OPENING OF VILNIUS CONFERENCE ON DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS
Vilnius (Lithuania), April 24 (No.2001-62)
- The international Conference on Dialogue Among Civlizations was opened in
Vilnius today by the President of Lithuania, the Director-General of UNESCO and
the presidents of Poland and Ukraine before a gathering of personalities and
experts from all over the world.
In his welcome address, the
President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus, expressed satisfaction at seeing his
country host the event: “Lithuania is a country where old cultures and
civilizations have criss-crossed, competed and co-existed throughout the
centuries. For many years, Baltic pagan temples, Roman Catholic churches and
Byzantine Eastern Orthodox churches here stood next to each other. […] Members
of the families of Lithuanian Grand Dukes could even profess different
religions. Different national traditions were respected in the lands under their
rule. Tolerance and co-existence of nations, which marked the history of the
State of Lithuania in the past, regained their significance when our country
restored independence.” He added: “No civilization can solely claim to
represent the entire humanity. […] Dialogue among civilizations is not
self-generated. It is the result of joint efforts.”
UNESCO Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura recalled UNESCO’s role in promoting cultural diversity,
dialogue among civilziations and protecting the shared heritage of humanity. He
spoke of the very concept of civilization: “UNESCO’s vision is one that
respects all civilizations […] The term civilization must denote a universal,
plural and non-hierarchical phenomenon and one that is also interactive, since
every civilization has been enriched by contact and exchange with other
civilizations. Civilizations are profoundly inter-cultural.”
Mr Matsuura then stressed the
two, apparently contradictory, effects of globalization on modern societies: “In
today’s world, inter-cultural exchanges have intensified in scope and pace
owing to rapid globalization; as a consequence, we are confronted with new
cultural realities and experiences. […] However, many people fear that this
will lead to an enforced cultural homogenization at the expense of the world’s
creative diversity.”
He then voiced concern
over the negative effects of globalization: “While
globalization is creating new opportunities for cultural exchange, there is also
a downside. Whereas violent conflicts formerly took the form of wars between
nation-states, conflicts are increasingly arising within nation-states and often
they involve cultural matters. New forms of intolerance and aggression are
emerging. Xenophobia and racism, ethnic conflict, prejudice and stigma,
segregation and discrimination - mainly based on ethnicity and gender - are
widespread, generating appalling violence and deep human suffering.”
Mr Matsuura recalled that “the
effort of listening is one of accommodating the other without changing oneself
completely, without disappearing and abandoning oneself. Dialogue is the testing
ground of tolerance […] Through dialogue, a mutual understanding that
transcends differences is achieved.” Stressing the importance of dialogue in
the preservation of diversity and thereby of cultural pluralism, he concluded
his address by declaring: “Dialogue must become an instrument of
transformation, a way for tolerance and peace to thrive, a vehicle for diversity
and pluralism, and hence a means for furthering the common good.”
The President of Poland,
Alexander Kwasniewski, stressed that for a long time all tended to see the world
in one of two stereotyped manners, “overemphasizing economic factors at the
expense of cultural ones” or “treating our own civilizations as the hub of
the universe. More than ever do we realize that this is a multipolar and
polyphonic world, which is a mosaic of various cultures and historical
traditions.” He added: “For this reason dialogue among civilizations is more
than just a humanistic proposition, it is more than curiosity of exoticness or
diversity. It is a necessity, and the world of the 21st century makes us realize
this more acutely than ever. We must seek what we have in common, codes of
understanding. We must learn how to be a unity in a plurality.”
The President of Ukraine,
Leonid Kuchma, declared that “international dialogue among civilizations is
not possible without the dialogue inside civilizations, countries and specific
social groups.” He added: “Certain danger also lies in spreading simplified
ideas about the modern process of globalization. […] The fast spread of ideas
thanks to technology does not mean that one civilization has a monopoly of them
or that they have a more legitimate claim on them.” He added that “many
people associate democracy, pluralism and tolerance with Western cultures”,
only later to demonstrate that these values have existed in other civlizations
for at least as long. Highlighting the universal character of most of the values
inherent to civilization, he concluded that “there is but one civilization on
this planet, we call it humanity.”
The Chairperson of UNESCO’s
Executive Board, Sonia Mendieta de Badaroux, declared: “The underlying
principle of dialogue among civilizations and its promotion implies -
pre-eminently - the recognition of cultural co-existence and unbiased
interaction of the peoples, religions and cultures of the world, as values that
are complementary to one another rather than as distinctive features that are
mutually exclusive.”
The Conference, one of the key
events organized by UNESCO during the United Nations Year for the Dialogue Among
Civilizations, continues until April 26. The dialogue among civilizations will
be one of the strategic objectives of the Organization during the years
2002-2007.
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For more information: www.unesco.org/dialogue2001/vilnius
