We, Jews and Muslims, artists, intellectuals and cosmopolitans, abhor the violence, militarization and shedding of the blood of innocent human beings that takes place at present between Israel and its Arab and Muslim neighbors. 
We do not accept that our respective cultural and religious traditions are instrumentalized for the sake of a large-scale military conflict which is governed by obvious geo-political and geo-economic interests and which, in a cynical manner, relates Western and Islamic civilizations to age-old stereotypes of “good” and “evil.” Whoever takes the time to remember our history, will be aware of the fact that Islamic, Jewish, Christian and other traditions for centuries have been interwoven in the most intimate manner. In the midst of the looming catastrophe in the Near East, we call for an immediate armistice and the continuation of a fruitful exchange based on mutual respect while trusting that it can be accomplished.
We, the undersigned, take the present violent polarization between the so-called Western and the so-called Islamic world for a perversion of our respective traditions.
 

Prof. Bijan Abdolkarimi, philosopher, Azad University, Tehran;
Prof. Dr. Nast Abu Zayd, Ibn-Rushd-Chair for Humanism and Islam, University of Utrecht;
Sultan Acikgueoglu, student of Islam Science, Berlin;
Amir Hossein Afrassiabi, poet and architect, Rotterdam;
Adonis, poète areligieux, Paris;
Dr. Katajun Amirpur, Islam Scientist, University of Bonn;
Prof. Mahmoud Ayoub, Religion Dept., Temple University, Philadelphia;
Shelley Berlowitz, historian, Zurich;
Prof. Dr. Almut Sh. Bruckstein, philosopher, Berlin;
Prof. Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Chair for Talmudic Culture,  U. of Calif. at Berkeley;
Hady Chapardar, art critic and satirist, Tehran;
Sidney Corbett, composer, Berlin;
Mojdeh Daghighi, journalist and translator, Tehran;
Sigrun Drapatz, artist, Berlin;
Saeid Edalatnejad, Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation, Dept. of Law and Theology, Tehran;
Daniela Fariba Vorburger, Peace Watch Switzerland, Zurich;
Nasser Ghiasi, writer and translator, Heidelberg;
Rev. Prof. Francis T. Gignac, Catholic University of America, Washington;
Asst.Prof. Shai Ginsburg, Duke University, Durham, NC;
Prof. Nilufer Gole, sociologist,  École des Hautes Études, Paris ;
Prof. Galit Hasan-Rokem, director, The Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University, poetess, Jerusalem;
Dipl.Ing. Helmut Henseler, German-Jordanian Society, Buxheim (Germany);
Prof. Hannan Hever, Hebrew literature, Hebrew University, Jerusalem;
Dr. Carola Hilfrich, Franz Rosenzweig Institute, Jerusalem;
Silvia Horsch, Arab and German studies, Berlin;
Ass.Prof. Quadri Ismail, Literary Studies, U. of Minn.;
Prof. Yasemin Karakasoglu, chair for Intercultural Paedagogics, Bremen University;
Dr. Navid Kermani, writer and orientalist, Cologne;
Dr. Menachim Klein, political science, Bar Ilan Univ., Ramat Gan (Israel);
Abdellah Lahrmaid, social scientist, Rabat (Morocco);
Prof. Luis Landa, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva;
Ishay Landa, historian, Braunschweig;
Tali Latowicki, literary analysis, Tel Aviv;
Prof.em. Alexander A. Di Lella, Biblical science, Catholic Univ. of America, Washington;
Brigitte Meyer, musician, St. Gallen (Switzerland);
Dr. Ziba Mir-Hosseini, London Middle East Institute, Univ. of London;
Flora Mahdavi, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, The Aga Khan Univ. (Interntl.), London;
Dr. Mohammad M. Mojahedi, political scientist, Mofid University, Qom (Iran);
Prof. Ivan Nagel, writer, Berlin;
Prof. Susan Neiman, philosopher, director, The Einstein Forum, Potsdam;
Cem Özdemir, member of the European Parliament,  Berlin / Bruxelles;
Dr. Hassan Rezaei, law, Max Planck Institute for foreign and international criminal justice, Freiburg;
Meredith Reid Sarkees, political scientist, Crystal Lake (U.S.A.);
Shreen Saroor, peace researcher, Mannar Women Development Forum, Mannar (Sri Lanka);
Dr. Malek Sharif, historian, Wissenschaftskolleg [Science Institute], Berlin and Orient Institute, Istanbul;
Prof. Christoph Schmidt, philosopher, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem;
Dr. Yossef Schwartz, Tel Aviv University;
Dr. Mohamad Nur Kholis Setiawan, State Islamic University, Yogyakarta (Indonesia);
Hilal Sezgin, writer, Frankfurt-Main;
Rashid Shaz, publisher, New Delhi;
Farzaneh Taheri, publisher and translator, Tehran;
Prof. Richard Tapper, School of Oriental and African Studies, Univ. of London;
Prof. Abdulkader Tayob, University of Cape Town;
Jochi Weil-Goldstein, medico international Switzerland, Zurich;
Dr. med. Samuel Wiener-Barraud, Stäfa, Switzerland;
Clare Wilde, Research Associate, Georgetown University, Washington;
Prof. Ebtehal Younes, University of Cairo.

This ad appeared in the German weekly Die Zeit thanks to the support
of the Frankfurt-based organization medico international.
[Unauthorized translation]
 
 
 
 

documenta eleven:
democracy
as a permanent,
unfinished
process

Intercultural Studies

Special "July War" issue                                                       back to homepage