In a recent interview given to the newspaper Le Monde, the philosopher Pierre Hassner provided a geopolitical analysis of the global tensions and conflicts in which the Western powers find themselves particularly caught up.  According to Mr. Hassner, what is most disturbing at the moment is “the multiplication of civil wars, whether permanent, intermittent or virtual, whether religious, ethnic, political or economic, which threaten to merge together either by extension or by contamination, and to overwhelm entire regions, such as Western Asia, the Middle-East, the Horn of Africa or the Great Lakes.”

 

Nevertheless, with tempered optimism, Mr. Hassner sees within today’s troubled environment some possible roads to calm and peace on the horizon.  In this regard, he maintains that “only the prospect of reciprocity, however imperfect, and interpenetration, however partial, between nations and cultures can bring out the tolerance that is within the opponents and encourage the transnational solidarity that, at a time of heightened national identification, provides the best chance for humanity.”  We agree with this statement, emphasizing as it does the importance of dialogue and mutual understanding.  This is an approach with which civil society ought to be associated and which should also be used in the field of education. 

 

If education ought to lead to non-violence and peace, it is clear that in reality it can easily be aimed at quite the reverse.  Learning to live together is an injunction that is far from unanimously accepted.   Xenophobia has not disappeared from within education and it continues to be taught here and there, with the help of history text-books that render official a reprehensible vision of the past and even the present.  It is deplorable that intellectual honesty and a sense of morality are not always found within education. 

Nevertheless it is encouraging that the new UN Council of Human Rights has retained the promotion of human rights education as one of its primary objectives.  This should motivate its State members to address head-on some questions that are sometimes dealt with only after-the-fact, when it is already too late.  The prevention of intolerance, like the prevention of violence, is without doubt one of the major challenges facing education.  Peace in the world depends strongly on it. 

 

 

Reference:

Hassner, Pierre. Le siècle de la puissance relative. Le Monde, 2 octobre 2007.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3232,36-962033,0.html

(in French only)

 

Image :L'échange et la réciprocité, Solidarité sans frontières

http://eliane-sansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2009/11/scultures-sur-bois_26.html