As a result of this situation the Mediterranean has become one of the main arenas of confrontation between the superpowers, as well as between those superpowers and the interests of the region's various peoples, who are attempting to live with dignity. Although it is clear that the Mediterranean is not a geographic region without tensions and conflicts, an analysis ought to take into consideration other factors as well, such as the problems caused by unfair economic structures and by the incapacity of the occidental model of development to resolve social problems and to preserve natural resources which have already begun to reveal their limits.
The official discourse of the countries of the North, communicated through the mass media, simplifies the efforts of those countries which border the southern shores of the Mediterranean to solve their own problems from the perspective of their own cultural and religious roots. This discourse targets Islamism, fundamentalism and terrorism, thereby generating images of an enemy instead of encouraging much-needed dialog under terms of equality and with recognition of the diversity of cultural responses. Contradictions are manifest, however, since the European powers have no hesitation about allying with potential and apparent enemies in order to displace their economic competitors, as is the case with Saudi Arabia, of fundamentalist and terrorist character. Similarly, the large youth population of the countries which border the southern shores of the Mediterranean is viewed as a threat to the aging North, even though it could represent, in a particular context, a very positive element for development and an obvious potential for change and transformation.
Women, who represent one half of the Mediterranean population, are subject to patriarchal cultures and their structures of domination, and suffer very directly from social inequalities and unemployment. This situation is more severe in those areas where women experience greater difficulties in making their voices heard in public.
The dominant perspective on the northern shores of the Mediterranean views migratory fluxes in an utilitarian and often alarmist way. Immigrants or workers from the South are not regarded as citizens with full rights, but instead as a resource, in a market economy that permits the free movement of capital and goods but blocks the free circulation of people. Unfair laws such as the Spanish immigration law and those written by the "Schegen group" dispossess immigrants and foreign workers of their citizenship and labour rights, obligating them to occupy the lowest ranks of a labour market for which the model of development dictates increasing segmentation. Fears of "invasions" are stirred up in order to justify these demeaning human and labour situations, which feeds racist and xenofobic attitudes - which are contrastingly also viewed as attitudes to be combatted.
In response to the European Union's governmental conference on the Mediterranean region, which will directly affect the above issues, we are convoking the Alternative Mediterranean Conference, in order to allow NGO's and social movements from Mediterranean countries to formulate their own proposals and priorities, as well as to create stable mechanisms for follow-up and implementation.
Secretaria CMA
Gran de Gràcia, 126-130, pral.
08012 Barcelona
Tel. (93) 217.95.27
Fax (93) 416.10.26