E-lectures

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.

投稿者: unesco 日時: 04:56 PM | パーマリンク

By Eiji Hattor

"Civilization and barbarism are incompatible. For barbarism means war, and civilization, peace," said the 19th-century French writer Emile de Girardin.

If so, is the world now in a state of barbarism?

There is no sign of any termination of war in Palestine, Iraq or the Middle East, where one party has declared a "holy war", and the other, a “war against terrorism", each firmly believing, it seems, that they are the upholder of justice. At the opening of the 21st century, two fundamentalisms that had been going underground, manifested themselves. One is Islamic fundamentalism with Allah, the one true God, to whom people devote themselves. The other is neo-conservatism or American fundamentalism, whose adherents believe that Jesus Christ is the light fighting against darkness and that it is those with that light who can lead the world. For both of them, the other party is nothing but Satan. Neither of them, however, is aware that at the root of such dualistic theory of good and evil, is lurking the idea of Zoroastrianism that their own forerunners repudiated as heresy. There, Ahura Mazdah, God of light, and Angra Mainya, God of evil, engaged in an endless, desperate struggle.

Samuel P. Huntington`s hypothesis in his prophetic essay "The Clash of Civilizations?" published in 1993 seems to have turned into reality when we look at Palestine, Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq. In fact this essay and his book published in 1996 have a defect of categorizing civilizations not in ethnic but in religious terms, discussing all the religions on the model of monotheism like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. What he said, however, was noised abroad by the media, and took root in many leaders` minds as an inevitable reality.

Now I`d like to make the following assertion:"Civilizations do not clash. It is ignorance that clashes."

It is "ignorance of civilizations". Regrettably such ignorance is now conspicuous among those in power, who are leading the world. If we look at human history, we can see that "civilizations have consistently encountered one another, and have grown and developed through those encounters". That is what "dialogue between civilizations" means. Dialogue, in fact, indicates cross-fertilization, not negotiation.

It was in 1985 that I launched the UNESCO program "Integral Study of Silk Roads, Roads of Dialogue" which begins with following words: "The Silk roads, over land or sea, were above all, the routes of dialogue between civilizations". In 1998, President Hatami of Iran proposed that the UN make 2001 "the International Year for Dialogue among civilizations."

Now I`d like to cite three remarkable examples of such encounters between civilizations.

First, the Silk Road. This main artery of trade and interaction between civilizations, crossing Eurasia by land and connecting Rome with Canton by sea, had its origin dating back to the 2nd century BC. It continued for 1,500 years, producing innumerable dialogues among civilizations, which laid the foundations of humankind`s current civilization. Japan is at the eastern extremity. What deserves special mention is that Mahayana (greater vehicle) Buddhism arose in the 1st century A.D. in Gandhara, now the northern part of Pakistan. Here Buddhism, which had only been a local religion, interacted with Hellenism, and Buddha images were created. Without this encounter, King Seimei of Kudara (Pechei in Korean), in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula, would not have presented the Japanese Emperor with a golden Buddha image in the 6th century, and Buddhism would not have been introduced to the Yamato Dynasty.

It is worth considering why the Silk Road survived for such a long period. In trading along the Silk Road, which could have become the route of incessant conflicts if people had just pursued profit, there was the idea of "mutual respect" and "living together", which human beings seem to have forgotten in this modern and contemporary society. It was the route not for selling things to others but for seeking good things. Their way of trading was not monopolistic, but “sharing” so that all people involved could benefit ? a relay system so to speak.

The second example I`d like to give is Byzantium. Since Constantine the First transferred the capital from Rome to this place in 330, renaming it Constantinople, the fusion of civilizations flowing in from every direction took place, and it enjoyed great prosperity as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for more than 1,000 years (or 1,500 years if we include the period after it became the capital of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century). What should be noted is that Byzantium, never becoming a military power, remained always as the cultural center of the world, connecting with all the surrounding cultures. The Pax Romana (Roman Peace) ended after 400 years, and the Pax Mongolica (peace of the Mongol Empire that had extended its sway over Eurasia) came to an end after only 100 years. You could force a certain nation into submission, but you could never conquer its people`s minds. History shows us how ephemeral domination by power is. It also suggests the future of the country that emerged after World War II as a military superpower, yet goes on to make preemptive attacks.

The third example is Al-Andalus (or Andalusia). Since Arabs who had converted to Islam came from Morocco to this southern tip of Spain at the beginning of the 8th century, Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together in peace for as long as five centuries, and their cultural marriage gave birth to brilliant works of art and architecture. They also rediscovered natural science and philosophy of ancient Greece, which they translated into Arabic and Latin. Their accomplishment, together with that of Alexandria, Constantinople, and Sicily, brought about revolutionary progress in mathematics and other sciences, which soon extended up to Paris. This innovation of art and science is called the 12th century Renaissance, which, as a result, prepared for the Italian Renaissance in the 15th century. Without this civilization of Andalusia prior to the Reconquista, modern European civilization would not have come about.

However, the image of world civilization has hitherto contained a "warp". The illusion that Western civilization is the one and only civilization has been shared not only by people of Europe and the United States, but also by non-Westerners until quite recently. Why? It is because textbooks written by colonial powers during the colonial period spread around the world. The singular view of "civilization" was fed to children through "education". This was the first globalization. The contribution of Muslims and Arabs to the human civilization, as I have just mentioned, was erased from textbooks. What kind of history have children learned as a result? They have been told that Greek civilization, like Venus, suddenly appeared out of bubbles in the Mediterranean Sea; its successor, Roman civilization, advanced northward to expel barbarians, the Celts; and the fusion of the spirituality of Christianity and the logic and reason of ancient Greece gave birth to a supreme civilization called Occident.

People in the Arab world harbor deep "resentment" that their own culture, their human dignity, has thus been ignored. We should realize that this "resentment", or what Mahdi Elmandjra (of Morocco) calls "humiliation", is the very hotbed of terrorism. The cause of terrorism is not "poverty", though people often so simply define it as such. The root cause of terrorism is "unfairness", i.e. "injustice".

The fact that President Bush was reelected thanks to the slogan "Fight against Terrorism" shows how deep rooted the simple, dualistic theory of #fighting between light and darkness" or "fighting between good and evil" is in this country. It also revealed how ignorant of human civilization are the people of this country that was once the hope of the world. The strong ruling others with power and writing history with the logic of the winner was a remnant of the 19th century colonial period, which was carried over to the 20th century. In the 21st century, however, we have to start walking in a different direction, and we already are. The first example is the “Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity" that UNESCO adopted in 2001. This declaration serves as a keen warning to globalism, in which one concept of values dominates over others. This declaration is a refusal to admit the "Empire".

UNESCO`s mission is "to fight against ignorance". Ignorance of other cultures creates prejudice, and prejudice gives birth to hatred. We must sever this chain.

What we are required to do now is to become truly civilized. A civilized person is the one who "knows oneself, and tries to learn from others"; the one who knows and respects the difference of cultures; the one who seeks the transversal values of humanity found in all these cultures. Peace for mankind in the future should be constructed, not on the logic of power, but on the rediscovery of the spirit of mutual respect, on the very "wisdom" of knowing that "mutual respect" does mean "mutual benefit".

Eiji Hattori: Charge´ de Mission to the Executive Office of the Director-General of UNESCO, Vice President of International Society for Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC), President of Franco-Japanese Society of Educational Sciences, Advisor to Meguro UNESCO Association

投稿者: unesco 日時: 04:52 PM | パーマリンク