Cultures of the Med must draw North's eye

World View: Several events in the Middle East and North Africa have attracted media coverage in Europe over the last week.

They include: military exchanges between Israel and Hamas guerrillas in Gaza; the arrest of over 400 local Hamas activists in the West Bank; the follow-up to presidential elections in Egypt; the Algerian referendum on whether to pardon Islamist rebels against the army takeover of 1992; the conviction of 25 al-Qaeda associates in Spain on terrorism charges; the debate on Turkey's accession to the European Union as a decision looms on Monday whether to open talks; and the continuing violence and chaos in Iraq which mocks the attempts to bring in a new constitution.

Such events illustrate that political change and transition in the south of the Mediterra-

nean will affect Europeans in the north. Many Europeans fear instability will spill over through people-trafficking, mass migration, organised crime, terrorism or environ-

mental hazards. They demand tightened borders and civilisat-

ional barriers to insulate them.

This may be understandable but is hardly prudent given the deep contacts that already exist between these regions and the likelihood that they will increase in the future. Better then, it is argued, to create a framework of interaction and dialogue within which change can be managed and turned to mutual advantage.

There are now 450 million people in the European Union states and 200 million in the Euro-Med Partnership set up 10 years ago to regulate and develop relations with Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco (Cyprus and Malta have since joined the EU).

Three "baskets" of activity - political, economic and cultural - were identified in the Barcelona Declaration adopted in November 1995 which initiated the partnership. The last decade has seen an intensifying process of inter-governmental and diplomatic exchange.

It has been unevenly distributed between the three spheres, with the economic pursued with greatest vigour, the political and security dimension creating a new forum for diplomatic contacts, while the cultural and human aspects have been weaker.

The policy is to be reviewed and renewed at an anniversary summit in the city at the end of November. It has been at most a moderate success, creating a lasting framework for interaction rather than a vehicle for political reform, democratisation, economic development or intercultural communication.

Compared to the EU's enlargement policy towards central and eastern Europe over the same period - arguably the most important foreign policy success anywhere in the world during that time - Euro-Med must be judged a resounding failure.

But it will now be developed in ways which draw on that experience and are animated by the pressing need for understanding and dialogue between European, Arab and Islamic cultures.

A conference organised by the European Commission in Jordan this week for 90 senior journalists from both regions examined what role media can play in this new relationship.

Can journalists separate themselves from politics when their countries are active in disputes? Should they reflect the views of both sides, be objective or partisan? How can stereotyping of other cultures be avoided, or do media encourage racism and xenophobia? Who dictates media content, and are there common pressures on media freedom?

Can journalists co-operate on opening up civil society in closed societies through more professional reporting, training and mutual solidarity? Can they formulate concrete demands on such subjects capable of being addressed by the summit?

Those from the north learned much about the great diversity of cultures, experience and media in North Africa and the Arab world. Dynamic change in civil society and the private sphere have enabled these societies to circumvent authoritarian governments still anxious to dictate content and stifle democratic debate.

The Arab television revolution led by al-Jazeera has profoundly altered popular awareness of current events; there are now many competing stations, and a discernible effort to control them with Saudi financing.

But the press has lagged in most states. It is still much more subject to official constraints and often lacking professional resources to report truthfully on local issues and the abuse of power.

Market and audience grounding is underdeveloped, profitability uneven and ownership still tied to rich potentates or party outlets. As a result journalism tends to be fickle, partisan and conspiracy prone and a mouthpiece for vested interests.

Northern journalists said several of these shortcomings affected them, too. Media credibility is in decline. Partisan favouritism, business pressures and ownership and the recent syndrome that you are with or against us from the Blair and Bush administrations have put journalism under pressure north and south. Such an awareness of universal constraints helped to encourage dialogue about common problems.

This left room for sharp exchanges about content and orientation. One of Euro-Med's merits is to provide a rare forum within which Israel can engage in a dialogue with Arab and north African states. There were Israeli and Israeli-Arab participants, but some Syrian and Palestinian journalists were not allowed to come.

Southern journalists insisted that we in the north underestimate the depth of popular feeling about violence against Palestinians and Iraqis.

Journalists must report aggression where they see it, by "putting their pen in the wound" if necessary. There were disagreements over whether it is right to normalise relations with Israel while the conflict continues. But often this is used to divert attention from despotic governments.

A fine example of contentious yet civilised Israeli-Arab dialogue can be found on www.bitterlemons.org, about which we heard from one of its editors. We also heard about the role of media in Northern Ireland and between Greece and Turkey.

There was agreement that journalists should make political demands on governments about human rights and media freedoms and their abuse.

The EU must decide how to include Euro-Med in its wider Neighbourhood Policy involving Ukraine and Russia by making aid and trade conditional on these rights and freedoms and on socialisation to agreed universal norms.

It should stop pandering to despotic governments in the interests of economic access. This would allow greater differentiation, so that progress towards such freedoms could be rewarded, but still stopping short of the accession goal that has motivated Turkey's reforms.