Originally published on October 2015, Le Monde Diplomatique.
At the Conference on the Notion of Progress in the Diversity of World Cultures (New York, 31 May 2015), scholars of all disciplines from across the world exchanged views: some of them figure in this supplement. UN High Representative Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser said in his opening remarks: ‘Consider the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly — we can fairly say that all of its items are in one way or another related to the complex notion of progress’
Progress in cultural diversity
From 31 May to 2 June a Conference on the Notion of Progress in the Diversity of World Cultures was held in New York under the patronage of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations represented by UN High Representative Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and his adviser on academic issues, political analyst and writer Mustapha Tlili. The event’s academic co-directors were Mustapha Tlili and anthropologist Constantin von Barloewen, the project’s founder, assisted by Sonia Zouari.
The conference, which was supported by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Alfred Herrhausen Society and the Udo Keller Foundation-Forum Humanum, brought together leading figures from across the world: anthropologist Marc Augé, paleoanthropologist Yves Coppens, philosopher and founder of the Club of Budapest Ervin László, philosopher and former Hannah Arendt chair Ágnes Heller, former president of the Inter-American Development Bank Enrique V Iglesias, philosopher Edgar Morin, sociologist Ashis Nandy, political philosopher Michael J Sandel, former government minister Karan Singh, journalist Urs Schoettli, historian Alexander Tchoubarian, philosopher Vladimir Kantor, philosopher John MBiti, poet Ali Ahmad Said Esber (Adonis), philosopher Avital Ronell, economist and former Harvard University administrator Henry Rosovsky, former director of the UN Environment Programme Klaus Töpfer, Nobel literature prizewinner Wole Soyinka, philosopher Tu Weiming and former president of the World Bank James Wolfensohn.
Note: The full text of their inputs can be found on the websites of Le Monde diplomatique and Le Monde diplomatique in English.