GLOBALIZATION
AND DIVERSITY
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GLOBALIZATION
AND DIVERSITY
a lecture given at
Magdalen College, Oxford
on 5 February 2001
by
Mr Koïchiro Matsuura
Director-General of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization(UNESCO)
OXFORD CENTRE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
2001
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First published in 2001 by the
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
George Street, Oxford OX1 2AR
www.oxcis.ac.uk
© Mr Koïchiro Matsuura 2001
Frontispiece: The Lord Mayor of Oxford and Dr F. A. Nizami,
Director of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, listening
to the lecture by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura.
(Photo: © Norman McBeath)
Printed in Great Britain by Oxuniprint, Oxford
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INTRODUCTION
F. A. Nizami
Director, Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
L
MAYOR,
Ladies
and
GentlemanCwelcome.
It is my privilege to welcome and to
introduce to you today’s speaker, His
Excellency the Director-General of UNESCO,
Mr Koïchiro Matsuura.
The theme of the lecture, ‘Globalization
and Diversity’, is of special interest for me
since it touches on the academic rationale of
the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. The
Centre was founded to contribute to better
understanding between the western and
Islamic worlds through study and research by
scholars from diverse disciplinary and cultural
backgrounds. Its success to date owes a great
deal to the goodwill and support of
distinguished academics from around the
world and from the academic community in
this most international of universities. It is a
pleasure to record also the support the Centre
has had from the City of Oxford, and in
particular from the Lord Mayor.
ORD
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The General Assembly of the United
Nations has proclaimed the year 2001 as the
United Nations Year of Dialogue among
Civilizations. As the UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan emphasized in his 1999 lecture to
us on that subject, there is a lot to do dialogue
about. Most conspicuously between the
western and Islamic worlds, but to some
degree between all civilizations, there has been
very considerable exchange in respect of ideas
and ways of living as well as in particular
commodities
and
services.
Modern
communications and travel have done away
with those geographical barriers that allowed
distinct customs and traditions to evolve. But
the
psychological
distances
remainC
suspicions, fears, and ignorances accumulated
over the centuries. Also, there is anxiety that
the uniformity of the technological means of
globalization will enforce uniformity in the
goods and services we use, and then,
uniformity in tastes and aspirations.
Since globalization has both a definite
cultural origin and direction, there is the worry
that it may be Americanization by a different
name. That is an argument on behalf of
cultural diversity against globalization. It
assumes that cultural identity is possible only
if it is secured within territorial boundaries.
On this view cultural diversity is what exists
outside those boundariesCin a different
country or continent, or in a museum. It is
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something one leaves home to visit, then
returns from, oneself and one’s home more or
less unchanged.
But there is another, more challenging way
of thinking about diversity that accepts the
risks of globalization, in the hope of a diversity
which changes and enhances one’s own locale
by letting in something that had not been there
before. Globalization is worrying, I have no
doubt, especially for those in the economically
and politically weaker parts of the worlds, who
feel they have little say in the process. But it is
also an opportunity. What the balance between
risks and opportunities presently is, whether
and how that balance may be shifted in one
direction rather than anotherCI do not know,
but I am here, as we all are, because we believe
the subject is of importance to us all. We are
therefore sincerely grateful to Your Excellency
for having accepted the invitation of the
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies to address
this theme. I now invite you, Sir, to address us
on ‘Globalization and Diversity’.
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GLOBALIZATION
AND DIVERSITY
by
Mr Koïchiro Matsuura
Director-General, UNESCO
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M
DIRECTOR, distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The invitation extended to me today to
address the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies
is profoundly gratifying and, indeed, especially
meaningful and timely, in light of the United
Nations General Assembly’s dedication of
precisely this year 2001 as one of ‘dialogue
among civilizations’.
The idea for this boldly imaginative
resolution was in fact first sponsored in
November 1998 by the authorities of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, one of the members
of the great family of Muslim nations
extending across the globe from the Atlantic
shores of Africa to the islands of the South
China Sea.
Islam is one of the major living spiritual
traditions of our world. It is an essential
partner in any vital dialogue between our
planet’s cultures. This is why, on behalf of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization, I should like to express
my thanks to Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami,
director of the Centre in this world-famous
seat of learning, for providing this precious
opportunity to exchange views with you.
For those of us who stem from a different
spiritual family, whether Christian or Hindu,
Jewish or, in my case, Buddhist, to join in
dialogue with thinkers committed to Islam, or
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closely involved in Islamic issues, is to come
philosophically to grips with the very heart of
the issues of this International Year.
The idea of a ‘dialogue among civilizations’
is no mere catchphrase or trite political slogan.
It is an invitation for us all mentally to leap
over our ancient cultural divides in order
better to understand not only one another’s
world-view and sense of right and wrong, but
also our irreplaceable respective contributions
to our common humanity’s pooled cultural
heritage. For all our civilizations have
borrowed from one another and thereby been
mutually enriched. To acknowledge such vital
borrowings is invariably enlightening, for it
teaches us to view our human experience from
different angles and contrasting perspectives,
and thus in far greater relief and depth.
This is why the notion of dialogue implies
much more than tolerance. It is something
more active, more volitional, predicated on
respect and a willingness to learnCand such
respect for every cultural family’s full human
dignity and distinct individuality, in turn,
constitutes an essential prerequisite to what
we at UNESCO call a ‘culture of peace’. The
more deeply we understand one another, the
greater our imaginative sympathy, and the less
we give way to facile prejudice or hate.
Today’s abiding intercultural tensions
throughout the world are usually rooted in
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some particular long-standing resentment, in a
sense or memory of some perceived historic
wrong or grievance suffered by one community
at the hands of another. Only dialogue can ever
allow such ancient sleights to be aired,
addressed, resolved, and finally laid to rest, to
the mutual benefit of us all. And only dialogue
permits resumption of desperately needed
cultural exchange, if we want today’s
globalization of communications and material
goods to nourish, and not to smother, the
heritage of our various civilizations in all their
creative diversity.
Ladies and gentlemen, Islam for the last
fourteen centuries has been one of the leading
creative forces of this planet. It requires no
particular specialization in Islamic languages,
literature, history, aesthetics, or thought to
appreciate the contribution of Muslims to the
world’s store of philosophy and architecture,
mathematics or advanced agriculture. When I
calculate an equation, peer through a
microscope, or admire a perfect dome, I can be
grateful for the pioneering work carried out
many centuries ago by al-Khwarizmi, the
Central Asian creator of algebra; by Ibn alHaytham, the Egyptian wizard in optics; or by
Sinan, Turkey’s greatest builder of mosques.
To be able to cite names like these as a matter
of course in any educated international
gatheringC outside of narrow scholarly or
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specifically Muslim circlesCshould be no sign
of exotic learning or pedantic affectation. It is
rather a demonstration of the respect due to
eminent members of the great creative human
family of scientists and engineers. Quite as
eminent, in terms of mathematical or
architectural achievement, as Archimedes or
Leonardo, as the Hindu arithmetic-cian
Brahmagupta, or his Chinese counterpart Zhu
Shijie. In literature and speculation too,
spiritual and artistic summits have been
repeatedly attained by gifted Muslim mystics
and poets, both women and men, whose works
truly belong to the treasure of world song. We
hope one day to see the time when
schoolchildren everywhere can quote all these
names with equal familiarity!
As we enter into an age of global
communica-tion, peoples everywhere are
taking a fresh look at the great cultural zones
that make up our common world. At a far
deeper level, we are a beginning to grasp that
every cultural manifestation in world history,
wherever it has occurred, has subtly influenced
cultural patterns everywhere else. We in
Japan, for example, may be directly and
sharply aware of the impact upon us of
modern western civilization: yet even we are
coming to learn that a major formative
component of the contemporary West that
helped mould us was provided by the
intellectual ferment of medieval Islamic Spain,
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which itself drew so deeply on the thought of
ancient Greece. This is the central truth
imparted by all great endeavours of cultural
study like those pursued here in Oxford: to
find out about the significant achievements of
others is to discover far more about ourselves
and what went into making us what we are.
Ladies and gentlemen, modern Islam is
recognizably in spiritual crisis and moral
upheaval. It has been so for close to a
centuryCat the very least. The Islamic Republic
of Iran’s call for this ‘dialogue among
civilizations’ that is, among explicitly equal
civilizationsCto which the international
community has unequivocally respondedCis
perhaps a first healing step towards better
mutual comprehension: and hence, towards
effecting real peace in the minds of men, as
UNESCO’s founding motto so well puts it. But
sound dialogue can only be based on honest,
absolutely candid appraisal of the issues.
The New York Round Table last September
gave the International Year excellent
momentum. It brought together many world
leaders from all corners of the earth, as well as
a swathe of academics and intellectuals. The
debates were varied and dense. In short, it was
what it set out to be: at the same time an
enriching and fruitful dialogue per se and an
immensely thought-provoking debate on
dialogue.
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Some speakers were of the view that such
dialogue began through ‘sweeping in front of
their own doorsteps’. Others emphasized the
imperative of an international setting to give
the necessary momentum to such exchange. To
be sure, dialogue begins at home. It is a matter
that
directly
concerns
individuals,
communities and society as a whole. At a very
basic level, it means a commitment to listen to
each other, to hear what the other has to say. It
requires renewed commitment to human
rights and fundamental freedoms, democracy,
and good governance.
This is no doubt, in many places, an
ambitious and daunting enterprise. But
modern pluralistic societies, if they wish to
ensure peace and to preserve the well-being of
their citizens, cannot afford to pay the price of
cultural
monologue
or
cultural
fundamentalism, which are seed beds of
conflicts and war. At the same time, with the
impact of cultures and civilizations now
transcending the borders of nation states on
such a scale and with such speed, it is
alsoCmore than everCindispensable to
establish and enrich dialogue at the
international level. The dizzying pace of
globalization and of the information revolution
is creating conditions for unprecedented
meetings of cultures and individuals. That is
why globalization can be an advantage to us
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all, if it is allowed to thrive on dialogue,
interaction, and exchange.
UNESCO’s work in this area is important,
because it brings together expertise in the
areas of education, science, and culture at a
time when we can no longer afford to confine
these issues within sectoral walls. It is
shouldering increased responsibilities as the
world community seeks to come to terms with
the effects of globalization. And the
Organization is itself learning what challenges
are involved in addressing these issues
innovatively and constructively.
Dialogue is behind the very idea of
‘learning to live together’, as the Delors
Report on Education for the Twenty-First
Century put it. It must be at the heart of our
efforts to tackle the challenges facing societies
from poverty to information technologiesCso
many of which require global commitments,
concerted approaches, and interna-tionally
recognized norms and codes of conduct.
Education is therefore the pivot. It is an
essential means to promote dialogue while
helping to remove the roots of ignorance,
prejudice, intolerance, and conflict. Achieving
constructive dialogue means, for example,
improving educational contents. Just think of
the difference it would make if all school
textbooks were revised to reflect the
contributions of all cultures and peoples, and
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to remove from them the expressions of
prejudice and intolerance which fire
incomprehension, mistrust, even hatred.
Increasing academic cooperation and mobility
of teachers and researchers worldwide would
be another step in the right direction,
especially between developed and developing
countries, through the establishment of
university partner-ships, chairs, and research
networks.
Learning to live together, learning to
dialogue, learning to understand one another:
the exchange and propagation of knowledge
about diverse cultural traditions constitutes a
keyCand all too often a neglected oneCas we
seek to lay the foundations of dialogue. What
better way than to marvel at the cultural
wonders of other peoples? Hence the
importance of mobilizing the interna-tional
community around the preservation of our
heritage in all its forms. The world has
magnificent cultural monuments and sites;
and Nature has provided it with wonders
beyond limit and of unfathomable diversity.
We are now increasingly turning our attention
to the safeguarding and promotion of the
intangible human heritage such as traditional
crafts, oral traditions, all forms of artistic
expression, or indeed the world’s traditional
and local knowledge systemsCrecognized now
by the scientific com-munity as dynamic
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expressions
of
our perception and
understanding of the world.
Institutions of learning such as yours are
doing fine work to this end. As you do so, you
should also seek to break down the walls of
ignorance, helping to disseminate the results
of your research in society through efforts at
popularizationCwithout compromising quality.
You, too, indeed, can help ensure that alKhwarizmi, Archimedes, Brahmagupta, and
Zhu Shijie are names that all trip off our
children’s lips with ease.
Our shrinking ‘e-planet’ could place much
of this in jeopardy, and there is an urgent call
from the very hearts of many communities and
societies for due attention to what is genuinely
and practically ‘our diversity’. This diversity
needs to be protected, and promoted. We need
to feel safe in our own culture, and to know
more about the cultures of others. We need to
bridge the digital divide and we need to bridge
the cultural divide. In this day and age, the two
are inseparable. For in the last analysis, the
answer must be dialogue and dialogue again:
dialogue on equal terms, for sure, but dialogue
always.
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