International Dialogue Cultural Diversity as Catalyst for Citizenship, Creativity and Communication

Enabling Sustainable Lifestyles
Rolzaal / Hall of Knights, Dutch Parliament, The Hague, The Netherlands
18 and 19 March, 2009

Rationale
When different cultures come together creativity is triggered, communication enhanced and new values emerge and are carried through to country, city and/or corporate citizenship. Migration and technology have helped accelerate the mobility of people and knowledge in benefiting countries, cities and businesses to become vibrant, innovative, open, tolerant and economically productive.

Over the last few decades, international organizations, global venture-capital firms, information, communication and media companies and lobby groups have settled in locations to capture the culture present where new ideas and young organizations emerge. The corporate world has also demonstrated its innovative value to global markets due to the cultural diversity of their staff. While promoting the benefits of cultural diversity, one also has to recognize the cultural clashes which have occurred at country and city level over the last decades. In particular, when strategic policies, incentives mechanisms and civic entrepreneurship for dealing with the dynamics of cultural differences, low-educational levels of people and political competition are weak or absent.

We can choose to follow the path of destruction or we can choose the path of creation by enriching our ways of thinking and acting towards creative and collective solutions for addressing local and global issues. We can create a civilization that enables human beings to live in harmony with each other and with nature, shifting to a harmonious and sustainable development-oriented society. To make quantum steps we can choose to expand our knowledge by applying various cultural windows, creating new concepts of being, creating and communicating, of interacting, interconnecting and interdepending.

Emerging New Fundamentals
The International Dialogue "Cultural Diversity: Catalyst for Citizenship, Creativity and Communication; Enabling sustainable life-styles" will explore the relationship between cultural values, including the aspect of diversity in public, private and civil society organizations, and creativity and communications for innovation and transformation towards sustainable development. The "The Hague Dialogues" will provide a platform to view sustainable development from different perspectives i.e. cultural diversity at the level of communities and cities, in the role it plays in the innovation of our businesses and in the enrichment of our communications as global citizens.

With the initiation of the International Dialogue on "Values for Development; Towards a Life-Sustaining Civilization", which took place in Xi'an, in October 2007, a platform was provided to explore and find a (new) universal set of values for development. The "Xi'an Dialogues" explored three areas: Learning from Cultural Traditions, Learning from Nature and Learning from Circular Systems (or Processes). With participants from many parts of the world, newly emerging values were found that would enhance a local - global citizenship and a dialogue-based society focusing on collaboration (not on competition). And more specifically, the participants of the Xi'an Dialogues achieved deep understanding of the importance of:

• Creating Harmony in the minds of leaders and peoples to balance between the internal beliefs and values and external realities, without which actions would be conflicting, competitive, destructive and/or lead to declining development and growth.
• Inter-Being revealing the inter-connectedness of all things towards a holistic life-style, generating mutual respect for life on this planet.
• Individual-Collective Being which carries a diversity of cultural layers enabling enjoyment of the individual rights and liberties, while also enjoying the solidarity within and among groups.

In April 2005, the "Beijing Dialogues" on "Diving into Harmony: Providing Leadership for Sustainable Development" resulted in the characteristics of leaders in shaping our societies and corporations and concluded the following as the China Code for Leadership:

• Compassion to be enshrined as an essential characteristic in leaders to ensure connectivity with people at the humanity level.
• Harmony to ensure peace in our society and the corporations using the art of balancing the interests of stakeholders and ensuring true engagement.
• Integrity to ensure honesty, transparency and accountability.
• Nature to respect nature and its resources and life.
• Action to ensure that ideas are put into actions that are skillfully executed to achieve results.

In November 2002, the Encounter of Worldviews Foundation organized an international dialogue on the principles for dialogue, "Diving into the Deep: Towards a Mutual Understanding", held in Putten, The Netherlands. The participants of the "Putten Dialogues" reached consensus on the role dialogues should play in shaping societies and corporations, i.e. dialogues as part of a life-style for sustainable development. Several suggestions for successful dialogues emerged, such as deep listening, managing our own ego, understanding our own fears and creating space for people to share our views. When truly listening leads to truly understanding, our actions could become authentic and meaningful with sustainable results.

"Harmony is the concept of combining the physical and non-physical aspects, diversity and unity, Heaven and Earth and combing the opposites".
Quote by Swami Veda Bharati during the pre-events of the International Dialogue "Values for Development"in Xi'an, October 2006

In line with the three international dialogues organized on the silk road connecting Europe and China over the last five years, the focus of the "The Hague Dialogues" is on the importance of cultural diversity to shape the meaning of citizenship, to enable innovation and enhance our abilities to communicate with each other.

"The global being means capacity to become the other without losing our own identity. We cannot be global beings without our own values".
Quote by Alfredo Sfeir-Younis during the International Dialogue "Values for Development" in Xi'an, October 2007

In Focus in "The Hague Dialogues"
With the emergence of the World Culture Report titled "Our Creative Diversity" by the World Commission on Culture and Development (UNESCO, 1995) our cultural dimensions of life moved to the center stage. As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations.

Culture defined in Our Creative Diversity: "Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only arts and artefacts, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of human beings, value systems, traditions and beliefs".

Culture consists of various layers, existing of attitudes, symbols, icons, rituals and values. Although the layer of the values is difficult to identify as it is to be found deeper, it is characterized by five dimensions , manifested in our behaviour in a group and relates to (1) high versus low power distance societies, (2) individualistic versus collective societies; (3) femininity versus masculinity; (4) uncertainty avoidance and (5) living with single versus multiple realities.

Participants are invited for engaging conversations and deep explorations on Values for Development evolving from the core thought: cultural diversity as source of inspiration, innovation and ingenuity.

"The survival of humanity will depend to a large extent on the ability of people who think differently to act together".
Quote by Geert Hofstede

Objectives
The "The Hague Dialogues" will provide a platform to view sustainable development from the perspective of cultural diversity at the level of communities and cities, in the role it plays in the innovation of our businesses and in the enrichment of our communications as global citizens. The two main objectives of this event are:

• To explore the meaning of cultural diversity for citizenship at local, national and global levels, and the way communication can help in shaping a harmonious and sustainable development-oriented society. The focus on communication allows us to zoom in on the cultural variation of modes of communication. Through the rich variety of communication, especially the traditions of dialogue throughout cultures, we can inspire genuine dialogue among cultures and collaboration towards a harmonious and sustainable development-oriented society.
• To mobilize creative and collective intelligence on cultural diversity that is meaningful to innovation in communities, cities and businesses. Today creativity forms the core activity of the global economy, with concepts such as the New Argonauts, Cultural Creatives, Creative Cities and Creative Industries; and shifts such as from brain drain to brain circulation. Creativity from various cultural backgrounds forms the back bone of the new ecosystems of urban, industrial and entrepreneurial cultures, networks, processes and places such as Silicon Valley, Houston, San Francisco, Jena (Germany), Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Shanghai's Pudong, Taipei's Hsinchu and The Hague.

The Foundation
The Foundation China-Europe Dialogue and Exchange for Sustainable Development envisions:

• To promote, facilitate and establish authentic international partnerships for sustainable economic activities, development and peace, in particular between China and Europe.
• To foster awareness of human beings and her/his natural environments, and to promote the harmony between them at both national and international levels from a holistic and integral perspective, and on a scientific base.
• To connect questions of personal meaning, values and culture with - on the other hand - economic, social, environmental-technology and leadership issues worldwide.
• To perform all other activities associated with the above in a broader sense to promote these.

The Foundation will achieve its goals through: the implementation of inter-cultural, people-to-people and business-to-business dialogues, the organization of seminars, conferences, international dialogues, trainings, twinning and exchange programs and the provision of project management, communication and logistic services to partnerships.

Together with you, we will be welcoming around 75 participants from all over the world. The two dialogue days contain opening speeches and a limited number of keynotes to set the stage and provide directions for the round table dialogues in small groups. Each round table has a table host, who will act as a catalyst to inspire, initiate and enrich the dialogues. She/he will inspire dialogues by her/his own experience and/or knowledge of innovative ideas, concepts, processes and/or products contributing to the theme of this dialogue gathering.

The Dialogues
Foundation China-Europe Dialogue and Exchange for Sustainable Development (CE-DESD) views the dialogue as the core mode of communication and interaction between people and organizations. The fundamental principle underlying all the principles of dialogue is authenticity. The International Dialogues are designed to accommodate both deep dialogues and practical innovations for sustainable lifestyles. Our dialogues offer an infusion of knowledge from prominent leaders, ample space for exchanges of experiences, thoughts and visions, opportunities for building relations, ultimately leading to the capture of collective wisdom. The ultimate aim is to inspire each other for true change.

The Round Table Dialogues represent concrete solutions or key challenges in the areas defined, where one may find embedded values for sustainable development. Both the seekers of solutions and the peer-innovators will meet each other at these tables to discuss the practical aspects of models, approaches and solutions. Participants in the Dialogue will share and explore innovations or ideas for problem-solving and may enjoy the opportunities for new friendships and collaborations.

The Hague
The City of The Hague is a city with 475,000 inhabitants. Over 45 percent of the city's population is immigrants (first or second generation), of which 27,500 are expats working for international organizations and businesses in The Hague and the surrounding area.

The Hague is a multicultural city. The City of The Hague is exploring concepts concerning citizenship, by focusing on what people share, instead of focusing on their differences. The Hague¡¯s policy shifts are represented in their Citizenship Policy which started in 2006, turning disadvantaged neighbourhoods into Empowered Neighbourhoods. The City of The Hague has adopted the model of a Mosaic City. In a Mosaic City, ethnic and cultural diversity are seen as strengths.

"The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.
Quote by Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677), Dutch philosopher who lived in The Hague

Setting the Stage
In search of an inspirational venue, The Hague was chosen to set the stage for this International Dialogue and to be fully in line with previous dialogues, such as Tang Paradise in Xi'an and Dia Yu Tai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China. The Hague is the home of the First Chamber and Second Chamber which form the Dutch Parliament, respectively the Upper House and Lower House which form the "Staten Generaal". HRH Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands lives and works in The Hague. All foreign embassies and government ministries are located in this city, as well as the Supreme Court and the Council of State. The venue for this International Dialogue is near the Hall of Knights in between the parliament buildings.

The foundation of The Hague as an International City of Peace and Justice was set in 1899, when the world's first Peace Conference took place in this city. The city has an international reputation for the presence of international organizations that are committed to realizing peace, justice and security in the world. More than 80 international organizations (including NGO's) operate from The Hague. As International City of Peace and Justice, the city of The Hague aims to participate in and contribute to events that aim for peaceful coexistence between groups.

For more information please contact: the Organizing Committee The Hague Dialogue Email: haguedialogue@ce-desd.org.

For more detail information on the previous international dialogue see find: International Dialogue Values on Development; Towards a Life-Sustaining Civilization.

Please find an overview of the videos of this dialogue which is updated in the coming months: Overview Videos of the International Dialogue Values for Development, 2007.