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In July 2005, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced a new initiative called the "Alliance of Civilizations." Initially co-sponsored by the prime ministers of Spain and Turkey, the Alliance of Civilizations has a mandate "to bridge divides and overcome prejudice, misconceptions, misperceptions, and polarization which potentially threatens world peace." The founders of the Alliance have expressed particular concern about the apparently widening breach between Western and Islamic societies. They have, therefore, emphasized the need for a countervailing movement based on respect for all religions and recognition of humanity's fundamental interdependence. On a practical level, the Alliance of Civilization has formed a secretariat and has empanelled a High-Level Group to provide guidance on a series of inter-civilizational and intercultural initiatives. The secretariat of the Alliance of Civilizations has a mandate to establish partnerships with educational and civil society programs that are working to advance the cause of inter-cultural dialogue. In support of the Alliance of Civilization, Professor Suheil Bushrui (University of Maryland) and Professor David Cadman (Temos Academy) will serve as general editors of a series of papers to be published under the auspices of the Center for Heritage Resource Studies at the University of Maryland. The editors will inaugurate the series "Essays on the Alliance of Civilizations" with a paper by His Royal Highness the Prince of Whales entitled "Religion: The Ties That Bind," which will be published with his gracious permission. Subsequent essays will be released approximately every six months - for a recent UMD press release on the Series, please click here. More about Professor Bushrui...Professor Suheil Badi Bushrui is a distinguished author, poet, critic, translator, and media personality who is well known in the United States, the Middle East, India, Africa, and the Arab world. Presently, Bushrui is the first incumbent of CIDCM's Bahá'ì Chair for World Peace, a position to which he was appointed in July 1992. He retired from that position in January 2006. He is the founder and current Director of UM's Kahlil Gibran Research and Studies Project, which he now directs while participating in the Center for Heritage Resource Studies. Well known for his seminal studies in English of the works of W.B. Yeats and for his translations of Yeats' poetry into Arabic, Bushrui is also the foremost authority on the works of Kahlil Gibran.Professor Bushrui's published work is extensive, in both English and Arabic; his work on Gibran, in particular, has been translated into French, Italian, Spanish and Chinese. His most recent publications include: the first annotated edition of Gibran's The Prophet (1995); The Ethical Dimensions of Science, Art, Religion, and Politics (1996, co-edited with Miles Bradbury); and a forthcoming university textbook on the religions of the world entitled The Spiritual Heritage of the Human Race: An Introduction, as well as an up-to-date biography of Gibran entitled Kahlil Gibran: Man and Poet. |
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