Visiting Russia for the first time, Hassan Nafaa* finds that justice is the key to dialogue between cultures I had the good fortune of participating in an international conference in St Petersburg a few days ago. The conference was organised by the International Tolerance Organisation for Humanitarian Studies, an agency chaired by Victor Chernomyrdin, Russia's former prime minister and current ambassador to Ukraine. The conference was held 23-27 May under the slogan, "Interaction of Cultures and Civilisations: Dialogue or Conflict". It was attended by prominent figures in politics, culture, education, media and business, including Prince Al-Hassan Bin Talal, head of the board of trustees of the Arab Thought Forum. There is no shortage of conferences on dialogue between cultures and civilisations. Often it is hard to find any new thoughts on the matter. But I made a point of attending this conference. For one thing, I had never been to Russia, a country in which I have a deep interest and one that is at the centre of events that may change the face of the current world order. I had more than one chance to go to the Soviet Union when I was studying in France in the 1970s, but I missed them all. And over the past 10 years, I had numerous opportunities to visit the USSR, and missed those too. It was a pity for my generation grew up infatuated by that country we now call the Russian Federation. Some hate it and some love it, but we all feel strongly about Russia. We grew up as the Soviet Union was making its debut in the Middle East, an emerging superpower that masterminded the famous Czech arms consignment to Egypt in 1955. Since then, we've watched in awe the amazing story of the rise and fall of the great communist empire. I felt a certain shame as I prepared to go on my trip, an ageing political scientist who's never been to Russia before. So even though I couldn't stay more than the two days of the conference, I had to go. I was also aware of several political developments that preceded the conference and that suggested that changes were afoot in the international order. For example, Foreign Affairs, the US influential publication, ran an article in its May-June 2007 issue entitled "Containing Russia". Here crops up a term that is redolent with Cold War connotations, a term used by George Kennan over 50 years ago when he was a young diplomat working in the US Embassy in Moscow. The writer of the Foreign Affairs article is no budding diplomat or a young researcher, however. She is a veteran politician, Yuliya Tymoshenko, former Ukrainian prime minister and current leader of the opposition in parliament. So she is the former prime minister of the country to which Chernomyrdin is now ambassador. Furthermore, Condoleezza Rice visited Moscow recently to allay Russian fears of the missile shield project the US intends to deploy in several countries, including Ukraine, a country that was until recently an integral part of the Russian security system. The visit wasn't a great success. The Americans insisted on pressing ahead with their programme, whereas the Russians saw it as a threat to their national security. Either way, several observers considered the visit a sign that Russia is back in big-time politics. St Petersburg epitomises Russia's political and cultural past. Built by Peter the Great in the early 18th century to be capital of the empire and a gateway to Europe, the city changed its name three times -- to Petrograd in 1914-1924, then Leningrad in 1924- 1991, and then back to its original name -- reflecting the shift in the country's political and social system. It is a city of palaces, museums and art, a city that embodies the greatness of Russian civilisation in every conceivable manner. The city has one of the largest four museums in the world, the Hermitage. You only have to see the faces of the people in the street, the elegant shop windows, the hotels and restaurants brimming with customers, the billboards advertising the latest products of international corporations to sense the change the country has undergone since the collapse of the communist regime. And yet there are those ever-present reminders of how life used to be: the strict security at airports, the outdated bureaucracy, the protracted check-in procedures at hotels, and the convoluted process of placing an international phone call, to mention just a few. As participants in the conference filed into the small theatre of the Yusupov Mansion, where the opening and closing sessions were held, music wafted from several bands, some lining the corridors, some poised in Tsarist glamour in the balconies. But the speeches that were delivered in the opening sessions, the papers summarised in the general sessions, and the discussions held at the five roundtables brought us back to the grim realities, the conflicts and contradictions of this world, and the many forms of extremism we were there to address. Prince Al-Hassan Bin Talal was, with no exaggeration, the star of the conference. He spoke at length at the opening session, led the discussion at the main roundtable -- which was assigned the task of addressing East-West conflicts -- and then again in the final session. He coined thought-provoking terms, voiced commitment to the poor and downtrodden, and kept his message focused and sincere. The word "tolerance" was repeated thousands of times in that conference. But Al-Hassan pointed out that tolerance and justice had to go together. In other words, you cannot have tolerance in a world that is unjust. The conference had a special roundtable designated to discuss "The Demographic Revolution and the Nature of the Developmental Crisis Facing Humanity", with Professor Sergei Kapitsa, a leading Russian physicist and a writer of a major book on the topic, moderating the discussions. I was also impressed by how UNESCO and other specialised UN organisations took interest in the conference. UNESCO sent several representatives to participate in the discussions, including Omani delegate, Moussa Bin Jaafar. Another roundtable looked into "Education as a Method of Understanding and Social Solidarity." Here are several remarks I would like to share with you. Firstly, most participants came from the Russian Federation and neighbouring countries. The paucity of participants from other parts of the world turned the conference into a meeting of experts rather than a forum for dialogue. Secondly, the discussions showed that Russia has its own approach to the dialogue between East and West, one that differs from the view of Western countries in general and one that is moulded by Russia's own national concerns. Russia, it seems to me, is interested in learning more about developments in its regional sphere and is hoping to regain influence across its borders. Thirdly, it was clear that problems related to cultural differences could not be addressed in isolation from other political and economic issues in the world. Most participants agreed that cultural problems need a multi-disciplinary approach and a more democratic mode of international decision-making. At the end of the conference, I had a chance to see the room into which Rasputin was lured to his untimely end. For some reason, I couldn't decide whether the man was a die-in-the-wool extremist, or deserved some sympathy. I had no doubt that my fellow participants would have interesting views on the matter. But then again, it is impossible to tolerate injustice. * The writer is a professor of political science at Cairo University.
