So when it comes to self identity, in what kinds of groups are we most likely to flourish? And if the sociological truism holds that we bond first with those who confirm our identities by being most like us, how large is that group likely to be?

Steven Pinker, in The Blank Slate, states that “The universality of ethnocentrism and other forms of group-against-group hostility across societies, and the ease with which such hostility can be aroused in people within our own society” is one of the greatest obstacles to the extension of identity communities.

Still, for an opener, you can see self and group formation at work in high school cafeterias as clusters of the like-minded create an identity by excluding outsiders, largely through gossip, sometimes around matters as trivial as a dress code, or who owns the latest electronic gadgetry. In effect, they are behaving like little tribes or nations. The fascinating part is the emotional drive to belong, and the fear of exclusion, even from groups arbitrarily defined and ephemeral, including those created in cyber space. These same principles pertain to the 700 gangs which form the social fabric of south-central Los Angeles. Yet, arguably, this same group-making process, through intellectual imagination, might be extended all the way up to the world nation or global community, with each echelon defined by shared interests, activities, values, and memories. A nation, among them, is a mutuality of thinking among persons sharing common purposes. Yet as a principle of social cohesion, it is also emotional, allegiance-oriented, exclusionary, and collectively administered. There is no nation without those who are not members. Nations may also entail chauvinism, loyalty tests in time of threat, and hostility toward non-members. Karl Deutsch famously defined a nation as “a group of people united by a mistaken view about the past and a hatred of their neighbors.” In his view, national groups lie to themselves about who they are as warriors or victims in order to justify their aggression. They can act as gangs. That is an unnecessarily dark view of the national experience, but it gets much brighter as we go along.

According to the traditional dictionary definition, a national bond arises, not only because people share a common geographical territory, but because they practice the same mores, speak the same language, worship the same gods, fight common enemies, participate in the same identifying rituals and traditions, share a common stock of stories and a common history, and are often related to each other through blood ties. Cohesion around sporting events and beer preferences is merely a parody of bedrock national identity, although in a self-effacing manner, Canadians like to start there. But it is inversely conceivable that diverse peoples with diverse allegiances may somehow share a common territory without a sense of national identity, because most of those listed characteristics typically defining a nation are simply not shared by the members of pluralistic societies. So if such populations are to find an identity center for themselves in a nation, they really have only three options.

One is to redefine themselves around more vague, generic and inclusive categories of nationhood. Another is to impose uniformity through the melting pot, the Lord Durham solution, through enforced and universal education, imposed official languages, an official history, and official social rituals in the search for a common brand of allegiance. A third is to choose a new concept under which they can unite themselves as a secular community and forget about being a nation altogether. In my view of Canadian practice, we are currently pursuing all three solutions at once. The third option entails falling back upon the universals of our humanity. We might simply acknowledge the common desires and instincts of all humankind as members of the global village, and we might view Canada as a piece of this village in which we listen to each other’s first national stories in a spirit of good will. Is that not the mandate of the Canadian ministry of multiculturalism? To be sure, it would seem only right that we remain free to express the national imperatives of our birthplaces, our mother tongues, our religions, and our respective ethnicities, yet such practices appear to obstruct the formation of a specifically Canadian national identity-or maybe not? The point is very much up for discussion.

Let’s return for a moment to the second option, the nationalist teach-in for all citizens. While recognizing diversity, national governments may also recognize the value in proactively promoting a national brand, but it is a challenging enterprise, because a meaningful nationalism cannot be bought with jingoism, cheerleading, and trinkets, or bread, circuses, and revisionist history. Identity as a mind-state entails a combination of pride and duty that is somehow earned and experienced, who knows exactly how? It is something we instinctively desire, yet identity arises only when we feel emotionally drawn to the collectivity of minds, values, and practices that constitute a nation-the argument becomes circular. We may well wonder how such emotional allegiances may best be fostered. It is a point to which I will return. But it must also be lamented that nations may also include stories of failure; in fact, our literature is full to overflowing with them, and they are studied in our university classrooms with empathetic attention. From that perspective, a lament for our national failure to create a national home for new Canadians may be our most common and unifying characteristic; it is an obsession among our literary critics.

There are many stories to choose from, but I am most immediately reminded of a touching personal narrative written by Elena Maccaferri and translated by her sister as A Bench on Which to Rest. Maccaferri came to Canada from a small village above Bologna, lured to a better life by an Italo-Canadian who promised marriage, but failed to meet her at the dock upon her arrival. A hard and lonely life followed, until she was at last found by a man who had also come from her village. She went on to raise children here, who grew up Canadian in soul and spirit, but Elena could never find a true home away from her native mountains, and was overwhelmed by nostalgia. At last, when her children were grown, she returned to Italy, only to discover that all she once knew had vanished. Canada had found no place in her emotions, but had succeeded only in alienating her even from her own children.

Thomas Henricks stated that “for the most part, people experience personhood in the terms that their host societies offer them.” But that does not always happen, and when that host society somehow fails to offer acceptable terms around which personal values can flourish, the story becomes tragic, as it was for Maccaferri. It was a crisis in personal identity in relation to a nation. And while I’m telling stories about the inability of a host nation to inspire allegiance, I’ll mention another, which goes back to my bachelor days as a young Carleton professor. I had just exhausted my resources on a six-bedroom fixer-upper in Ottawa south with rooms left over to rent out to students. In that little community we had a mysterious roomer who never joined in our collective kitchen exploits and conversations. That was not a problem in itself, but his place in the household came to a strange crisis, nevertheless, when one afternoon a couple of the other students found him in the kitchen counting out huge piles of change. He explained simply that if the laundromat owners were so stupid in their choice of coin boxes, they deserved to be robbed. In no time I had a report upstairs, and went down for an account of my own. It was a sad litany: that his father had come to Canada with promises and expectations, and that to his mind this country had ruined him, giving him only custodial work to do. In his disappointment, he had trained his children to blame the entire country, giving them carte blanche to recover his losses any way they could. The laundromat theft had been conducted as a grievance against the nation. Any Canadian was thus a fair target, and revenge could be taken indiscriminately. What bizarre turns the idea of nation can take; it is a reminder that dialogue can help.

When social groups are organized around adhesion to extended clans or tribes, as they were among the First Nations of the New World, we have an early example of the tribal-nation as a tight working survival community sharing a single culture, and calling for unflinching loyalty. But it was only after the long hiatus of the Dark Ages, and a pre-Renaissance period characterized by city states and assorted feudal principalities that the modern nation emerged in conjunction with the political institutions that framed the autonomous state.

The sixteenth century was the first great age of nation building, with England leading the way under the Tudors. And what an experiment it was. A poem I teach nearly every year is entitled The Faerie Queene, written by Edmund Spenser. It was, unabashedly, a national epic which, by chivalric and allegorical example, set out to teach its readers the great civic virtues upon which the new nation could build, including loyalty to the queen and a sense of duty in the cause of right and justice.

Of course, there is nothing like war and the threat of invasion to quicken a sense of common cause and rouse a sense of national fervor. This is simply a by-product of the craving for self- protection which can only be realized where there is a feeling of all-for-one and one-for-all. Canadians still construct some of their strongest moments of national identity through recollections arising from the First and Second World wars. They are noble stories in which we all can share, dealing with a nation coming of age through the baptism of sacrifice. And we have been reminded at times that the nation expects such matters to be treated with ultimate respect and honor. On these occasions the self is lost for a moment in the experience of the nation, and in that regard it is an experience of extended identity, a national ritual that contains the self within the group. The spiritual philosopher, Fethullah Gulen, extends that loss of self in a nation into a hope for a collective future: “Any nation that liberates itself from the deadly web of selfishness and egoism, stereotyping, excessive entitlements, fear of the future, long-lasting hatred and hostility, and at the same time respects the freedom of ideas and beliefs, while turning away from oppressors, as well as giving rights to the innocent, will surely experience long life.” That requires not only self-investment, but collective monitoring and the mastery of the dialogic self in each member. Such a nation must seek to amplify the positive qualities of experiential identity at the national level. But how to extend that experience to the optimum level of respectful allegiance is a challenging formula to meet.

We are, in fact, discussing a rather elusive state of mind. What is it like to experience an ideal national allegiance? How will it feel to be a participating member? One part of our nature seeks a spontaneous glow of unconditional brotherhood in a community of homogenous values. Another part realizes, intellectually, that we have a mutually beneficial contractual arrangement with fellow citizens only at a legal and organizational level. The German terms for these, often employed by scholars, are gemeinschaft for the former, and gesellschaft for the latter. The contrast can be understood historically. In the Middle Ages, rural populations spent their entire lives within view of their parish church steeples; their thought preoccupations were concerned with fixed or received views invested in work, rituals, and customs which remained unchanged throughout generations. Such communities had little need for debate or discussion, because everyone knew what the others were thinking. These were societies entirely integrated through common religious festivals, language, history, and traditions. These were experiential quality nations generating a sense of gemeinschaft.

Renaissance societies worked outwards from this communal base toward new identities based on restraint in a secular, legislated, legal, and impersonal society. This new order we might call a second experiential quality of nation, conceived as a partnership or a social contract to promote political and economic order. Both the communal nation and the legal nation are principles of group organization and experience, but they do not share a common ethos. For better or for worse, the modern plural nation has been compelled to redefine itself as a society regulated by law, charters, and citizenship-a gesellschaft. My point is that as societies foster libertarian individualism, much of that intuitive and communal sense of the first experiential quality of nation disappears. We have heard much, since the nineteenth century, about alienation, solipsism, existentialism, the anxieties of modernity, the breakdown of the nuclear family, rapid mobility, and transnationalism.

The longing for a tribal structure in size and cohesion prevails even in modern societies. We might try to replace that feeling at the national level through an equitably administered legal society, through education, and through health and welfare support. But that returns us to the awkward crux. Does a true sense of brotherhood and identity emerge only when there are collective bonds that include language, religion, customs, food and festivals, and life on a village scale? States may structure themselves around welfare nets, global educational systems, and the legal protection of opportunity for all, but there remains intense anxiety over the oneness of our collective national experience.

Donald A. Beecher is Chancellor’s Professor at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
(Editor’s note: A follow-up of this article can be find in the 100th issue of The Fountain Magazine)

It seems that uncertainty instead of diversity is prevailing from the eve of post-modernism, thinning the lines between world cultures and societies from day one. In search of “theory of everything,” we have almost forgotten all good and great theories and ideas about everything, leading us to skepticism and unbelief. The challenge of open skepticism tends to create more refusals than acceptance and the objective of higher education fails bitterly here, an objective that is to create a global level of understanding of the universal phenomena and to proceed with a uniform level of evolution of the intellectual mind. Instead of growing intellectual maturity and reflexivity, the symptoms of anxiety and panic and/or withdrawal are prevailing. Is this a healthy sign? Will we be able to save the sanity of the world?

In sanity lies peace and stability, and both are at stake. Now there are two choices: The first is whether the world knowledge leaders should aspire to regress back to pre-industrial revolution’s feudal monarchy based upon resignation to a single authority, where people are more entitled to powers by declaration of ownership and where there are no choices but moralized obedience to such authorities. In corporate world, Machiavellian moral has already been resounding that might is right and means may not justify the end. Such regression calls for the indoctrinated agenda of the education with priests and preachers ruling the mobs and world streets are rushing for it. The second choice or alternative is that people should embrace postindustrial Marxist-Socialist interventions, which celebrate sharing rather than ownership. The individuals sub-serve the community and in turn communities the nation; whereas, the nations must not compete in status but protect the welfare of its citizens. Whether the traditional concepts of “welfare” and “citizenship” still exist in today’s world is questionable.

Since the right of choice is still available, the nations and communities are making blind choices without thinking of the outcomes of the outcomes. What will happen to nations who will fail to attain socio-cultural and political balance in their visions? They may hear the sound of the doomsday bell ringing in their ears, thinking that they have enough time to fight till the “end.” Actually, sound travels slower than light and people are misled to believe that doomsday has yet to come, whereas, the reality has crossed that threshold much earlier and what they are witnessing is the after-math; just like a Tsunami that passes in a few minutes and only some people survive to witness its after-effects. The victims remain in shock, while those who have not experienced a Tsunami themselves hang in confusion, pondering whether their present condition is the result of the Tsunami or post-Tsunami mishandling of affairs. They may continue creating split-hair logics till doom, but their wish to reverse time remains a dream.

Similar has been the case with the “corporate” Tsunami; it came and it won – not just overpowered but overthrew everything else. We were in midst of celebrating the glory of human worth crowning individual freedom and liberalism while achieving the impossible, reaching beyond skies and galaxies through advents of natural science. We are unable to justify from where this financial meltdown came and suddenly we found ourselves struck with global recession, as if travelling on the smooth pathways of the Milky Way, we were suddenly engulfed by a black hole.

Will this mammoth spit us out alive? Is living inside a dragon “life”? Are we not inside a cave as Plato had remarked, but inside a dragon? The world outside is no more a safer place to live with nuke ideas, but living inside the dragon, the corporate culture, is wearing us out of our vitality and enthusiasm. Our weakening may weaken the dragon but do we want to die with the dragon or live with it? Those of us who believe in the afterlife, we may have the spirit to risk martyrdom or if we have the feudal courage, we may have cut the stomach line of the dragon with our bear hands, as if ploughing the fields. Kingship and martyrdom are the stories of the past. We believe in peace not war, therefore we should manage to live with the dragon. Now onwards, every tear or drop of perspiration is creating dwarfs of “relativism” and “nihilism.” The harder we work, the more we reduce in size, creating our own prototypes. Small is beautiful, but what will happen when all of us will be cut to the same size? We are shrinking together; whether or not will we grow together is questionable. I grew up listening to the stories that explained how once the earth was populated by giants and dinosaurs, and a Tsunami came and all of them became extinct.

I’ve been informed that post-modern life knows no ethical limits, understanding that values are a matter of choice, a matter of aesthetical personal taste, and suddenly I am reminded that the purpose of higher education was to develop that aesthetical taste in favor of public good. Why then should we refuse the hegemony of valued knowledge and insist on creating new knowledge of “no taste”? No wonder this “new knowledge” is impoverishing both bodies and minds rather than nurturing them. The knowledge remains stratified and complex, non-chewable and non-digestive for the common as it was engineered to fit the purpose of the “elitist corporate.” The elitism is created on the type of education one has received rather than how knowledgeable one is, where reason reigns supreme and traditional methods of acquiring knowledge are blandly rejected being accused of spreading false prophecies and hearsay.

It is not only in the field of knowledge that legitimization of factionalism and particularism has gone too far, it has also affected the social fabric of society as well. When we witness the mixing of gender and social identities, the puzzled mind asks: which gender of which race do you belong to? Elongation of the ego exposes shadows and in a consumerist world, the question is how we can cease any production. Who will dare stop them? Who has the right to exercise “choice”? Whatever come may, the post-modern world is committed to the challenge of social change and social justice, no compromise, no deal to public freedom, whether they create demons or mole hills. They are liable to create colonies and their inhabitants. Does residence and citizenship still matter?

As the Tsunami of media and information technology has been rising, social sciences have remained dumbfounded as individuals become plain victims questioning oneself in sheer pain and guilt about one’s identity: who is the citizen of which world, real or cyber? Citizenship itself is challenged employing virtual rights over social networks. With the population of cyber networks increasing at a faster rate than the population of countries and may be that of small continents, everyone is jubilant at the promise of post-modernism fulfilled – the promise of diversity. It is not setting new world order, but a new social order, defining rules of communication and relationships, where virtual existence matters more than the real one and remarkable solutions for issues related to time and space are readily available.

The citizens of a global world have never experienced such flexibility before. The gates of Eden are wide open and you do not need to carry a “good deeds license” to enter. All you need is a cyber-work-space to enter the world of ideas. Is it a dream or an “afterlife” because that too appears to be more virtual than real. Again the boundaries are thinning between the virtual and the real, between a scope of possibilities and number of its realization, all that corporate citizenship wants is huge numbers so the giants are feeding on numbers and digits. Should I worry?

While waves of uncertainty crash to a shore nearby, I embrace the warmth of diversity emanating from the Sun above. I recognize my impotence before such radiance and realize that just like the sun, there is a unity that binds humanity together.

Dr. Arif is the Head of Department Psychology, University of Central Punjab, Pakistan.

Note

[1] Heterotopia: An idealized utopia of heterogeneity, that of mixing social gender and identities by realizing the principle of diversity

Just like the alternation of the day and the night with the succession of the light after darkness in every twenty-four hours, the rising and regression of nations have always occurred in successive turns of prosperity and hard times.

As for the leading figures of these nations, we see them swaying backward and forward with transformations and alterations, once in love with religious devotion and piety, at a different time bewitched by the things of this life, and yet at other unfortunate times captured in the web of materialism with no righteousness, morality, or character.

As a matter of fact, it would be quite wrong to conceive of any state or nation that is on the rise, taking root everywhere, as making consistent progress on a single plan and seeing it all religiously-oriented and heavenly-driven with regard to their rule and influence. Following their creation, everything enters into the process of growth, finds itself on the path of expansion and the ramp of ascension; however, only those upon whom fate smiles grow and flourish, and everything that grows is bound to die sooner or later!

To the extent of our interconnectedness with the cosmos and events, we can observe and witness all this phenomena unfolding before us every day. As we peruse the existence and events around us, if we can direct our thoughts and imagination towards historical occurrences as the consecutive projections of each other or as the overlapping pile-ups on top of each other, then we will testify that the world has turned green and blossomed, has tidied up and gathered strength, has revived and stood back on its feet as many times as it has stumbled and fallen over.

We are astounded by the moribund communities and nations, which, like the leaves caught in an abrupt gale or the ivy whose branches are torn off and yet cling to or twine about any support so as not to topple down, get back to their previous track, make great efforts with avidity, and speed towards their time of greatest power and authority. They gush out suddenly and unexpectedly, looking forward to rebirth, as if in an undeveloped shoot of plants, within the most indistinct and tiniest hollow on the stem, rooted in the past with the strength for growth after their decline; they run to grow by clinging to the points of support like ivy plants and try very hard to have springtime just once more.

Who knows how many times the roots, stem, and the branches of the society have been shaken with tempests! Who knows how many times it turned pale from the ice-cold and became ash gray under the heat of sun! Who knows how many times it has risen again in various spheres and grown rife! If the falls have taken away some part of its life and vigor, the springs have embosomed it so intimately with sparkling colors that everything else is discolored and all deceptive colors fade away one by one.

After seeing everything in an astonishing harmony, composed of teensy weensy constituents mixing up quietly and fascinatingly-seeing all these resuscitating in an unexpected manner and with an unanticipated liveliness, how can one ascribe this captivating vitality that looks like stillness and this unity that gives the impression of disorderliness to the true and eternal death and departure? Besides, even if this is temporarily so, every winter is followed by the spring and every night by the day.

From the point of recurring occurrences in history, it was nothing but such empty words heard at the beginning of the twentieth century: “Religion has been defeated by positivism” (as was formed in the mind of those with deviant thinking), “the spirit is down and out in the face of materialism”; “the atom is the essence of everything”; “the existence of all is dependent on material things”-it was such codswallop in the ears. Since the notion of energy was not fully comprehended, the atom was accepted as an unquestionable whole in those days. Before the turn of the second half of the twentieth century, however, materialism was shaken with the first surprising blow from within the circle of their own. It struggled with and got defeated by the perception of its inherent power (energy). Even if energy was not known in all its complexity at the time, it started to show its teeth, becoming more cognizable through the effects of its work. At the time, physics was aware of only its doings and not of energy itself; science considered energy as the capability of the matter or a physical system to carry out work. The science of physics had no knowledge of the real nature of this capacity, its general features, and its qualities.

The coming of energy into prominence occurred at the same time as the materialist philosophy entered into the sphere of the unknowns, chasms, and hardships. It was at this time that matter was believed to have the capability of turning into energy, journeying in the same realms with the spirits. According to the reality of the time, matter-something regarded as the proof for materialism-actually testified against materialism. If the atom is a power compressed and placed in a micro body and has the capability of not yielding to force and if all existence and incidents are created within this fountain of power and are endowed with their latent energy to full growth, those who discovered this immense power whose magnitude is accepted as not measurable in numbers and who burned down Hiroshima and Nagasaki did indeed not only put materialism to death but also trumpet forth its historic death while they were enunciating its enchanting efficacy only upon that occasion.

Everybody knows the rest of the story; we have witnessed the defeat of the forged system based on materialism-a deceiving system with its formation of the family and the society, its social and economic structure, its understanding of arts and esthetics, and its interpreting power of things and beings.

After all that bloodshed, casualties, and financial loss and all those years of life spent in vain, now we are once again ushering in the profundity of faith and spiritual thinking with the perception transcending matter and all existence. This was experienced before when we felt the universal truth in our pure conscience and had welcomed a glorious period of eight hundred years after being long exposed to such kind of chaos and disturbances a thousand years ago.

It is beyond doubt that the most influential power in the establishment of such a glory surpassing everything else belonged to faith. Thanks to faith that our society moved from the mundane to the spiritual life, from chaos to the order, from emptiness to the ideal, from narrowness of mind to the immenseness far beyond this world and the other world and became aware of the depth and extensiveness of their scope. It rediscovered its true worth and merit, its particular way of life, the refinement and grace it had lost long; it embraced and adopted faith most sincerely and had a life in a manner appropriate to heaven. It had such a pious life turning its deeds into worship, its talk into prayer, its appearance into gracefulness and mercy, and its unity into power. Thanks to faith that it found the way from emotion to soundness and sensibility, from logic to heart, and from reasoning to the insight and inspiration and thus stepped up and elevated itself. It found out the secrets of eternal subsistence all the way through feeling and thought, culture, arts, and esthetic delights.

We have every confidence in the belief that the chaos and dismay of today will be followed by the same heavenly victories and will experience a revival. We believe wholeheartedly that we will acquire once more what we have lost by means of the coming people of the heart who will find remedies for our wretchedness and sufferings, elevate our souls to the profundity of their own, and direct them from there to the real Source of everything. We can even call it our renaissance if this labeling will not be considered a fantasy.

It undoubtedly is necessary to prepare the way for this rebirth. The dynamics and potentials available in all the spheres of the society, including educational institutions, houses of prayer and worship, military quarters, and religious centers and lodges will be utilized for this purpose. All this preparation, however, will be fulfilled not by cumbrous institutions that are retired into themselves and consoled only by distinctive titles and designations, that think of nothing else except for their share of the appropriation but by the integrated institutions founded upon the concord of heart, soul, mind, and discipline as well as by those luminous scholars and intellectuals who believe in justice and have a sound character, mentality, and worldview and who blend all these with a faithful culture that has been acquired over hundreds and hundreds of years. It will be realized both by educational institutions that are represented by the lovers of knowledge and wisdom who are united with the truth in body, spirit, intellect, and zeal and by the people of truth with a sound character who get to work with the consciousness of duty, who act not just simply to save the day, and who seek ways to strive for their cause rather than trying hard for the satisfaction of the desires and pleasures of their own.

Aware of the fact that we are now at such a turn in the recurring events of history, we reexamine our conscience and smile at our fate with confidence in our auspiciousness.

“No one yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure” – Emma Goldman

For centuries there has been much isolation (of various sorts) and years of conflict that have placed a wall between peoples, cultures, countries, and religions; this is because some people have been taught to hate each other. Poverty, religious fanaticism, and war have taught people all over the world to hate one another.

Despite the increased opportunities for dialogue today, the community of nations is also faced with serious economic, social, and cultural difficulties; the inequality between nations is growing, and many conflicts and serious tensions threaten peace and security. Just by looking at recent events, we can see that the world has witnessed a number of brutal wars and conflicts in the twentieth century alone. Bosnia is one of the examples of wars where ethnic cleansing and numerous ethnic and ideological conflicts have left a deep traumatic scar on the collective memories of the nations in the region. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is another conflict that is just as painful.

The crises in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Karabag, and many other parts of the world can be added to this painful list. The purpose of this article is to find some possible answers to the following questions: Why do people not solve their problems through dialogue? What prevents them from doing this? Or in other words, who or what is to blame?

My immediate answer to all these questions is just one word: education. But the meaning of that word is not as simple as it seems. It can be defined in different ways, such as the following: Education is an organizational substructure that prepares individuals in order that they will eventually become useful for:

• The ongoing operation of their current social structure;

• The preservation and continuation of such a social structure in following generations. Or;

Education is a substructure that prepares new generations so they can eventually improve on current organizational structures (into which they have been thrown) by:

• Introducing mechanisms to smoothly implement improvements;

• Sustaining those mechanisms with improvements;

• Trying to preserve the stability of the social structure.

Once the question becomes “what is the purpose of education?” it becomes more complex:

“The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past, and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort.” – Ayn Rand

“The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned, but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together.” – Eric Hoffer

“The central job of schools is to maximize the capacity of each student.” – Carol Ann Tomlinson

“The one real object of education is to leave a man in the condition of continually asking questions.” – Bishop Creighton

“The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think-rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men.” – Bill Beattie

As understood from the above quotations, it is not easy to find a single definition of what education is. Therefore, education has a twofold role to play in the questions asked above concerning “Education for dialogue” or “Education for hate.” In fact, the duality of the role of education emanates from the people, the educators, who use it for whatever their purpose is. This purpose can vary, being political, national, religious, antireligious, etc…. Thus, we arrive at the issue of preparing people as “good educators.”

All in all, education is the key to solving the greatest dilemmas of humanity. Investment in human resources represents the best hope for achieving growth in several areas, such as economic, social, and cultural, without forsaking the goals of the alleviation of poverty, social cohesion, and environmental sustainability. Achieving global sustainability will depend upon the contributions of young generations with the knowledge, training, and social commitment needed to create real change.

In the new millennium almost every region of the world will face tremendous challenges. The insistent pressures of globalization imply a new world order in which the only constant will be change. It seems that education will be one of the essential foundations of both a culture of peace and dialogue among civilizations. Education advocates the respect of universal values common to all civilizations (solidarity, tolerance, recognition of human rights, fundamental freedom for all, etc.). Education is also ideally suited to the transmission of national and universal cultural values and should foster the assimilation of scientific and technological knowledge without detriment being made to the capacities and values of the people.

Enron in only the poster boy for the type of greed running rampant in today’s multinational corporate world. Despite the rhetoric spilling over the airwaves of the world media, the truth cannot stay hidden for very long in this age of information. The world’s current level of violence is tied directly to the greed of such corporations and so-called leaders who care nothing for the people’s general welfare. They have sold their souls, as the cliché goes, joined hands with Satan, and are ready to ride off into the sunset.

I am not referring to any particular country, people or hemisphere. The greed that we see today exists among all races, religions, and nations. Granted, some may be guiltier than others, especially in light of current world events, but the evil force of greed does not discriminate. Satan has used greed to dupe many people, even Muslims. As Abdullah Yusuf Ali comments in his Qur’anic translation: What an evil choice he makes in committing treason against his own Benefactor (Allah) by going after the petty baubles of this world’s wealth of fleeting gains. How eloquent and true. Greed is nothing but selling our fate in the akhirah (the Hereafter) for this world’s temporary cheap thrills “ often at a tremendous expense to others.

Some facts you should know

So just how bad has it gotten? To what degree has greed enveloped the entire world? The following provides a shocking glimpse:

– In a statement by the Institute for Policy Studies, the group said that 497 billionaires registered a whopping collective wealth of 1.54 trillion dollars. This is way above the combined gross national products of all the nations of sub-Saharan Africa, which stands at only 929.3 billion dollars, or those of the oil-rich regions of the Middle East and North Africa 1.34 trillion dollars.1

– This collective wealth of the 497 is also greater than the combined incomes of the poorest half of humanity, says IPS.2

– Last week, the U.S. government announced that it was building the biggest-ever war machine. Military spending will rise to $379 billion, of which $50 billion will pay for its ˜war on terrorism.’3

– The wealth of the Forbes 400 richest Americans grew an average $1.44 billion each from 1997-2000, for an average daily increase in wealth of $1,920,000 per person ($240,000 per hour, or 46,602 times the U.S. minimum wage).4

– Funds in the hands of U.S. money managers grew from $1.9 trillion in 1980 to $17 trillion in 2000. While those funds were under the control of fiduciaries (half the funds are due to tax incentives), the pay gap between top executives and production workers in the 362 largest U.S. companies soared from 42:1 in 1980 to 475:1 in 1999.5

– The financial wealth of the top one percent of U.S. households now exceeds the combined household financial wealth of the bottom 95 percent.6

– The top fifth of U.S. households claims 49.2 percent of national income while the bottom fifth gets by on 3.6 percent.7

Of course, these all refer to the U.S. However, the U.S. and the western world are not alone in being the culprits of such distorted wealth distribution and inequality. For example,

– In Indonesia, 61.7 percent of the stock market’s value is held by that nation’s fifteen richest families. The comparable figure for the Philippines is 55.1 percent and 55.3 percent for Thailand.8

The impact of such greed is devastating for the rest of the world. Consider these facts:9

– Eighty countries have per capita incomes lower than a decade ago. Sixty countries have grown steadily poorer since 1980.

– In 1960, the income gap between the fifth of the world’s people living in the richest countries and the fifth in the poorest countries was 30:1. By 1990, the gap had widened to 60:1. By 1998, it had surged to 74:1.

– From 1995 to 1999, the world’s 200 wealthiest people doubled their net worth to $1,000 billion.

– Three billion people presently live on $2 or less per day, while 1.3 billion of those get by on $1 or less per day. With the global population expanding by 80 million each year, World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn cautions that unless we address the challenge of inclusion, 30 years hence we may have 5 billion people living on $2 or less per day.

– Two billion people suffer from malnutrition, including 55 million in industrial countries. Thus, in 3 decades, neoliberal-style globalization could create a world where 3.7 billion people suffer from malnutrition.

– The UNDP’s assessment: Development that perpetuates today’s inequalities is neither sustainable nor worth sustaining.

Although the above facts offer just a glimpse of the big picture, it is quite clear that the current policies of nations and their corporate entities are destructive, oppressive, and barriers to peace and justice. Such policies are making a select few rich beyond comprehension while the vast majority either barely survives or literally starves. This is our world’s hard and cold reality “ a reality that goes largely unchecked even among the educated masses of the developed world. Unfortunately, those same educated masses seem content to be brainwashed by a corporate-controlled media that tells them next to nothing about the world’s true condition. According to those who control information, people are on a need-to-know basis, and most of what is truly important the people simply do not need to know!

A worldwide epidemic

This is truly a worldwide epidemic, for it can be found in the third world as much as (if not more than) the developed world. It is a problem, however, that can be addressed only at its roots. While living in both the U.S. and Southeast Asia, I have learned that these problems all stem from the same place. The appearances (e.g., people, cultures, and religions) may be different, but ultimately everything that ails us has the same root causes, as mentioned in the Qur’an. Greed is greed, whether it is that of Enron or some other corrupt entity somewhere else. It may look different and the people may speak a different language, but the ailment is the same, because underlying it all are the same diseases of the heart. This is precisely why the Qur’an is for humanity “ because we have so many fundamentals in common with our fellow human beings.

All of us are capable of harboring some of these booby traps of the soul (e.g., greed, injustice, envy, and hatred). This is why we cannot point fingers at one nation, person, or corporation. The diseases of the heart are killers, and they are killing, starving, and oppressing millions of innocent people. Thus we have to deal with the sickness’ cause, not just its symptoms. More war and destruction may eliminate some of the culprits, but it certainly will not rid the world of the problem, which is, ultimately, sickened human hearts feeding on ignorance.

Globalization

We must be wise at such times and seek out wisdom, not just information as to how the world works. Globalization, which is actually just a fancy innocuous-sounding term for the westernization and materialization of the entire planet, is not in most people’s best interests. In fact, some less well-known world leaders have been brave enough to acknowledge this. Malaysian prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed has consistently spoken out against the dangers of globalization in its current guise. He considers it to be nothing more than the developed nations leveraging its huge capital advantages in order to exploit developing and underdeveloped nations.

By lining the pockets of weak, corrupt government leaders, multinational corporations are free to wreak havoc on the people, economies, and lands of weaker nations. Dr. Mahathir has said that capital must be equalized first if the current form of globalization is to have a truly equalizing effect on all nations’ economies. Developing countries must be protected and their own economies nurtured until they can compete on an even playing field. However, this is far from the case today. Thus, globalization in its current form allows developed nations to strip developing nations of their resources while spreading a culture of consumerism and materialism through their huge multinational corporate media and advertising machines.

A Qur’anic perspective

To further understand greed from a Qur’anic perspective, we should understand why God banned usury: Those who devour usury will not stand, except as stands one whom the Evil One has driven to madness by his touch (2:275). When referring to this verse in his Tafsir al-Qur’an, Daryabi says: According to the socialist writers of today, money is lent by them who have abundance and returns to them to increase that abundance, the increase being the unpaid dues of labor, which is the only source of wealth “ the rich are thus made richer and the poor poorer, by every fresh act of taking interest, and the stability of social organism is disturbed. This analysis is perfectly consistent with the world economy today. Look around “ interest is everywhere, wealth is in the hands of a few, and the gap between rich and poor is growing ever wider. The result? The social organism is grossly disturbed.

This is why the Book is called Al-Qur’an al-Hakim (the wise Qur’an). It is a book full of wisdom. The evils of usury, greed, and their ugly companions are forces that have destroyed entire peoples throughout history. They are problems that humanity cannot shake, especially when we turn away from the Creator’s wisdom and guidance.

Our world’s current course, with the haves and the have nots growing apart at an exponential rate, cannot be sustained. Somewhere, somehow, and at some point there will be a monumental adjustment. A world economic system that is so unequal, so unjust, and so divisive cannot last for long. The powers-that-be currently controlling the world economy are deluded if they think that they can continue their corrupt policies while 95 percent of the world sits back and does nothing. Sooner or later, it will come to a crashing halt.

Islam provides a straightforward solution to this problem. Yet history has proven that until humanity can tackle the evil that lies within each person, we will never address the evils around us effectively. The solution is called fairness (justice) and cooperation. In our present capitalist-dominated world, such terms seem utopian. Unbridled competition is the name of the game and, moreover, there is no indication that this will change any time soon. Such over-competitiveness seeps into every aspect of life until entire societies distrust one another, become antisocial, and are completely dysfunctional from a social perspective. This is already the case in much of the western world.

Conclusion

Islam encourages people to come together, rely on one another, and commune. It already has the built-in, well-formulated systems to do it in an inclusive way one that is neither elitist nor harsh. Islam says that when people unite to build and do good works out of a desire to achieve goodness for all and His approval, they will earn His pleasure. When humanity is granted God’s succor, the sky is the limit in terms of what can be accomplished. The glorious history of Islamic civilization proves this.

This is how the Prophet erected the perfect society in seventh-century Madinah. In that society, people worked, lived, and worshipped together. Muslims, non-Muslims, and different peoples and tribes co-existed peacefully, all agreeing to live under one leader in a perfectly just system. That leader was a man who desired nothing for himself and only the best for his fellow believers and neighbors. Until those with envy and hatred in their hearts spoiled the peace, Madinah showed the world how belief in God, cooperation, and living for the common good are the keys to peaceful coexistence. This can never happen again until humanity is willing and able to fight the sicknesses lying deep within each person’s heart.

Footnotes

1. Steve Smith, World Billionaires Still Richer than Half of Humanity. Online at Islamonline.net, 2002.
2. Ibid., 2002
3. John Pilger, The Colder War, The Mirror 20 (30 January 2002).
4. Online at www.forbes.com.
5. Business Week (7 April 2000), 100.
6. Edward N. Wolff, Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership (paper for the Benefits and Mechanisms for Spreading Asset Ownership in the United States conference, New York University, December 10-12, 1998.)
7. Online at www.census.gov [Table H-2].
8. Stijn Claessens, Simeon Djankov, and Larry H. P. Lang, Who Controls East Asian Corporations? (Washington, DC: The World Bank, 1999).
9. Jeff Gates, Modern Fashion or Global Fascism, Tikkun: A Bi-Monthly Jewish Critique of Politics, Culture, and Society (Jan.-Feb. 2002).

This fundamental teaching of brotherhood and sisterhood regardless of religious affiliation is being overshadowed by suspicion, anger, mistrust, and other negative trends and emotions that continue to arise from our pursuit of ever-more comfort and possessions and our refusal to realize that such things are finite. As we continue to gather them into our hands, others are deprived of what they regard as their fair share and become fertile ground for resentment and either passive or active resistance. Their negative worldview is only strengthened and expanded by the continued lack of modern education, meaningful employment, adequate health care, freedom from fear, and many other things that those of us who are more fortunate take for granted.

Underlying the above quotations is the need to understand others, for there can be no love among people without mutual respect and acceptance of one’s right to be different. Calls to celebrate diversity and accept multiculturalism abound, but many individuals and institutions have yet to go beyond mouthing the words while doing nothing to make them a reality. This is the true challenge of the new millennium.

In this issue, we present several articles on what we should expect from believers; certain similarities among the monotheistic religions; the roles of men and women, parents and children, and how they should work together to create a better society; the place of prayer in one’s life; and the need for joining scientific and spiritual knowledge to improve the quality of life for everyone. In addition, we present several short articles on the values of introspection and self-reflection, self-reliance and the need to stop blaming others for what happens to us, and how we should view other people.

We analyze one nation’s successful quest for development to see if its methods can be applied by other nations. Also discussed is the potential of e-learning to spread relevant knowledge in areas that previously had no access to it, and the hope that they will be able to benefit from it. Two of our authors explain how democratic governing institutions prevent wars between democratic nations and civil wars within those same nations, and how the formation of social capital increases society’s overall well-being.

Our scientific articles discuss the benefits of lightning on our health and even our moods, and how the existence of what scientists call ‘dark matter’ could signal a change in how we perceive ourselves and our place in the universe.

We hope that you enjoy this issue and, as always, look forward to your comments.

Talha Sarac: Your Zen master used to call you “setu” which means, “bridge” in English. We all noticed that he was not wrong. You have been a bridge between East and West, “new” and “old,” people and nature. But what is your real purpose in doing your music?

Kitaro: People are losing their cultures day by day. The technology and this global village concept is and will be dominating the world. I want everybody to remember their origins and cultural heritage. This is not difficult. We only have to re-invent ourselves. My purpose is to help everybody in this process.

TS: What has changed since Albatross in your life?

Kitaro: A lot of things… right now, I am busy re-inventing my music and myself. This is a really strange situation, but I think it will help me get even better.

TS: How did you establish your own style, which you do not want people to categorize but is usually called “new age”?

Kitaro: The genre “new age” is roughly 20 years old. But, I want to tell you first, I think all this categorization should be reconsidered and organized again. For example, I do not want to put my style under any current category, because I do not believe there is one that suits…

TS: So you say we better have a category named after you…

Kitaro: That would be nice. (Laughs…)

TS: How do you decide to compose a new song and what influence you in that process?

Kitaro: Even a bird’s singing can be the influence for a new song. I love the nature and I am complete with it. Since, I live in the mountains, I have the chance to go out of the house and take a walk by the lake and listen to the nature’s original sounds. I cannot say that people can be helpful to me while composing, but the sunrises and sunsets are invaluable to me and to my music.

TS: What kind of circumstances should there be when you are composing your music, and does closing your eyes help you in any way when you are performing?

Kitaro: I have to be really alone when I am composing. I do not have many guests in my house in Colorado, but this does not mean I am reclusive. I have to be away from stress and be able to hear my heart. And this is only possible in my lakeside…

TS: You do not only use the latest technology in your music but you also use the oldest instruments which we do not know the names of. What are you trying to do?

Kitaro: People tend to forget what they were like, how they used to live and what their interests were. I am trying to bring the old and new together and blend the outcomes. It is not clever to ignore the richness and originality in the old instruments. And nobody can deny the practicality of the newest instruments. So I think I am lucky enough to be able to use all the instruments that could help my music get even better.

TS: There is a conception that the music Far Eastern musicians make is made to be enjoyed by Far Eastern people. But your music is widely accepted and appreciated in almost any part of the world. Is that conception is a misconception?

Kitaro: I believe in international music. Of course, every nation has its own traditional and cultural music perspectives. But, I am trying to make music beyond peoples. I see all the world nations as one big nation. The differences between those nations do not influence my music in a negative way.

TS: So that is the secret to your music then…

Kitaro: Keep your voice down… (laughs again…)

TS: You are also known the “peaceful” musician of the “peaceful” music. What are your thoughts about the ongoing struggles in Kosovo and in the other parts of world?

Kitaro: The world is coming to an end, and unfortunately we can not do anything to stop this. This war in Kosovo is a shameful war which we will regret to talk about in the future to our kids. I, of course, would like to participate in a concert that would be held in the war area, but I do not think those refugees are in a situation that they will enjoy a concert.

TS: Could you tell anything about your mysterious trip to Mt Fuji to perform the ritual drum ceremony?

Kitaro: I go there every year to play wadaikos. This year it will be performed in September fullmoon. This ceremony should be considered as my thanks to the nature which is the main influence on my music. There is no economic or politic reason to this ceremony.

TS: After this “New Millennium Tour” are there any other projects in or outside of the US?

Kitaro: As for the concert projects, no. But we have this new album coming out probably on September. The album is called “Thinking Of You.” I composed this song, which gave its name to the album, on the last Valentine’s Day. I hope everybody will enjoy listening to, as much as I did composing it. 

TS: We love to listen to Kitaro, but who does Kitaro listen to?

Kitaro: I like traditional music, and I try to listen to different nations’ traditional music. I want to say that, unfortunately, people tend to listen to their traditional music less and less…

In the ongoing efforts of the United Nations toward that end, representatives from 50 countries participated in an informal international meeting convened by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), in conjunction with the Earth Council and the Government of Costa Rica, held 29-31 October in San Jose. Specifically, the meeting entitled, ‘New Partnerships to Reduce the Buildup of Greenhouse Gases, discussed cooperation through a range of issues related to the concept of ‘Activities Implemented Jointly’ or AIJ. Among those present were Elizabeth Dodeswell, the executive Director of UNEP, Mr. Maurice Strona, Chairman of the Earth Council, and Dr. Mostafa Tolba, Director of Inter-national Centre of Environment and Development. The forum was opened by the host, His Excellency The President of Costa Rica, Mr. Jose Maria Figueres.

The concept of AIJ (which appears to be a spin-off of the older concept of Joint Implementation) emerged in 1995 at the First Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Berlin. AIJ is intended to provide an impetus to investment and co-development of advanced technologies that reduce the rate of greenhouse gas emmissions while advancing national economic and development goals. AIJ or, simply, any well-thought out Joint Implementation scheme, may be a cost-effective way to achieve the objectives of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change by encouraging technology transfer and co-operation between North and South. An AIJ Pilot Phase was included in the decision which forged the Berlin Mandate.

UNEP’s Executive Director, Elizabeth Dodeswell, in her address to the informal forum in San Jose, said that, ‘Joint Implementation, whether or not it involves credits but most particularly if it does, must be devised with one overriding consideration-it must be fair.’

Opponunities to reduce or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions are often more cost-effective in developing countries. As a result, joint implementation strategies might involve a developed country investing resources and technology in a developing country in exchange for emission credits. As Ms. Dodeswell pointed out, it may not however be enough for Joint Implementation agreements to be struck on a willing buyer, willing seller basis, but in addition, will require assessment and brokering through a neutral international process, bringing objectivity to the transaction and monitoring the implementation, to ensure fairness throughout.

At the Second Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Geneva, 8-9 June, 1996, the implementation of the Convention was reviewed. The Ministers and other Heads of delegations present stated, among many other things, that they will: ‘Instruct their represen-tatives to accelarate negotiation on the text of a legally-binding protocol or another legal instrument to be completed in due time for adoption at the third session of the Conference of the Parties. The outcome should fully encompass the remit of the Berlin Mandate…’ In addition, one of the particulars noted is ‘quantified legally-binding objectives for emission limitations and significant overall reductions within specified timeframes, such as 2005, 2010, 2020, with respect to their anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol.’ The goal of all these Climate Change meetings is spelled out in Article 2 of the Convention. Heavily summarized, it calls for, stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations in a timely manner in order to avoid climate change with dangerous consequences so that economic development may proceed in a sustainable way.

The Third Conference of the Parties, referred to in the preceding paragraph, will be held in Kyoto, Japan in 1997. Let us hope that agreement can be reached and carried out in a fair and constructive manner so that talking about the weather in this or future generations may continue to be a pleasant conversation- opener. Recognizing that, in today’s world, it is intolerable for 800 millions to be suffering from hunger and malnutrition and that it is everyone’s right to have adequate food to survive, the United Nations must reorganize itself in order to meet this challenge. The United Nations work in the field of peace and security is no less relevant: more effective conflict prevention and resolution efforts hold the promise of preventing the loss by millions of people of food security, particularly in the poor countries. At long last, very important principles on which to base our future action can be found in the results of previous world conferences and summits, including Rio, Vienna, Cairo, Beijing, Copenhagen and Istanbul. All conferences held so far have confirmed that environment matters all over the world. It matters as a set of interconnecting problems that threaten the quality of life and the sustainability of economic development worldwide. The environment is a global issue affecting people in developing and developed countries alike, and linking them in the need to take immediate action.

Today, there are 1.5 billion people living with dangerous air pollution, 1 billion without clean water, 2 billion without sanitation. Food production has doubled worldwide in the past quarter century- but at the price of loss of crop diversity, increased chemical contamination and loss of natural habitats. Around one-seventh of tropical forests have been lost in the past 25 years. These are not just local problems; their global impact takes the form of growing regional pollution, the spread of epidemic disease, the loss of biodiversity, global climate instability and the likelihood of mass migration from lands that can no longer support their populations.

Fortunately, the old notion of ‘development versus the environment’ has given way to a new view in which economic development and environmentally sustainable practice go hand in hand. Increasingly the idea of environmentally sustainable development is influencing the thinking of policy makers, international development agencies, and corporate executives. At the same time, years of environmentally conscious practice have produced advanced and cost-effective technologies and know- how. There are no longer either intellectual or technological impediments to the environmentally sustainable management of development.

Antarctica is the bottom of the world, the white continent, the harshest, most forbidding land on earth, where winds can reach 320 kph (200 mph) and temperatures can plunge below -85°C (-121° F). At the South Pole, the average temperature is -49° C (-56.2° F), while the highest recorded is -13.6°(7.5° F). The continent is the world’s largest stretch of inhospitable land. Precipitation is so sparse that it is classified as one of the world’s driest deserts. This ‘final frontier’ constitutes approximately 10% of the earth’s land surface; 98% of it is covered by ice, in places two miles thick. Antarctica accounts for 90% of the world’s ice and 68% of its fresh water. It is bigger than China and India combined, or Mexico and the US put together.

A closer look at the seemingly lifeless land and seascape reveals an amazing abundance of life. The continent is home to several species of seals, penguins and vegetation. The surrounding frigid seas are abundant in krill, protein rich shrimp-like crustaceans essential to the Antarctic ecosystem, which is one of the world’s most productive. Thirty-five species of penguins and other birds, six varieties of seals, twelve kinds of whale and nearly two hundred types of fish dwell there. The ice itself is permeated with algae and bacteria. The land is home to two species of flowering land plants, a grass and a pearlwort.

Antarctica contains traces of a wide variety of metals and hydrocarbons. Traces of cobalt, copper, chromium, gold, lead, molybdenum, manganese, nickel, silver, tin, titanium, uranium, as well as zinc, have been found in the continent. Geological surveys have postulated large quantities of oil and gas.

Hundreds of people live and work there all year round and no fewer than seventeen nations have established permanent bases to conduct scientific research. Each year, almost 5,000 registered tourists come to look at the peaks and penguins. A body called the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators has been established to regulate tourism. However, they have not been able to stop unregistered- visitors. An example was the German ship ‘Europe’ which landed more than 300 passengers on Deception Island and illegally visited a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) at Whaler’s Bay. Standards of safety and ecological care cannot be guaranteed. More alarming than the increased numbers of visitors to Antarctica is the more ‘commercial’ attitude they have towards it.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is responsible for most American research in the area. The NSF pays the US navy for transporting personnel and supplies and other logistical support. Demands for cutbacks in the US navy have resulted in proposals for ‘contracting out’ these services to commercial companies the market place has reached the ‘final frontier’!

Exploitation and commercialism have influenced fishing patterns Paul Rodhouse of the British Antarctic Survey indicated that commercial exploitation has led to the doubling of the catch of squid during the ten years leading up to 1992. The squid industry is notorious for its ‘boom and bust’ trends in 1972 a Japanese fishery began operating in the North Atlantic near Newfoundland and within eleven years one species of squid, illex illecebrosus had been wiped out. The industry is now turning its attention to Antarctica.

The biggest threat is to the stocks of krill. The 4cm shrimp-like kill live for up to seven years and are the staple food source for five whale species, three groups of seal and innumerable fish and birds, including penguins. They are central to the Antarctic food chain. Too little is known about the krill’s lifestyle to guarantee survival against the increase in harvesting that has been maintained since the early 1970s. The countries that are involved in this abuse of Antarctica are those who are supposed to be protecting it.

The Western nations were the first to claim Antarctica as theirs. James Cook circled Antarctica between 1772 and 1775, becoming the first man to reach the mainland. Since Amundsen and Scott arrived at the Pole one after another in 1911, seven nations have claimed sectoral sovereignty over the Antarctic Peninsula based on either exploration or geographical contiguity, namely Argentine, Chile, France, New Zealand, Britain, Norway and Australia.

With the adoption of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, twelve countries began governing Antarctica. In addition to the seven claimant states, South Africa, Japan, USA and USSR became members of the exclusive Antarctic Club. Since the signing of the 1961 Antarctic Treaty, there have been twenty-six countries responsible for the management of the Antarctic Region and another sixteen party to it.

Internal bickering meant that an agreement to establish rules governing oil and mineral exploitation and development signed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1988 did not come into force. Through a protocol adopted in Madrid in 1991, the Antarctic Continent was declared ‘a natural reserve devoted to peace and science.’ Some nations have not been happy about this situation. The Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahatir Bin Muhammad, said in 1982, that ‘all the unclaimed wealth of this earth must be regarded as the common heritage of all nations of this planet… It is now time that the United Nations focused its attention on these areas, the largest of which is the continent of Antarctica,’

This raised the interest of other Islamic countries. The Twentieth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers meeting in Istanbul in August 1991, adopted a resolution reaffirming the need for all members of the international community, acting through the UN, to be involved in ‘all aspects relating to Antarctica’. In the same year, Indonesia asked a number of questions at the 1991 United Nations session as to the full participation of the international community in the management of Antarctica. The Pakistani delegate to the session, identifying his country’s growing interest and involvement in the region, referred to its expedition and establishment of an automatic weather station in January 1991. Pakistan became the first Muslim country to send an official expedition to Antarctica. Pakistan in 1992, established its Jinnah Antarctic Research Station.

There are obvious advantages for the Muslim countries. They have produced some of the top scientists in the field, including, Sayed El-Sayed of the A&M University, Texas, who is a respected marine ecologist studying the effects of ozone depletion on Antarctic life. In 1988, he discovered at Palmer Station, a US base on Antarctica, that high levels of ultraviolet damage the chlorophyll pigment vital for photosynthesis in phytoplankton, slowing the growth rate of marine plants as much as 30%.

The Islamic countries have significant commercial interest in Antarctica. In the long term, the Antarctic icebergs can solve the scarcity of fresh water. This is where the Antarctic icebergs, which amount to almost 70 per cent of the world’s drinkable water reserves, become an exploitable resource. There are predictions that in the 21st century, water will be the most precious natural resource. Current research shows that there is considerable economic interest in towing icebergs to the Gulf countries, Latin America and Northwestern Australia as a source of fresh water and energy (Crane, 1993).

Each year, 1.4 trillion tons of ice breaks off and melts into the Southern Ocean. If current difficulties can be overcome, icebergs will be enormous ‘mineable’ resources, even more valuable than the Antarctic’s huge amount of oil reserves. For example, an iceberg weighing 90 million tons would be worth almost $45 million. There are many reasons for the vegetation-poor Arab countries to be concerned with the Southern Oceans teeming with living resources. Krill stocks might be an important resource to help prevent widespread malnutrition in the poor Middle East and North African countries whose populations lack a protein-rich diet.

There are many issues related to Antarctica that the Islamic countries need to address. Should they continue to be left out while other nations exploit the last wilderness? Should they unite and pool their human and financial resources to seek advantages from Antarctica or should they be its guardians. The debate must begin.

REFERENCES

CRANE, D. (1993) ‘Below the tip of an iceberg’, Geographical, December, pp.14-17.

The disintegration of communism led to the dawn of a new era in which Western values would predominate and the world re-organized on the basis of ‘global’ co-operation and international solidarity rather than confrontation and conflict, now looked upon as the remnants of the Old World Order.

After the collapse of the communist block with its ideology proven to be a failed experiment, the world’s attention turned to the establishment of a new and ‘just’ world order which would promote global peace and security and foster international solidarity. Today, few would dare claim that this has been achieved. The slogans have changed, as have some governments and a few flags, but for many, the new order has brought them nothing tangible.

The richest 20 per cent of the world’s population still earns 60 times more than the poorest 20 per cent. The disproportionate distribution of the world’s resources threatens the world with environmental and economic crises. In part, it was these crises that formed the motivation for a new order. Global problems can only be resolved through global co-operation and solidarity. The obvious answer was a new world order.

If the current level of population growth continues, over one billion people in Africa will be without the basic necessities of life, such as food and water by the year 2025. Poverty and political unrest due to disputes over resources have generated huge refugee flows. There are 75 million people displaced every year. Of the 75 million, 2 million migrate from the poor nations to the richer countries in search of a better life. Some may say they are the lucky ones, but often they face greater hardship in their adopted lands than at home.. They face a variety of new social problems and are forced to overcome different challenges. The terminology may have changed, but the reality has not.

The New World Order is said to be marked by three notions: democracy, market economy and peace and co-operation. As to the present world order, it was based on three citadels of positivism, namely, sovereignty, nation-statehood and the liberal notion of property, none of which can offer adequate solutions to the current crises of humankind. The new order is, in fact, not new, as its economic, military and philosophical underpinnings have much in common with those of the world order established alter the first and second World Wars. The present world order leads the way to a zero sum game of some sort; everyone wins everything or everyone loses everything.

Fortunately, not everyone subscribes to Fukayamis thesis concerning ‘the end of history’. They do not believe that history ends with liberalism’s victory over communism. The West may think that the end of communism is the total exhaustion of all viable systematic alternatives to Western ideology, and corollary, the universalization of Western liberal democracy, crafted with the norms set in the old world order, will be the ultimate point of humankind’s ideological evolution.

In a rapidly changing world order, those who do not accept this as the end of the story have a duty towards themselves and others not to remain marginalized. There is an alternative. We must strive to understand the contemporary world and apply the principle of trusteeship that is natural to all communities. The concept of the world being a trust in the hands of humankind is nothing new and it is not limited to any one community. Understanding that God gave us the world as a trust leads us to adopt a special world-view. It is this world-view that offers us alternatives for the future direction of humankind and the answer to our various problems. Surely the earth belongs to God and He bequeaths it to such of his servant as He pleases… (al-A’raf 7.129); and certainly, to Him belongs all that the heavens and the earth contain” (al- Hajj, 22.64).

A new world order should be built upon co-operation, solidarity and brotherhood among all the nations of the world. To this end, true understanding of trusteeship is a significant milestone one the way to universal brotherhood.

In a society be it domestic or global, where the world is seen as trust and concept of trusteeship is embedded in the hearts and minds of individuals and rulers, justice emerges in a natural divinely- ordained manner. Where the concept of amana, trusteeship, is forgotten, wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few. Lack of effective motivation to reduce inequalities is bound to destroy, rather than foster the feelings of brotherhood that submission to God’s natural way ultimately creates. Submission is not restricted to worship. God has ordained a role for humankind.

The resources with which God has endowed this world are finite but sufficient to cater for the well-being of all, if used efficiently and equitably. The responsibility of khilafa, guardianship, should lead us to find ways of utilizing the God-given resources in so efficient and equitable a manner that the well-being of all is ensured. This can only come about if the resources are used with a sense of responsibility and a constraint determined by Divine Guidance.

Although the khilafa was the ultimate symbol of Muslim political aspiration, responsibility according to Divine Guidance has been lost in their lands and the imbalance of resources is even greater among its people than elsewhere. They present the best examples of unequal and unjust distribution.

There are great disparities among the fifty or so Muslim states. Natural resources are unequally distributed. Where water is abundant, oil is scarce; where oil flows like the sea, there is scarcity of water and arable land; in a country where the land is arable, there are no mineral resources; where there are tropical forests, there is insufficient supply of energy etc. The Muslim states clearly need each other. However, forgetting trusteeship has led them to disunity.

As well as unequal distribution of natural resources, wealth has also been distributed unevenly. For example, following the sharp rise in petroleum revenues in 1974, Saudi Arabia became one of the fastest growing nations in the world. Saudi foreign assets grew from about $4.3 billion in 1973 to nearly $150 billion in 1982. However, due to the steady decrease in the price of oil, that amount has fallen down by more than $60 billion since 1982. The same can be said for other petrol-rich Arab countries.

Accordingly, six Arab states-namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Oman-with a total population of approximately 16 million people have a combined GNP of about 150 billion dollars. The other Arab states, with a total population of about 205 million, have a combined GNP of 200 million dollars. As a result, GNP per capita in the ‘rich six’ is about 9,400 dollars as compared to only 975 dollars in the poor states, a ratio of almost 10 to 1. (Rabie, 1992. p.103). Consider the immense divide between Brunei and Bangladesh. Brunei’s GNP rate per capita is slightly more than 15,000 US dollars; in Bangladesh, it is only 179 dollars. The ratio is a staggering 84 to 1.

We recently witnessed how the uneven distribution of strategic energy resources was used to destroy Muslim brotherhood. Muslim countries spent billions of dollars on weapons to protect God’s resources and wealth from satisfying the needs of God’s servants. The military industry of the West is being fed at the expense of Muslim solidarity. Imagine what could happen if, instead, these billions of dollars were to used for the welfare of the Muslim peoples.

In the future, we may see regional wars fought for control of the most important resource in the Middle East, namely, fresh water. Scientists estimate that the total population of the region will be 423 million by the year 2000 and will have doubled in twenty-five years time and therefore many countries will have only about half as much water as they had in the 1970s (Bulloch & Dhrimsh, 1993). If water is exploited as a political weapon rather than shared among the people of the region, in accordance with the terms of amana. we may witness the coming to pass of one of the prophecies of God’s Messenger, upon him he peace, who said: There will emerge a mountain on the waters of the Euphrates. A treasure will be unearthed from beneath it. War will break out to possess this wealth. Ninety nine out of every hundred will be killed. Each will hope that he will be the only one to survive’ (Bukhari and Muslim). Elsewhere, he advised us not to participate in this war. There are interpretations among some scholars that the ‘mountain’ refers to a gigantic dam, and ‘treasure’ to the most precious of commodities, water.

As a result, to prevent such regional conflicts and wars. Muslims must rediscover the spirit of the concept of amana. That is to say, the problems of the Muslim states such as foreign debt, hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation and resource scarcity can only be alleviated if we truly understand that we are obliged to share and care. When we start sharing our natural resources and technology with the poor and the needy; an important barrier in the way of solidarity will be brought down. This will replace enmity with gratitude and war with peace and security.

If we desire radical changes in the foreseeable future, it is our duty to change our own conceptions and to seek to influence the way our countries are ruled. A just world order can be realized only if we understand fully that we are only trustees of God. Denying our responsibilities will burden our shoulders with a great sin.

It is our duty to be ready to discharge fully our God- given trust on this earth. When this happens, God will grant us the keys of the universe. God has said: ‘My servants, the righteous shall inherit the earth’ (Al-Anbiya, 21.105). No one should doubt that one day this truth, guaranteed by God’s oaths, will come true. At that time, those who become the trustees and masters of the earth will also rule over the remotest parts of outer space.