Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

Respect the differences and you
will see that we are the same
Behixhudin Shehapi
If the role of religious communities
and priests in solving conflict situations
(based on history and experience) was
mentioned under normal circumstances,
it would be a detailed elaboration, which
would include comparative analyses,
scientific facts and illustrations. It would
contribute to further research into the
role of religion in society and seeking out
new dimensions of human spirit. But
under the present circumstances, when
war has exploded again in the Balkans
after only two years, with clashes, xenophobia,
hatred, intolerance, vandalism
and chaos reappearing in this region, the
human mind gets blocked. The vision of
the future, the sense of beauty and creativity,
as anthropological categories,
give way to primitive ideas coloured
fact reflected in our everyday lives.
At an international conference in
Ohrid in June last year, as so often
before, it was proven that religious communities
and priests represent inevitable
factors and authorities in the establishment
of interconfessional and interethnic
relations.
INVENTIVE AND BRAVE
PERFORMANCE
The topic of the conference was
"The exploitation of cultural inheritance
for the development of cultural tourism."
Both representatives of the Islamic community
and the Macedonian Orthodox
Church took part. Father Climent, who
gave an excellent lecture, was sitting
next to me. With an inventive and brave
performance, he filled the hearts of all
people present with exaltation, even
those who were not religious at all. He
mentioned the inappropriate behaviour
of cultural tourism workers towards religious
objects, and their inadequate attitude
towards Orthodox tradition and values.
His courage and transparent criticism
of the secular establishment
because of some crucial mistakes in its
attitude towards religious objects gave
me more courage to give my remarks
concerning the preservation of Islamic
cultural monuments. Especially about
tearing down the Imaret mosque in
Ohrid, which was located in the area
where monuments dating back to different
periods have been found, beginning
from the ancient period to modern times.
It is a fact that Macedonia has a
common cultural inheritance, which
belongs to all its inhabitants. The discussion,
which followed my speech, was
zealous and impulsive. Except for guests
from abroad and some of my colleagues
and friends from Macedonia, my argumentative
speech was not publicly supported.
I was attacked for trying to disturb
the reputation of that international
conference in front of the foreign guests
and harming Macedonian interests. I
was the only Muslim in the room. My
colleague from the Monastery Zrze,
Father Climent, congratulated me sincerely
on my presentation, pointing out
that some ideas and relationships inherited
from monism would have to give way
to the new spirit. Probably because of the
criticism directed towards the current
Ohrid citizens for their uncivilized act of
tearing down the Imaret mosque, I
remained alone with an Italian colleague.
It seemed like no one was virtuous
enough to approach
me.
with scepticism and burdened with mere
survival. The influence of these endemic
feelings and phenomena on people is
immense. They define individual
engagements and cultural and intellectual
frameworks, while people lose their
faith and play minor roles in overcoming
actual problems. I am not trying to justify
the lack of individual intellectual
engagement. I am not trying to find an
explanation for such intellectual profiles
or those poor illustrations. In fact, it takes
more skill and competence for such
analyses. I want to emphasize a reality
we are all preoccupied with. However,
as a member of the Islamic community
responsible for cultural monuments, and
as the director of the humanitarian
organization, El Hilal, I am going to
describe some of my experiences and
give my views on the subject, which is in
DECISIVE STEP
Father Climent
made the decisive step,
seeing the state I was
in, and he stayed with
me until dinner. It was
an extremely important
moment on the margins
of this conference.
On the one hand, we
exchanged experiences
and opinions about our differences and
their values. On the other hand, all our
friends and people who shared our opinion
soon joined us. The other group,
which felt no dissatisfaction concerning
the destruction of the mosque and disagreed
with our reactions concerning the
events connected to this monument, was
all of a sudden much smaller. I had an
impression that we were attracted to
each other by what is common to all people
who feel metaphysical and transcendental
phenomena. The conversations
continued during dinner, with the same
sincerity and mutual respect. It was a
beautiful picture, which gave me optimism
concerning present times and
wonderful future under the same sky.
I do not remember what I told Father
Climent, who was very talkative and
demonstrated that he was a severe anti-
47
What now, June 2001