'Politics of fear' must be overcome by tolerance, Annan says

Calling the politics of fear, anger and intolerance one of the great dangers of our time, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today warned that such attitudes could lead to an artificial "clash of civilizations," in which people of different faiths and cultures perceive each other as enemies.

"Acts of violence and terror, committed by a small number of individuals, are blamed on 'Islam', and all Muslims become suspects," the Secretary-General said in an address to the 35th National Conference of the Trinity Institute in New York, which was held under the title, "Naming Evil."

"Acts of dispossession or disproportionate use of force undertaken by the State of Israel, in what it sees as legitimate self-defence, are used to justify a resurgence of anti-Semitism, and all Jews become potential targets," he added. "The use of force by certain Western governments is used to revive anti-Christian sentiments in the Islamic world, and all Christians, including local Christian communities, are made to feel insecure."

To counter this trend, he stressed the need to view each person individually, "each with the right to define our own identity and to belong to the faith or culture of our choice."

"When we think of other people as evil we are perilously close to depriving them of any rights, and releasing ourselves from any obligations towards them," he said. "We are poised at the top of a slippery slope that leads to violence, murder, even genocide."

At the same time, he acknowledged that in relation to genocide, use of the word "evil" seems inevitable. Looking back on his own experiences in grappling with the horrors of war, he noted that the genocide in Rwanda and massacre at Srebrenica had spurred him to examine his own conscience and the actions of the UN. One main conclusion was "we were reluctant to face up to evil when we saw it," he said.

He went on to assert that "evil has to be met with evil," emphasizing that the use of force is an evil even in the service of the best of causes. "There is no such thing as a war in which only the guilty are killed, or wounded, or see their homes destroyed and their loved ones perish," he said. "Even those who are clearly fighting on the side of right inflict terrible pain and injury on others."

Actions, he emphasized, can be evil, but "to say that any human being is irredeemably evil in himself, or herself - that is a different matter." Speaking personally as a Christian "or even as a simple human being," Mr. Annan said he did not feel that he had the right to judge another. "I tend to think there is some evil even in the best of us, and some chink of light and hope and human feeling even in the worst of us."