QUADERNS DE LA MEDITERRÀNIA, 2-3
Pensar el Magreb contemporáneo.

PROLOGUES

Mediterranean notebooks
Maria-Àngels Roque

1. THEMATIC DOSSIER: The contemporary Maghreb

Political dynamics and religious debates of the contemporary Maghreb
Abdul Filali Ansari
The author refers to the work of the reputed anthropologist Ernest Gellner to introduce us to one of the most exciting debates of current Muslim society: the central role that religion plays within the political environment. Based on Hume and Khaldun, among others, he summarises through history the variations of religious feeling as a key to explain significant moments of social evolution. When considering the 20th century, the author introduces us to two of the realities which have marked the behaviours of Maghrebian societies: religious ideals and nationalist conceptions, which some authors have qualified as modernism and traditionalism. The most recent history of the political events in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco shows us how the political situation continues to reside to a great extent in the management of religious power. The author concludes with an interesting hypothesis in which he talks of secularised societies where, however, the prevailing representations have not assimilated the laic vision. It is in this environment where the religious question constitutes a true power apart. He uses this argument to point to what seems essential for the democratisation of these societies: how to achieve a form of religious presence and action in the public sphere.

Analysis of the political transformation: thirteen centuries of Maghrebian history
Mercè Viladrich
The inventory of the new phenomena which Islamic societies are starting to experience constitutes a long list both with reference to individuals and to everything related to the social relationships that they develop: acceleration of the pace of life, urbanisation, growth of organised labour, class war, imperialist wars, international competition, impact of the ethnocentric discourse… It could be said that the sum of all these new problems is equivalent to the complicated and conflictive impact of the contemporary world on traditional Maghrebian Islamic society; in other words, the reality of a hostile social environment, antagonistic and, above all, unintelligible to people and groups but in which, henceforth, it will be essential to move, unavoidably. Moreover, the arithmetic sum of problems has become effective at a highly accelerated rate, different from what characterised the appropriation of modernity and the evolution towards the contemporary world in Europe. In addition, this new complexity appears in the north of Africa as an imported and aggressive model. Arabian thought has entered into contact with modernity specifically in the form of colonial violence and, until the 1930s, without suitable intellectual instruments of response. Generally, we can say that Islamic societies have had little time, or much less time than western societies, to respond to the problematic generated by the transformation towards the contemporary world. The process of contemporary revolutions is not at all easy to reproduce or imitate in an Islamic society. Why? What is in this society that makes impossible the mimesis of a similar process to gain access to economic and intellectual modernity? Would, or will, this mimesis be legitimate and possible? Here we bring together some attitudes which, throughout history, have manifested themselves in the Maghrebian civilisation, often little known, and which may shed light on some of the specific traits of the Maghrebian response to European contemporiety and the erosion that on some occasions the "religion and politics" identity has suffered.

Critique of the hypothesis of the incompatibility of Islam with the values of civil society
Abdelkader Zghal
Without doubt, the democratic transition in Islamic countries constitutes one of the most interesting points of theoretical debate in recent times. For the author of this article there is, however, a cultural determinism around which revolve a great many of the arguments which tend to deny to the Islamic world compatibility with the liberal and democratic values of civil society. Making use of a critique of Gellner's line of argument qualified as culturalist and determinist, Zghal aims to demonstrate that Islam is not alone in offering resistance to the process of secularisation of social relationships: all religions have the tendency to produce their own political and religious puritanism. Even faced with the singularity of societies such as the Marxists, in the western imaginary and in Gellner's, Islam has always constituted the most coherent countermodel of civil society's values. Before the affirmation of a Muslim society with a weak state and a strong culture, the author compares this model, considered a cliché, with empirical data related to the progressive secularisation of the main Muslim institutions in the concrete case of Tunisia which, according to Zghal, is in fact an example of the contrary: weak culture and strong state. Zghal concludes with an allusion to the necessary revision of cultural specificity understood not only as a legacy of the past but also as a result of our own perceptions.

Language and identity conflicts: the Berbereity
Tassadit Yacine
Berber language and the vindication of identity are two of the elements which have generated greater debate in the Algeria of the second half of the 20th century. The rejection of one of the autochthonous languages of the country to the benefit of Arabic and French has been denounced in an attempt for Berber to assume the position which corresponds to it as the original language of the region. But this is difficult because Berber lacks both the intellectual prestige of French and the sacred and unifying character of the Algerian identity with which Arabic has been endowed in order to break the links with the prevailing colonising culture (French-speaking).
Based on this contextualisation, this article journeys through the history of the vindication of Berber cultural identity from its origins, in the 1950s, to its current situation, while asserting that the recent recognition of Berber culture is the consequence of a fight between the distinct factions in power rather than the real will to promote it. The article concludes with a plea for the need for the existence of a real linguistic and cultural plurality in Algeria.

Civil society: strategies of citizenship
Maria-Àngels Roque
Is it possible to apply the term civil society to Arabian-Muslim societies? Faced with the theses proposing the impossibility for a civil society to exist outside a democratic and laic environment, the importance of these societies as instruments of transition and change linked to greater openness and democratisation is increasingly taking form. The article analyses the presence and evolution of an emerging civil society in the Maghreb particularly dwelling on the case of Morocco and, within this country, more specifically on that of those regions where the networks of countryside-city co-operation as well as the Berber cultural movements have certainly played an outstanding role.

Women and human rights in the Maghreb
Laura Feliu and Ángeles Ramírez
The article refers to the legal sexual discrimination in Morocco, present, among other documents, in the Family Code and the Personal Statute or Mudawana and to the commitment of different institutions to its abolition. To this end, a series of social movements are analysed: feminist, associations of immigrants, of human rights, political parties and Islamist groups. The conclusion is that, apart from the feminist movement and what the authors call "its environment", no other movement or association has firmly determined to end sexual discrimination, for reasons which have to do with political strategy or because it is considered a secondary issue. However, other groups also support change, although they do not explicitly refer to the end of discrimination. For Nadia Yasin, as spokewoman of the Islamist movement which is said to have the most supporters, the Mudawana must be changed although until now this association has not specified what this change would be. Based on the analysis of the Plan of Integration of Women in Development, the authors consider the association movement in Morocco and the greater capacity for mobilisation of the Islamist movement. The state of calm, and even stagnancy, in which this affair remained after the two demonstrations in Casablanca and Rabat, refusing and supporting the Plan, respectively, with a clear numeric superiority of the first over the latter, has changed since the beginning of March when the King of Morocco appointed a commission whose task will be to prepare the revision of the Mudawana . The composition and conception of this commission raises serious doubts about the extent to which this step can contribute to Morocco's remaining journey to democracy.

The Maghreb in a critical situation: the difficult transition to democracy in Maghrebian countries
Bernabé López García
This article analyses the development of the political transitions in the countries of the Maghreb, their characteristics and the differences existing between its three countries.
Political transition must be based on two previous transitions: a demographic transition, which has already been taking place, and an economic transition, essential so as not to miss the train of modernisation although it plays a peripheral role.
There are degrees of difference between the liberalisation in progress in Morocco and that of Algeria or Tunisia. For this reason, the three cases are presented based on the problematic which the expression of plurality in the region represents. In Algeria, this plurality appears with the social explosion of 1988 but without real consistence to constitute a true option for big changes. In Tunisia, in the guise of a modern country, we find democratisation paralysed because of the fear of political alternation. Finally, in Morocco the transition started almost one decade before through a political system allowing a peaceful exchange of power between the governing elites although new processes must be proposed to facilitate a wider visibility of the country's political transition.

Regionalization in Morocco
Mustapha Sehimi
In this article, the author introduces us to one of the current issues in Moroccan political debate: decentralization. Sehimi enlightens us about the regionalization process that this country is experiencing which initiated the recognition of region as a local collectivity endowed with moral personality and financial autonomy with the 1992 Constitution. Later, with the 1996 newly revised Constitution, this process was consolidated because, since then, the regions have been represented in the second Moroccan chamber. The European examples help the author to determine the Moroccan model which is identified as one of regional decentralization. However, what is at a stake at present is the organisational viability of these regions constituted in 1996 and which have not yet yielded results. According to the author, the vision of regionalization "à la carte" expected for the Saharan provinces as a possible solution to this dispute will constitute a test to check in situ the limits and orientation of the regionalization underway.

On regionalization in Morocco and the question of Sahara
Antoni Segura
Faced with the latest plan presented by the UNO in June 2001, the debate on the regionalization of Morocco and the position of Sahara in this process seems inevitable. Self-determination, autonomy and regionalization appear as the terms with which it will be necessary to discuss the final statute of Sahara. The plan foresees a five year transitional period of autonomy after which a consultation would be held which, however, does not contemplate self-determination. The present article offers us a reflection on this which complements the vision by Sehimi in the thematic dossier. Thus, its aim is to show the difficulty with which internal administrative reforms must be combined with fundamental political strategies, and, above all, with the solution to a long conflict which has become the centre of a debate of international scope.

Hispanic and Moroccan representation
Víctor Morales Lezcano
This article focuses on the formation of representational systems on both sides of the Straits of Gibraltar. In the first part, there is a historical journey through the relationships between the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula. At this point, the conflict between the three main monotheist religions marked the representation of each of the cultures with respect to the others. The historical revision of this evolution reveals that the history of identity formation is a very important working tool for the understanding of the phenomena of ethnocultural overlapping. Thus, systematic recuperation of the analysis of the precedents existing in the history of images becomes necessary to understand current society.
In the second part, the author establishes the recent transformations in these relationships marked by the increase in migration from the south to the Peninsula. Thus, he emphasises how Spain and Portugal have gradually passed from being societies exporting excess labour to being receptors of immigrants. The economic and social transformation process of the Spanish state, as a result of entry into the European Union, was a factor of Spain's change of image. The author focuses on the case of Morocco and on how, in the system of Moroccan representation, the imaginary conception of Spain has gradually changed from its protectorate status to the present. This transformation has also played an important role in the evolution of Moroccan immigration in Spain.

2. MEDITERRANEAN ACTUALITY

Interview with Miguel Ángel Moratinos
Hamid Barrada
Miguel Ángel Moratinos, Special Emissary of the European Union to the Middle East, attempts in this interview, carried out by the Moroccan journalist Hamid Barrada for Cuadernos del Mediterráneo (Mediterranean Review), to go beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and present his vision of the Mediterranean space -with special attention to the south and east of the Mare Nostrum- from a point of view as much personal as historical, social and cultural, political and imaginary. At the same time, he reflects on such current issues as identity, interculturality, democracy or the different international policies in the area, using his experience there gained through different duties and political missions.

Immigration: challenges and opportunities
Jordi Pujol
The President of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia presents the phenomenon of foreign immigration from a positioning of a country with a long welcoming tradition, emphasising the positive experience of Catalonia at the moment of receiving immigrants and the fact that it is possible to talk of a Catalan model of integration.
The central nucleus of the lecture makes specific reference to how the Catalan model adapts to the new reality represented by the arrival of foreign immigrants to Catalonia. This immigration involves, according to Jordi Pujol, a series of challenges linked above all to cultural diversity and, specifically, to the fact that the presence of the Muslim religion brings a new dimension to the management of the migratory fact.
The breakdown of the model advocated by Pujol makes special reference to the guarantee of equality in fundamental rights and to the need for clear and just rules on the rights and duties of the new immigrants. Another outstanding aspect is the need to create future expectations in order to integrate these people, promoting clear and viable policies for the whole of society. To this end, Pujol seeks to guarantee social cohesion as much with the development of the welfare state as with the possibility of the involvement of society itself. From the wider perspective of co-operation, the third main field, which in Catalonia is considered essential, is investment in immigrants' countries as a useful and necessary tool for their development.

The Mediterranean and the challenge of the euro
Jean-Louis Reiffers
Despite the difficulty involved in evaluating the consequences of the implantation of the euro for the Mediterranean countries, the author suggests that there are several points to which we must pay attention.
If the framework of Euromediterranean association embraces the monetary and financial sphere, there is no doubt that the euro may constitute a decisive element for the consolidation of the Barcelona Process.
The author bases his argumentation on three decisive elements. In the first place, the possible influence of the euro in the transfers of savings from Europe to the associated Mediterranean countries and the macro-economic management of these countries. In the second place, it can have effects on the exports of the Mediterranean countries because its introduction will diminish the costs of international trade transactions both for the importer and the exporter. In the third place, the euro can contribute to a south-south integration. A common monetary unit involves the co-ordination of economic policies, the transparency of prices and the impossibility of making competitive devaluations.
In conclusion, the author recommends, among other things, the inclusion of the monetary question as a component of the associationism, the creation of a consultative body on this issue at a Euromediterranean level as well as an instrument similar to the European monetary snake, and the creation via MEDA of technical assistance developing insurance against the risk of change.

Algeria and the demystification of the origin of violence
Gema Martín Muñoz
Algerian war has become the paradigm of ideological deformation and manipulation. Based on this premise, the present article aims to demystify those affirmations which make Algerian Islamism uniquely and exclusively responsible for the situation of social and political disintegration that the country is experiencing. It has been attempted to present this conflict as a confrontation between two distinct cultural models, when in reality the struggle lies between the supporters of the democratisation of the system and those who are opposed to it. The article describes the true origins of the violence which is threatening the country and demystifies many of the "truths" which have been used until now to justify it; most of them point to "Islamic fundamentalism" as uniquely responsible for the critical situation in which Algeria is immersed concealing, therefore, the military leaders in power, true managers of the conflict.

A challenge for the Spanish Presidency of the EU. Re-establishing confidence in the Barcelona Process
Andreu Claret
The author points out the importance of re-establishing confidence in the Barcelona Process in the current circumstances. It is true that the uncertainty and the worst auguries dominate public opinion in the field of the Euromediterranean association as in many others devoted to this region, but not everything is negative. There are some societies in flux in the south and east of the Mediterranean which are substituting their previous silence with a will to participate in political processes. Moreover, despite the slowness of the Process, there are conditions for a political initiative which have gradually been establishing themselves in the last two years; for instance, through the adoption of the Feira Strategy last year.
The Mediterranean world has experienced an increase of frustration with the addition of violence in certain regions due to economic and political reasons to which, moreover, there has not been any European response. The author affirms that Europe has lacked political will in the last two years, the beginning of the countdown to the enlargement, which has coexisted with the maintenance of the discourse on the need for attention to the Mediterranean. Thus, the current moment constitutes a challenge for the future Spanish Presidency of the European Union in which a certain number of doubts should be clarified such as the duties of Europe, the role of Spain, the real will to activate the Process and the determination of the place of the Mediterranean dimension.

The Euromed Civil Forum: balance, continuity and changes
Helena Oliván
The establishment of new forms of co-operation in the Mediterranean area by the European Union opened, in its moment, hopes about the possibilities of exchange and democratisation. The Euromediterranean partnership launched by the European Union in 1995 contributed to this establishment through the attempt at consolidation, which later failed, of the so-called "decentralized co-operation" between the civil society of this geographic area which unites us. But its significance, already reduced, has gradually become diluted and is acquiring other forms for reasons intrinsic, but also external, to the process.
One of the phenomena whose analysis helps to understand this complexity is the so-called Euromed Civil Forum as an example of the philosophy which underlay the idea of partnership. The Forum appears as a meeting space for societies whose continuities and changes indicate the complexity of the phenomenon which we are confronting. However, the changes of format of the meeting, the reduction of the number of participants and the non-institutionalisation of the Forum are some of its elements which are difficult to evaluate. Within a context in which the enlargement of the EU towards the east diverts the attention and the peace process in the Middle East is at a standstill, the co-operation between the North and the South arouses a not insignificant number of doubts in the changing context of the Mediterranean.

2. MISCELLANY

Debate on laicity in Turkey
Semih Vaner
The ratification, by the European Court of Human Rights, of the prohibition of the Turkish Islamic party Refah provides the framework for this article on democracy, Islamism and laicity in Turkey. The Turkish Islamic movement channelled the frustrations of a part of the population, excluded by the economic boom.
For the author, one must not fall into the simplism of a dichotomy between "laics" and "integrationists" because there are many hybrid behaviours and the respect for the democratic system is not the heritage of any one group. It would be more prudent to individually sanction the authors of proposals incompatible with the democratic rules rather than whole groups or parties because with this kind of action what suffers is the democratic system itself. Moreover, the "laics" are not compulsorily democrats or necessarily interested in making democracy prevail. The integration of political Islam into the pluralist democracy depends both on the evolution of the religious current and the attitude of laics.

First conclusions of a study on immigrant sex workers
Dolores Juliano
This article is a reflection on a project of interdisciplinary study on prostitution among immigrant women in Catalonia. The article methodologically reflects on the initial approaches of the project while following the migratory trajectories of these women and their future projects, always from an integrated anthropological genre perspective which deals with the issue in a realist way while trying to avoid the stereotypes and commonplaces and from which the power of decision and action of these women over their own lives is seen as the main aspect and not as a consequence of an outcast existence.

Modernity and eating habits: towards a "culinary aculturalisation"?
Matthieu De Labarre
What are we thinking about when we evoke the globalisation of our eating habits? The first image that comes to mind is the emblematic figure of the MacDonald's restaurant chain, a symbol of the strength of agro-alimentary multinationals which impose on us a unique menu and destroy the diversity of culinary identities.
However, this image of the unavoidable impoverishment and homogenisation of our culinary tastes seems to us inadequate to get to know the complex reality accompanying the globalisation of our alimentary representations and practices. Although it is true that the multiple transformations that both our life style and the alimentary chain have experienced lead to a "disenchantment" with reference to our culinary activity, this logic is neither unique nor implacable. In effect, globalisation is not only limited to being an economic phenomenon: this is equally manifested in the cultural sphere and, in particular, through the development of what Charles Taylor calls "expressive individualism". This can enter into conflict with the homogenising trends of alimentary globalisation due to the increasing inclination towards culinary "authenticity" (success of "land" and "organic" products). From time to time the individual adopts a reflexive attitude towards these practices, which favours the emergence of modes of resistance. Thus, the activity of the "modern eater" must be perceived, in our view, as the expression of a tension between two antagonistic logics (trends towards homogenisation, renewal and, at the same time, the defence of identities) rather than as a consequence of the offer of the agro-alimentary industry and our busy life style.
If our reasoning is right, it does not seem that the "end of eaters" is upon us, nor that globalisation will favour the disappearance and diversity of culinary systems.

Max Aub and Spanish exile in Algeria
Saliha Zerrouki
This article offers an analysis of the work Diario de Djelfa , written by the poet Max Aub during his captivity in a French concentration camp in the colonial Algeria after the Spanish Civil War. The article explores this little known poetic work while vindicating its author, Max Aub. He was the witness, victim and voice -through, to be precise, his Diario de Djelfa - of those prisoners confined in French colonial concentration camps that the Government of Vichy constructed in Algeria: they were the main players in a forgotten exile but their memory takes form through this poetic diary that Saliha Zerrouki rescues in her article.

Picasso, the great Mediterranean cannibal
Achille Bonito Oliva
For Achille Bonito, Picasso represents the figure of the cannibal artist, an eclectic genius who does not abandon himself to his style but gives himself to the mutation of forms. Thus, the genius of Picasso is defined as being an eater of art which draws on all sources: the present, the past and even the future. He directs and creates fragments and details of the entire history of art: from the primitive to our days.
Nevertheless, he continues to be a contemporary artist who manages to confront the tragedies of our history. Picasso absorbs, in his forms, the creative desire of other artists making this absorption his poetry and his declaration of war on the history of art.

Contemporary Arabic artistic calligraphy. Two exponents: Ahmed Moustafa and Nja Mahdaoui
Elena Morató
Classical calligraphy as an applied art and contemporary calligraphy as a revolutionary contribution to the re-reading of a centenary practice are undoubtedly the two sides of the same cultural phenomenon (dialectics). In this article, in which these artistic manifestations are analysed through the work of two of its main exponents -A. Moustafa and N. Mahdaoui-, the author proposes an approach to the language associated with a contemporary visual creation of wide-ranging traditional roots. After a period of crisis started in the 1980s, calligraphy once again resumes its creative impulse and young artists such as Moustafa and Mahdaoui will feel attracted to it, becoming new exponents of a traditional Muslim artistic expression.

Rai, dissidence "on the rocks"
Donat Putx
This article briefly reviews the evolution of the rai from its birth, closely linked to the appearance of the Algerian proletariat, to the emergence of the figure of Khaled who, from France, made the rai an international success. This review emphasises the diverse influences that it has gradually received among which stands out that of international pop from the sixties which involved an important innovations in musical instruments. The figure of Khaled and his success prompted the appearance of numerous competitors both of his generation and the next.
Moreover, this article also points to the dissident component implicit in the rai, a protest which is an expression of individuality and distance from the collective and the codes. This component of protest with mundane and amusing overtones is what has led this musical movement to be threatened and pursued for its defence of individual liberty.

A panorama of Greek cinematography
Àngel Comas
This article echoes the re-emergence of the current Greek cinema, unknown to the general public because of the unification of tastes provoked by the North-American monopoly. The author points out that the expectations that this re-emergence of Greek cinema had awoken in its country have been reflected quantitatively in the box office incomes which have surpassed 18%. Another outstanding aspect of this situation is that the common denominator of all these films which have broken American hegemony lies in the fact that they deal with issues which interest people and achieve the identification of the spectators with what they see on the screen. Despite these hopeful figures, very few Greek films get access to foreign markets allowing the amortisation of production costs. For the author, American dominance of public exhibition stops Greek films from reaching Spain. In the same way, Spanish films are not exhibited in Greece. As in most countries, Greek cinema depends on television to amortise the costs.

3. Books

Para conocer y denunciar el racismo
José Luis Solana

Mediterráneo y percepciones identitarias: Córcega
Gemma Aubarell

Mujeres y Migración
Mercè Viladrich

Historia del Mediterráneo
Juan Luis Quintana

Mediterráneo, gentes y libros
Claudine Rulleau

Selección de recursos en internet
Elisenda Macià