Contents

Dialogue among Civilisations and the Major

Contemporary Cultural Challenges

Dr. Youssef Alouane(*)

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, let me quote His Excellency President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali at the international symposium organized by the UNESCO in Tunisia in the wake of the September 11th events. He said “Dialogue among civilizations is one of the most important requirements of life. It is a sign of intellectual maturity, and entails a good knowledge of the other, the particularities of his civilization, and his ambitions; it also affirms the other’s right to be different”.

President Ben Ali also mentioned that “People, as the Arabic proverb puts it, are enemies of what they do not know. Not knowing the other usually causes suspicion and animosity in human relations. This is why we need a devoted communication since dialogue among civilizations is a joint human responsibility, to be born especially by decision-makers at all levels of responsibility, intellectual and cultural elites, and media leaderships”.

Ladies and gentlemen,

There has been much controversy recently about the issue of dialogue of civilizations as a platform to build a new world order. The current international situation shows us many confusing facts that shake the findings reached by previous theories.

The modern world is going through a wide-ranging revolution accompanied by deep challenges and many interrogations. We can say that the deepest challenge lies in the cultural element and its contemporary repercussions on the whole humanity. Dialogue is an intrinsic feature of human existence; indeed, sometimes it happens spontaneously, while in others it is carefully organized. However, ever since people realized that dialogue is the only solution should humanity seek to avert violent confrontations, it has become a vital necessity for peoples, cultures and civilizations.

Dialogue of Civilizations takes place within every one of us and concerns primarily our personal identity. It is common and reciprocal and should be held on an equal basis with the other. However, reality is still very complex since dialogue sometimes takes place on the basis of hegemony.

Nevertheless, dialogue remains at the core of human existence. For throughout their history, civilizations have never been closed spaces; indeed, they have always been connected to one another, even though such connection was not characterized by any form of communication. In fact, humanity has gone through phases of tension, wars and conflicts that did not only involve two different civilizations but occurred even within the one civilization. Many observers from all around the globe have concluded that an international civilization is burgeoning on the basis of new visions and parameters subsequent to globalization and its repercussions.

1- Dialogue is humanity’s choice and Tunisia’s choice

Since the sunset of its history some three thousand years ago, Tunisia has always been a land of meeting, dialogue and tolerance.

The old history of this land is rife with testimonies and indications of its unwavering leaning for dialogue with the other and respect for the right to difference and equality. In ancient Tunisia, learning was not limited to one gender; thus, a girl would be learning just like any boy would. That is why Asdrubal was keen on allowing his daughter Sophonisbe to study. Besides, in his book “The City of God”, Saint Augustin confirms the principle of men’s right to be respected, stressing that we have to treat the others in the same way we would like to be treated ourselves.

Equally, not long ago, Tunisia has been a place where religions used to coexist and rituals were practiced in an atmosphere of freedom and respect. The Pact of Security has proved for a century and a half now (1857) together with the Constitution of 1861 that the other has the right to be different, to live and to practice his religion. Moreover, modern Tunisia, which believes in change, has prohibited every call to religious hatred and racism and has banned religious and race-based parties. It has also protected the freedom of practicing religious cults. In the same vein, it has eliminated all forms of fanaticism and hatred in schools, programs and curricula while it introduced Human Rights principles in all phases of the educational process.

In the opening speech he delivered yesterday morning, His Excellency the President said: “In our social traditions and our political choices we have striven to walk in the footsteps of our ancestors who have early discovered the benefits of meeting and exchange among civilizations and cultures. As a result, they excelled in creativity, adaptation and innovation; they were really an authentic link during Medieval Ages between ancient and developing cultures. They played an important role that was consolidated by “the House of Wisdom” founded by the Aghlabide Prince Ibrahim Ibn Ahmed in 878 in Rgada after the pattern of “the House of Wisdom” of Baghdad which was founded by Al-Mamoun and was specialized in translating into Arabic the most prominent books of philosophy and science from Greek, Syriac, Persian and other languages.

The question that is being asked today is the following: Is dialogue of civilizations enough to achieve peace in the world and to provide humankind with the necessary assets to guarantee security, prosperity and dignity?

In fact, such a dialogue entails many challenges, and I would like, if you may allow me, to tackle what I see as the most important modern challenge, i.e. solidarity. Allow me to ask the following question: Isn’t human solidarity a further step into the avenues that dialogue among cultures opens in terms of mutual understanding and the desire for coexistence?

II- Solidarity creates conducive conditions for the success of the dialogue process

International solidarity is a new idea in the political jargon because it appeared, in its present meaning, only after the Second World War, especially with the emergence of liberation movements in colonized countries. The concept of international solidarity mainly evolved within the framework of regional organizations such as the Non-Aligned movement, the Organization for African Unity and the Afro-Asian organizations…

Today, Tunisia is striving to reactivate the concept of international solidarity and to entrench the culture of dialogue and tolerance; they are even considered as a political and civilisational option.

Solidarity is an ethical and a civilisational value; it is also a human bond deeply rooted in the Tunisian civilisational heritage. Indeed, Ibn Abû Ad-Dayyâf speaks about communication among countries as a fundamental not an optional need. As for Khayr Eddine Tunisi, he said that “the world is an ever-evolving city inhabited by many nations whose need for each other is certain”. Throughout history, our country was the cradle of many different races and cultures who managed to fuse and melt together with an ability to integrate and to be homogeneous with what was achieved by the cities of Carthage and Kairouan, the historical reforming thought, and by modern Tunisia, thus contributing to the emergence of a renewed reforming thought.

The Tunisian vantage point as to the concept of solidarity goes beyond the ethical vision; it rather considers it as a social relationship that can become, through certain tools and mechanisms, the basis for effecting a social dynamism, boosting production and rebuilding society. In this way, solidarity will have economic, cultural, and developmental aims that reject marginalization and exclusion, and provide equal opportunities for all in order to achieve development and decent living standards.

This broad perception of solidarity was adopted by the international community to address the problems that large categories all around the globe suffer from, such as poverty, scarcity and marginalization. In this respect, the Tunisian model represents a possible way to abate conflict and violence.

III- Digital solidarity as a bridge towards dialogue

The other face of solidarity deals with the digital divide between societies and countries. Dialogue comes within the frame of the extraordinary cultural, social and economic changes, and the deep consequences of globalization. Amongst the effects of globalization to which we have to pay due attention is this digital revolution that is spreading throughout the world and is drawing new maps and introducing new and peculiar life styles. This information revolution, which the world has been witnessing since the end of the last century, has changed the bases of communication between individuals and societies, bringing about new knowledge-based economic, educational and cultural modes.

According to many experts, this issue is not only a matter of some technological breakthroughs and the emergence of new instruments supporting the competitiveness of economic institutions. Rather, it represents a real social and cultural revolution.

In this context, the notion of the digital divide appears as an emerging criterion to measure development differences between the advanced nations, those mastering the new technologies, on the one hand, and the poor underdeveloped nations, those left on the margin of the development process, on the other. Statistics in this context show that the discrepancies are likely to grow wider between a small fortunate category and a large and marginalized majority. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that 90% of Internet access is operated by 20% of the world population.

Solidarity in its large notion should also encompass the idea of bridging the digital divide which may have serious repercussions on the progress of humankind, in case this gap continues to grow apace. It is practically impossible for dialogue to be fruitful if the vast majority of people remain outside the sphere of progress and modernity, not sharing what a rich minority is enjoying, from opulence to technological abilities and the control of decision-making and knowledge mechanisms.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Dialogue among civilizations allows us to meet the major cultural challenges; it will allow each party to convince the other that the real enemy of humankind today is rather poverty and ill-treatment, and that the market economy should not lead to a market society, i.e., the law of the jungle society.

I hope that this symposium will issue a clear call for an efficient solidarity movement that serves the aims we are all seeking through dialogue mechanisms.

It is no use reiterating the call for dialogue if we do not provide it with conducive conditions for success. It is also fruitless to call for ceasing violence, instability and social shocks if we do not provide the solutions to eliminate the deep reasons behind those problems. Good intentions are not enough; for peace, security and stability are fundamental demands for all humanity and we have to spare no effort to meet these demands.

Solidarity between categories, societies and countries and all that may eliminate economic disparities between North and South countries and bridge the digital divide in terms of knowledge and technology. These are the sole means to help dialogue to move from speeches and conferences to a real alliance around which the whole humanity gathers.

Let me repeat it once again, good intentions alone are not enough; and I firmly believe that it is time to raise to this great challenge through solidarity among all peoples.

The other challenge I would like to mention is the education of the young on the human values that we all share and those common to all religions and creeds, such as individual freedom, Human Rights, the right to difference, freedom of speech and equality.

Emphasis should also be placed on the fact that there is no superiority for a civilization or a culture over the others, and that all civilizations are founded on principles, values and particularities that have to be respected.

This leads me to stress the necessity to rid textbooks and curricula dedicated to children, youngsters and university students of all that breed hatred, deception and disinformation.

Western countries are required to entrench these concepts in their own schools and curricula just in the same way they require it from the Arab Islamic societies. Indeed, their institutes are rife with textbooks and references likely to instill in the minds of the young a negative image of Arab Islamic civilization and its values. This was proved by many field studies on the content of some books and references still used in Western educational institutions and the image they paint of Arab Islamic culture and the history of our societies. On the other hand, we should bring reforms in our educational system; we have to remove from our textbooks and education programs anything that conveys hatred and contempt for other religions, cultures and civilizations. In this way, we can nurture well-balanced personalities among our youth; personalities that would be proud of their history and values without any complexes. Thus, we should have enough courage to evolve from the stance of tolerance to the stance of recognition of the other, and ask the other to follow suit.

Recognition means knowing the other and being aware about the lofty and worthy values embedded in his culture and civilization.

Indeed, we are for dialogue; and as two dialoguing parties, we should be aware that dialogue is salutary for humanity as a whole.

While we appeal on the other party to respect our entity, away from domination or superiority, we also hope to see our societies living another enlightenment era, just like the one Baghdad witnessed with the “House of Wisdom”, or the one marked by scientific progress and religious coexistence in medieval Andalusia.

This kind of dialogue can change into an alliance between civilizations since it is based on our awareness that what rallies the individuals of the human society is stronger than what sets them apart from one another. It is in our common interest to strengthen all the ties that bind us together and to make calls to this effect. Besides, the media, decision-makers and opinion makers have a huge responsibility in meeting this objective.

Dialogue for the sake of dialogue and good intentions can lead to a dead end unless it is accompanied by an educational, social, and economic solidarity movement. In addition, it has to be fully aware of every civilization’s right to existence, communication and respect.

Globalization along with some of its ramifications such as the obliteration of linguistic, intellectual and civilisational particularities, can lead to one-sided thinking and impoverish the intellect. But, the Alliance of Civilizations called for by the Spanish Prime Minister deserves our support and endorsement.

(*) Professor Emeritus at the University of Tunis and President of the High Council for Communication.

Publications of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

-ISESCO- 1428H/2007 A.D