The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, has questioned the way the West was trying to export its model of democracy to Libya saying that it had not respected the country’s political ways of life. Its involvement in Iraq, too, was criticised.
“Faced with current Islamist terrorism, we should question the way a model of democracy that was too Western was exported to countries where there was a strong power, as in Iraq, or Libya, where there was a tribal structure,” he said.
Speaking to the French Catholic newspaper La Croix in an interview about illegal migration into Europe and whether Muslims and Christians could live side by side harmoniously, the pope said that Western intervention to remove Qaddafi had resulted in making the situation worse.
“As a Libyan said recently, ‘We used to have one Qaddafi, now we have fifty,” he stated.
The remarks appear to have been primarily for a European audience. There was no recognition of the Libyan revolution being driven by Libyans or of the fact that tribes are only a small part of Libya’s political culture.
He nonetheless called for greater integration in Europe and criticised those who championed Christian nationalism in Europe. “When I hear talk of the Christian roots of Europe, I sometimes dread the tone, which can seem triumphalist or even vengeful. It then takes on colonialist overtones,” he said.
Praising the election of Londion’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, he said it showed Muslim integration in Europe was working. The other side of the coin, however, was of Muslim migrants being ghetto-ised in some parts of European and then some of them being alienated.
“In Brussels, the terrorists were Belgians, children of migrants, but they grew up in a ghetto. In London, the new mayor took his oath of office in a cathedral and will undoubtedly meet the Queen. This illustrates the need for Europe to rediscover its capacity to integrate.”
By Libya Herald reporter.
https://www.libyaherald.com/2016/05/17/pope-questions-western-model-of-democracy-for-libya/
