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Italian PM Berlusconi Praises Western Civilization as Superior to Islamic World

HeadlineSep 27, 2001

The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, in a brief briefing for journalists, praised Western civilization today as superior to that of the Islamic world and urged Europe to “reconstitute itself on the basis of its Christian roots.” Berlusconi was in Berlin to discuss the international cooperation against terrorism with the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the German chancellor. He said, “We should be confident of the superiority of our civilization, which consists of a value system that has given people widespread prosperity in those countries that embrace it and guarantees respect for human rights and religion. This respect certainly does not exist in Islamic countries.” The Italian prime minister went on to say the West “is bound to occidentalize and conquer new people. It has done it with the Communist world and part of the Islamic world, but unfortunately, a part of the Islamic world is 1,400 years behind.” Berlusconi, who’s been criticized for the force Italian police used against anti-globalization protesters in Genoa in July, said he saw “a singular coincidence” between the protesters and the terrorists who attacked New York and Washington. The terrorists, he said, were trying “to stop the corrupting effect of Western civilization on the Islamic world,” while “the anti-globalization movement criticizes, from within Western civilization, the Western way of life, trying to make Western civilization feel guilty.” The Italian opposition and press harshly criticized the Italian prime minister. The newspaper La Repubblica said his remarks carried “a tinge of fundamentalism and a hint of crusade, which are extremely dangerous in the current difficult situation.” And Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, who is leading a European Union mission to the Middle East, said today that he denounced Berlusconi’s remarks as “not in line with European decisions and European values.”

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