What could you do with a trillion US dollars? Yes, that's right, a million million dollars? Well, for a start you could fund the UN and all its agencies fifty times over. Or for less than 1% of the total you could enable every child in the world to go to school, or fund some serious renewable energy programmes.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world is currently spending over a trillion dollars per year on arms - a figure fast approaching levels last seen at the height of the cold-war arms race. The cold-war may be over, but in its place many are arguing that the world is facing a 'clash of civilizations' between the Western and Muslim worlds which requires continued high military spending.
Climate change and tackling world poverty are, in the eyes of many people, the most urgent tasks facing this generation. Yet so long as we are locked into old patterns of conflict and struggles for power we will not make progress on other issues. The words of Martin Luther King apply: 'We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.'
On 13th November 2006, on a bridge over the Bosporus in Istanbul - symbolically linking the Muslim world and the West - a report was delivered to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
So what? Another UN report - a few more trees get cut down. What's new?
Well, for a start this is not your usual UN report. Its authors include Nobel Prize-winner Desmond Tutu, author Karen Armstrong and a former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami, as well as respected intellectuals and religious figures from around the world. Perhaps because of this their analysis goes beyond the usual partisan political point-scoring that many of us are used to. The reality is that the causes of the divides between the Muslim and Western worlds are complex.
Secondly, the report makes some concrete suggestions for action and offers a framework of principles - respect for human rights and the rule of law, valuing diversity, tackling poverty and encouraging representative and responsive democracy - which can help to bridge the divides.
Third, and most importantly, the most pressing problems facing humanity - the environment, poverty and the 'clash of civilizations' - are all interconnected and can only be tackled side-by-side. This framework of the UN offers the best chance of a systematic multilateral and multi-level approach to addressing these problems.
Let's unpack those reasons a bit more: In the preamble, 'Bridging the world's divides', the authors write about the unfortunate way that talk of a 'clash of civilizations' has distorted discussion and perceptions of the relationship between the West and Muslim worlds: 'The history of relations between cultures is not only one of wars and confrontation. It is also based on centuries of constructive exchanges, cross-fertilization, and peaceful co-existence. Moreover, classifying internally fluid and diverse societies along hard-and-fast lines of civilizations interferes with more illuminating ways of understanding questions of identity, motivation and behaviour. Rifts between the powerful and the powerless or the rich and the poor or between different political groups, classes, occupations and nationalities have far greater explanatory power than such cultural categories.'
The report goes on to talk about the way that globalization has both led to a growing income disparity between rich and poor, but has also challenged group identities in many parts of the world. Communities that feel marginalised tend to assert their primary identity more forcefully.
This trend is exacerbated by a history of colonial occupation in Muslim countries and the fact that many Muslims stand on ground under which lies oil and valuable minerals which big business and powerful nations want access to.
Furthermore, the report says that 'in the context of relations between Muslim and Western societies, the perception of double standards in the application of international law and the protection of human rights is particularly acute.'
The mass media also has a responsibility, frequently reducing complex issues to two-dimensional stereotypes. Religion is often targeted as 'the problem'. Yet no major religion condones the killing of innocents. In fact the problems lie more with the failure of societies to apply the basic values of compassion, fairness, integrity and reverence for life which are found in all faith-traditions.
Religion doesn't exist in a vacuum but is always entwined with politics, whether on the streets of Baghdad or the marbled corridors of Washington - and this despite the best efforts of the European Enlightenment and the founders of secular constitutions. If religion is concerned with the questions of 'how we should live' it could not be any other way. Yet just as religion seeks to influence politics, politicians also seek to influence the faithful. Sometimes it is hard to tell which is which.
Nowhere are these issues felt more intensely than in the lands sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. It is hard to conceive of anything that would do more to improve relationships between the West and the Muslim world than finding solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Thus, one of the report's principle recommendations is for concerted international efforts to progress this particular issue - including the drafting of a White Paper which 'gives a voice to the competing narratives on both sides, reviewing the successes and failures of previous peace efforts, and establishing clearly the conditions that must be met to find a way out of this crisis.'
Another recommendation is to make progress towards the ? - including halving the number of people living on less than one US dollar per day (the definition of absolute poverty), achieving universal access to primary education and empowering women. Populations who live in grinding poverty and who are poorly educated are more easily manipulated to direct their anger at scapegoats.
But perhaps the most interesting recommendations are not the political ones, but those aimed at changing the hearts and minds of populations. For example, training journalists in inter-cultural understanding, developing media content which fosters better understanding, ensuring that children's education equips them to live in a culturally diverse world, and promoting youth-exchanges.
Ultimately the United Nations alone can do little to promote this vision of an Alliance of Civilizations - and they recognize that. Addressing their recommendations not only to governments at every level but also non-government and civil-society organizations and societies at large, they call for partnership between many different organizations and bodies to be established, recognising that many are already at work in this area.
And this is where we come in, as ordinary people, concerned individuals. We can make a start wherever we are and make a difference. We can:
1. Step outside our comfort zones. How about talking to the person who is different and getting to know them? How about inviting them home and sharing hospitality? There is nothing like sitting together over a meal to break down barriers.
2. Listen to others. Everybody wants to be heard. When we really give space to others to hear their perspectives - even if we don't see things the same way - we build a bridge.
3. Focus on what is right, not who is right. So often pride, ego and power struggles get in the way, overtaking discussions and distracting from the real issues. There is a common ground of basic human values found in all cultures and religions which gives a helpful perspective.
4. Start with yourself. It is always easy to see where others fall short and need to change. But pointing fingers doesn't build trust. Better to ask 'Are there things I have done, or continue to do, that may cause a problem in this relationship?' and 'Are there things my people have done, or continue to do, which cause a problem in this relationship?' Where possible, we can then start to put things right. Often just admitting we have been wrong is enough to build a relationship.
by Mike Lowe
