Speech by HH The Aga
Khan at the Leadership
and Diversity
Conference, Gatineau, Ottawa, Canada.
19th. May
2004.
- The Islamic
world's history is closely tied to that
of the
Judeo-Christian World.
- The place of
honour accorded to Jewish Scholars
at the Court
of the Fatimid Imams - Caliphs
of
Egypt.
- Muslims have
entrusted their most treasured
possessions,
even members of their families,
to the care
of Christians.
- Believe in Democracy and Practice
Democracy.
- Believe in
Pluralism and Practice Pluralism.
- Believe in
Meritocracy and Practice Meritocracy.
- Nepotism,
Favoritism, Parochialism,
Sycophancy are
Viruses that Destroy
Meritocracy
).
Speech by His
Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan.
Address by His
Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan
at
the Leadership and Diversity
Conference,
Gatineau, Quebec,
Canada, May, 19th. 2004.
Your Excellency the
Governor General,
Excellencies,
Conference
Participants,
Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I thank Your
Excellency for inviting me to share some thoughts in
this closing session of the Leadership and Diversity
Conference. On this occasion, I
would also like to thank Your Excellency and the
Government of Canada for the warm welcome and the
kindness and courtesies that have been extended to
me.
In the course of the conference
proceedings, you have had the good fortune of listening
to people of high eminence and erudition, from Canada
and abroad. I therefore seek your indulgence and
generosity as I speak to you with much humility and no
little apprehension!
I have not accepted to speak today about
Canadians and Canada, because you have just completed a
wide number of visits to different parts of your lovely
country, and, as Canadians, you know a great deal more
about her than I do. Where I feel I may have something
worthwhile to contribute to your discussions and
reflections today deals with Canada and the developing
world.
It is a joy and a privilege to address the
young leaders of Canada who represent different walks of
national life, as well as its social, cultural and
regional diversity.
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I am particularly
happy at this opportunity as you have been jointly
exploring a critical aspect of the role of leadership. How
the leadership-political and civil-can help sustain
the moral and dynamic coherence in public
life that Canada has so successfully constructed,
predicated on the ethic of respect for human dignity.
This coherence
recognizes and builds on difference, enables a spirit of
compromise and consensus in public and legislative
policies, and marks out a healthy space for for the role
of civil society as a sound - indeed an essential -
bulwark for democratic processes.
Canada has an experience of governance of
which much of the world stands in dire need. It is a world
of increasing dissension and conflict in which a
significant contribution is the failure of different
ethnic, tribal, religious, or social groups to search for,
and agree upon, a common space for harmonious
co-existence.
This situation of conflict and instability
poses a grave risk for the future relationship between the
industrialized world and the developing world. The
polarizing and paralyzing Cold War, which impacted
millions of people in the developing world, has
gone.
The new issue that
demands the attention of the international community is
the need to create stable states with self-sustainable
economies and stable, inclusive forms of
governance.
Much of the world's attention is periodically
focussed on the phenomenon of so-called failed states. But
of the global threats that face us today, apart from
nuclear war or HIV/AIDS, the most preoccupying is not
failed states.
It is the failure
of democracy. the global picture at the beginning of the
21st. century is a story of failed democracies in the
Muslim world, in Latin America, in Eastern Europe and in
Sub-Saharan Africa.
A startling fact today is that nearly forty
percent of UN member nations are failed democracies. The
greatest risk to West itself, and to its values, is
therefore the accumulation of failed democracies. That in
turn will cause deeper under-currents of stress, if not
conflicts, among societies.
It is essential,
in the West's own interest, to admit to itself that
democracy is as fragile as any other form of human
governance.
It is essential that the question be asked,
in every national situation and within each society. " if
democracy is failing, why is this the case?" Every effort
needs to be made to help correct the situation, rather
than referring dismissively to failed states.
To my knowledge,
democracy can fail anywhere, at any time, in any society -
as it has in several well-known and well-documented
situations in Europe, as recently as the last 50 years.
For it is self-evident, in Europe and accross the globe,
that the existence of political parties and elections do
not alone produce stable governments or competent
leadership.
Three concepts seem to me to be essential in
creating, stablizing and strengthening democracy around
the world, including among people of Africa and Asia with
whom I have worked in the past.
These concepts are
meritocracy, pluralism and civil society. In particular, I
will ask, what role can Canada play, drawing upon her
national genius, in creating or enhancing these great
underpinnings of democracy in the developing
world?
A recent UN audit of democracy covering 18
Latin American countries reemphasizes the virtues of
democracy in advancing human development; but it also
warns that stagnant per capita incomes and growing
inequality, in access to civil rights as well as
income,are producing doubt, impatience and civil
unrest.
Thus, the report
underlines a key concept that you will all know
instinctively, and which my experience working in the
third world has illustrated, decade after decade: the
primary, daily concern of peoples everywhere is their
quality of life, which is intimately connected to their
value systems.
When it turns
towards solutions, the report recognizes a crucial fact; "
An important relationship exists between citizenship and
organizations of civil society, which are major actors in
the strengthening of democracy, in the oversight of
government stewardship and in the development of
pluralism."
My interest in these themes of development
and governance arises from my role as the hereditary
spiritual leader- Imam-of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslim
community. Culturally very diverse, the Ismailis are
spread across the globe. mostly as a minority, in more
than twenty-five countries, in South and Central Asia, the
Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa. In recent decades they
have also established a substantial presence in Canada,
the USA and Western Europe.
Since succeeding
to this office as the 49th. Imam in 1957, I have been
concerned with the development of the Ismailis and the
broader societies in which they live. The engagement of
the Imamat in development is guided by Islamic ethics,
which bridge faith and society. It is on this premise that
I established the Aga Khan Development Network.
This network of
agencies, known as the AKDN, has long been active in many
areas of Asia and Africa to improve the quality of life of
all who live there. These areas are home to some of the
poorest and most diverse populations in the
world.
Our long on the ground gives us an insight
that confirms the UN's detailed assessment in Latin
America, which is that democracy cannot function
reasonably without two preconditions.
The first is a healthy, civil society. It is
an essential bulwark that provides citizens with multiple
channels through which to exercise effectively both their
rights and duties of
citizenship.
Even at a very
basic level, only a strong civil society can assure
isolated rural populations, and the marginalized urban
poor of a reasonable prospect of humane treatment,
personal security,equity, the absence of discrimination,
and access to opportunity.
The second precondition is pluralism.
Pluralism means peoples of diverse backgrounds and
interests, coming together in organizations of varying
types and goals, for different kinds and forms of creative
expression, which are valuable and deserving of support by
government and society as a whole.
The rejection of pluralism is pervasive
across the globe and plays a significant role in breeding
destructive conflicts. Examples are scattered across the
world's map: in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa, in
Europe, in the Americas. No continent has been spared from
tragedies of death, of misery and of the persecution of
minorities.
Are such high-risk
situations predictable? If the answer is "Yes" then what
can be done about them, to pre-empt the risk that the
rejection of pluralism will become the spark that sets
human conflict
aflame?
Is the onus not on
leadership, in all parts of the world, to build a
knowledge base about such situations and consider
strategies for preventing them? For, I deeply believe that
our collective conscience must accept that pluralism is no
less important than human rights for ensuring peace,
successful democracy and a better quality of
life.
I am optimistic that much constructive work
can be done, and I would cite one example-only one from
perspective of forty years of experience of agencies of
the Aga Khan Development Network- in which the careful,
patient development of institutions of civil society
helped to create the capacity to manage and legitimize
pluralism.
In Northern Pakistan, once one of the poorest
areas on earth, our Network has been working for over
twenty years, with CIDA as our lead partner. Isolated and
bypassed rural communities of different ethnic and
religious backgrounds - Shia, Sunni and non Muslim -
struggled to eke out a meager living, farming small
holdings in the harsh enviroment of this mountainous
desert ecosystem. Relations among communities were often
hostile.
The challenge for
the Network was to create sustainable, inclusive processes
of development in which diverse communities could
participate together and seek joint solutions to common
problems.
To summarize two decades of work in Northern
Pakistan: over 3,900 village based organizations,
comprising a mix of broad - based representations and
interest-specific groups in such fields as women's
initiatives, water usage, and savings and credit were
established.
The quality of
life of 1.3 million people living in a rural enviroment,
representative of the majority of the population of Asia
and Africa, has been dramatically improved.
Per capita income
has increased by 300%, savings have soared, and there have
been marked improvements in male and female education,
primary health, housing, sanitation and cultural
awareness. Former antagonists have debated and worked
together to create new programs and social structures in
Northern Pakistan, and more recently in
Tajikistan.
Consensus around
hope in the future has replaced conflict born of despair
and memories of the past.
This micro experiment with grass roots
democracy, civil society and pluralism has also underlined
for everyone involved the enormous importance of
competence and advancement by merit. Inherent in the
notion of merit is the idea of equality of access to
opportunities.
Citizens who
possess potential, whatever the community to which they
belong, can only realize their potential if they have
access to good education, good health and prospects to
advance through enterprise. Without this equity, merit
does not develop.
A secure pluralistic society requires
communities that are educated and confident both in the
identity and depth of their own traditions and in those of
their neighbours.
Democracies must
be educated if they are to express themselves competently,
and their electorates are to reach informed opinions about
the great issues at stake. Perhaps the greatest obstacle
to pluralism and democracy, however, is the lacuna in the
general education of the populations
involved.
A dramatic illustration is the uninformed
speculation about conflict between the Muslim world and
others. The clash, if there is such a broad civilizational
collision, is not of cultures but of ignorance.
How many leaders
even in the West, whether in politics, the media or other
professions which in their own ways shape public opinion,
grow up aware about that the historic root cause of the
conflict in the Middle East was an outcome of the First
World War?
Or that the
tragedy that is Kashmir is an unresolved colonial legacy,
and that neither had anything to do with faith of Islam?
To what extent is the public aware that the development of
Afghanistan as a proxy by both sides in the Cold War, is a
major factor in her recent history of tragic woes?
These matters,
which now touch the lives of all world citizens, are
simply not addressed at any level of general education in
most Western countries.
Humanities curricula in many educational
institutions in the West, rarely feature great Muslim
Philosophers, Scientists, Astronomers and writers of the
classical age of Islam, such as Avicenna, Farabi and
Al-Kindi, Nasir Khusraw and Tusi.
This lack of
knowledge and appreciation of the civilizations of the
Muslim World is a major factor that colors media
stereotypes, by concentrating on political hotspots in the
Muslim World, and referring to organisations as terrorist
and Islamic first, and only obliquely, if at all, to their
national origins or political goals.
No wonder that the bogey of Islam as a
monolith, irreconilable to the values of the West or,
worse, as a seedbed of violence, lurks behind its
depiction as being both opposed to, and incapable of
Pluralism.
This image flies
directly in the face of the respect that Islam's cherished
Scripture confers upon believers in monotheistic
traditions, calling upon Muslims to engage with them in
the finnest manner, and with wisdom.
History is replete with illustrations where
MUSLIMS have ENTRUSTED their most TREASURED
Possessions, EVEN MEMBERS OF THEIR FAMILIES, to the
Care of CHRISTIANS.
MUSLIM WILLINGNESS TO LEARN
FROM JEWISH ERUDITION IN MEDICINE, STATECRAFT
and other realms of KNOWLEDGE, is well
examplified by the PLACE OF HONOUR ACCORDED TO
JEWISH SCHOLARS at the COURT of the FATEMID IMAM-CALIPHS
of EGYPT.
Intellectual honesty and greater knowledge
are essential if CURRENT EXPLOSIVE SITUATIONS are to be
understood as INHERITED CONFLICTS and - rather than
being specific to the Muslim World- driven by
Ethnic and Demographic Difference, Economic
Inequity and Unresolved Political Situations.
An excellent
example of what is needed, to shape National Sentiments as
well as guide Foreign Policy in this Perilous
time, is the Recent Parliamentary
Committee Report Entitled, " EXPLORING CANADA'S RELATIONS
WITH THE COUNTRIES OF THE MUSLIM WORLD." I wish there
were time to comment on a number of the observations of
the Report, but in its very opening sentence, which
begins, " THE DYNAMIC COMPLEXITY and DIVERSITY of the
MUSLIM WORLD."
The report sets
the Tone of Balance and Wisdom that suffuse its
Recommendations. It emphasizes History,
Education, and the Urgent Need for Communication and
General Knowledge in observing that, " Understanding
Islamic Influences on Government and State Policies, on
Social and Economic Relations, Cultural Norms, Individual
and Group Rights and the like, necessarily goes far beyond
the question of the Extreme, Violent-minority Edges of
Islamist Activity."
I warmly hope that
the resources can be found to bring to life the
Constructive Recommendations of this fine report, as the
need for such rational voices is
great.
IT IS URGENT THAT THE WEST GAIN A BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD, as the Parliamenyary
Report notes, is a hugely diverse collectivity of
civilizations that has developed, and continues to evolve,
in response to multiple societal
influences-agricultural and rural, commercial and
urban, scientific and philosophical, literary and
political.
Just like other
great traditions, THE ISLAMIC WORLD cannot be understood
only by its Faith, but as a total picture WHOSE HISTORY IS
CLOSELY TIED TO THAT OF THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN WORLD.
In this situation of a conflict of ignorance
between the Muslim World and the West, an example of
Canada's bridging is the support given by CIDA and
McMaster to the Aga Khan University School of Nursing.
Not only did this
partnership transform nursing education, and the nursing
profession, in Pakistan, but is also now having
significant impact in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan
and Syria by offering women in these countries new and
respected professional
opportunities.
Canada is, in an almost unique position to
broaden the scope of her engagement with the developing
world by sharing very widely her experience in humane
governance to support Pluralism, the development of civil
society, and Meritocratic Premises for action.
For instance,
incipient, home-grown civil society institutions in
developing countries need expert assistance to strengthen
their capacities for management, programme design and
implementation, fund raising, self-study and evaluation.
They require help
in such other areas as defining answerability and the
criteria that measure success, as well as in identifying
how a sector can be financed and sustained. I am happy to
note that this is the declared intention of your
government. In the words of Prime Minister Paul Martin
speaking in the house of Commons: "
One of the
distinct ways in which Canada can help developing nations
is to provide the expertise and experience of Canadians in
Justice, in Federalism, in Pluralist
Democracy."
In living through her history and confronting
its challenges, Canada has established strong institutions
to sustain her democracy, the cornerstone of which is your
multi-faceted, robust civil society.
Canada offers the
world an example of meshing, and thereby fortifying, civil
society with merit from all segments of its population.
You are, hence, able to harness the best from different
groups because your civil society is not bound by a
specific language or race or
religion.
My intention is not to embarass you with too
rosy a picture of the Canadian mosaic as if it were free
of all tension. But you have the experience, an
infrastructure grounded in wisdom, and the moral
wherewithal to be able to handle challenges to your social
and political fabric.
The Ismaili Imamat strives to ensure that
people live in countries where threat to democracy is
minimal and seeks to draw on the experience of established
democracies, which have a vibrant civil society, are
sensitive to cultural difference and are effective in
improving the quality of life of their citizenry.
Canada is a prime
example of such a country. It is for this reason that the
Aga Khan Development Network is establishing, in Ottawa,
what is to be known as The Global Centre for
Pluralism.
This secular, non-denominational Centre will
engage in education and research and will also examine the
experience of pluralism in practice. Drawing on Canadian
expertise, and working closely with governments, academia
and civil society, the Centre will seek to foster enabling
legislative and policy enviroments.
Its particular
emphasis will be on strengthening indigenous capacity for
research and policy analysis on pluralism, while also
offering educational, professional development and public
awareness programmes.
Ladies and Gentlemen : There are compelling
reasons, as I have tried to articulate, why Canada can and
should take the lead in investing to safeguard and enhance
Pluralism. We inhabit an overcrowded planet with shrinking
resources, yet WE SHARE A COMMON DESTINY.
A weakness or pain
in one corner has the tendency, rather rapidly, to
transmit itself across the globe. INSTABILITY IS
INFECTIOUS ! But so is hope ! It is for you - the leaders
of today and tomorrow - to carry the torch of that hope
and help to SHARE THE GIFT OF
PLURALISM.
Thank you.
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