The Conclusions of the Conference “Overcoming Global Threats”

The conference “Overcoming Global Threats: Enhancing Inter-cultural Dialogue, Stability and Peace”, organized under the auspices of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Lubomír Zaorálek, was held on the 13–14th April 2016. It aimed at addressing the issues of overcoming global threats, developing inter-cultural and intra-cultural dialogue, including inter-religious and intra-religious respect and discussions, enhancing justice, mutual cooperation and stability.

The conference was attended by Czech and foreign human and social scientists, the ambassadors of countries of the European Union and the Muslim countries, and journalists.

The reality of series of wars and their consequences, including the destabilization of many countries and the migration crisis, requires new approaches to the contemporary threats, including a revitalization and reformulation of an idea of dialogue. A dialogue is a very old and fruitful principle which has helped us to cultivate relations among people from the ancient times till now. In the contemporary globalized world, however, there is an urgent need for broadening the idea into the concept of inter-cultural dialogue, including the inter-religious dialogue between European and Muslim perspectives. Investigation of various (not only Western) concepts of modernity and diversity creates one of the bases for an open inter-cultural dialogue.

In the same time, inter-cultural dialogue requires a mutual agreement between participants on the basic principles. Preconditions of inter-cultural dialogue are basic rights, justice, equality, and respect of human dignity, regardless of race, ethnicity, social or cultural status, gender and religion. This is a necessary precondition for understanding and respecting each other, developing trans-cultural consensus, and enlarging an extra-territorial recognition of various solutions beyond the territories of individual nations and within the United Nations.

The theme of global threats requires an analysis and ideas for the solution of various cultural, social, political, religious, military and other conflicts. In turn, it is linked to the topics of plurality of political and cultural models, participation of citizens, democracy, rights, and the rule of law.

We believe that bigotry must not become the new patriotism and that violence perpetrated in the name of religion is unacceptable. There is an urgent need to deconstruct the extremist discourse in favour of a reformist, contextualized and ethical discourse. At the same time, responsible reporting on cross-cultural issues is one of the vital issues in the globalized world, as various media often use drastic events to capitalize their economic and political gain. Conference participants expressed their concern over the rise of extremist movements and rhetoric, both in the Middle East and in Western countries, where the “others” are being object of assault, violence and injustice. There must be no place for such acts and rhetoric in the civilised world.

We would like to conclude that we consider inter-cultural dialogue a vital means in enhancing local and global justice, stability and peace, overcoming global conflicts and developing religious tolerance and mutual cooperation.

We believe in the revival of cosmopolitanism because, in the global age, we need recognition of individual persons and social and cultural groups living companionably together on the one planet.

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