Book Review
DIALOGUE AMONG CIVILIZATIONS
Edited by Dr. Yayati Madan G. Gandhi
Published by GANDHI EARTH VISION FOUNDATION
First published in 2004
ISBN No. : 81-88871-00-1
Price : Rs. 200/-
Pages : 182/-
E-mail : southasianews@rediffmail.com
The book makes a powerful plea for Dialogue of Civilization as against Samuel Huntington's thesis concerning the Clash of Civilization.
Dialogue is best fitted to unravel the commonality of human concerns and endeavors and is the surest way to transform the myriad discords into harmony of living -an art which each one of us can learn to contribute to the common wellbeing. It brings out the most often forgotten truth that in life there are far more threads that unite than those that divide. No man or a civilization is an island but a current in the ocean of mankind. Bound by fraternal bonds all human beings are sharers in one common indivisible destiny. Poverty, illiteracy, political violence, pollution, the danger of thermo-nuclear confrontation etc. are some of the obvious enemies of mankind. These problems are not peculiar to any one particular civilization but transcending cultural and national frontiers they affect every one.
Today when mankind is confronted with a grim scenario involving clashes of national self interest, religious fundamentalism rooted in dogma and ignorance, ethnic and racial prejudices, dialogue can be a well trusted means of laying the groundwork of a new world order in which the least developed and most disadvantaged among the peoples can have an effective voice. Dialogue holds the prospect of converting confrontation to cooperation, depleting environment to sustainable environment, sectarian clashes to harmonic co-existence, fratricidal strife to fratricidal harmony. Dialogue is promotive of civic culture, social capital, democratic freedoms, human rights and social justice. It fosters peaceful living among people belonging to different religions, belief systems, cultures, races and civilizations. Dialogue holds fast to the human dimension and re-inforces the humane values of civilization. It inculcates rational scientific temper and contributes to creativity, adventure of ideas, respect for dissent and diversity, values of democracy, humanism, peace, understanding, adjustment and a sense of human brotherhood.
The book contains readings and excerpts from writings and speeches of notable thinkers, publicists and experts will, it is hoped, illumine some of the gray areas of the contemporaneous debate and will let us share mankind's common enduring concerns. The insights and harmonizing threads running through various cultures may help convert the clash of civilizations into the dialogue among civilizations, a phrase coined by His Excellency Mr. Mohammed Khatami, The President of Islamic Republic of Iran.
Thanks to the communication and information revolution, the world has shrunk into a global village. A true kno
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