Contents

Speech by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Your Excellency Dr. Mahathir Mohamad,

Your Highness, Your Excellencies,Your Eminences,

Your Excellency Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, ISESCO Director General,

Distinguished Guests of Tunisia,

Ladies and Gentlmen,

It is my pleasure to open this international symposium on “Human Civilizations and Cultures: from dialogue to Alliance”. I would like to welcome the representatives of all specialized UN, international and Arab organization, as well as all intellectuals, researchers and academics from sisterly and friendly countries, whose presence in this important international meeting constitutes a source of pride for Tunisia, given the attention we accord to promoting dialogue among peoples and enriching its channels in all fields.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), for his kind words and noble feelings towards Tunisia and its people, as well as for awarding me the ISESCO Golden Shield for the promotion of dialogue among civilizations. I also wish to commend, on this occasion, the role assumed by the United Nations, and the specialized international and regional organizations, such as UNESCO, ISESCO and ALECSO, and their common endeavour to establish channels of communication and complementarity among all civilizations, cultures, religions and peoples.

The rise of extremism, violence and terrorism witnessed in the world at the beginning of this century, along with the proliferation of crises, tensions and armed conflicts, the propagation of diseases, poverty and natural catastrophes, and the flagrant disparities in the fields of economy, sciences, and modern technologies, can only prompt us -Governments, organizations and associations- to undertake new and decisive roles in establishing sound relations among individuals, communities and peoples, and in further promoting and improving these relations, so that human societies can acquire the ability to address their situation and remedy their shortcomings in the present as well as in the future.

Any observer of the major world changes that took place following the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s will be struck by the deep paradoxes resulting from certain attitudes advocating the clash of civilizations and selectivity in dealing with cultures, and the ensuing events and developments that have stirred up the feelings of fanaticism and hatred among peoples, giving rise to violent reactions from this or that party. This, in our view, constitutes a serious qualitative backlash in the process of comprehensive human progress.

Quite normally, specialized international and regional organizations have endeavoured to appease the aggressive impulses emanating from both sides, by organizing a series of meetings and conferences intended to warm the international public opinion against the rise of extremism and violence, and promoting it to stand against these phenomena, through the establishment of a multilateral dialogue rejecting seclusion, fanaticism, and any biased and unilateral view of things.

From the early nineties, we have initiated education reform in Tunisia, and taken a number of measures at the level of the family, society and the information sector. The aim is to anchor the values of dialogue, consensus, moderation and tolerance in human relations, as well as the sense of accepting and coexisting with the other, and listening to and respecting his opinions, and to turn this attitude gradually into a firm conviction embraced by all Tunisian men and women as a matter of thought and behavior.

Besides, we have created an academic Chair for the dialogue of civilizations and religions. We have also established the first international prize for solidarity, this latter being an authentic social action capable of curbing poverty and destitution in the world, and a second international prize intended to encourage Islamic studies disseminating enlightened interpretative thinking.

During the past few years, our country has hosted a number of meetings and conferences concerned with tolerance, the dialogue of civilizations, and world solidarity. The result was the issuing of the Carthage Charter for Tolerance in 1995, and the launch of Tunisia’s call for dialogue among civilizations in 2001. Tunisia, which takes pride in the choice of Kairouan to be a capital for Islamic culture for the year 2009, pursuant to the decision of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, is ready to host any regional or international dialogue that can serve harmony, coexistence and consensus, and help establish security, peace and stability in the world.

All along its glorious history, and during the prosperous era of Carthage, then Kairouan, and then Tunis, our country witnessed the emergence of many movements of reform and development, advocating openness on the other, and interacting positively with foreign civilizations and cultures, coexisting with them, and contributing to their enrichment. These characteristics remain deeply entrenched and enduring in the teachings of our sublime religion, as well as in our social traditions and political choices, after the fashion of our predecessors who are early to realize the benefits of meeting and exchange among civilizations and cultures. They, is fact, drew from others, developed, created, innovated, embraced excellence and achieved worldwide influence. They, therefore, served, during the Middle Ages, as a faithful link between ancient and emerging cultures, reinforced their role by the institution Beit El Hikma (House of Wisdom) in Raqqada, in Tunisia, founded by the Aghlabide Emir Ibrahim Ibn Ahmed in 264 H./878A.D; much like Beit El Hikma in Baghdad, founded by Al-Maamoon, and specialized in translating the most famous Greek, Syriac, Persian and other philosophical and scientific writings. Thanks to its strong personality, our country managed, even during periods of weakness and regression, to stand firm against foreign conquest, and to take the initiative and achieve self-renewal at each stage, without breaking with its identity and roots, nor shutting its door against the prevailing civilizations and cultures.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

World peace can be established only through dialogue, tolerance and entente. Moreover, the future of the world can be determined only by all humanity, with all humanity, and for all humanity.

On the other hand, there are no “developed” races and “under-developed” races. For development and under-development are relative and circumstantial, conditioned by historical, social, economic, cultural and political factors that have been thoroughly analyzed by eminent thinkers and philosophers all over the times.

Moreover, there are no “superior” civilizations and “inferior” civilizations; nor “fertile” cultures and “sterile” cultures. In fact, all civilizations and cultures, however numerous their advantages and creations, and however large or narrow their attitudes, are the output of a common universal heritage which, drawing from various sources, emerged and developed, thanks to a process of mutual influence and interaction involving the West and the East, the North and the South.

Human history clearly shows that the most heinous crimes committed against humanity were mostly based on the notion of racial, civilizational and cultural superiority, turning a blind eye to the fact that humans are born free and equal, irrespective of their colors, races , religions.

Moreover, with their rich heritage of affection, entente and tolerance, and their great capacity for creativity, contribution and innovation, all civilizations, cultures and religions are capable of serving perennially as major tools of rapprochement among humans, helping them to overcome their shortcomings, conflicts and ordeals.

In this context, we recall, with great admiration and reverence, all prophets, men of wisdom, poets, men of letters, philosophers, thinkers, scholars and the leaders of reform and enlightenment in general, who transcended, with their eternal messages and various writings, masterpieces and creations, the local framework, the geographical space, and the racial belonging, in order to serve Man wherever, he is. They undertook an avant-garde role in disseminating good values and virtues, and in consecrating the unity of race and destiny among humans, which made them serve as beacons for all humanity.

The responsibility with which its holders transcend the limits of time and space to encompass, with their care, activism and sacrifice, all humanity is indeed what has invariably distinguished the great men of this world who are held in high regard and reverence.

From early ages, Socrates felt that he was responsible not only for his country but also for his world when he said “I am not Athenian nor am I Greek. I am a citizen of this world”. Arab and Muslims were keen on drawing wisdom from whatever source, considering that “wisdom is the ultimate aim of the believer; wherever he finds it, he acquires it”. In his book entitled “The Surest Path to Know the State of Nations”, the reformer Kheireddine Ettounsi stressed the need for the nation to know about other nations before choosing what is convenient to it. He said: “We will not be able to identify what is convenient to us on a sound basis, unless we know about those who do not belong to our community, especially those in our immediate environment and close surroundings”. The Mahatma Ghandi, one of the most eminent advocates of world peace, underscored the need for cultural interaction within a context of diversity and complementarity. He said: “I don’t wand my house to be surrounded by ramparts from all sides, shutting off all its windows; I rather want it to be a house where winds from all cultures could blow in freely; but I refuse to be blown over by anyone of them”.

Each nation has, in fact, contributed, with its means and specificities, to enriching cultural diversity, independently of its political weight, geographic and demographic size, and rank in terms of progress and prosperity. The accumulation of the various cultural contributions made all over the ages has given rise to a universal human culture with various aspects and roots, proving in a clear-cut and excellent way that the elements uniting humans are more than those separating them, and that knowing, recognizing, and communicating with the cultural specificities of each nation, within a context of interaction and harmony, constitute the most fruitful, durable and beneficial form of dialogue. Indeed, dialogue with the other, whatever its nature and content, is an inevitable necessity to build the bridges of confidence and enrich the relations of rapprochement and harmony among human beings. Man, wherever he is, is, in fact, the same, notwithstanding the ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural backgrounds varying from one individual to the other; The Tunisian eminent scholar Abderrahmane Ibn Khaldoun, whom we will commemorate this year the sixth centennial of his death, asserted, in this regard, that Man is, by nature, a civil and social being, needing by necessity to communicate and cooperate with other humans in order to ensure his survival, preserve the human species, and establish the foundations of human civilization.

We have to admit that at the present time, our dialogue with the other, necessary though it is, remains, inequitable and imbalanced, because the current image of Arabs and Muslims in the world has largely been affected by an erroneous understanding of their civilization, culture and religion, which has given rise to behaviors and attitudes offending their feelings. This false perception has been fed, most of the time, by an extremist and violent behavior on the part of certain groups and trends attributed in our societies to our sublime Islamic religion, while, in reality, Islam has nothing to do with them.

To make sure our dialogue with the influential parties in the world be balanced and fruitful, these parties should contribute with us to reinforce the UN institutions and fostering their role, as well as to promoting the mechanisms of cooperation and solidarity among all countries, and stepping up efforts to address the root causes of tension and conflicts, curb the phenomena of poverty and diseases in the world, and eliminate all factors that can widen disparities among nations, intensify the feelings of frustration and despair, and feed hatred, violence and terrorism.

Dialogue, in the absolute, does not come ex nihio. It rather has its premises, conditions and rules that should be understood and delimited, in order to reinforce communication and rapprochement between both parties. It is an essential preliminary step to remove the causes of doubt and suspicion, false impression, biased judgments, aggressive behaviors, and convulsive reactions, so that both parties can make an additional step to cement relations between them and enter into a creative positive alliance.

Such alliance cannot emerge out of nothing. It can achieve success and continuity only if it is premised upon a sincere and unbiased dialogue, based on common convictions concerning universal values and mutual commitments towards the human community, with the involvement and commitment of all Governments, institutions, organizations, and association, the intellectual, cultural, social and scientific elites as well as the education and training centers, and the information and communication organs in the world.

It is time for us to transcend together the notion of opposition between East and West, North and South, and to discard the accumulated misunderstandings between both parties, so that we all recognize the ethical and human content characterizing the civilizations, cultures and religions of all people. We are, therefore, requited to reinforce rapprochement, communication, cooperation and solidarity among us, within a context of equality and equity, away from any form of racial, intellectual, religious or, political exclusion, so that our international community can overcome its problems, crises and disparities, and preserve its balance, growth and prosperity.

In this regard, Arabs and Muslims have no other path but that of proposing to the other parties constructive initiatives and suggestions that can offer large prospects for all to be liberated from the vestiges of the colonial past, and from the phenomena of injustice and marginalization, and from the nation of double standards, in order to step into a new era of entente, harmony, coexistence, mutual respect and balanced partnership. This will curb the existing disparities, remove obstacles to peace and development, and help adopt better and more just methods of managing the world’s affairs.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To conclude, I wish to reiterate the expression of Tunisia’s pride to host this international symposium on its land. I am convinced that the importance of the issues included on your agenda, and the academic competence of the researchers, will help you come out with recommendations that are up to the challenges posed on the Arab and Muslim public opinion as regards dialogue and alliance among civilizations and cultures, and that prove to the international public opinion in particular the awareness of Arabs and Muslims as to the challenges confronting them, and their ability to engage in a positive interaction with their world; thus they would not be a burden to their world and foreign to it, but rather partners therein and witnesses thereof.

Thank you for your attention.

Publications of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

-ISESCO- 1428H/2007 A.D