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15 November 2005, 14:00French unrest: a conflict of civilizations - Metropolitan Kirill
Moscow, November 15, Interfax - The recent wave of unrest in France and in other Western countries is rooted primarily in the conflict of civilizations, a Russian Orthodox Church figure said.
"It was not an ordinary instance of hooliganism, or protest against social problems. It was a conflict of civilizations," Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, told a news conference at Interfax on Tuesday.
The conflict is rooted in the erroneous idea of a new world order, which the West has been trying to implement for many years, said Metropolitan Kirill, who heads the Moscow Patriarchate's Foreign Church Relations Department.
"However, the idea of building a new world order, where one cannot tell Martini from Schweppes, does not work. Even in the U.S., Italians remain Italians, Chinese remain Chinese and Russians remain Russians in the third generation. An assimilation experiment like this is impossible in Europe," Metropolitan Kirill said.
To avoid the escalation of the conflict in Western Europe "one must consider how civilization models could be dovetailed," he said.
"The task of finding 'joints' that would unite people without ruining their identity is assuming special importance. It is the only way to build a harmonious society," said Metropolitan Kirill. |
