27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001
Issue No.553
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 27 Sep. - 3 Oct. 2001 Issue No.553 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Political vision
Europe likes to see itself as a free society where everybody enjoys equal rights and shares the same civic values. Because we took it for granted that the West tries to be consistent with its own values, we resorted to the Belgian legal framework to indict Israeli war criminals. We knew the executive would oppose such an endeavour; but since we knew in theory that it is not supposed to influence the judicial system, we assumed it would be impossible to stop our case.
Unfortunately, racism flourishes in Belgium. Belgium preaches multiculturalism but practises assimilation. We have discovered that it is a place where you can be arrested for gathering in the streets peacefully and silently to commemorate innocent victims of terror, if it is Israeli terror. It is a place where political power can force judicial power to put a legal suit on hold just to spare itself political embarrassment, where a law can be made and used for a political end (Rwanda) and yet become problematic if it is going to be implemented against the interests of a friendly state.
When the judge of instruction in the case against Sharon decided -- under pressure of the minister of justice, who is himself under pressure from Israel -- to adjourn his investigation until the court of appeal decides if Belgian courts are competent to pursue the case, even though the law clearly gives Belgium universal jurisdiction, we discovered that, as citizens, we are not permitted to use our laws as are our compatriots of white European descent.
Justice may be blind, but politics can lead it into a very deep hole. We hope the Belgian court of appeal will acknowledge its own jurisdiction. It will thus reassert its divorce from politics and save Belgian democracy; for democracy will be whole, or will not be.
*This week's Soapbox speaker is president of the Arab European League.
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