Cultural interaction between nations... The essence of cultural diplomacy (1-2)

What humanity is going through today in terms of fluctuations and difficult periods, including those related to natural disasters, and others related to conflicts, has generated among peoples a desire to search for rapprochement more than searching for differences that would deepen the distances of divergence between them. During my recent European tour, I felt the extent of people’s thirst For a civilized stage dominated by harmony, and at the same time I found in the positive impressions about the success of the State of Qatar in organizing the 2022 World Cup for everyone I met and encountered what moved me with enthusiasm to write again about the important role that cultural diplomacy can play in this historical stage in the life of nations, I realized once again that international politics is still limited to achieving world peace.

There is no doubt that all human cultures are different in the sense of diversity, considering the difference as a social and historical phenomenon, but turning this difference into a pretext for spreading the discourse of clash between cultures turns relations between people into hostility based on theses of inequality and equality.

In most of my writings, I have always called for the need to pay attention to what is happening in global culture today in terms of the decline and inability to play vanguard roles that prevent what we sometimes see from the closure between cultures and the predominance of what is political and narrow interests at the expense of the openness of human cultures to each other, and I became increasingly convinced that reviving the roles of culture It would heal many rifts in international relations, but is there anyone who can answer at a time when international organizations are unable to provide sufficient efficiency for the discourse of "cultural diversity" and rapprochement between peoples?

There is no doubt that all human cultures are different in the sense of diversity, given that difference is a social and historical phenomenon (networking sites)

Through my diplomatic experience and my life, I stood on that golden path to achieving global reconciliation, and I found in my cultural and political environment what strengthens the path.

I was and still believe that cultural differences between human beings are a natural product of the diversity of factors and objective conditions experienced by societies. Culture is a complex phenomenon that includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, etiquette, morals, laws, customs, abilities and all the predispositions acquired by man as defined by Edward Taylor in his book "Primitive Culture" is not There is room for differentiation between peoples, as the characteristics of the culture of each society are nothing but variations of common values. Therefore, deep cultural unity is almost certain, as

The book "Primitive Culture" by Edward Taylor (Al Jazeera)

culture first

Why do we always insist in our intellectual discourse on calling for attention to the status of culture?

Isn't it more useful to suffice with inviting politicians to play the role of global reconciliation, and leave culture aside to be isolated from international relations?

I should make it clear from the outset that the definitions of culture are not final, and they feed on the social experiences of people everywhere, and all peoples belong to distinct cultures, which have their own specificity and influence on all social practices that characterize each people, given that culture gives society its social identity that it is unable to Dispensing with it, so that the culture becomes like the soil in which the roots penetrate, grow and live.

The desire to win sculpture celebrates the heritage and culture of the State of Qatar (Al-Jazeera)

And because culture is a prerequisite for human existence because of the possibilities it provides for creativity in all fields, it is the cornerstone of the relationships that a person establishes with the members of his society and with other societies.

This means that culture carries within it the elements of dialogue, exchange and communication, and it is not a closed circle on itself.

Cultural institutions sought to spread awareness of national culture in the cultural neighborhood "Katara" (Al-Jazeera)

And when I call for culture to be given its natural place in international relations, I do not present it as a substitute for politics.

I have long examined the favorite sentence of Terry Eagleton, in which he says, "Culture is a product of politics, much more than politics being the obedient servant of culture." However, I still say that culture cannot be a substitute for politics, but politics cannot abandon culture in Crisis management and in dealing with international relations, we need permanent support from culture because it constitutes the deep structures of society, and when we search for closer international relations, we are inevitably driven to understand the specificities of societies, and this can only be achieved through culture as a bridge and not a wall.

We are facing a diverse map of cultures, and since the ancient civilizations, humanity has been preoccupied with the value of exchange, learning and mutual benefit, so it was not possible to talk about excluding the role of one culture in building any civilization, so what about the inclusive civilization that provided all human contributions?

Since ancient civilizations, humanity has been preoccupied with the value of exchange, learning and mutual benefit (Al-Jazeera)

There is no room for anyone to claim that one culture has advantage over another or possesses the basic condition for building human civilization. Rather, every person on earth, regardless of his gender, belief or language, should be proud that his ancestors have all contributed to enriching the tree of humanity, and here I evoke a wonderful Chinese example. The blooming of one flower does not mean the arrival of spring, and the opening of a hundred flowers makes the garden full of spring atmosphere.”

There is no culture in the world that has no value, and there is no way to accept the discourse of differentiation. Every culture seeks to contribute to this cosmic civilization, because there is no complete and final culture. I understand the secret of those cultures, so I benefit from them in proportion to my culture and identity, and I realize the tolerance in the essence of these cultures, and the more I preserve that essence, the more it is able to extend in history and overflow with urbanization.

There is no culture in the world that has no value and there is no way to accept the discourse of differentiation, as every culture seeks to contribute to this cosmic civilization (communication sites)

Cultural exchange is not a plant without roots

Communication between cultures is an ancient matter and is not accidental to human civilization. In my book “On the Destiny of People of Determination,” I showed how cultural exchanges at the highest political level were manifested in the form of “gifts.” The gift is among these forms that have been translated for centuries as the will to communicate between Peoples until they became a symbol of rapprochement, and I gave an example of that from the bright periods in our Arab-Islamic civilization. Harun al-Rashid’s exchange of gifts with King Charlemagne was considered the best example of the degree of cultural exchanges that were expressing countries’ appreciation for each other’s cultures, and their respect for the cultural knowledge that formed what It is called the “Culture of Common Things.” The Arabs paid attention to the role of gifts. In the fifth century AH, Judge Al-Rasheed bin Al-Zubayr wrote the book “Ammunitions and Artifacts.” In it, he reviewed news of gifts and artifacts between kings and presidents, and strange possessions.

A page from the "Book of Kings" to express the gifts of the sultans" (Al-Jazeera Net)

The book of ammunition and artifacts written by Judge Al-Rasheed bin Al-Zubayr in the fifth century AH (Al-Jazeera)

And how much the "gift economy" helped bring the East closer to the West, and spread tolerance among peoples of different faiths and cultures.

Therefore, we are dealing with an issue rooted in our human civilization.

Among the royal gifts displayed at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha (Al-Jazeera)

Cultural diplomacy has shown in its first manifestations throughout history how the gift itself was a kind of communication between nations, and therefore we consider that the gift economy is a delicate field that played in Arab history as in Western history a prominent role in strengthening the bonds of relations between states and peoples, and the gift was not a type From the rapprochement between sultans and rulers, but it was also a mirror reflecting the taste of peoples and the extent of progress of nations, which led to coexistence between oneself and the other.

The gifts were not necessarily material objects that reflected the technical development of a people, but rather valuable books that reflected the development of the intellectual and spiritual experience of a nation, which expanded the circle of acquaintance and knowledge transfer and led to the belief that human civilization is the sum of the contributions of all nations.

The gift was not a kind of rapprochement between the sultans and rulers, but it was also a mirror reflecting the tastes of peoples and the extent of progress of nations (communication sites)

I do not deny that other cultures have known the roots of cultural diplomacy without being humble about this term, which will have significance later on.

Although researchers link the emergence of the term with the development that took place in the political situation in Europe in the nineteenth century, I tend to do justice to previous civilizations by knowing this kind of communication between them, which reflected a kind of foreign cultural policy for them, and I do not exclude that travelers and explorers And the merchants and artists who walked the land east and west paved the way for strengthening cultural relations between nations, and they were like cultural diplomats in the world.

Therefore, looking at cultural diplomacy from an objective and impartial angle would raise the grievance of the long history of non-Western human societies in working towards rapprochement through the cultural contents and symbolic goods of their peoples.

Persian mihrab ceramics from the 13th century (right) and the entrance to Tesoro San Marco from the book of the Austrian traveler Otto Demos, who died in 1990 (the island)

There is no doubt that the "diplomatic history" of civilizations was not written by official history. Rather, had it not been for the writings of travelers, we would not have come across the cultural richness that peoples exchanged among themselves. It was an essential content of what we call today cultural diplomacy, so that some of the writers were aware of the phenomenon of "informal diplomacy". And its impact on the rapprochement between peoples, including what was expressed by the Chinese writer Li Zhi Chong with the presence of the "people's embassy of Arab merchants and travelers", and the trips between Arabs and Chinese were based on commercial exchanges, but they were not devoid of cultural exchanges, and we can measure this "case". Cultural exchanges are different from all societies and cultures, where exchanges are not limited to "official representation", as cultural interaction between peoples flows naturally.

Ahmed bin Fadlan, an Arab Muslim traveler from the tenth century AD, who introduced the world to the lives of Asian and European peoples and tribes (Shutterstock)

What I always seek to show is to avoid every central perspective in approaching the cultural history of the world. Therefore, the birth of "cultural diplomacy" is not recent in the Western sense. The roots of this phenomenon extend into the soil of ancient civilizations as well, which confirms the inevitability of relying on culture as a driving force for any relations. between states in our contemporary moment, and therefore, "cultural diplomacy" cannot be seen as a new tool in the arena of international relations, but rather it is a tool present in various times that have witnessed a natural desire among peoples to get to know each other and to consolidate their relations and resort to it as a basis for negotiation in periods crises and disagreements.

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