The View From Prague
This work is the result of the Forum 2000 conferences initiated by Václav Havel and Elie Wiesel. The book is based mainly on the first five conferences which were held in Prague from 1997.
The first essay written by Václav Havel deals with spiritual preconditions of the global survival of humankind, and the second one is the quintessence of Havel’s views on the world which we have inherited as well as his views on our hopes for the future. The book closes with Havel’s personal reflection on the deeper meaning and aim of the Forum 2000 meetings.
Subsequent chapters analyze and interpret the ideas that were expressed by the speakers and interlocutors of the first five conferences in which they tried to identify and understand the primary issues facing mankind globally. Reflections deal with the main dimensions of globalization and with their synchronicities as well as asynchronicities based on the quintessences of the annual conference reports.
Editorial Note
List of Contributors
How the Idea of Forum 2000 Emerged
Jiří Musil and Takeaki Hori
Part I. Our World
Spiritual Preconditions for Our Common Global Survival
Václav Havel
The World We Have Inherited, Our World Today, and Hopes for the Future
Václav Havel
Part II. Problems and Visions of Our World Today as Seen by the Participants of Forum 2000 Conferences. Confrontation of Forum 2000 with Contemporary International Discourse on Globalization
Importance of the Context
Jiří Musil
How to React to a Plurality of Cultures
Globalization, Society and Culture
Jiří Musil
Two Examples of Socio-Cultural Disintegration Caused by Globalization
Takeaki Hori
The Importance of Religion
The Transformations of Religion in the Process of Globalization
Tomáš Halík
Awareness of the Relations Between Economics, Politics, Knowledge and Ethics as a Starting Point for Global Governance
Political Globalization
Jiří Pehe
Economy Was in the Background of Many Discussions on Social and Ethical Problems
An Economic View of the World
Jana Marková
The Global Environmental Situation and Human Responsibility
Global Environmental Problems
Václav Mezřický
The View of an Observer
Both the Rationality of Precise Analysis and the Naivety of Ideals Are Needed
Vladimír Karfík
Why Forum 2000?
Václav Havel
Appendixes
Prague Declaration
Participants of the Forum 2000 Conferences (1997–2005)