"Order and disorder" are under examination at a transcultural
conference in Beijing jointly initiated by the Transcultura
Institute International and the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
Scholars from Europe and Asia are discussing war and peace,
humans and rights, social justice and harmony. The issues are old
ones, part of human evolution. But they are new as well because
human history does not simply repeat itself.
New dimensions require that we put what happens today in new
perspectives.
For example, cooperation between different groups of people,
different regions and countries has occurred for centuries, but
never before on the scale of today's globalization.
The same is true of war, which differs from past conflicts. As
Italian semiotician Umberto Eco positioned it, marginalized warfare
characterized by terrorism differs from traditional wars.
Under such circumstances, individuals and nation states are
obliged to develop a global view. We need a global perspective on
what we used to consider only from the viewpoint of individuals or
a single nation.
Of course, effective dialogue between different sovereign states
with different cultural and political backgrounds is a
prerequisite.
While sharing the benefits of globalization, nations have a
heavier share of responsibility to cultivate order in the global
context.
Order does not mean political lockstep. On the contrary,
maintaining cultural diversity is of great significance in building
an orderly world.
That explains why China put forward the concept of a harmonious
world, in which different cultures respect each other's right to
exist and settle their disputes and differences through
dialogue.
Globalization makes international efforts imperative in solving
such hazards as poverty, environmental pollution, over-exploitation
of resources, global warming and regional conflict.
To foster the consensus necessary for such joint endeavors,
nations must learn to deal with common concerns through dialogue in
transforming war to peace.
(China Daily March 8, 2007)
