UN names Soyinka to global culture, peace panel
From Laolu Akande, New York

NOBEL Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has been named by the United Nations (UN) among a panel of prominent political, intellectual and religious figures around the world charged by the global body has charged with tackling the problems of cultural divides and diminishing global peace.



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The panel, which includes former presidents and leading global figures from all regions of the world, was set up by the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) with a view to promoting peace founded on justice, respect for human rights, gender equality and solidarity in the context of an increasingly globalised world.

UNESCO hosted the panel's first meeting last Thursday in the Paris office of the UN. Soyinka was one of the four panellists who spoke at the media conference held after the panel's inaugural talks.

Soyinka's contribution focused on theocracy as a system of governance and submitted that theocracy posed a threat to world peace.

The Nobel laureate also frowned at the idea of political correctness, which prevents people, governments and cultures from engaging in frank dialogues.

"To tackle the problem, we have to abandon political correctness," Soyinka added.

While stressing that he was not a secular fundamentalist who is opposed to religion and its legacy in society, Soyinka argued that theocracy as a form of governance contradicts "the free spirit of human beings."

"This day marks the beginning of an intellectual journey throughout which we will reflect on ways to trace new perspectives for peace in the 21st century," UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova, said at the launch of the High Panel on Peace and Dialogue among Cultures in Paris, France.

A UN statement said the ceremony also marked the official launch of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures and that the panel would take into account the challenges posed by climate change, management of resources as well as ethical and economic issues in regard to strengthening peace.

"The goal of the International Year is to help dissipate any confusion stemming from ignorance, prejudice and exclusion that creates tension, insecurity, violence and conflict," Bokova said.

"Exchange and dialogue between cultures are the best tools for building peace," she added, stressing that the main strategic lines of action entail strengthening quality education, including the teachings of the world's great civilisations and cultures.

"In the context of globalisation, which is also that of migrations, the parallel challenges of preserving cultural diversity and cultural identities and promoting intercultural dialogue take on a new importance and urgency," UNESCO said in a statement.

"Education is the key to success, especially for girls. However, it is also the key to learning to live together. The concept of peace has greatly evolved since the creation of UNESCO in 1945 and particularly in the last two decades, including greater involvement for women and youth," it added.

The panel's members have been asked to "reflect on and reinvent the construction of peace founded on justice, respect for human rights, gender equality and solidarity in the context of globalisation, and the challenges it poses, such as climate change, management of resources and ethical and economic issues, to which we must respond by consistently using the strength and impact of dialogue."

Its members include Kjell Magne Bondevik (Norway), former Prime Minister of Norway, Founder and President of the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights; Lydia Cacho (Mexico), journalist, World Press Freedom Laureate 2008; Mustafa Ceric (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina; May Chidiac (Lebanon), journalist, World Press Freedom Laureate 2006; Souleymane CissŽ (Mali), film-maker; Esther Coopersmith (U.S.), United Nations Peace Prize Laureate (1984) and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue (2009), among others.

That's great.