CULTURE &HERITAGE

HRH Prince El Hassan Message to the Roundtable - Religion, Culture, Nation and Constitution: Multiple Identities in Modern Societies
Berlin, Germany
, 11- 12 April, 2002

'Religion, culture, nation and constitution: multiple identities in modern societies.'

I regret that I could not be here in person today to talk with you; but I welcome this opportunity to share some of my thoughts with this distinguished gathering at a time when we all wish to construct a safe House of World Cultures. May I say that I greatly admire the projects and activities undertaken by the House in Berlin and I hope that this forum may prove a model for imitation elsewhere in the world.

There is much one could say today about definitions of 'religion', 'culture', 'nation' and 'constitution', not to mention 'identity', 'modern' and 'society'. However, my task, as I see it, is not to limit definitions but to speak about the broader meaning of the title given to this meeting.

Globalisation is a fact: it is a fact we must face squarely. Yet facing facts should not, as we know, mean that we may become resigned to the idea of one blandly homogenous world dominated by one cultural outlook. A major challenge in the last few years has been to bring together the centrist voices in every culture and society - not only against the extremism which we see threatening all civilisation, but also for a viable future in - as I often say - 'one world of ten thousand cultures'.

Some have striven for many years to meet this challenge, seeing that Samuel Huntington's proposed 'clash of civilisations', if it becomes a reality, threatens the survival of us all. But while success and modernity continue to be measured in secular material terms, the majority of the global population continues to be left out in the cold. At the last meeting of the Club of Rome, over which I have the honour to preside, it was agreed to produce a publication entitled The Limits to Poverty. Poverty now is not only about hunger and low income but also about lack of information, lack of training and expertise, and lack of opportunity and say in one's own future. Addressing poverty effectively means information-gathering and concrete proposals to address the needs and wants of the people on the ground.

Aid is therefore not the complete answer to the problems we face today. Aid given only in the interests of political expediency does not provide help where it is most needed. Aid given without requirements for transparency and accountability in its implementation all too often has very little of the desired effect. We hear a lot about the democratic deficit. What about the credibility deficit?

Globalisation carries with it the suggestion that one culture is coming inevitably to dominate all others: and the culture in question is seen to be a Western secular materialism alien to many peoples. Humanitarian objectives can only succeed by engaging with the values of people, who are not unchanging abstracts, and who rely on a sense of cultural and traditional security, including religious culture, for their identity - their 'soft security'. Economics are necessary; but economics are subject to political whim, and politics are driven by expediency. For some time I have spoken in terms of moving away from econopolitics or petropolitics to seek anthropolitics: politics as it relates to the welfare of the individual human being. The Israeli advisor to governments, Yehezkel Dror, writes similarly of a necessary move from 'statecraft' to 'humankindcraft', from 'raison d'état' to 'raison d'humanité'.

In the Middle East at the moment there are terrible grievances and urgent needs. Israel's need for security has to be recognised at the same time as Palestine's need for justice; and security and justice must be reconciled with an eye to the situation on the ground as it will be in ten and twenty years' time. There is a very urgent need now to work for that future, to visualise a successful and prosperous Middle East and work towards it. After all, there is vast potential in Western Asia for peace, productivity, stability, trade and investment - to the good of all world communities.

A necessary condition for regional cooperation in Western Asia is surely the resolution of the Israel/Palestine situation, which, like a black hole, is presently sucking all other considerations into its horizon and prevents forward movement. But compliance with international norms means that all nations and actors comply at all times with those norms, not just when and as they feel it is useful to their own political agenda. If any worldwide code of conduct is to be implemented and if poverty is to be abolished, an international culture of compliance is a prerequisite.

At the same time, it has to be recognised that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is one element in the wider region of the 'arc of crisis', stretching from the north-west of the African continent across Western Asia and into Central Asia, where 40% and 70% respectively of the world's reserves of oil and natural gas occur. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that we need to promote greater understanding of the shared values between peoples in order to create a culture of peace instead of mere survival in the 'arc of crisis'. I spoke to the Bundestag a few weeks ago and I said then that intercultural dialogue, interfaith dialogue, international dialogue are incomplete without intracultural, intrafaith and intranational dialogue.

This means a return to the idea of the common good in policymaking: ethical leadership working alongside ethical media and educational programmes to enhance commonalities and respect differences.

On the subject of the media influence today, let me say that building confidence between adherents of faiths and cultures requires some trust based on personal experience. Education and media provide information but no personal contact. The Gallup poll in the Arab countries indicated that all is not well with the US image in the Arab world; and what about the Arab image in America, or the US image in Europe? Creative exchange between people as exemplified by the House of Culture example is one way to promote better images: but it has to be more widespread. The media are voracious and they require scriptwriters.

It was distressing to read in the New York Times a few days ago of the destruction of archives and machinery at the offices of a Ramallah broadcasting station located in the al-Quds university Institute of Modern Media. The al-Quds Educational Television, as it was called, broadcast information for public education, better understanding of health issues and environmental awareness. In 1997 it embarked on a joint project with Israeli educational television to produce a Palestinian-Israeli version of 'Sesame Street'. The building and equipment of this organisation have now been destroyed by Israeli soldiers by throwing them out of the four-storey building.

Any global proposal, to be globally legitimate, must be related to the religious, cultural and legal traditions of our many diverse peoples. Such globalisation would then not be perceived as a western or American imposition on the rest of humankind but as 'universalisation' - a way to acknowledge the sharing of values while remaining faithful to a community's roots. By the same token, each tradition will discover that the challenges which human beings have faced for centuries, and continue to face today, have been tackled in more or less similar ways. The realisation of our similarities is important: in doing so, civil societies might be inclined to accept the other as a brother sharing the same human destiny and not as a potential enemy or barbarian. Hence I would stress the importance to our common future of the House of World Cultures dialogues and similar endeavours.

I suggest that when we talk about global values, we are talking about redefining many concepts in more humanitarian terms, including the concepts of poverty and wealth. To provide that redefinition there is a clear and central role for increased and sustained dialogue between and within cultures. My hope for the countries of the developing world is that all countries of the world may finally realise the importance of engagement so that they may become involved in interactive and contributive conversations which relate to the building of their own futures.

In this context it is a pleasure for me to be able to announce the recent institution of a long-held dream of mine - a Parliament of Cultures in Istanbul, with a secretariat in Bilkent University. The Parliament is to provide a forum for international dialogue at a cultural level rather than only in an economic or political context. It is intended to help build the bridges of understanding in terms of cultural values which are so sadly lacking in today's international relations. It will provide a space in which disagreements and agreements alike can be aired concerning the attitudes and desires of populations and groups around the globe.

It is now my hope to establish a European Parliament with an Asian contingent to balance the Asian Parliament in Istanbul with its European contingent. Surely Berlin is an ideal location for such an institution.

I would ask too why in today's world we cannot form a non-denominational International Peace Corps with the task of peacebuilding rather than merely peace-keeping? Why can the defences of peace not be built in peacetime? Islam is a religion which emphasises the importance of looking ahead. Indeed, the idea of a Muslim Peace Corps has been mooted before. The emphasis has to be upon workable actions, not just words.

Here and now, perhaps, values of justice and restraint are what we most need to promote in our efforts to stave off disaster. Yet, to avoid future conflicts, governments and individuals should be preparing at the same time with great creativity and determination for medium term cooperative building programmes, increased communications and raising of credibility between cultures, and a tight focus on human concerns and lacks, towards the final goal of long-term peace and prosperity.

 

 

 

 

 

9th May 2002

 

The recent remarks by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and others, at the ongoing UN Summit For Children, concerning the dramatic lack of attention to the cause of children, resonate particularly strongly with the present authors, who spent much time for several years recommending appropriate government measures on precisely the topics of children, the vulnerable and the dispossessed.

 

The report, entitled Winning the Human Race?, was welcomed by the UN itself in the 1980s, and produced by the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues. It was formally presented to the World Body at the 42nd Session of the General Assembly in December 1987, and was unanimously accepted, a resolution being passed calling for the establishment of a New International Humanitarian Order.  The report was published the following year. It includes sections on ‘The Protection of Children’, ‘The Urban Young’, ‘Street Children’, ‘Refugees and Displaced Persons’ and ‘The Disappeared’. Members of the 27-strong Commission included Susanna Agnelli, Talal bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, Robert McNamara, David Owen, Sadako Ogata, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Desmond Tutu, Simone Veil and Gough Whitlam; and it was chaired by ourselves while we held the positions, respectively, of Crown Prince of Jordan and UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

 

Despite the international background of the Commission, its cooperation with the UN and its Agencies, and, indeed, the high individual status of its members, the recommendations simply were not taken up. Children continued to suffer. In 1998, the Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted by 191 state parties, rendering the rights of children legally binding, but their rights are still not upheld. Yet one cannot blame this on the world’s ignorance when the specific research and recommendations dating back to the eighties are still not put into practice.

 

Children need more than paperwork. Our research indicated that innovative means are required to safeguard their future. Reporting, monitoring and enforcement procedures require international participation. States must be obliged to comply with the instruments of the Convention. Otherwise, as we have always warned in our recommendations, timidity and ineffectiveness will continue to prompt justified criticisms.

 

Our report opened by citing H. G. Wells: ‘If the universe is non-ethical by our present standards, we must reconsider those standards and reconstruct our ethics.’ The eminent theologian Hans Küng recently suggested that it is time for the Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities. As has been repeatedly emphasised, until we act for an international culture of compliance with human rights legislation – without reinventing the wheel each time – all our good intentions towards children and other vulnerable groups will remain no more than just unconnected slogans.

 

HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal

HH Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan