Little gestures of expressive respect gently bring forth a subtle revolution of thoughts enabling one to be more susceptible to people of other cultures.
Every time I worked with Sam Nugroho, it was like playing a one day cricket match with the spirit of T20 and energy of a test match. We performed as a composite team of professionals from Indonesia, Australia, Western Europe, North America and of course Pakistan. Sam is a commercial photographer, seriously enthusiastic about his work and habitually honest in conduct. His studio in Jakarta is the size of a standard film studio in Pakistan.
When I left the company, I lost touch with Sam as happens with most people you know through work. A couple of years ago, going aimlessly through my cell phone I came across Sam's number, it was Christmas morning, I 'smsd' Christmas greetings to him and his family.
On Eid morning I received a 'Happy Eid' message from Sam. The message inspired me to sit down and retrieve numbers from the abandoned collection of visiting cards and cell phone contacts of people I had worked with in various geographies. I set about sending greetings on their festivals; Christmas, Easter, Diwali, Holi and in return began receiving “Happy Eid” greetings. These little gestures of expressive respect gently brought forth a subtle revolution of thoughts enabling me to be more susceptible to people from other cultures.
Since the last few years, high profile multicultural dialogue is held internationally. Take for instance, the address of Saudi King Abdullah at the three day World Conference on Dialogue organised by Muslim World League at Madrid in July 2008, attended by around 200 representatives of world's different communities or the majestic sight of magnanimous royalties and sublime government dignitaries at the first Alliance of Civilisations Forum, striving selflessly to avert the predicted clash of civilisations for visionary projects.
The desirable does not always happen. “Most of the dialogue has ended in failure...” as King Abdullah said in his address. It is simply because multicultural harmony cannot be injected into the minds and hearts of people, who remain wilful captives of ingrained fears and phobias.
On September 14, 2007 Doudou Diene, UN special rapporteur (2002-2008) on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance discussed representative examples of intercultural hostility such as blasphemous sketches in Sweden and posters in Switzerland by Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) showing three white sheep booting out a black sheep. Such examples manifest intercultural animosity rooted deeper than what appears to naked eyes. A Gallup poll released on January 21, 2008 stated that most people in Muslim and western countries believe divisions between them are worsening and each side believes the other disrespects their culture. Published in another report on inter-cultural relations for the World Economic Forum (WEF) the Gallup poll reflected “an alarmingly low level of optimism regarding dialogue between cultures” the founder and president of WEF Klaus Schwab said.
The forum will aim to “avoid the predicted clash of civilisations by promoting security, understanding, tolerance and mutual respect in a globalised world,” Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in his inaugural speech at the first Alliance of Civilisations Forum on January 15, 2008. Mutual respect is the key prerequisite to understanding and tolerance but the idea needs to be realised on grassroots rather than mused upon with philosophical oratory at August forums amid customary applause.
Little gestures of mutual respect can engender intercultural understanding. Greeting someone on his or her cultural day of festivity carries lasting warmth, the more personal the means to convey that message, the more effective it becomes.
Imagine Saudi King Abdullah through cell phone services in USA sending personalised Christmas Greetings sms en masse to millions of people in USA, President Obama sending a personalised “Eid Mubarak” message to cell phone subscribers in Pakistan, Jamat-i-Islami sending Diwali greetings sms to Indians through cell phone service operators in India, BJP sending through Pakistani cell phone companies Eid greetings to Pakistanis; the Prime Minister of Pakistan sending Happy Independence Day sms to Indians on 15th August, Indian Prime Minister wishing Pakistanis on 14th August.
Imagine the mass level of hype, interest and motivation such gestures would create in offices, schools, colleges where multicultural greetings would become a tradition for creating mutual respect. A greetings revolution that may bring near a future of better possibilities for multicultural harmony.
