Personally, I have always found it very strange that European culture is so fixated with alcohol. How can a toxic drug be viewed as an essential part of the culture and social interaction? However, I do think the Irani diplomats exaggregated when they demanded that the lunch must be served totally without alcohol. In my opinion, the only fair solution would have been to have the lunch and serve alcohol to the Belgians but not to the Iranis.
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Originally Posted by dragon wench Quote:
Belgian Senate president Anne-Marie Lizin later cancelled talks with the visitors over the handshake issue.
"We tried to find a solution, but they held fast to their position of not wanting to shake her hand," spokesman Patrick Peremans said.
| To be honest, the thing I find most difficult, from my own Western perspective, is the above....
It seems to me that there were severe cultural clashes at every level.... |
What in this is it that you view as particularly difficult? In islam, a man cannot in any way touch a woman he is not related to, and a woman cannot touch any man she is not related to. If I have understood things correctly (CM may correct me if I am wrong, but this is what several of my muslim friends have told me) this is a
chastity issue, similar to the European christian custumes during earlier centuries where an unmarried lady should never offer her hand to a man.
Handshaking is a typic western phenomenon, many cultures do not greet each other with handshakes at all. It is a well known custum that many people from other cultures are familiar too and have adapted to (as with many Western habits, since we tend to like to spread our culture) but in many cultures it is not the preferred way to greet each other. The European way of taking the entire hand, pressing the palms against each other and shake, is also different from the handshake in the Middle East and Northen Africa, where you only shake with the thumb and fingertips.
I think many westerners who read the above report from BBC erranously will get the impression that the refusal to shake hands with the Belgian senate president had something to do with gender discrimination. Now, I don't know these particular Irani diplomats, but I do not think it was more rude of them to refuse to adapt to European custums, than it was of the Belgians to try to impose the said custums on the Irani. In fact, one would think that international politicians would be educated about different cultures and know that the koran says Muhammed never shook hands with women that was not his relatives.
EDIT: Hehe, it seems Dottie and I had exactly the same thought
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