Formulating the claim
The text calls for a radical critique of past experiences in the Mediterranean space, rather than settling for discourses of general reconciliation or beautifying history. Mediterranean solidarity, as the text presents it, is only complete through an interrogation of what has accumulated in the way of conflicts, mental boundaries, and divisions.
Explanation
The basic idea is that speaking of rapprochement among the peoples of the Mediterranean cannot rest on broad slogans; it requires a critical examination of the history that shaped the relations among them. Thus the past is not presented merely as a memory to be consoled by, but as a field of review that reveals the traces and tensions left by previous experiences.
Its place in the book’s argument
This claim occupies a foundational position within the book’s overall argument, because it links historical memory to the possibility of building something new in common. Solidarity does not appear here as an abstract ethical goal, but as the result of critical work that must precede any practical vision of rapprochement among the peoples of the Mediterranean. The critique of the past thus becomes an initial condition for understanding this rapprochement.
Brief evidence
«and the slogans and good promises. We say this while thinking of the tragic events that took place in Palestine, Iraq, Beirut, and Syria. There is no doubt that the Maghreb now seems calm, but who knows what will happen in the future? For this reason, we say that establishing a critical evaluation of the political practices followed since independence has become necessary in order for us to formulate a new way of thinking and engage in a liberatory politics for all peoples and all known or unknown collective memories living throughout the Maghrebi space. It is also necessary to carry out a self-critical final reckoning that intersects with the first and concerns this time each European state separately, and the European Union as a whole as a new actor in history within the space»
Nearby links
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