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As I had noted in an earlier blog, “despite being the home of one of the world's most ancient civilisations and cultures, very sadly today modern Iran is one of the world's most misunderstood countries. The significant contribution of this great civilisation to the progressive development of science, technology, arts, architecture, literature, poetry, international relations/politics/economics/commerce, trade, human rights, dialogue of civilisations and more cannot be over emphasised. Therefore, this confusion and misunderstanding is indeed tragic for all concerned.” In this blog I wish to address this anomaly.
If we wish to build a better world, a world of peace, justice and harmony, then, we should strive for a better understanding of its historical development and acknowledge the contributions of different civilisations to that development. This should help to remove arrogance and pomposity and bring about tolerance, understanding and acceptance of “others”, leading to a more successful and fruitful dialogue of civilisations.
Below I have copied an excellent article and analysis by Prof. Richard Eaton, which goes a long way to bring a better understanding of these issues, as well as the contributions of the Persian culture and civilisation to the world order and the dialogue amongst civilisations.
Revisiting the Persian cosmopolis
By Richard Eaton
“For several centuries now, the writing of South Asian history has been plagued by a tendency to see the past through the lens of religion – especially Hinduism and Islam, which are commonly understood as essentialized, timeless, and locked in binary opposition, if not mutual hostility.
Suggesting a radically different way of theorizing cultural space, however, Sheldon Pollock recently coined the term "Sanskrit cosmopolis", referring to the enormous geographic sweep of Indic culture that stretched from Afghanistan through Vietnam from the fourth to the 14th century.
For Pollock, what characterized this cosmopolis was not religion, but the ideas elaborated in the entire corpus of Sanskrit texts which, for more than a millennium, circulated above and across the vernacular world of regional tongues.
These texts embraced everything from rules of grammar to styles of kingship, architecture, proper comportment, the goals of life, the regulation of society, and the acquisition of power and wealth. Fundamentally, the Sanskrit cosmopolis was all about defining and preserving moral and social order, but without privileging any particular religious or ethnic community.
Crucially, it expanded over much of Asia not by force of arms, but by emulation, and without any governing center or fortified frontiers. In those respects it compares with the Hellenized world that embraced the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East after Alexander the Great.
For India, at least, historically, what Pollock theorized was only one instance of such a transregional formation. For the Sanskrit cosmopolis anticipated by some 500 years the advent of a similar phenomenon, a "Persian cosmopolis", which spanned great swaths of West, Central, and South Asia from about the ninth to the 19th century.
These two models of cosmopolitan culture exhibited striking parallels. Both expanded and flourished well beyond the land of their origin, giving each a transregional - indeed, "placeless" - quality. Both were grounded in a prestige language and literature that conferred elite status on their users. They both articulated worldly power - specifically, universal dominion. And while both cosmopolises elaborated, discussed, and critiqued religious traditions, neither was grounded in any specific religion, but rather transcended the claims of any and all religions.
But what exactly was the "Persian cosmopolis"? After the conquest of the Iranian plateau in the seventh century, Iranians' refusal to remain under Arab rule and Arab culture resulted in attempts to recover a rich but submerged pre-Islamic Persian civilization, a movement whose linguistic dimension saw the emergence of New Persian.
This appeared first as a spoken lingua franca across the Iranian plateau. A written form derived from a modified Arabic script appeared in the mid-tenth century, when Persian writers in Khurasan - ie, northeastern Iran, western Afghanistan, and Central Asia - began appropriating the heritage of both Arab Islam and pre-Islamic Iran.
Initially, at least, court patronage - namely, the court of the Samanid dynasty of kings of Khurasan (819-999) - played an important role in these developments. Based in Bukhara (in southern Uzbekistan), the Samanid court straddled major trade routes connecting the Iranian plateau with India to the south, Turkish Central Asia to the north, and, via the Silk Road, China to the east. Bukhara thus lay in a commercially vibrant zone, which was also multi-lingual.
By the 14th century, however, across a vast swath of territory between Anatolia and East Asia, New Persian had become a prestigious literary language, a principal medium used in state bureaucracies, and a contact tongue used in interregional diplomacy. In China, it served not only as a lingua franca, but as the official foreign language in the 13th and 14th centuries. Marco Polo mainly used Persian in China, and in fact, throughout his travels on the Silk Road.
What explains this remarkable development? One factor was the cosmopolitan environment in which New Persian had been incubated. Khurasan in the Samanid era was diverse not only linguistically, but also religiously, with its communities of Jews, Christians, Manichaeans, Zoroastrians, Buddhists, pagans, and shamanists, together with both Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims.
The new tongue thus served as a common linguistic denominator in a multi-ethnic society. Moreover, since it did not serve as the vehicle for any scripture or liturgy, New Persian posed no ideological threat to Arabic, the language of Iran's seventh century Islamic victors.
Persian poetry also played a part in the diffusion of the Persian cosmopolis, in particular Iran's great epic poem, the Shahnama. Begun in late Samanid times and completed in 1010, Firdausi's epic of some 60,000 rhymed couplets self-consciously canonized Iran's pre-Islamic royal history.
Like the language in which it was composed, the Shahnama posed no threat to Arab or Islamic sentiment; to the contrary, it praised the reigning monarch, Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030) as combining the virtues of both Iranian and Islamic sovereignty.
It also assimilated both the warrior ethos of Central Asian Turks and the heritage of Greek civilization. In Firdausi's hands, Alexander himself was transformed into a great Iranian king, and his mother an Iranian princess, while pre-Zoroastrian heroes were presented as analogs to Vedic Indian gods. In sum, the Shahnama had accommodated Greek, Turkic, and Indian cultures.
As with Sanskrit texts, which freely circulated across a vast expanse of territory, after the 11th century texts written in New Persian travelled astonishing distances, jumping ethnic and political, as well as natural frontiers. Nor did the production of Persian literature have any single geographical epicenter after the Mongols overran Khurasan in the 13th century.
Peoples in regions like the Caucasus or South Asia might retain everyday use of their local languages while cultivating, and even producing, great works of Persian literature. Both the Tamil and even the Malay "tellings" of the popular text One Thousand Questions claimed Persian origins that can be traced to 16th century South India. Similarly, in the 17th century Persian romance works such as the Haft Paykar by Nizami Ganjavi (d 1209) were translated into Bengali for kings of Burma's [now Myanmar's] Arakan coast.
In this way, vernacularized forms of the Persian cosmopolis travelled into the Burmese and Malay worlds of Southeast Asia. This portability of Persian letters across vast geo-cultural space was another dimension of the Persian cosmopolis that found an exact parallel with its Sanskrit predecessor.
In the political realm, the same environment that had nurtured the literary and bureaucratic use of New Persian - the culturally diverse milieu of ninth and tenth century Khurasan - also shaped a particular conception of a universal ruler, or "sultan".
Conceived as occupying a political space above and beyond all ethnic groups and religious communities, this figure was understood as not just universal, but truly supreme. In ninth and 10th century Khurasan under the Samanids, where memories of pre-Islamic Iran were being revived, sultans were endowed with universalist sovereignty associated with pre-Islamic Persian emperors.
Such a conception accorded with the idea of the Persian cosmopolis, which resisted limits to claims of sovereign territory. The same, for that matter, was true of the Sanskrit cosmopolis. Just as the sultans of Delhi claimed to be the "ruler of the surface of the earth," Indian maharajas grandly portrayed themselves as the "asylum of the whole world".
What is more, as early as the 12th century, the Iranian historian Ibn Balkhi made explicit a de facto separation of religion and state. He wrote that kingship in pre-Islamic Iran had been based on the supreme principle of justice, and that every king of that age had taught his heir-apparent the following maxim:
"There is no kingdom without an army, no army without wealth, no wealth without material prosperity, and no material prosperity without justice."
One notes the totalizing nature of this scheme: economy, morality, and politics are all integrated into a single coherent ideology. Equally notable is the central place the author gave to the idea of justice, and his complete omission of any reference to God or religion. As a ruling ideology, this formula would become a stock theme throughout the Persian-speaking world, repeated with only slight variations by a host of writers of the genre of courtly advice literature.
Notably, a ruling ideology that accommodated cultural diversity and focused on the principle of justice facilitated India's incorporation into the Persian cosmopolis. For one thing, an inclusivist Persian political ideology was well-suited for governing a north Indian society that was itself extraordinarily diverse religiously, linguistically, and socially.
For another, in 1206, just decades before the Mongol holocaust in Central Asia and Iran would make refugees of many thousands of uprooted Turks and Iranians, a Persianized state had been established in the heart of the north Indian plain. This was the Delhi sultanate (1206-1526), which inherited the Persianate governing traditions and ideological legacy that had evolved in Khurasan under Samanid rulers.
The presence of this sultanate thus enabled refugees fleeing Mongol invaders to migrate from Central Asia and Iran to north India, where they were received and patronized by the sultanate's officials. Naturally, these refugees implanted in India the entire spectrum of Persian culture that they had brought with them from Central Asia and Iran.
What is perhaps most remarkable about the Persian cosmopolis, however, is how readily its core ideas diffused into territories lying beyond the borders of Persianized states like the Delhi sultanate. A distinctively Persianate ideology privileging the notion of justice and connecting economy, morality, and politics infiltrated peninsular India even while that region was still governed by Hindu rulers. At some time in the 12th or 13th century the Telugu poet Baddena, writing at the Kakatiya court at Warangal, penned these striking lines:
“To acquire wealth: make the people prosper. To make the people prosper: justice is the means. O Kirti Narayana! They say that justice is the treasury of kings.”
These lines clearly reveal the influence of the Persianate world, for the concept of justice as a central tenet of rulership was completely absent in Sanskrit political thought. Moreover, as in the Sanskrit cosmopolis, these ideals had been borrowed, not imposed.
Apart from political ideology, other components of the Persian cosmopolis diffused throughout India after the thirteenth century, including architecture, dress, courtly comportment, cuisine, and especially, lexicon. As the geographic reach of Persian letters expanded, so did the production of dictionaries, whose compilers endeavored to make literature produced in different parts of the Persophone world mutually comprehensible. From the 14th century dictionaries began to be produced in India, where such works rendered Persian equivalences for words not only in Indian languages, but also in Turkish, Pashto, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and Syriac.
Indeed, between the 16th and 19th centuries, of all Persian language dictionaries produced anywhere, most were produced in India. From the 14th century on, Persian had become the most widely used language for governance across the subcontinent, as Indians filled the vast revenue and judicial bureaucracies in the Delhi sultanate and its successor states, and later in the Mughal empire (1526-1858) and its successor states.
As a result, Persian terms infiltrated the vocabulary of nearly all major regional languages of South Asia. Vernaculars like Bengali or Telugu are replete with Persian terms pertaining not only to governance, but to commerce, literacy, cuisine, music, textiles, and technologies of all sorts.
To conclude, while it shared much in common with its Sanskrit counterpart, the Persian cosmopolis, unlike its Indic predecessor, had appropriated earlier prestigious and cosmopolitan cultures - namely, pre-Islamic Iran, Arab Islam, and Hellenism. Therefore, when Islam as a religious system diffused through north India and the Deccan, it did so encapsulated within a larger Persianate vessel.
Crucially, it was precisely the non-religious character of this larger Persian cosmopolis that allowed non-Muslims to readily assimilate so many of its aspects. Yet most modern scholarship appears to have missed this, continuing instead to read South Asian history through the narrow lens of religion, and in particular that of Hindu-Muslim confrontation, thereby perpetuating 19th century tropes of Oriental despotism, 20th century tropes of a "clash of civilizations," or 21st-century Western anxieties over Islamist activism.”
Richard Eaton is Professor of History at the University of Arizona. He is the author, among others, of Slavery and South Asian History (Indiana University Press) and Islamic History as Global History (American Historical Association). He is working on one of the volumes of the upcoming History of India published by Penguin Books.
Please note:
This article was originally published at:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-01-190713.html
For further reading see:
Modern Iran: The Most Misunderstood Country
http://gcgi.info/blog/195-modern-iran-the-most-misunderstood-country
The Cyrus Cylinder: Ancient Persia’s Gift to the World
http://gcgi.info/blog/367-the-cyrus-cylinder-ancient-persias-gift-to-the-world-
Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings
http://gcgi.info/blog/419-shahnameh-the-epic-of-the-persian-kings
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Is Love and Humility the answer to Personal and Global Peace and Happiness?: A Page from the Life of QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT
Photo:bbc.co.uk
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a quarrel, as it occasionally happens in a marriage. One word led to another, and suddenly Prince Albert angrily stormed out of the bedroom, went to his study, slammed the door and locked it. Queen Victoria ran after him, knocked on the door and demanded, "Open!" There was no answer.
She pounded the door with her fist and shouted, "Open at once!!" No answer. She shouted at the top of her voice, "I am the Queen of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, the Empress of India and of the entire British Commonwealth, I am the Commander-in-Chief of all the British armed forces, and I order you hereby to open this door!!!" Still no answer.
Finally she said in a soft voice, "Albert, I am sorry, I love you and miss you." Now the door opened.
This shows that love and humility are far more powerful tools of conflict resolution and peacebuilding than anger, arrogance and revenge, for example. A lesson to all of us!!
Next time when my wife locks herself in, I would say: Annie I am sorry. I love you. Annie I am for the Common Good!!
Lest We Forget:
Photo:bing.com
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The 11th GCGI International Annual Conference
“Imagine the Common Good
An Intergenerational Dialogue to Inspire a Creative Leadership”
Sunday August 25 - Wednesday August 28, 2013
With Optional Post Conference tour of Paris
Wednesday August 28 - Friday August 30, 2013
Conference hosted at
Cité universitaire internationale, Paris
In Association with
The Institut Cedimes
With support of
Youth Time/ Rhodes Youth Forum
(Founder-Conveners: Prof. Kamran Mofid )
Speakers’ CV Summaries:
Messages of Greeting to the The 11th GCGI International Annual Conference
See the Messages so far:
Final Programme
Sunday 25 August
12.00 Noon onwards: Arrival & registration atCité universitaire internationale, “Maison Internationale", the main building when entering the campus, in front of the Metro (RER), at the entrance. After registration you will be accompanied to your “House” and room.
5.30-9.30pm
Drink Reception, Dinner, Opening Ceremony and Keynote Addresses
(Venue: Hellenic House: http://www.ciup.fr/en/les_maisons/fondation_hellenique)
5.30-6.00pm
Drink Reception
6.00-7.30pm
Dinner
7.45-8.00pm
Welcome, Opening Remarks, and Overview of Conference
Prof. Kamran Mofid, Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative
Dr. Violaine Hacker, President, Common Good Forum, Paris
8.00-9.30pm
Keynote Addresses
A Debate on the notion of the Common Good in France and beyond
Moderator: Dr. Violaine Hacker
- Prof. Claude Rochet, Head of the Economic Intelligence-ministère de l’Economie et des Finances-France, along with the Common Good Forum team and the Cedimes.
- Presentation of Social Charters
- Discussion on the French Vision: ‘Le Pacte civique’, by Mr Jean-Paul Deveze (Démocratie et Spiritualité, porte-parole du Pacte civique), Philippe Le Godinnec (in charge of the e-democracy and the development of the Pacte civique) and Mme Nicole Vaucherez-Fondeneige (La Vie Nouvelle).
- Presentation of an International Social Charter: ‘The Earth Charter’, with Mrs Alide Roerink
Monday 26 August
(Venue: Hellenic House: http://www.ciup.fr/en/les_maisons/fondation_hellenique)
Unity in Diversity:
Common Good and the sharing of values in a divided world
7.00-7.30am
Meditation in the Parc Montsouris
*(Prof. Steve Szeghi will lead the meditation sessions)
8:00-8.45am
Breakfast
9.00-10.00am
(Please note: All presentations throughout the conference are plenary. There are no breakout sessions. Each presentation is limited to 10 minutes. This will enable the whole conference (speakers and delegates) to come together in roundtables to maximise the time for dialogue, debate, and Q&A at the end of each and every session. Presenters are strongly encouraged not to read their papers verbatim.)
Session I: The Science of Economics and the Common Good
Moderator: Prof. Kamran Mofid
“The Economic Teaching of Leon Maclaren: A Conversation with School of Economic Science:
1- Ian Mason, Principal of the School of Economic Science
2- Raymond Makewell, School of Economic Science and Editor, “The Science of Economics”
3- Dr. Peter Bowman, Head of Economics, School of Economic Science
10.00-11.15am
People, NGOs and the Corporate Sector: the Economy and the Common Good
Moderator: Dr Violaine Hacker
1. Pr Claude Rochet, “The Common Good and Governance issues: some cases studies”
2. Pr Jean-Pierre Worms, “From Social and Economic issues to sustainable proposals’
3. Pr Goéry Delacôte, “Concrete proposals for an Economy dedicated to the Common Good”
4. Nicolas Hazard, ‘Le Comptoir de l'Innovation, investing In, Supporting and Promoting the development of Social Entreprises in France and around the world'.
5. Stéphane Riot, Promoting Trust: The Transition Lab. Understanding the concept of 'experience' in the notion of common good.
11.15-11.45
Tea/Coffee Break
11.45-1.00pm
Humanistic Management and the Common Good
Moderator: Prof. Jamshid Damooei
1- Prof. Claus Dierksmeier, “ Economic thinking from Plato to the Common Good in the XXe Century”
2- Dr Ernst Kimakowitz, “The Makings ofHumanistic Management”
3- Gabriel Lenot, Presentation of the programmes of Mozaik RH dedicated to the employment of the young people and the promotion of the Diversity’
4 - Olivier Réaud, "How collaborative dynamics might help organizations to face transitions?"
1.00-3.30pm
Lunch and Artistic Workshop on Values with Claudine Villemot, followed by walk and discussion in the park
Luncheon Venue: Maison du Mexique: http://www.ciup.fr/en/les_maisons/maison_du_mexique
3.30—6.00pm
Session II (Part I and II): Diversity, Deliberation and the notion of the Common Good
3.30-4.15pm
Cultural Diversity and the Common Good
Moderator: Anthony Werner
1- Ghonchech Tazmini, ‘Cultural diversity and political change: the multiple trajectories of modernity. Understanding and respecting cultural diversity as the common heritage of humanity’
2- Alexandre Rojey, ‘How to find a common Vision for a sustainable development’
3 - Hélène Finidori,‘Federating efforts towards a better world. How the commons can become the meta-narrative for a paradigm shift’
4 - Paul Iordanow, ‘The Creative Academies and Europe Creative’ : Toward a Sustainable Future for the Youth.
4.15-5.30pm
Spiritual Diversity and the Common Good
Moderator: Rev. Dr. Alan Race
1- Rev. Dr. Richard Boeke, ‘The Elephant and the Ethic Banquet’, and speaking about ‘The Temple above the Clouds’
2- Pr Harold Kasimow, ‘Build a life as a work of Art, Heschel’s Message to young People’
3- Pr Dan McKanan, ‘Magical Traditions and the Common Good’
4- Derek McAuley, ‘Relgious Freedom and challenges to Human Rights for all. The example of the advocacy for the same sex marriage’
5- Bhai Sahib Bhai Dr. Mohinder Singh, ‘A Sikh reflection on the intergenerational dialogue for the common good to inspire a creative leadership.’
8.00pm-late
Dinner and Cruise on the Seine: hosted by Plateforme de Paris (http://www.plateformedeparis.fr)
Tuesday 27 August
(Venue: Hellenic House: http://www.ciup.fr/en/les_maisons/fondation_hellenique)
(Leadership, Capabilities, Education and the Common Good)
7.00-7.30am
Meditation in the Parc Montsouris
8.00-8.45am
Breakfast
9.00-10.15am
Session I - People, Capabilities and the Common Good
Capabilities, Education and the Common Good
Moderator: Ian Mason
1- Peter Holland, ‘Family, Education and Fullfilment’
2- Prof. Jamshid Damooei, ‘Investing in Our Children is Wise and Will bring high return on investment: A close look into socioeconomic status of children in California’
3- Florence Rizzo, ‘Presentation of programmes of research and innovation in Education’
4- Prof. Mar Peter-Raoul, ‘Occupy academe: equipping all students to make and occupy a better world’
10.15-11.00am
Technology, Education and Empowerment
Moderator and Introduction: Tom Mahon
1- Bastien Guerry,‘Education and Free Culture: As We May Learn’
2- Philippe Le Godinnec, ‘Presentation of the e-programmes dedicated to Sustainable Development :’ ‘Eyes on Communities’ and the international Tribunal for Nature
11.00-11.30am
Tea/Coffee Break
11.30-12.45pm
Peace, Justice, and Education for the Common Good
Moderator: Peter Holland
1- Dr. Audrey Kitagawa, ‘Global Engagement: Creating Cooperation and Friendship through Culture and Track II Diplomacy’
2- Uli Spalthoff, ‘The spirit of Ubuntu and the Common Good’
3- Pascal Décarpes, "Common Good in criminal justice: toward European alternatives to prison?’
4- Humera Javed, ‘The Spiritual Heritage Education Network (SHEN) and the common good’
5- Vanessa Bassil, ‘Peace Journalism and the Common Good’
12.45-3.00pm
Lunch & A Conversation/Dialogue with Ann Hallock, Mohammed Inuwa, Issifu Arimiyao, and workshop with Dr. Mustafa Traore
Luncheon Venue: Maison du Mexique: http://www.ciup.fr/en/les_maisons/maison_du_mexique
1- Ann Hallock, Mohammed Inuwa, Issifu Arimiyao
Sharing experience about ‘Unity and Diversity’ :
‘From USA and Africa, an intercultural and intergenerational dialogue’.
2- Dr Mustafa Traore
Sharing experience about ‘Unity in Diversity’
An intercultural dialogue and activities promoted by the NGO ‘AnOpenEye’.
3.00-5:30pm
Panel Discussion II (Part I and II): Making the Shift with People for the Common Good
3.00-4.15pm
Making the Shift:The Global Sharing Economy
1- Moderator & Introduction: Rajesh Makwana, An Introduction to Economic Sharing
2- Francine Mestrum: The Social Commons: Social Protection in the Age of Sharing
3- Adam Parsons: Sharing the World’s Wealth, Power and Resources
4- Steve Szeghi, Breaking the Boundaries of Rational Calculation for the sake of the Common Good
4.15-5.30pm
Making the Shift: Education encouraging Leadership for the Common Good
Moderator: Sesto Giovanni Castagnoli
“Globalisation, Youth Leadership and the Common Good: A Conversation with Children of the Earth (COE):
1- Dr. Nina Meyerhof (President of Children of the Earth (Coe), USA) with Rosie Haywood, “Coe: Introduction”
2- Saskia Troy (Coe, Netherlands)
‘Sustainable Leadership within the 21st century. On the role of education in economics and business’
3- Princess Ougaka (Coe, Nigeria)
‘Living together in a matter of understanding for the youth: unity and diversity’
4- Katrina Aung-Sumalin (Coe, Thailand)
Youth Leaders for the common good
5- Luc A. Logan (Coe, USA)
Globalization: imagining globalization as movement for the common good
6- Mark Harris (Coe, Canada)
How to live the Common Good as a Youth in Canada
7.30pm-l ate
Conference Gala Dinner and the GCGI Award Ceremony, hosted at La Maison des Polytechniciens, à Saint-Germain-dès-Près, Paris+ : http://www.maisondesx.com/
*(Residential participants please be ready by 6.30pm to board the coach)
+ The Hôtel de Poulpry
“To gather in a convivial generations of students and all lovers of elegance”
The Founding-Conveners of the GCGI Paris Conference is pleased to invite you to the Hôtel Poulpry which became the House of Polytechniciens. This is a very exquisite, elegant, and historical restaurant located in the very heart of the famous 'Saint Germain des Près', near the Seine, the Louvre and the OrsayMuseum.
Wednesday 28 August
(Venue: Hellenic House: http://www.ciup.fr/en/les_maisons/fondation_hellenique )
7.00-7.30am
Meditation in the Parc Montsouris
8:00-8.45am
Breakfast
9.30-11.00am
Engaging Youth for Positive Social Change and the Common Good Workshop with the team of Young Leaders of Youth Time/ Rhodes Youth Forum
Moderator: Prof. Kamran Mofid
Ms. Julia Kinash, President of the International Movement Youth Time (YT), Prague, Czech Republic, “Youth Time and Rhodes Youth Forum: An Introduction”
“The Contribution of Youth-led Social Entrepreneurship to build a better world: An Intergenerational Dialogue”
Julia Kinash (YT, CzechRepublic)
Thomas Wanker (YT, Italy)
Nikolas Papageorgious (YT, Germany)
Oksana Andrusyak (YT, Ukraine)
Dan Alex Florea (YT, Romania)
Kamynin Pavel (YT, Russia)
Chernova Evgeniya (YT, Russia)
Lillikovich Olesya (YT, Russia)
Markova Lucie (YT, CzechRepublic)
(TBC)
11.00am-12.00 Noon
Closing Remarks and Moving Forward to the GCGI 12th Annual Conference, School of Economic Science, Waterperry House, Oxford
Prof. Kamran Mofid
Mr. Ian Mason
Dr. Peter Bowman
Mr. Peter Holland
12.00-2.00pm
Lunch and farewell
Optional Post- Conference Tour
Thursday 29 and Friday 30 August
Important notice for those who are joining the tour:
Wednesday 28 August: From 2.00pm onwards, Free Time
Thursday and Friday: Breakfast at the Cafeteria, Main House. Breakfast is the responsibility of the participants. Prices very reasonable, from around 4 Euros PP
List of Speakers
*Ms Oksana Andrusyak, YT, Ukraine
*Ms Vanessa Bassil, YT and Founder, MAP-Media Association for Peace, Lebanon
*Rev. Dr. Richard Boeke, Chair, the British Chapter of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) and Vice-President, World Congress of Faiths, London, UK
*Dr. Peter Bowman, Head of Economics, School of Economic Science, UK
*Mr. Sesto Giovanni Castagnoli, Evolutant and Entrepreneur, Founder, WSF World Spirit Forum, Switzerland
*Ms Evgeniya Chernova, YT, Russia
*Prof. Jamshid Damooei,Co-director, Centre for Leadership and Values, School of Management, California Lutheran University, USA
*Mr Pascal Décarpes, expert in the field of criminology notably before the United Nations, deputy Secretary-General of the French Society of Criminology and Substitute Member of Management Committee to COST Action IS1106 “Offender Supervision in Europe”, France-Germany
*Mr Jean-Paul Deveze, Démocratie et Spiritualité, porte-parole du Pacte civique, France
*Prof. Clause Dierksmeier, Director, Global Ethic Institute, University of Tubingen, Germany
*Mr Mohammed Inuwana, Anansi, Ghana
*Mr Arimiyao Issifu, African Art and Culture, Ghana
*Mr Paul Iordanow, Head of The Creation Academies, France
*Ms. Helene Finidori, International Consultant, France-Spain
*MrDan Alex Florea, YT, Romania
*Mr Mark Harris, Coe, Canada
*Mr Bastien Guerry, Consultant Education/Technology, Common good(s) and free software specialist, Move Commons, OLPC France, ShareLex, OLPC, France
*Dr Violaine Hacker, European Studies Department, Sorbonne, France
*Mr Nicolas Hazard, Président at Le Comptoir de l’Innovation, Vice-President at Groupe SOS, France
*Dr Ann Hallock, former Prof. Of behavioural medicine, Michigan State University, USA
*Ms. Rosie Haywood, Coe, USA
*Mr. Peter Holland, School of Economic Science, London, UK
*Ms. Humera Javed, Education & Inclusion Coordinator at the Diversity & Equity Office, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Board of Director of Spiritual Heritage Education Network (SHEN), Waterloo, Canada
*Prof. Harold Kasimow, George Drake Professor of Religious Studies, Grinnell College, USA
*Dr. Ernst von Kimakowitz, Director and co-founder of the Humanistic Management Center, St. Gallen, Switzerland
*Ms. Julia Kinash, President of the International Movement Youth Time, Prague, Czech Republic
*Audrey E. Kitagawa, JD, is President/Founder of the International Academy for Transcultural Cooperation, President, Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, Founding Trustee, New York City Peace Museum, and host of Our Sacred Journey on World Talk Radio, VoiceAmerica 7th Wave Channel, USA
*Mr Philippe Le Godinnec, CEO of SOS21, Head of Eye On Earth Communities, Member of Le Pacte Civique, France
*Ms. Gabriel Lenot, Mosaik RH, Promoting Diversity in Human Resources, France
*Ms Olesya Lillikovich, YT, Russia
*Mr Luc A. Logan, Coe, USA
*Ms Markova Lucie, YT, Czech Republic
*Mr. Tom Mahon, Analyst and Author, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, USA
*Mr. Raymond Makewell, School of Economic Science, UK and Australia
*Mr. Rajesh Makwana, Director, Share the World's Resources, UK
*Mr. Derek McAuley, Chief Officer of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, UK
*Dr. Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity, Harvard Divinity School, USA
*Mr. Ian Mason, Principal of the School of Economic Science, London, UK
*Mrs Francine Mestum, CETRI and Forum social Mondial, Belgium
*Dr. Nina Meyerhof, President of Children of the Earth (Coe), USA
*Prof. Kamran Mofid, Founder, Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (GCGI), UK
* Princess Ougaka, Coe, Nigeria
*Mr Nikolas Papageorgious, YT, Germany
*Mr Kamynin Pavel, YT, Russia
*Rev. Dr. Alan Race, Editor-in-Chief, “Interreligious Insight”, UK&USA
*Mr Olivier Réaud, CEO of In Principo (Collaborative Management), France
*Mr Stéphane Riot, Founder of NoveTerra (Facilitateur de transition(s)), France
*Ms. Florence Rizzo, Syn-Lab (Meaningful Learning Innovations), France
*Prof. Claude Rochet, Professeur des universités, Head of the Economic Intelligence-ministère de l’Economie et des Finances, France
*Mrs Alide Roerink, board member of the Alliance for the University for Peace, NVVN (United Nations Associations Netherlands) and SIGN (Schoolfeeding Initiative Ghana Netherlands), National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO) – Earth Charter
*Mr. Alexandre Rojey, Foundation Tuck, France
*Mr. Adam Parsons, Share the World's Resources, UK
*Prof. Mar Peter-Raoul, Marist College, Kenya-USA
*Dr. Uli Spalthoff, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Germany
*Mr Jean-Louis Sanchez, ODAS-Observatoire nationale de l’action sociale décentralisée, and Collectif pour la Fraternité, France
*Mr Bhai Sahib Bhai Dr. Mohinder Singh, Chairman, Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha, Birmingham, UK
*Ms Katrina Aung-Sumalin, Coe, Thailand
*Prof. Steve Szeghi,Dept of Economics, Wilmington College, Ohio, USA
*Ms. Ghoncheh Tazmini, Institute for Strategic and International Studies, Portugal
*Mr Mustafa Traore, Lecturer at the Sorbonne, founder of AnOpenEye
*Miss Saskia Troy, Coe, Netherlands
*Mme Nicole Vaucherez-Fondeneige, La Vie Nouvelle, Le Pacte Civique, France-Belgium
*Mrs. Caudine Villemot, Artist and Human Resources-Trainer, Allemagne-Autriche-Suisse, France
*Mr Thomas Wanker, YT, Italy
*Mr. Anthony Werner, Editor-in-Chief, Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers, London, UK
*Pr Jean-Pierre Worms, Researcher-Sociology at the CNRS, former Member of the parliament, engaged in different organisations such like Fonda, Initiative France, UnisCité, France
See GCGI 2014 Oxford Conference: Call for Presentation and Participation
“The Value of Values: Spiritual Wisdom in Everyday Life”
http://www.gcgi.info/news/476-gcgi-2014-oxford-conference-call-for-presentation-and-participation
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