- Written by WPF Dialogue of Civilizations
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- Written by Vladimir Yakunin
Vladimir Yakunin, Founding President of the World Public Forum Dialogue of Civilizations
Article by the Founding President of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” Vladimir Yakunin
The events that have evolved over the past 25-30 years have yet to be thoroughly analyzed but even today it seems quite apparent that the world, on the whole, has entered another large-scale, social-political and economic transformation. Such a conclusion was tabled at the last few conferences of the World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations.” It was precisely at such a Forum that is held annually on the Greek Island of Rhodes that we came to such a conclusion back in 2005 about mounting tensions and the inevitability of an economic crisis. However, about the same time, just before the onset of the global financial-economic crisis, the Davos Forum boastfully announced coming remarkable economic prospects.
As I view it, lying at the basis of the events taking place in Russia – events of which we are both witnesses and participants – there is a maturing feeling of all-embracing injustice. This injustice or unfairness concerns the life we are leading; this injustice pertains to the arbitrariness of official functionaries; this also holds true of the unfairness concerning the blatant disregard on the part of the oligarchic elite of business circles for their country and their people; and, of course, this concerns the impermissible property inequality that we are witnessing.
Yet we are but a part of the deep-running worldwide social-economic transformation that is picking up steam. And the political catastrophe following the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the whole socialist camp acted as the trigger that launched this process. The visible signs of this process are seen in the violent destruction of Yugoslavia and in the supposedly “peaceful” collapse of several other European countries, as well as in the systemic crisis of the Western world – something which today is conceded by all experts and political scientists; a systemic crisis that was brought about by the last global financial-economic crisis.
In his works, the eminent Indian futurologist and one of the founders of the WPF “Dialogue of Civilizations,” Jagdish Kapur, pointed out that the world of consumption, created on the basis of neo-liberal theory technologies has led to the degradation of western society and to snowballing extreme social-economic inequality. All this may inevitably lead to a catastrophic “clash of civilizations.”
Judge for yourself. Beginning with 2008 the leaders of the most advanced countries, including Russia, repeatedly met at G7, G8 and G20 format conferences in an effort to elaborate systemic measures for overcoming the crisis. However, as a result of all this, the second wave of the crisis which we had predicted back in 2008, swept over the world evermore powerfully. There is good reason here to ask: why?
- Written by Adrian Pabst
The Resurgence of the CivicOccupy Wall Street and cognate groups around the world are part of a protest movement that is both global and local. It is global in terms of geographic scope, thematic range, and social composition. It is local in terms of the specific objects of protest and the protesters’ goals. The organic blending of the global with the local is reflected in the very unfolding of this worldwide wave. As the Egyptian activist Asmaa Mahfouz has remarked, the various groups “work in symbiosis, learning from and imitating each others’ strategies . . . the call for Occupy protests came from Canada, the General Assembly structures came from Spain, and the outcry of ‘We are the 99%’ came from Italy. Many occupiers took inspiration from our Tahrir Square; now the Occupy movement across the United States is inspiring us in Egypt.”1
The movement’s “glocal dynamic”—to coin an ugly phrase—is also visible in the protesters’ response to the violent crackdown that has already been unleashed in Cairo, New York City, and elsewhere.2 Just as Occupy Wall Street has triggered similar protests across the United States and encouraged the protagonists of the Arab Spring to continue their largely peaceful uprising, so too the brutal eviction is fueling the worldwide Occupy movement and strengthening the resolve of its local participants on Tahrir Square and the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Of course the global crackdown varies locally in nature, scope, and intensity; yet at the same time, it suggests that both nascent and mature democracies are compatible with police states that suspend core constitutional provisions and fundamental civil liberties.
- Written by Georg Diez
Jürgen HabermasJürgen Habermas is angry. He's really angry. He is nothing short of furious -- because he takes it all personally.
He leans forward. He leans backward. He arranges his fidgety hands to illustrate his tirades before allowing them to fall back to his lap. He bangs on the table and yells: "Enough already!" He simply has no desire to see Europe consigned to the dustbin of world history.
"I'm speaking here as a citizen," he says. "I would rather be sitting back home at my desk, believe me. But this is too important. Everyone has to understand that we have critical decisions facing us. That's why I'm so involved in this debate. The European project can no longer continue in elite modus."
Enough already! Europe is his project. It is the project of his generation.
- Written by WPF Dialogue of Civilizations
Aleksey Gennadievich SchubakovThe WPF “Dialogue of Civilizations” Executive Committee suffered a grievous loss, on November 28, 2011 after a serious illness passed away the Head of WPF Moscow Headquarters Expert Group Aleksey Gennadievich Schubakov.
He was a great person, whose contributions to the development of modern Russian civilizations studies, dialogue and communication systems theory stand beyond any comparison. He was for a long time the bright and insightful World Public Forum’s strategy planner, most of Forum’s conferential and public activities were widely supported by his ideas. Unique expert in Ancient Greek philosophy, renowned for his major contribution to cultural discourse of Antique paideia, distinguished authority in Eastern-Orthodox spiritual and intellectual tradition, he was an uncompromising scholar and a very dedicated friend, he passed away when his creativeness and intelligence were at the very top. His concept of permanent civilizational reproduction on basis of cultural memory renascence has founded the grounds for World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” theory and practice, appreciated and shared by thousands of experts all around the world.
The memory of Aleksey Gennadievich Schubakov, a person of encyclopedic knowledge and a committed Orthodox Christian, will always stay in hearts of those, who were honored to work with him.
World Public Forum “Dialogue of Civilizations” Executive Committee
