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If it is true that democracy is the greatest achievement of the human race
since the march of civilization began, it is equally true that one of the
wellsprings of democracy is pluralism. When people came to realize that
diversity of creeds, opinions, viewpoints and tastes was one of the most
important features of humanity, it was natural for political systems to
incorporate and respect different trends without allowing any one of them,
even if it enjoyed a strong or even absolute majority, to deprive the
others of the right to differ from the majority view and to believe in
other programmes, ideas, systems and theories.
Indeed, as the march of civilization progressed, the realization that
pluralism was a basic feature of humanity evolved into a conviction that
pluralism was a source for the enrichment of human life as it expanded the
horizons of creativity, innovation and renewal.
Although most members of the community of nations subscribe to the notion
of pluralism as a basic component of their political systems, below the
surface is a different reality in which the vast majority of people remain
at a very primitive stage when it comes to really embracing this notion
and fully understanding and appreciating its meaning and benefits. This is
as true of the most advanced societies (led by the United States) as it is
of the less developed societies, including those of the Third World. There
is a mutual lack of understanding and mistrust between different
civilizations that render the benefits and potential advantages of
pluralism far fewer than they might otherwise have been. Some see the way
out of this dilemma as the 'standardization' of the world, i.e., the
replacement of diversity by a uniform model of civilization. Not only is
this an unattainable goal, it is the direct antithesis of the notion of
pluralism. Moreover, any attempt to impose a universal norm would lay the
ground for the spread of conflicts and clashes between civilizations to
the detriment of humanity as a whole.
Evidence of the vast legacy of mutual misunderstanding, mistrust and
misconceptions between civilizations can be found in western
civilization's view of most eastern civilizations, which is often based on
fanciful notions totally divorced from reality. It can also be found in
the often distorted perceptions ancient civilizations have of the West,
which tend to focus on the negative aspects of western civilization while
disregarding its positive aspects, even those which have benefited the
whole of humanity.
In recent years, the traditional mistrust between Orient and Occident was
given new impetus with the emergence of a school of thought in the West in
general and in the United States in particular which believes future
relations between civilizations will be marked by clashes and conflicts,
particularly the relationship between the West and Islam. The literature
put out by this school of thought reveals a startling lack of
understanding. Samuel P. Huntington's seminal book, The Clash of
Civilizations, and other similar works by authors such as Paul Kennedy and
Francis Fukoyama, are closer to journalistic articles than they are to
scholarly works based on a sound knowledge of the subject matter. In fact,
Huntington's book is an expanded version of an article he wrote originally
for the American quarterly, Foreign Affairs. Moreover, the authors of
these works lack the vision that would enable them to see a mechanism
which could replace the scenario of inter-civilizational clashes with a
scenario of dialogue between civilizations. That is not to say that the
scenario of a clash of civilizations can be altogether excluded, only that
dialogue is possible if the vision exists and if serious efforts are made
to transform it into reality.
Contemporary political discourse is peppered with references to democracy,
human rights, general freedoms and pluralism. But raising these slogans is
one thing, applying them is another. While nobody denies that these are
noble values representing the highest stage yet in the march of
civilization, the fact is that the way they are translated into reality
leaves much to be desired. This is particularly true of the value of
pluralism. For example, the West raises the banner of pluralism with one
hand while some of its citizens raise the banner of standardization with
the other. This confusion leaves a bewildered world convinced that
humanity has a long way to go before it can claim to have genuinely
adopted these values.
If pluralism means that a diversity of trends, creeds, cultures, tastes,
opinions and lifestyles is a basic feature of human life and a source of
its enrichment, it follows that we should strive for 'unity through
diversity'. This entails expanding a culture of respecting Otherness,
provided this applies to all parties simultaneously and on a basis of
parity. Respecting Otherness is in direct contradiction with the idea of
standardizing the world. Fortunately, this idea is not advocated by the
West as a whole and has not been taken up by western Europe. It is an
exclusively American notion based on nothing but America's cultural
poverty.
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