World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"

A book “The Kingdom of Bahrain” has been published in Moscow with the support of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations.” Its authors are V.A. Isayev, Dr. of Economic Sciences, Deputy Director (Research) of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, and A.O. Filonik, Candidate of Historical Sciences.

It is not very often that such an exhaustive, fact-filled scientific work on regional studies appears in the world. And in Russia the book penned by Isayev and Filonik, in general, is the fullest anthology of information about Bahrain, all the more so, since the first book about that Arab country in the Russian language came off the press in the USSR 30 years ago.

The globalization process has brought along with itself the leveling out not only of the social-economic sphere, but the humanitarian-cultural sphere as well: inter-civilization differences are often shoved to the sidelines; original cultural values are pushed to fit in with the average “global” standard; unique traditions are depersonalized to benefit a mono-cultural development. Is there an alternative to such tendencies? “Yes, there is!” This is the firm conviction of three public dignitaries – a Russian, a Greek and an Indian – the founders and leaders of the World Public Forum (WPF) “Dialogue of Civilizations”: the head of “Russian Railways” and eminent public dignitary, Vladimir Yakunin, American entrepreneur of Greek origin, Nicholas Papanicolaou, and famous Indian futurologist, Jagdish Kapur. They present their own ideas and proposals on the question of going over from a globalistic world order to the building of a genuinely open and efficient civil society in the book “The Dialogue of Civilizations in the Contemporary Epoch” that has just been printed by the American publishing house “Cantone Press.” The publication of the book which is a collection of articles and papers by V. Yakunin, N. Papanicolaou and J. Kapur has been timed to coincide with the Sixth Session of the WPF “Dialogue of Civilizations” that is annually held on the Greek island of Rhodes with the participation of internationally recognized sociologists, political scientists, economists, scholars, writers, public and religious dignitaries from all the continents of the world. More than 700 experts participated in the work of last year’s Fifth Jubilee Session.

INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR

On August 3, under the title of A Reflection on Hard and Obvious Realities, I published a number of remarks on the prerogatives of power and its effect on human beings and quoted the arguments advanced by Colonel General Leonid Ivashov, Vice-President of the Russian Academy for Geopolitical Affairs and former Secretary of the Council of Defense Ministers of the Community of Independent States and Chief of the Military Cooperation Department of the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Defense. As I indicated on that occasion, Ivashov is a well-informed man whose views are deserving of our people’s attention.

General Ivashov’s analysis, which appeared in a note published by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti last July 24, began by identifying the United State’s economic, financial, technological and military dictatorship in today’s international arena as the chief political tool wielded by that country.

I will not reiterate General Ivashov’s arguments, which lead him to the conclusion that, in order to neutralize the plans aimed at world hegemony, alternative poles of power must be created. In this connection, I wish only to draw attention to one of his main arguments:

«Only an alliance of civilizations could oppose the United States’ empire: the Russian civilization whose orbit includes the Community of Independent States (CIS); the Chinese, the Indian, the Islamic and the Latin American civilizations. It is an immense space where we could create more equitable markets, our own stable financial system, our collective security mechanisms and our philosophy, giving priority to the intellectual development of man in the face of western modern civilization, which emphasizes material goods and measures success by the number of mansions, yachts and restaurants people have. Our mission is to redirect the world towards justice and intellectual and spiritual growth.»

The concept of an «alliance of civilizations» where ideas would prevail took me back to an international gathering held in our country in March 2005, titled «Dialogue among Civilizations World Conference. Latin America in the 21st Century: Universalism and Originality».

Nearly 300 scientists and intellectuals, representatives of social organizations and the media, politicians and religious figures from 29 countries participated in this conference, organized by the Founding Council of the Russian National Glory Centre and the Ministry of Culture and Union of Cuban Writers and Artists, with the purpose of challenging current theories on the clash of civilizations which are grounded in the exclusivist nature of neoliberal globalization, the advocate of a single model which can be confronted by encouraging dialogue among peoples, cultures, creeds and States in search of common responses to the key challenges facing today’s world.