No
to war!
We,
Jews and Muslims, artists, intellectuals and cosmopolitans, abhor the violence,
militarization and shedding of the blood of innocent human beings that
takes place at present between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors.
We
do not accept that our respective cultural and religious traditions are
instrumentalized for the sake of a large-scale military conflict which
is governed by obvious geo-political and geo-economic interests and which,
in a cynical manner, relates Western and Islamic civilizations to age-old
stereotypes of “good” and “evil.” Whoever takes the time to remember our
history, will be aware of the fact that Islamic, Jewish, Christian and
other traditions for centuries have been interwoven in the most intimate
manner. In the midst of the looming catastrophe in the Near East, we call
for an immediate armistice and the continuation of a fruitful exchange
based on mutual respect while trusting that it can be accomplished.
We,
the undersigned, take the present violent polarization between the so-called
Western and the so-called Islamic world for a perversion of our respective
traditions.
Prof. Bijan Abdolkarimi,
philosopher, Azad University, Tehran;
Prof. Dr. Nast
Abu Zayd, Ibn-Rushd-Chair for Humanism and Islam, University of Utrecht;
Sultan Acikgueoglu,
student of Islam Science, Berlin;
Amir Hossein
Afrassiabi, poet and architect, Rotterdam;
Adonis, poète
areligieux, Paris;
Dr. Katajun Amirpur,
Islam Scientist, University of Bonn;
Prof. Mahmoud
Ayoub, Religion Dept., Temple University, Philadelphia;
Shelley Berlowitz,
historian, Zurich;
Prof. Dr. Almut
Sh. Bruckstein, philosopher, Berlin;
Prof. Daniel
Boyarin, Taubman Chair for Talmudic Culture, U. of Calif. at Berkeley;
Hady Chapardar,
art critic and satirist, Tehran;
Sidney Corbett,
composer, Berlin;
Mojdeh Daghighi,
journalist and translator, Tehran;
Sigrun Drapatz,
artist, Berlin;
Saeid Edalatnejad,
Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation, Dept. of Law and Theology, Tehran;
Daniela Fariba
Vorburger, Peace Watch Switzerland, Zurich;
Nasser Ghiasi,
writer and translator, Heidelberg;
Rev. Prof. Francis
T. Gignac, Catholic University of America, Washington;
Asst.Prof. Shai
Ginsburg, Duke University, Durham, NC;
Prof. Nilufer
Gole, sociologist, École des Hautes Études, Paris ;
Prof. Galit Hasan-Rokem,
director, The Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, poetess,
Jerusalem;
Dipl.Ing. Helmut
Henseler, German-Jordanian Society, Buxheim (Germany);
Prof. Hannan
Hever, Hebrew literature, Hebrew University, Jerusalem;
Dr. Carola Hilfrich,
Franz Rosenzweig Institute, Jerusalem;
Silvia Horsch,
Arab and German studies, Berlin;
Ass.Prof. Quadri
Ismail, Literary Studies, U. of Minn.;
Prof. Yasemin
Karakasoglu, chair for Intercultural Paedagogics, Bremen University;
Dr. Navid Kermani,
writer and orientalist, Cologne;
Dr. Menachim
Klein, political science, Bar Ilan Univ., Ramat Gan (Israel);
Abdellah Lahrmaid,
social scientist, Rabat (Morocco);
Prof. Luis Landa,
Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva;
Ishay Landa,
historian, Braunschweig;
Tali Latowicki,
literary analysis, Tel Aviv;
Prof.em. Alexander
A. Di Lella, Biblical science, Catholic Univ. of America, Washington;
Brigitte Meyer,
musician, St. Gallen (Switzerland);
Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini,
London Middle East Institute, Univ. of London;
Flora Mahdavi,
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, The Aga Khan Univ. (Interntl.),
London;
Dr. Mohammad
M. Mojahedi, political scientist, Mofid University, Qom (Iran);
Prof. Ivan Nagel,
writer, Berlin;
Prof. Susan Neiman,
philosopher, director, The Einstein Forum, Potsdam;
Cem Özdemir,
member of the European Parliament, Berlin / Bruxelles;
Dr. Hassan Rezaei,
law, Max Planck Institute for foreign and international criminal justice,
Freiburg;
Meredith Reid
Sarkees, political scientist, Crystal Lake (U.S.A.);
Shreen Saroor,
peace researcher, Mannar Women Development Forum, Mannar (Sri Lanka);
Dr. Malek Sharif,
historian, Wissenschaftskolleg [Science Institute], Berlin and Orient Institute,
Istanbul;
Prof. Christoph
Schmidt, philosopher, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem;
Dr. Yossef Schwartz,
Tel Aviv University;
Dr. Mohamad Nur
Kholis Setiawan, State Islamic University, Yogyakarta (Indonesia);
Hilal Sezgin,
writer, Frankfurt-Main;
Rashid Shaz,
publisher, New Delhi;
Farzaneh Taheri,
publisher and translator, Tehran;
Prof. Richard
Tapper, School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London;
Prof. Abdulkader
Tayob, University of Cape Town;
Jochi Weil-Goldstein,
medico international Switzerland, Zurich;
Dr. med. Samuel
Wiener-Barraud, Stäfa, Switzerland;
Clare Wilde,
Research Associate, Georgetown University, Washington;
Prof. Ebtehal
Younes, University of Cairo.
This ad appeared
in the German weekly Die Zeit thanks to the support
of the Frankfurt-based
organization medico international.
[Unauthorized
translation]
|
links:
documenta
eleven:
democracy
as
a permanent,
unfinished
process
Intercultural
Studies
|