Gala Dinner, Wednesday, October 2: The Price of Peace
Principles: Mikhail Gorbachev, President, Soviet Union (1985-1991); Jehan Sada; Shulamat Aloni, Minister of Communications, Science and the Arts, Israel; Yael Dayan, Member of the Knesset, Israel
Former Soviet President Mikhail served up levity, gravity and a dose of inspiration in his welcome to participants at the second annual State of the World Forum Wednesday night.
Addressing the nine hundred international dignitaries and thinkers at the opening dinner, Gorbachev frankly worried aloud that discussions at the conference on how to build a better future might amount to no more than an intellectual exercise. "Is this a worthless enterprise?", he asked. "There is so much cruelty, violence, frustration in the world."
Answering those concerns, he told participants that examining how conflicts and crises were resolved in the past is the key to creating a better future. "Intelligent people learn from the mistakes of others," he said. "Fools learn only from their own mistakes."
Gorbachev said he believes that democracy is the best political process for governments to use in their pursuit of peace and prosperity, but said that the process as it is currently played out needs much work. Invoking the methodology of the framers of the U.S. Constitution, he said the international community needs to "develop ground rules" for policy based on human moral principals, "regardless of what community exists in the future."
Gorbachev warned participants that the conference will be for naught if the ideas generated here are not applied. "I worry whether our forums will be like the arms conventions in Geneva," he said, joking that "a lot of brandy [and] whiskey was drunk" but little was accomplished.
He exhorted world leaders to put the knowledge and ideas gleaned from the conference into practice in their home countries and also proposed creating a "world congress of reason" comprised of Nobel Peace Prize laureates who could promote those ideas and influence the international community.
Gorbachev criticized politicians for ignoring the potential strength and usefulness of the United Nations, noting a poll which showed that Americans overwhelmingly supported U.N. leadership, rather than U.S., in dealing with international military, environmental and human rights crises.
Although he made it clear that only realistic, not utopian, visions of the future come to fruition, Gorbachev speculated that the "post-industrial" society we now live in requires no less than a "revolution of the mind" in order to survive and advance.
Recalling his address at last year's forum, Gorbachev described current modern society as a "post-industrial information society," which is driven by innovations in technology. Rejecting the view that the future world will be "a continuation of the current society with adjustments," Gorbachev said, "our view is of a human dimension. A technology-centered world will be replaced by a culture-centered world."
As keynote speaker, Gorbachev was clearly the man of the hour, but the other speakers spoke with equal passion. The theme of the evening's speeches was "the price of peace," commemorating Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, and honoring the memories of slain leaders Yhitzak Rabin and Anwar Sadat.
While recalling the great achievements of these men of peace, many of the speakers also reminded participants of the deadly conflict sparked recently in East Jerusalem over access to an ancient tunnel near Muslim and Jewish holy sites.
Yael Dayan, member of the Israeli Knesset and daughter of political and military leader Moshe Dayan, expressed her frustration over the still-unresolved conflict and passionately admonished Israelis to acknowledge that Palestinians deserve a homeland of their own. "Israelis, of all people, should understand this."
Dayan emphatically stated, "The price of slowing down [the peace process] is too high a price to pay. It is almost a down payment on war."
Former First Lady of Egypt Jehan Sadat spoke fondly of her husband, remembering his religious devotion to "a more precise doctrine of human dignity," and his personal friendship with his "Israeli partner in peace", Menachem Begin.
Emotionally, Sadat recalled the difficulty of encouraging her husband to "pursue peace all the way [while being] aware of the ultimate price." Sadat also honored the memory of Yitzhak Rabin, and expressed sympathy for his widow, Lea, stating "I know how she felt."
Shulamit Aloni, former Israeli Minister of Communications, Science, and the Arts, and Yogesh Gandhi, Director of the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation also addressed the participants.
Dr. James Garrison, President of the State of the World Forum, closed the dinner remarks, challenging forum participants, "do we have the courage to live our talk?" He asked them to keep a quote by Anton Chekov in mind. "It is drop by drop that we squeeze the slave out of ourselves."
--Michelle Ling
26 year old Graduate Student, UC Berkeley
