New Age – We should create a Civilization of Dialogue
Eiji Hattori, Advisor of Meguro UNESCO Association
The new age has come” was what people throughout the world thought when Barack Obama was elected President, and they celebrated his victory. I am also one who expects to see the transformation of America.
“To review market fundamentalism that has caused the global financial crisis, and to move away from US unilateralism as witnessed in their causeless invasion of Iraq, are the main challenges that the new president has to tackle urgently. The young leader, whose father came from Kenya, entering the White House is in itself epoch-making in American history. America has transcended race. That is great. What they should do next is to eradicate the idea of “America and the world” (Urbi et Orbi thinking) as well as “from America to the world” (American value is the world value). I would like them to have instead the notion that “America is one member of the world”. I hope Mr. Obama’s willingness to cooperate with international society is authentic.
What is essential in this context is cross-cultural understanding. I would like Mr. Obama to transform his country into the one that can contribute to the “creation of the civilization of dialogue”. That is what I would call “Change”. In this regard, as a matter of fact, he has not dispelled our concerns yet. Anyone who knows anything of civilization and of history, for example, would realize what a dangerous policy it is to send more soldiers to Afghanistan while withdrawing from Iraq. The “cause” of “war against terrorism”, that the former administration has been advocating, should never be inherited. It gave birth to the structural terrorism, in which nations show themselves, against invisible terrorism. It can lead to “asymmetrical war” as we witness in Gaza, Palestine. That is the very thing that breeds the chain of hatred. In Afghanistan, too, more and more ordinary citizens, especially children, are becoming victims of mistaken bombings. Every time such an incident occurs, it amplifies anti-American sentiment, and pro-American people at the grassroots level are no longer found in the Middle East and Central Asia. The reason why Osama bin Laden has not been arrested is that such silent masses are hiding him. We must realize that a single bombshell that kills children will create a hundred potential terrorists.
The Bush doctrine denoting that “those who do not adopt American values should be brought into submission by force” is the very outcome of ignorance and lack of enlightenment. In fact the doctrine backfired; during the Bush administration the world became multipolarized. The EU, Russia, China, India, and Arab countries have gained power, and Pax Americana has come to a complete end.
It is time the world must make a major shift from the civilization of power to the civilization of dialogue. It can only be built upon the spirit of mutual respect. Samuel P. Huntington predicted the “clash of civilizations” saying that it would occur between Christian countries and Islamic countries. However, on the part of Muslims, they took a big step in 2008 to achieve a breakthrough on this issue. We should make 2009 the year for making peace.
I would like to introduce their efforts for peace:
Interfaith Dialogue Proposed by the King of Saudi Arabia Launched
At the end of March in 2008 I was in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. I was attending “the 6th Japan-Islam Inter-civilization Dialogue” sponsored by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. This dialogue had been proposed by the then Foreign Minister Yohei Kono in 2001 when he visited the Middle East, in concert with the UNESCO-led ‘International Year of Dialogue among Civilizations’. The dialogue has been held every year since 2002, connecting Tokyo and Islamic countries. I have participated five times so far (the last one being held in Kuwait City last March). Partly because the venue that time was in the country of Muhammad with the holy place Mecca, about 100 intellectuals from a record 30 countries gathered together. From Japan 13 people including myself participated. All the speakers, who had been witnessing the ceaseless bloody tragedies in the Middle East, seemed to share the notion that in order to achieve peace we must seek common values amongst different faiths, which lie at the core of every civilization.
On the evening of the 2nd day, something unexpected happened. We were told that King Abdullah wanted to see all the participants of the conference. We headed for the palace. The king shook hands with each participant in the great hall. After the usual introductory greetings, he eventually spoke as follows.
“At present, family disruption and moral corruption are prevalent throughout the world. And that is the very hotbed of crime and terrorism. I met with the Pope last year and had a person-to-person dialogue. Taking this opportunity today, I would like to tell you what I have been thinking for two years (since I succeeded to the throne). I am ready to carry out cross-religious dialogue. First, we need to have a dialogue among the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. And yet, we must also have a dialogue with any other religion in the world.”
We were surprised and pleased. To anyone who knows even a little about Islam, the Saudi King’s words seem to have a solemn meaning. Muslims have no equivalent of the Catholics’ Vatican. There is no difference between the sacred and the secular, and it is not clear who is now in the position equivalent to the Pope’s. The rule of the Caliphs is confined to the distant past.
However, it is undeniable that Saudi Arabia with two Holy Mosques, one in Mecca, the birthplace of the messenger of God, and the other in Medina, naturally demarcating itself from other Islamic nations, possesses an immeasurable unifying force. The king of such a country declared that they were ready to have a dialogue with people of other religions. Considering further that Muslims in this country belong to Wahhabi, the strictest sect of Sunni Islam, makes us realize the grave importance of the king’s declaration. Many fundamentalists including Osama bin Laden belong to this sect. So do the Taliban. It means that King Abdullah voiced his determination to have a dialogue with people of other religions for his life, as it were. That is why he said at the beginning that the two years of deliberation had led him to the decision.
The king took quick action. Only two months later, in early June, a grand meeting was held in Holy Mecca gathering people from all the Islamic schools and sects, and they reached a consensus for dialogue promotion. Mr. Rafsanjani, the former president of Iran, the stronghold of Shi’ah Islam, also attended the meeting. And soon after, starting from July 16, the World Conference on Dialogue cosponsored by the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, and King Abdullah was held for three days. Over 300 religious leaders from every part of the world got together. The main character was of course King Abdullah. From Japan, in addition to those representing Buddhist circles, Mr. Yuzo Itagaki, Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, participated to represent the project “Japan-Islam Dialogue”, and expressed his pleasure and gratitude to see such a fruitful result of the dialogue channel for mutual understanding opened by Japan’s initiative. In his speech he told the attendees, referring to my activity, that efforts to seek transversal values in different civilizations are being made in cooperation with UNESCO.
This dialogue channel saw its further development. On November 4, 2008 the Vatican, whose catholic fundamentalism had been strengthened since the current pope was ordained, inviting Islamic leaders from each country, held a forum to promote interfaith dialogue. Furthermore, in response to King Abdullah’s demand, a high-level UN meeting on interfaith dialogue entitled “Culture of Peace” was convened at the UN Headquarters in New York on November 12-13. This meeting was attended by as many as 10 heads of state, five prime ministers, as well as cabinet members, assembly members, cardinals, etc. to represent a total of 67 countries (Prime Minister’s special envoy Masahiko Komura represented Japan), and it affirmed the importance of interfaith and intercultural dialogue. It was especially impressive that Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed his hope that the initiative taken by the Saudi King will expand to become the voices of the vast majority of the world.
“Continuation makes power” is what Ichiro, a Japanese baseball star, said. The international intellectual cooperation that has been promoted by a small group of people of Japan, the only non-Christian country among G-8 nations, who can accordingly serve as a mediator between the Western nations that have been leading the world and the Islamic sphere that will presumably make up one third of the world’s population by the middle of this century, will nurture, through its very continuation, hope for true peace in a diversified world; namely the peace founded on the spirit of mutual respect.
-translated by Michiko Miyamoto
Prof. Eiji Hattori, Chargé de Mission to the Executive Office of the Director-General of UNESCO, Honorary President of the World Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centers and Associations, specializes in philosophy and comparative study of civilizations. He served UNESCO for 21 years as senior information officer, director of cultural events, and Executive Secretary of the “Integral Study of the Silk Roads – Roads of Dialogue” project. He has been a professor at Reitaku University, and has participated, as an advisor to Meguro UNESCO Association and to our summer youth program for many years.