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UN Chronicle - Volume 49, Issue 3, 2012
Volume 49, Issue 3, 2012
A must-read for every concerned world citizen, the United Nations Chronicle is a quarterly, easy-to-read report on the work of the United Nations and its agencies. Produced by the United Nations Department of Public Information, every issue covers a wide range United Nations related activities: from fighting the drug war to fighting racial discrimination, from relief and development to nuclear disarmament, terrorism, and the world-wide environmental crisis.
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The radical middle: Building bridges between the Muslim and Western worlds
Author: Ali GomaaIn the views of many, the contemporary world in which we live appears to be marked most prominently by the emergence of what is regularly referred to as “a clash of civilizations”. Proponents of the discourse of a clash have sought confirmation of their views by pointing to the increasing hostility and animosity between cultural regions—most obviously between the Islamic and Western worlds—that has defined the last quarter of the twentieth and the first decade of the twenty-first centuries.
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Unity in diversity: The integrative approach to intercultural relations
Author: Hans KöchlerIn the history of institutionalized relations between states, the preservation of peace and stability has always been a predominant concern—an ideal that is also enunciated in the Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations. The gap between the idea of peace and the reality of tension and conflict, however, has proven to be a major challenge to the world organization ever since its foundation after World War II—and that challenge was not only due to conflicting political and economic interests. Situations of conflict often arise in a complex setting of historical, social, cultural and political interaction between communities; accordingly, they must be dealt with in a multifaceted and integrative manner. In order to “practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours”, as the peoples of the United Nations proclaim in the Preamble to the Charter, we first have to understand each other, or appreciate each other’s way of life and socio-cultural identity. This is only possible if we are knowledgeable about our distinct cultures, traditions and value systems. This truth is also reflected in the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) according to which “ignorance of each other’s ways and lives has been a common cause, throughout the history of mankind”, of suspicion and mistrust through which their differences have “all too often broken into war”.
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Dialogue among civilizations: Contexts and perspectives
Author: Seyed Mohammad KhatamiAlthough dialogue has been a human idea since ancient times, “dialogue among civilizations” became a pervasive and inclusive theory and emerged as a symbolic asset due to its proper and timely presentation. Even the world’s most notorious terrorist attacks of 9/11, which took place the same year which had been designated as the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations and which caused the discourse of violence and war to overshadow the discourse of peace and compromise, did not stop the world from pursuing the dialogue of cultures in various practical fields. When the existing paradigm is one of war, domination and violence, the world needs to hear the voice of peace, dialogue and compromise. The widespread acceptance of the proposal to designate 2001 as the Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations by the United Nations General Assembly was of high importance. The fact that the proposal was accepted by consensus indicated that in their depths of conscience, the powers, whether oppressor or oppressed, considered the international political situation worrisome. More importantly, the positive response of public opinion, particularly intellectuals, thinkers, academic and political as well as social circles to this proposal was impressive.
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Human rights as a way of life
Author: Shulamith KoenigIn 2008, alongside the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the human rights group known as the Elders, founded and led by Nelson Mandela, sent out a clarion call proclaiming that “every human has rights.” This statement recalls Voltaire, who when asked, “what should we do about human rights?” answered “Let the people know them”. Having facilitated for the last 25 years the learning and integration of human rights as a way of life in more then 60 countries, I sent the Elders a note saying “But do the ‘humans’ know them? Most do not!” It is, therefore, imperative to add to the Elders’ call, loud and clear, that every human must learn, know them and own them as a way of life. It is not enough to have human rights, it is essential that everyone owns them and are guided in their daily lives by the holistic human rights framework, enabling women and men to participate as equals in the decision making process towards meaningful, sustainable economic and social transformation. There is no other option.
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Reconciling diverse cultures: The gender factor
Author: Ingrid MosesThis topic includes three concepts which are wide open to interpretation, value judgements, stereotypes and hopes—reconciliation, diverse cultures and the gender factor. I could address it from many different perspectives. We could talk about cultural diversity in attitudes and practices in relation to girls’ and women’s education and training, rights and health, to women’s economic empowerment rights and participation as citizens, to tolerance and affliction of violence against girls and women, and about the role of women in working across cultural divides.
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Reggae, a force for dialogue
Author: Linda AïnoucheReggae music blew up with a bang to the resistance movement against imperialism in the 1960s. It started in Kingston, Jamaica, and has conquered the world and acquired an emblematic Rastafarian character, but an understanding of its fundamental nature is still lacking.
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A dialogue through service: Making a difference while making friends
Author: Chuck RootIf we are to solve the world’s major problems such as ending war and making sure everyone has enough to eat, millions of people from all over the world will need to be involved. They will need to understand the interconnectivity of all people, care about others, and maintain the highest ethical standards while they focus on solutions. In other words, we need world citizens to communicate with one another. But how are we to find and cultivate these people?
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Open access and closed minds: Balancing intellectual property and public interest in the digital age
Author: Nalaka GunawardeneNearly a decade ago, South Africa based British documentary producer Neil Curry made an extraordinary film, The Elephant, the Emperor and the Butterfly Tree (2003), about the complex ecosystem around Africa’s mopane woodland. This engaging tale won many awards in leading environmental and natural history film festivals.
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Bringing human passion into Sustainability education
Author: June GormanHuman passion, it can be argued, is the source of all human life and progress. It can also be argued that human passion, when misguided, misunderstood and developed along unhealthy, aggressively competitive paths or solely for material greed is the source of much of the suffering, conflict, cruelty, pain and destruction that humans cause one another. In reality, the creative and destructive sides of human passion are deeply integral to what it means to be human, but as an educator I increasingly wonder how can we differentiate between the two sides? How can we learn or, more poignantly, relearn to overcome our own deeply felt and historically reinforced fears of difference and change? How to develop the human passion of the newly discovered brain centres of empathy, care and loving communication—the areas of emotional and social intelligences that most productively bridge difference and different cultures—in learning how to best achieve sustainable living on this planet? In doing so, we could potentially create the type of education for sustainability that would reinforce how to passionately care for ourselves, each other and our planet, in order to ultimately save humanity itself.
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How ASPIRE can promote dialogue among civilizations
Author: Kyle JeremiahThree billion young people stood on a single stage at the opening plenary session of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Summit) in Rio de Janeiro this past June. They demanded change and called on world leaders to take action to ensure that a sustainable future for our children and our grandchildren was secured. The voice of those three billion people under the age of 25 was somewhat meek, yet confident, and had a New Zealand accent. Indeed, seventeen year-old Brittany Trilford let leaders know that we cannot accept any more broken or empty promises. Brittany might have challenged leaders from an environmental standpoint, but as she was addressing the conference, young people in Europe struggled to find jobs as the beleaguered region continued to grapple with its ongoing debt crisis. Young people in the Middle East were trying to see through the settling dust following the Arab uprisings. Tensions over an alleged Iranian nuclear weapons programme continued to simmer, as biting sanctions from Western powers continued to affect the large population of youth there.
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What the UN can do to promote the dialogue among civilizations
Author: Hans d’Orville2011 marked a decade since the United Nations General Assembly declared the year 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. At the same time, 2011 also represented the tenth anniversary of one of the most traumatic terrorist attacks of modern times. The juxtaposition of these two events shows, more than anything, the need for a firm commitment from all Member States of the United Nations to reduce and eliminate any notion of an ill-defined “clash of civilizations” which is rather a “clash of ignorances”, through authentic dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples. Dialogue is not only a “necessary answer to terrorism but, in many ways, its nemesis,” and one of the most effective ways “to promote the best in humanity.” It implies reciprocity of communication and the acceptance that truth does not and cannot belong to a singular group alone. Since “conflict begins where dialogue ceases”, it is essential to search for ways past political fragmentation and strive to find common ground for debate. Thus, the ideal of authentic dialogue among people belonging to different cultures and civilizations has never lost momentum or its driving force. It must just be adapted to an evolving political landscape in the current era of globalization.
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