Kamran Mofid

A Response to Peter Mandelson

Kamran Mofid — 2008-06-30T14:25:00Z

Globalisation is not good: Globalisation for the Common Good is good

Perhaps EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson lives in another century. Writing in the Guardian on 9 June 2008 , he proclaimed that “Globalisation is good”, as though globalisation were all about trade, production, consumption, labour market flexibility, open markets, and financial integration, with the likes of the WTO and the IMF helping to make globalisation ever more globalised! (...)

- Kamran Mofid

The Istanbul Declaration

Kamran Mofid — 2007-07-25T00:16:00Z

The Istanbul Declaration

An Interfaith Perspective on Globalisation for the Common Good:

The Sixth Annual International Conference

“A Non-Violent Path to Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding”

Istanbul 2007 • Fatih University

“All roads lead to Istanbul.” Meeting place of two continents and capital of two empires [the Byzantine and the Ottoman], Istanbul has been a crossroads of cultures for nearly 1800 years. The city offers a powerful metaphor for understanding and reconciliation between East and West. We gather here on the beautiful campus of Fatih University, grateful for their warm hospitality and support. We come together from many countries, six faiths, and countless areas of expertise to continue our exploration of pathways to Globalisation for the Common Good. In Turkey we experience the vital bio-diversity of the Earth and the rich cultural diversity of humankind. Our time here has been richly inspiring and profoundly motivating. It has yielded a very fruitful dialogue. (...)

- Kamran Mofid

Israel and Palestine: There can be no Peace Without Economic Justice in Palestine

Kamran Mofid — 2006-12-17T06:54:00Z

As recent as last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and urged them to step up their efforts to find a lasting peace.

"Everybody recognizes that the creation of a viable, independent democratic Palestinian state that can live side by side in peace with Israel would be not just a remarkable achievement but a just achievement," Rice said in a news conference with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank town of Jericho. (...)

- Kamran Mofid

The Persistent Middle East Crises

Kamran Mofid — 2006-11-24T13:16:00Z

As we all know, the Middle East seems on the brink of overwhelming disaster. Iraq is wracked by insurgency and sectarian warfare. The ongoing conflict in Afghanistan is not much different to the disaster in neighbouring Iraq. Israel and Hezbollah have fought to a bloody standstill, a disastrous war for all. The Israeli-Palestinian struggle festers like a raw sore. There is great controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions. The “Selective” push for “Democracy” –hugely expensive both in material and human life costs- is in ruins. In times like these, it is easy to despair. But somehow, for the sake of humanity and the enlightened self interest, the cycle of violence and inflicting inhumanity on each other must be broken. Here the wise words of Martin Luther King rings true as ever, “Sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love”...

- Kamran Mofid

Globalization for the Common Good: Our Honolulu Statement (2006)

Kamran Mofid — 2006-07-01T08:19:00Z

We came to this beautiful land of aloha, a place of harmony between sky, mountains, streams, and ocean. The land itself taught us gratitude and it is with humility that we give gratitude back to the land and people of Hawai'i. As we come now to the end of our stay, we challenge each other and all people of good will to stand together with Hawaiians as they work out their own story of identity and the renaissance of their culture. Theirs is an important lesson of travail and triumph in our global community.

The interwoven peoples that make up contemporary Hawai'i also hold an important truth to be learned by the rest of the world: that it is possible to create vibrant community among varied peoples and cultures if you pay attention to the dignity of each person and celebrate the richness of diversity.

- Kamran Mofid

A Non-violent Path to Conflict Resolution and Peace Making

Gokhan Bacik, Kamran Mofid — 2006-03-30T21:25:00Z

Conflict resolution in international affairs is currently undergoing enormous pressures, due in part to the challenges of globalisation and its many cultural, religious and economic contexts. To address this crisis, which has sadly been described as a “Clash of Civilisations”, we propose a dialogue among civilisations: an inter-active international symposium to contribute meaningfully to the promotion of a global culture of prevention and non-violent conflict resolution, mediation and negotiation.

- Kamran Mofid

What is Education?

Kamran Mofid, Peter Milward — 2006-02-21T20:21:00Z

What is a University?, Peter Milward SJ, (Shepheard-Walwyn, London, 2006), http://www.shepheard-walwyn.co.uk/b...

Many governments around the world have declared education their national priority. It is education, education and education, declared not long ago the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. But do we know what education is? Do we know what a university is? Is education about choice, market forces, least expensive methods of delivery and such like? Today it seems it is all about how to reform education, so that the system responds most effectively to national and global economic/jobs circumstances. This has brought us all a bitter harvest. Education should not be designed to produce a compliant and ill-informed, brain-washed labour force which can see no further than cynical competitiveness of market fixated structures. There is more to education and university than choice and how cheaply it can be delivered.

- Kamran Mofid

Iran and the US

Kamran Mofid — 2006-02-03T13:23:07Z

A few years ago, at a time of reflection in my professional life I was searching for a complimentary model to today's Western and mainly dominant money, capital and technology model, I turned to my land of birth, Persia. I then rediscovered Rumi, Sa'adi and Hafez. That journey was full of joy, inner-peace and happiness for me.

Recently, in my research for a forthcoming book on economics, capitalism and

happiness, I have discovered more Persian gems, amongst them, Farid al-Din ‘Attar.

I have found his writings very relevant to today's global environment, on what we need to overcome our differences, address our crises and to solve our conflicts non-violently.

I thought that I cannot wait to share some of my discoveries with you until my book is published in a year or two. So, here, I want to share with you what Attar has to offer on love and spirituality- so much missing today and so much needed for a peaceful and just conflict resolution. These are the seeds that Attar and others like him have planted, and have germinated over centuries, growing into a garden into which you are about to step.

My main purpose in this short paper is then to apply my reading of Attar to construct a model, based on love and spirituality, to bring Iran and the US together again for the common good.

- Kamran Mofid

Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative

Kamran Mofid — 2006-01-29T16:35:11Z

As it has been observed by many throughout history, religion has been both a source of blessing and curse. Religion has been, and is, a major factor in many conflicts and wars around the world. There is a real danger now that these unwelcome truths about the true meaning and function of religion, combined with political/economic injustice, human rights abuses, poverty, hatred, fear, ignorance, globalisation, war as an instrument of imperial policy, and the failure to respect international legal or ethical principles, will aggravate conflicts, intolerance, and even anarchy around the world. (...)

- Kamran Mofid

An Open Letter to the First World Islamic Economic Forum

Kamran Mofid — 2005-09-23T01:50:00Z

Dear Political and Business Leaders,

Many millions of people around the world wish you well and pray that with God's blessings and guidance the Forum will be a great success. However, given the enormity of our global crises, this distinguished Forum should not be allowed to become-like many other international gatherings before it- a talking shop on value-free economics, ignoring true human values, such as, justice, comradeship, spirituality and compassion. This important and timely Forum must not become another Davos or G8, long on Economic recommendations and very short in achievements to eradicate world poverty, hunger, insecurity and injustice. These international meetings have failed to achieve their said objectives, because they have failed to recognise and appreciate that, “the marketplace is not just an economic sphere, it is a region of the human spirit”. The people of the East, I am sure, will be able to show to the world that, it is their spirituality and compassion that is the cornerstone of their civilisation. (...)

- Kamran Mofid

Islamic Spirituality in the Modern World

Kamran Mofid — 2005-08-24T12:30:00Z

A Conference Report by Kamran Mofid, PhD

On “A Compassionate, Spiritual and Dialogical Islam”

Conference Coordinator: Prof. Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi

Prof. of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, Hartford Seminary, USA

Organised by: Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture

Istanbul, 16-18 August 2005

- Kamran Mofid

An Open Letter to G8 Leaders

Kamran Mofid — 2005-06-17T13:20:00Z

Dear Honourable Presidents and Prime Ministers,

Gleneagles, Scotland.

[...] The continuous existence of such high levels of abject poverty in Africa and elsewhere in the world in its very nature is an affront to God and humanity and thus can never be justified. You, the leaders of the G8, have an opportunity in the coming weeks to begin to reverse this inhumanity and injustice, once and for all, and leave your mark on history. (...)

- Kamran Mofid