INTRODUCTION

Commend Government of Spain and CARICOM Heads to hold this Seminar: Very timely and highly relevant

Thank Government of St. Lucia for splendid hospitality and fine arrangements. (This is an area where we excel in a competitive global marketplace)

We have all been exposed to learned presentations and stimulating discussions from distinguished Speakers.

Applaud contribution of Moderators, Panelists and Seminar Participants. Worthy of Seminar publication for wider discussion as citizens throughout the Caribbean and the wider world should be privileged to share in and benefit from our exchanges.

A report should be submitted to the High Level Group of Experts constituted by the Secretary General of the UN as we have no representative from the Caribbean on this august body. But as we know and have been reminded throughout this seminar, the Caribbean has its own distinctive flavour and brand.

Reference has already been made to the opening lecture in the series to celebrate our 30th anniversary “ Theme : Towards the Further Enhancement of Caribbean Civilisation.”

When we speak of the Caribbean, we should always remind ourselves that is not monolithic. It embraces the people who reside or originate in the countries whose shores are washed by the Caribbean sea.

Cuba and Haiti deserve to be singled out for special mention as being undeniably Caribbean. Guadeloupe & Martinique may be constitutionally part of France, but natural disasters seem not to recognize this when they affect the Caribbean.

It has been the battleground over many centuries by the British, Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese and the Danes, who managed to virtually eliminate our indigenous people. Its population is comprised of Jews, Arabs, Chinese, Indians, Europeans of all nationalities and Africans from many tribes.

It is situated at the crossroads of the world: between East and West where North meets South.

We are a microcosm of the world community – a racial melting pot.

And so the Caribbean insists that there can be no alliance of civilizations which excludes us. We maintain not only the right to speak for ourselves in the current global dialogue and discourse, but also assert that we can contribute much to a successful outcome by dint of our own unique experience.

BACKGROUND

Never been a time in the history of mankind bereft of conflict. Indeed, throughout the Ages, there has been conflict even as to how the universe came into existence:

Theories of creation vs evolution vs Big bang theory.

To proclaim in favour of one, against the other, ran the risk of being burned at the stakes for heresy or being condemned as antediluvian.

1. 9/11 – Truly a defining moment

2. Can the present crisis be traced to ‘biblical times?’

3. This triggered the question

4. Where did civilization “begin”?

5. “We judge things according to what we are.” Aquinas learnt from Aristotle.

THE AFTERMATH OF THE COLD WAR & THE ESCALATION OF CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Within the last 2 decades, we have witnessed catacylismic changes in the world - the collapse of the Berlin Wall - the disintegration of the Soviet Union With the end of the Cold War and the reduction of any threat from a nuclear holocaust, one was entitled to hope for a rich dividend which would promote universal peace and prosperity for all mankind.

Instead, the world is witnessing unprecedented turmoil and is more divided than ever before on lines of wealth, race and religious creed.

The contest for unswerving allegiance between two superpowers has been replaced by the seeming insistence for all nations to bow under the sway of a single dominion. There is now a single hegemony.

Ideological pluralism is no longer in vogue.

Globalisation, accepts that it is quite alright for one fifth of humanity to survive on no more than US$1 per day and for 2.5 billion people to earn less than US$2 daily.

Contending views as to economic models are no longer tolerated since unbridled market forces are supposed to rule supreme even if they result in spreading poverty, hunger and disease which spur social tension and instability.

THE FORCE OF CULTURE & RELIGION

Culture is a cornerstone of every civilization. It invariably has some religious content.

The clash of civilizations gained currency since Professor Huttington propounded a theory of universality that if all people were not alike, they had to be influenced or coerced. This was the only way of averting a clash between Islam and Christianity, and between the civilizations of the Orient and Western civilization.

Such clashes have long taken place between populations that live by different value systems based on a particular history and lifestyles underpinning worldviews, attitudes to authority, political theory and practice etc.

In short the cultural orientation of specific aggregations of persons who have shared a common geographical space and set of experiences over time become distinctive to those persons.

Religion as a primary cultural index easily manifests such differences between “civilizations”.

The existence of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, the three strongest monotheistic religions that have been in ancient touch with each other have long been in contestation in zealous proselytizing among humanity in search of new converts. The Inquisition and the Crusades are well known aspects of human life.

The present clash between Islam and the West (once known as Christendom) has been exacerbated by issues that are economic (oil), political (the security of Israel; Judaism being no longer in contestation with Christianity), ethnic (Muslims are largely Arabs or non-Caucasian) and overall cultural (language, religion, ethnicity, artistic manifestations).

Some western powers have tried to reduce the cause of current global tensions to the conflict between Judeo-Christianity and Islam and to establish a casual relationship between radical Islamists and global tensions.

But here in the Caribbean and in the developing world, the analysis is more sophisticated; and there is wide consensus that the state of world turmoil cannot be blamed on religious groups unaligned to the Western philosophical canon. Current political tensions must be traced to 500 years of colonization, imperialism and neo-imperialism and the failure of those who committed the crime to repair the socio-economic and political damage done to former and current colonized peoples over those 500 years.

- Reaction to the Danish Cartoon

Pope Benedict’s quoting a mediaeval Emperor who judged Mohammed, the Prophet in a negative light, implying that he was an apostle of terrorism, has turned out to be politically inappropriate. The Muslims have responded as expected. An alliance needs to be forged.

Other religious conflicts trumping “alliance between civilizations” evident in 20thC politics – Nazis (“pure Caucasians”) eliminating Jews, gypsies, etc all worked within the national ambit of the nation of Germany.

CARIBBEAN EXPERIENCE

Such alliances are possible (cite the Caribbean with its history of succeeding arrivants – from Europe, Africa, Asia (China and India) the Levatine Coast (Syrians). Commitment to a nation of cultural diversity and the conscious efforts in nation-building, of a culture/politics of inclusion targeting ecumenism – Interfaith observances (Hindu, Muslim, Judiac, Christian) non-racialism (as is the hope of Mandela’s South Africa after apartheid.

It was the West Indian Nobel Laureate Sir Arthur Lewis, a true Caribbean man who managed to remind his regional compatriots that:

“Music, literature and art are as important a part of the heritage of mankind as are science and morals. They differ from science in that they do not represent what is, but are products of the creative imagination. They have, therefore, infinite scope for variation.
And yet they tend to be distinctively national in character.
This is the essential and most valuable sense in which West Indians must be different to other people.”

Calypso and reggae from either end of the Region are well renowned.

The only new musical instrument introduced in the 20th century was the steel pan.

Popular music, from calypso through zouk to reggae/dancehall, belongs to the mass of the population and are regional expressions whatever their original places of origin.

The Caribbean literary achievement is itself second to none. There have been Nobel Laureates for Literature in the recent past – in the persons of Derek Walcott and Vidia Naipaul; novelists of the ilk of George Lamming and Earl Lovelace ; poets aplenty from Suriname’s Martin Dobru, through to Jamaica’s Lorna Goodison, Cuba’s Carpentier and Nicolas Guillen and the great many others who through the magic of their imagination have over the past half century reminded us that there is logic and a consistency to being Caribbean.

DEMOCRACY Political values and attitudes are evident in policies to respect varied expressions of dealing with the administration of power. Democracy has to be discovered by different people against their history, and cultural development. So making the world safe for democracy is not a wise mantra for a peaceful world. Respect for family, women, individual rights need to be achieved by a people and not imposed. Otherwise there can be no peace. A civil society in an acceptable world order has to be predicated on mutual respect, tolerance and understanding of each other’s views of the world.

Still, no reason to yield to temptation to impose one’s model on others.

In any case the notion that “God is on my side” and less on others is bound to backfire. God may well be on everybody’s side. There must be room for such a possibility in relating to others – if a true alliance is to be forged.

In an exclusive claim to the Almighty has led to problems – from Cromwell in his English Protectorate to present problems in Iraq. Religious fundamentalism whether of bin Laden or the religious right of the USA can never facilitate alliance between civilizations. A willingness to abandon such claims is critical to peace and mutual understanding.

CHALLENGES TO THE NEW WORLD ORDER

The analysis we have shared in this seminar establish that there are major challenges for globalization which is already forging a countermove to the continuing hegemony of the North Atlantic over the Third World. For people will retreat to zones of comfort over which they can have full control (hence the power of the arts exercising the imagination and religion taking “victims” beyond the reach of “the oppressors”.

Appreciation of value pluralism, diversity and difference may well be the safest guide to peaceful alliance of civilizations.

Human history has no libretto according to the 19th century Russian thinker, Alexander Herzen.

We may wish to ponder what an analyst (John Cray) recently said of the thought inspired by an earlier pronouncement: “Human history is a realm of contingency and unpredictability, in which each generation faces conflicts that have no ideal solution …..the belief in a universal pattern of development with which every society must confirm was not only a delusion, it was also a recipe for tyranny. [So] sacrificing present liberty for the sake of an imaginary future harmony [is] was fanatical folly”.

And this was said before Marxism-Leninism and Stalin and certainly before George W. Bush.

We may need to ponder such things for the 21st century world and remind ourselves of some of the folly of certain misguided visions of the past century which led to immense suffering but which reminds us that in God’s house there are, indeed, many mansions.

Conclusion The former imperial powers have up to now refused to atone for the sins of the past. We cannot wait until they see fit to repair the damage. We must be conscious of the need to march forward with confidence in ourselves to build our own edifice and fashion our own tapestry which can enrich the Caribbean civilization. The peculiar history of the Caribbean chronicles a special ethnic mix which has contributed immensely to our cultural diversity and religious heterogeneity. That is the rock on which we seek to build a Caribbean civilization in order to release our creative energies, establish our own identity and fashion a Caribbean society where peace, tolerance and harmony prevail.

Where every man, woman and child can chart his or her own destiny and thereby fulfill his or her own true potential.

It could well prove our most precious and lasting contribution to attaining a true and enduring alliance of global civilizations.