GLOBALISATION:

A Threat to Cultural Diversity?

GLOBALIZATION IS ALSO PRESENTED AS A NATURAL PROCESS IN THE SENSE THAT IT OBEYS THE NATURAL LAWS OF THE MARKET ECONOMY.

THE FEARS SEEM TO REVOLVE PRIMARILY AROUND THREE POINTS:

a) The process seems too big, too fast, and beyond people's control;

b) For the average citizen, globalization implies opening their doors to the world, and therefore to the problems of the world, problems which are sometimes the result of long and complicated histories that are not easy to understand. Once aware of these problems, people fear, they will feel responsible for resolving them;

с) The interchange of objects, people and ideas creates a situation of general confusion in which people experience the loss of their traditional references, i.e., the loss of what they call their cultural identity.

This process of globalization is quickly accelerating, and soon we will find ourselves standing side by side, culture to culture, looking ahead for the first time towards a common future. This future does not belong to any one culture, but must instead be a shared project that allows the inclusion of all. At this moment, the question will arise: what shall we bring together into the 3rd millennium?

In contrast to the destructive process of globalization that is being led by banks and multinationals, the Humanist Movement has committed itself for 30 years to working towards the creation of a Universal Human Nation, one in which the differences between cultures would be considered of value and not something to be marginalized or eliminated.

The Universal Human Nation would be an expression of the first planetary civilization the human being has seen, and it will arise from within the hearts of humanity, not from its leaders.

At the base of the work of the Humanist Center of Cultures is this question: What contribution will each culture bring to the common project of the Universal Human Nation? Will they bring the frustration, the discrimination, the wars and violence that characterize some moments of their past? All the great cultures of the Earth have had humanist moments in their history, and to them they have to appeal in this special and critical moment of human civilization.

The task of all of the Center of Cultures - indeed, the task of all of us -- is to make people aware that their cultural differences can be something valuable, that the human being and not money is the most important value, that solidarity is far more important than competition. All this can appear like a utopian dream to many of us, especially when we walk under the skyscrapers and like insignificant ants look at the high places from which the powerful direct this destructive process of globalization.

THANX FOR YOUR ATTENTION

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