port-au-Prince began celebrating elections results in the early morning, with crowds reaching an estimated 20,000 people by the afternoon.   "I"m so happy, because we have what we were looking for," supporter Elvia Pressoir, 36, told The Associated Press as she held Preval campaign leaflets and waited outside his sister"s Port-au-Prince home for him to appear. "With Preval, we"ll have security, jobs and life will get back to normal."   The February 7 vote was the first election in Haiti since the 2004 uprising that ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now in exile in South Africa. Preval, 63, is a longtime Aristide ally, but he distanced himself from the former president during his campaign.   With 96 percent of precincts reporting, his nearest rival, Leslie Manigat, had 12 percent of the vote. Manigat led the impoverished Caribbean country briefly in 1988 before being ousted in a military coup.   An agronomist before entering politics, Preval was previously president between Aristide"s two terms, which were cut short by military coups and upheaval. He won the support of much of Haiti"s poor by achieving some land reform and running a government seen as relatively free of corruption.   Preval says he wants to extend free elementary education during his second term for everyone in the Caribbean nation, which has been wracked with political instability and corruption. Haiti is one of the poorest, most densely populated and least developed countries in the Western Hemisphere.   The elections had been postponed four times because of continuing unrest across Haiti, particularly in the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil..   8 February 2006   Monitors praise Haiti election. (BBC News)   International monitors have praised the running of Haiti"s general election, as vote-counting gets under way.   The head of the Organisation of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, said voting was satisfactory despite a chaotic start. At least three people died and dozens were injured in crushes at polling stations or altercations with police.   It is the first vote since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted a year ago. Results are due on Friday.   People in Haiti - the poorest country in the Americas - were choosing a new president, as well as a 129-member parliament. The front-runners are Rene Preval, a former ally of Mr Aristide who is popular with the poor, and Charles Henry Baker, a businessman. If none of the candidates achieves a 50% majority, the two best-placed candidates will compete in a run-off.   The chief European observer, Johan Van Hecke, said early logistical problems had been resolved, while the United Nations special envoy, Juan Gabriel Valdes, praised Haitians for turning out in large numbers. A US government spokesman said Haiti"s election appeared "pretty successful" and said the US would work with whoever is elected.   Voting was extended because some polling stations in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, failed to open on time. This led to shoving and stampedes, with angry voters trying to force their way in.. Thousands of armed UN troops were deployed to watch over the election process, which has been delayed several times.   Despite the presence of peacekeepers, the country has continued to be blighted by political and criminal violence and instability.   07 Feb 2006 (Reuters)   Port-Au-Prince, Haiti: - Haitians vote for a president and a new chance at democracy on Tuesday although many fear rival armed gangs could wreck the election.   Exactly 20 years after the dictatorial rule of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier crumbled, Tuesday"s vote offers some hope for an end to the coups and instability that have crippled Haiti since then.   In the most recent uprising, former allies and long-time enemies forced former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to flee two years ago.   A new round of fighting, however, could plunge the poorest country in the Americas into even deeper chaos. "People are exhausted by this instability, the lack of security," Gerard Le Chevallier, the top U.N. official overseeing the election, told Reuters on Monday.   Front runner Rene Preval draws support from the miserable urban slums and rural areas where his mentor Aristide was strongest. Preval was also president from 1996 to 2001, an era of relative calm, and he is Haiti"s only elected leader to end his term and hand over power peacefully.   "He gave us roads, hospitals, schools. ... He brought us work and there was peace," said Marie Claude, a 41-year-old mother of seven selling grains at a market stall in the Cite Soleil shantytown of the capital..
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