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• Culture and Civilizations
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International
Conference on Address
by Director-General at
the opening of the Conference on Vilnius,
Lithuania, 24 April, 2001 Mr President of the Republic of Lithuania, Mr President of the Republic of Poland, Mr President of the Republic of Ukraine, Honorable Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It
is a great honour for me to address you on the occasion of this conference
in celebration of the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations.
I am delighted to be here with you today. The United Nations General
Assembly, proclaiming on 4 November 1998, the year 2001 as the UN Year of
Dialogue among Civilizations, emphasized the importance of tolerance and
recognized “the diverse civilizational achievements of mankind,
crystallizing cultural pluralism and creative human diversity”. The
following year, on the initiative of Lithuania, UNESCO’s role in the
United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations was included on the
agenda of the 30th session of UNESCO’s General Conference:
“The collective endeavour of the international community to enhance
understanding through constructive dialogue among civilizations…” was
welcomed and Member States were urged “to give the year 2001… all due
prominence and to support activities aimed at facilitating and promoting
dialogue among civilizations”. On
5 September 2000, in co-operation with the Islamic Republic of Iran,
UNESCO convened at United Nations Headquarters in New York a Round Table
of Heads of State on Dialogue among Civilizations, followed by a Round
Table of Eminent Persons in order to launch the UN Year of Dialogue. I
know, President Adamkus, that you were very sorry not to be able to attend
the Round Table of Heads of State. However, two days later, your
participation in the Millennium Summit provided a most symbolic moment for
you to make your first address to an international gathering as the Head
of State of Lithuania. It was also a valuable opportunity for us to
discuss our ideas and to launch in earnest the preparations for this
conference here in Vilnius. I would like to say, how gratifying it is to
work with someone in your position who shares the same commitment to the
promotion of dialogue between civilizations and different cultures. I
would also like to congratulate you on your musical taste! Four months
after the Millennium Summit, on 8 January 2001, we attended together a
memorable concert held at the Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris in
order to commemorate the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations.
Co-sponsored by the Government of Lithuania and UNESCO, this concert,
previously given in Vilnius, saw Maestro Mstislaw Rostropovich lead the
National Philharmonic Orchestra of Lithuania in a performance that will
long live in my memory. It was a remarkable occasion that I am honoured to
have shared with you. Today,
we are here to open a major international conference which for the next
three days will provide an opportunity for analysis, debate, and perhaps
even a re-framing of the very meaning of dialogue in the 21st
century. Lithuania is very well-placed to host this event. Modern
Lithuania is indeed a place where cultural diversity and on-going
intercultural dialogue are flourishing. Of course, this has been greatly
facilitated and encouraged by the events of 1990. Since then, Lithuania
has been actively engaged in forging closer ties and promoting better
understanding among its neighbours. The presence here today of President
Kwasniewski is a clear sign of the spirit of friendship and co-operation
that both Lithuania and Poland are cultivating. It is a great pleasure, to
meet with you again. Allow me to express my appreciation of your efforts
to promote democracy and civic dialogue within Poland and to foster
regional co-operation in its many dimensions. I
equally welcome President Leonid Kutchma of Ukraine.
I recall my visit to your beautiful country last September.
Given Ukraine’s important role in the history of Europe,
especially in the past ten years, your participation in this conference on
dialogue among civilizations is particularly welcome. At
the same time that Lithuania is encouraging inter-cultural dialogue,
Lithuanians are becoming increasingly aware of the value of their own
heritage. As one sign of this, the contemporary folklore movement is
reputed to be particularly strong. As you know, ancient Baltic and
Lithuanian customs, traditions and folklore were mentioned in the
chronicles and sagas of the past millennium. For over a century now –
with a great deal of public participation – various well-established
research societies have been actively engaged in the collection and
publication of ethnographic material that reveals the richness of
Lithuania’s cultural heritage. In this regard, it is also worth
underlining that Lithuania was the first to propose using the new
information technologies for the preservation of cultural heritage. As a
result, information on Lithuanian dialects, an anthology of classic
Lithuanian literature, historical collections of the Vilnius University
Library are among the items that can be consulted on UNESCO's website and
are also available on CD ROMS. It is indeed important for all societies to
know and appreciate their own cultural origins and lines of development. Excellencies,
At
a time when the impact of globalization on the world’s cultural
diversity is increasingly felt, UNESCO places particular emphasis on
protecting diversity and safeguarding the world’s tangible and
intangible cultural heritage. UNESCO’s vision is one that respects all
civilizations. It is a vision with no room for an evolutionary perspective
that separates civilizations in such a way that some are ranked above
others and some are set in opposition to others. 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”. We recognize that, in
the past, contacts between different civilizations and cultures have
sometimes been violent and oppressive. We also acknowledge that the need
still exists for dialogue not only among civilizations but also within
civilizations: the recent actions taken by the Taleban regime in
Afghanistan testifies to this fact. However,
we must take heart from the fact that civilizations have thrived on
peaceful inter-cultural exchange and mutual enrichment through dialogue.
It is this that we are here to celebrate and encourage. 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. The huge growth of new information and
communication technologies over the past two decades has brought many
parts of the world into closer contact, so much so that the predicted
“global village” is virtually with us. However, many people fear that
this will lead to an enforced cultural homogenization at the expense of
the world’s creative diversity. This brings the question of cultural
diversity, and how it is to be promoted and protected, to the heart of the
larger framework of dialogue among civilizations. The
Report of the World Commission on Culture and Development Our
Creative Diversity advocates that each culture should cultivate within
itself values of respect for other cultures. Given the increased scope of
inter-cultural exchange in a globalized world as well as certain
tendencies towards local exclusiveness and inward-looking prejudices,
these values of respect for other cultures are more vital than ever. Indeed,
with the growth of our knowledge-based societies, an old truth is becoming
increasingly evident: namely, that the flow of cultural change and
exchange pays little attention to boundary lines on political maps. Today,
cultures are crossing frontiers by being exhibited and exchanged
throughout the world via the media and the Internet. Certain types of
activities – networking, lobbying, reflection and the building of
solidarity – suggest that culture must increasingly be regarded as a
process rather than as a finished “product”. The challenge for
governments and civil societies is to find ways to channel such processes
of exchange – such “dialogues” – through democratic practices that
respect human rights, gender equity, sustainability, and diversity. 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. Tensions between immigrants and host
communities have intensified in some places, in part because cultural
minorities – especially refugees, internally displaced persons,
guestworkers and other underprivileged groups – are increasingly able to
express their aspirations, grievances and cultural concerns through the
language and framework of human rights. In
all these new situations, economic factors and global pressures are at
odds with national policies and local cultural fears, including fears
about globalization. As a result, a new kind of dialogue is needed as a
constructive alternative to contemporary cultural conflicts. As
emphasized by several participants at the Round Table on Dialogue among
Civilizations held in New York last September, many of the problems facing
today’s world have arisen as a consequence of differences within
nations. Dialogue, therefore, must begin at home. But
what is a dialogue ? First of all, dialogue presupposes the capacity to
listen – and to listen, furthermore, with an accommodating attitude.
This implies a certain moral risk. The effort of listening is one of
accommodating the “other” without changing oneself completely, without
disappearing and abandoning oneself. In this perspective, dialogue is the
testing-ground of tolerance. Indeed, the dynamics of genuine dialogue and
tolerance are closely connected. Through dialogue, a mutual understanding
that transcends differences is achieved. The goal of genuine dialogue is
not conversion but mutual understanding. I say "genuine" because
one has to recognize that in our daily dialogues and exchanges, agreement
is sometimes reached by convenience rather than by conviction. That
is not "genuine dialogue". But when somebody, absolutely
convinced by his or her own ideas, reconciles
these with an aspect of another person’s experience or values – then
the point has been reached where dialogue demonstrates its true
communicative capacity and discovers its vocation for tolerance. Dialogue
thus opens the possibility of personal change, of an encounter with the
“other”. This is perhaps one way to understand what Emmanuel Levinas,
one of Lithuania's sons, meant when he referred to the "rupture with
indifference". Genuine dialogue, therefore, involves risk because it
invites us to re-think the very idea of humanity.
It does this by asking us to embrace simultaneously our common
humanity and its irreducible diversity too. Excellencies,
Understanding
the relationship with “others” has a new urgency in the contemporary
international context. We must attempt to capture the significance of
dialogue in an increasingly interconnected world where cultural diversity
presents not only difficult challenges but also fresh opportunities for
mutual understanding, tolerance and peace. In
the contemporary world, “difference” is sometimes used as a reason or
excuse for violent political struggles. But a barrier that supposedly
protects against an outside threat may well imprison those living on the
inside. However, where a framework of political equality and human rights
exists, these very same differences can – and often do – provide the
opportunity to explore new horizons and to enrich our lives. Hence, the
motto adopted by the United Nations for the Year of Dialogue among
Civilizations – “Diversity is not a threat” – is very appropriate. Let
me emphasize that the acknowledgement and approval of diversity implies
pluralism. Cultural pluralism is a way of addressing diversity in a
dynamic and open-ended manner, both within and between states, and it
implies a quest for sustainability. The manner in which diversity is
defined and acted upon by governments and civil society will determine
whether it is to lead to greater overall social creativity, freedom,
cohesion and inclusion – or to violence and exclusion. The
UN Year of Dialogue among Civilizations – and its celebration on the
occasion of the present conference – represents an excellent opportunity
to take a fresh look at the potentialities of dialogue in a globalized
world. We must seek to endow the concept of dialogue with renewed meaning
and to identify dynamic and inclusive approaches for reinforcing its
relevance and vitality. 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. I
wish you success in your deliberations. Thank you. |
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