Cultural exchanges promote peace, shared future: CDAC delegates
By Wang Wenwen
As the world faces rising populism and the hyping of the
clash of civilizations, the appeal for cultural exchanges is stronger than
ever. On May 15, the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC)
opened in Beijing, with the goal of boosting mutual learning and understanding
among Asian civilizations.
Global Times interviewed participants of the conference who
shared their understanding of the mission of the event. They said that peace,
not clashes, has always been the mainstream and cultural exchanges are needed
to fight the dangerous trend of mistrust and intolerance.
Nada Al-Nashif
Assistant director-general for Social and Human Sciences at
UNESCO
When cultural diversity is not sufficiently understood, when
the power to enrich culture is resisted, when there is fear, discrimination and
racism in the world, it is hard for us to get along and understand. That’s why
we need some very good examples, and understand the richness and extraordinary
cultural interactions of Asia, and the conference is an important way of trying
to overcome what is going on in the world.
We look at the technical issues like how to write historical
narratives and how to explore religious exchange. We also look at exchanges
between people, academics, civil society, activists, decision-makers and
policymakers, which are going to be enduring. These conversations do not stop
when people go back to their countries.
We have a lot to learn from Asia. This is why we are here
and why we are investing so much in understanding, whether it is the ancient
Silk Road or modern interpretations of what ASEAN or other economic blocs are
trying to do. We have to try to understand what brings people prosperity and
how we can grow together in a mutually reinforcing way.
Ali Moussa Iye
Chief of the History and Memory for Dialogue Section, Social
and Human Sciences Sector of UNESCO
It is always very difficult to see how Asian civilization is
distinctive from European civilization and African civilization. There are
differences, but there are commonalities. I am African. When I learned a little
bit about traditional Chinese culture, I saw a lot of commonalities, such as
the way we respect our ancestor and the way we pay tribute. Traditional Chinese
wisdom sometimes is very close to that of Africa. These commonalities are what
bring people together and facilitate dialogue and the perception that we have a
shared future.
The idea that different civilizations are bound to clash is
the most stupid thing I have ever heard. Civilizations don't clash. It is human
beings that clash. Even in the case where countries are fighting, the cultures
of these countries exchange and interact. Civilization is about communication
and exchange. The war came from the government, the military and people who
have power, but not civilization. The clash of civilization is an ideological
idea to justify domination but has nothing to do with historical reality.
The world now faces multiple threats. The most imminent are
prejudices and ignorance about other cultures and peoples. Another threat is a
system that only focuses on profits which doesn’ put human beings at the
center. The ideology of domination and exploiting others for resources
constitutes a threat to the present-day international order.
We are witnessing a lot of mistrust, hate speech and
intolerance, which is a dangerous trend. The way to fight them is first through
education, knowing better about other cultures and developing tolerance and
mutual understanding. In my work in UNESCO, we want to show the history of how
different religions - Buddhism, Islam and Christianity - communicated, shared
and sometimes even borrowed the others' values. By showing this, we try to
fight against intolerance and exclusiveness of some cultural thinking.
Ning Qiang
Professor at the School of History, Capital Normal
University
When China invites all the Asian countries together to have
a dialogue, we talk to each other and understand each other, and then we
probably would reach a conclusion that we are neighbors. The neighboring art
has its own diversities and identities. But at the same time, we would find
people and art in this region have a lot of common features. This dialogue is a
way to bring neighbors together and form an Asian art community. In such a way,
we would have a more harmonious community and neighbors would learn from each
other and appreciate each other's cultural traditions.
Art is a way to soften contradictions and melt the ice of
difference. The common will of people on the earth is to look for happiness and
good life instead of fighting or arguing with each other. We come to share
experiences and cultural accomplishment of different countries in the region.
The theory of clash of civilizations has limitations by
putting too much attention on the “clash” side, instead of the “peace” side.
The history of Asian civilizations shows us that the mainstream is peace and
people’s wish for beauty, harmonious lifestyle and living together.
Cultural exchanges promote peace, shared future: CDAC delegates
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