New York, 6 September {No. 2000-79} - Following a morning discussion yesterday at United Nations headquarters among Heads of State on the critical need for new forms of dialogue among civilizations, a group of internationally eminent scholars, civil servants, journalists and artists met in the afternoon for further debate. They touched upon issues relating to cultural diversity, education and the rapid growth of information technology.

The gathering was organized by UNESCO, in cooperation with the United Nations and with the support of the Islamic Republic of Iran, to launch the United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations, 2001. The session was chaired by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura. Giandomenico Picco, the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for the Year, moderated the discussion.

The Year was established by a General Assembly resolution proposed by Iran. President Mohammed Khatami of the Islamic Republic of Iran opened the morning session, proclaiming, "promoting a dialogue in this arena of culture in disparate societies [should be] one of the bedrocks of understanding between cultures and civilizations."

Mr. Picco framed the afternoon debate by noting that there is a self-evident need around the world for individuals and nations to learn to manage diversity better. He said that the rapid change taking place is related not just to the growth of technology, but also to the massive movements of individuals and groups and the transfer of ideas.

Nobel laureate and Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka said it was "time to do some soul-searching about history," which he described as "exhumation of the past." It is necessary "to consider how many tributaries are flowing into the common stream of humanity's present and future. No one civilization can provide all the answers," he said. "We need to have a dialogue of equals, as opposed to a dialogue of domination."

Several speakers called for an examination of the meaning of the word 'dialogue', and questioned where these dialogues should begin. Former United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar pointed out that the most difficult events of the past decade have occurred within nations, such as the series of internal civil wars that have touched every continent. "A dialogue among nations must commence with a dialogue within nations," he said. "This will lead to democracy, which lends credibility and legitimacy to all forms of external dialogue that may follow, including those at the UN."

Mohamed Javad Farizadeh, who directs the International Centre of Dialogue Among Civilizations in Tehran, suggested that dialogue must consider many perspectives, both current and historical. "There are people who believe that we must avoid some subjective points of view and be all encompassing," he said. "We must elevate the level of the discussion to recognize that there is not one point of view alone, and that we will never be able to recognize every individual through one reflection of life."

French sociologist Edgar Morin referred to the number of Heads of State in the meeting's morning session who questioned some of the dominant roles assumed by Western powers. "In any civilization, there is both genuine knowledge and wisdom, but there are also errors and illusions," he commented. "We all need to renounce the kinds of monopolistic approaches that present difficulties in understanding each other."

Speakers contended that war does not have to be a predictable result of disagreements related to cultural and other forms of diversity, despite the number of conflicts that have followed this pattern. Ru Xin, a Professor of Social Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, called for developing an overall global consciousness, rather than continuing to take actions from a narrow individual perspective. "People in different countries have differences," he said. "That doesn't necessarily mean there must be a clash among civilizations."

Attiya Inayatullah, a social and human development expert who serves on Pakistan's National Security Council, agreed that there was a need to shake off what she called "the clash of civilizations syndrome." She said: "We should seek the unity inherent in human diversity," and called on UNESCO to explore the contributions women have made to building civilizations and peace.

Historian and member of the Russian Academy Alexander Yakovlev noted the fear that globalization will sweep in universalization on the level of TV culture, and warned of the dangers of monopolizing the mass media. "Unification of culture would be the spiritual end of mankind," he cautioned. "We need in this dialogue to fight for a culture that would not be universal, but diverse and national, and that respects the sovereignty of the individual."

Several speakers touched upon the potential and the dangers of the Internet for cultural exchange, with Lithuanian writer Ugne Karvelis observing that 80 percent of the world still doesn't have access to basic telecommunications. "If a dialogue has to go through the Internet, we will have to wait for a long time before a satisfactory number of citizens can participate, unless there is going to be a distribution of free computers all over the world," she said.

Other speakers pointed out that information technology is creating a new form of civilization, one that has fostered integrated workplaces and has the capacity to offer the same power and access to a Head of State and a young child.

R. K. Ramazani, a Professor Emeritus of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia, said that, whatever benefits the new technology might offer, a true dialogue among peoples with different histories and cultures extends far beyond the Internet's collection of information and facts. "What we need is more than mind - we need empathy," he said. "We need to put ourselves in other people's shoes, and that is a matter of heart." He underlined the necessity of searching and exploring ways to discuss the issues of cultural diversity, rather than rushing to create a new paradigm to follow the Cold War era.

Speakers agreed that intercultural dialogue must be grounded in new forms of education, a notion that UNESCO has already pioneered through such initiatives as its Slave Route Project. Flora Lewis, an American journalist, stressed that learning languages is a way of understanding other ways to think about the world. Richard Bulliet, a Professor of History at Columbia University, noted that in the United States the interest in world history is growing, but a pronounced tendency still exists to dismiss knowledge of non-western countries as "local" and less important. He called for a discussion of the contents of school curricula.

"Lots of books need to be rewritten and rethought, so that young people can be prepared on heterogeneous principles," affirmed Rex Nettleford, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies. He emphasized that young people around the world have already developed intercultural dialogue through the worlds of music, dance and sports. "Young people meet each other there, and understand each other," he said.

Hans van Ginkel, Rector of the United Nations University in Tokyo, said that sound ecology, science and education all contribute to the conditions required for cultural diversity to flourish. He stressed that too much has been invested in mono-dimensional solutions to problems. "Many of us are still more used to winning the debate than understanding the background of the other person," he said. "We forget the total complexity of development processes."

In concluding the session, Masanori Aoyagi, a Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Tokyo, emphasized the quality, not just the quantity, of dialogues among civilizations, and referred to the need to think of these as "polylogues." Jane Cortez-Edwards, an African-American poet, questioned how intercultural dialogue could take place without too much artificial manipulation. "Who will control it?" she asked.

Koh Byong-Ik, former President of Seoul National University, stated that many wide and deep dialogues among civilizations are already going on, from the individual to the government level, but these are mainly sporadic and unplanned. While he lauded these processes as helping to foster genuine understanding and reconciliation, he expressed the concern that they could take many years to make an impact. "The UN's proposal for a dialogue among civilizations is very timely, because then it can be planned and supported," he said. "Disharmony in the world comes from hate and contempt, which have become accumulated sentiments. The only way of ridding ourselves of these is by organized efforts."