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Interaction and Asymmetry between Cultures in the Context of Globalization
IV International Congress of Intercultural Philosophy
September 17-20, 2001
Bangalore, India

Report

  We, the 84 philosophers and other intellectuals from all over the world who have come together in Bangalore, India, from the 17th to the 20th of September 2001 for the IV Congress on Intercultural Philosophy with the theme Interaction and Asymmetry between Cultures in the Context of Globalization, want to express our feelings of sympathy with the victims of the heinous acts of terrorism in New York and Washington, as well as our sincere concern about the further fall out of these historically unprecedented acts. We therefore like to state and declare the following:

  1. We condemn most strongly the terrorist acts against thousands of human lives and we share the suffering and grief of the families and friends of the victims.

  2. We state that indiscriminate violence blinds one to the truth. This is true specially of the perpetrators of these terrible attacks. It can also blind those who are victims of violence and destruction. We deplore that these acts perpetrated by some fanatic individuals has led to increasing demonization of Islam and acts of vengeance against innocent Muslims and Sikhs in many parts of the world.

»We are convinced that the attacks of horror on the world's leading economic and political power should not be answered by arbitrary acts of violence of the same kind against innocent people. There is need for a radical reflection on the political and economic framework of today's capitalist globalization, as well as the firm will to engage intercultural and interreligious dialogue.«

  3. Although there is no excuse for what has happened and it cannot be compared with any terrorist attack so far, we want to remember at the same time that thousands of women and men are killed every day in different parts of the world, in Sudan, Indonesia, Palestine, Congo, India, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and elsewhere in undeclared and declared wars.

  4. We fully agree that terrorism is not the way to resolve global problems of injustice, inequalities, neocolonialism and cultural imperialism. Hence terrorism in any form from anywhere is to be condemned. But the underlying problems will not be resolved by combating terrorism through military means.

  5. We are conscious that the terrible events in New York and Washington with its unprecedented dimensions refer to an economic, political and cultural reality which the majority of the humankind is experiencing everyday. These are the undesirable consequences of a unipolar and economically biased process of globalization promoted by the decision makers in the North which benefit only an enriched minority to the exclusion of the poor majority.

  6. We experience – not only here in India – that the present form of globalization causes millions of victims and leads to cultural and religious deterioration, acts of despair and a climate of hostility and conflict between cultures and religions.

  7. We are convinced that the attacks of horror on the world's leading economic and political power should not be answered by arbitrary acts of violence of the same kind against innocent people. There is need for a radical reflection on the political and economic framework of today's capitalist globalization, as well as the firm will to engage intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

  8. As philosophers, we try to offer some elements of analysis and proposals concerning the asymmetry and interaction between cultures, as well as possibilities of real intercultural encounter and dialogue. We call all human beings of good will to join us in this way of dialogue, so that such terrible acts of violence and destruction will never occur again.

Bangalore, September 20, 2001

polylog: Forum for Intercultural Philosophy 3 (2001).
Online: http://agd.polylog.org/3/rvd2-en.htm
ISSN 1616-2943

© 2001 IV Congress on Intercultural Philosophy & polylog e.V.