I would like to start by thanking especially those who spoke before me at this event, organized by the Nuova Global Foundation. The themes on global media, on transmitting the legacy of a charism, and on the needs and opportunities for dialogue, were dealt with very competently. I was impressed too by the experiences in the various fields of economics and ecology. I think I would be speaking on behalf of many when I express my “wonder” over all this; and I know that this feeling of “wonder” may appear inappropriate, if one thinks of its meaning in everyday language. But the Greeks considered “wonder” (thaumas) to be the primordial experience of knowing and communicating the truth. Man in ancient times was dismayed by the transience, limitation, and finitude of existence, and when he encountered things that lasted, that “stood above” (episteme), he was full of wonder when he understood that those were the truth.
In spite of the fact that today’s man is overwhelmed by a whirlwind of interests, exchanges, social processes, where everything seems to have an expiry date and to have value only when it is useful, he can still experience “wonder” when he discovers and highlights what is; what lasts; what authentically indicates value beyond all utility. So, as a philosopher, let me express my best wishes to Nuova Global Foundation and hope that it would also aim to be an inexhaustible source of “wonder.”
Nuova Global Foundation…. Yes, a Foundation! Some may think we are crazy to set up a Foundation in a world described as “liquid.” It takes guts to lay a foundation at an epoch of liquid modernity, of liquid society, of liquid relationships, when the only concern should be NOT to take risks. Where does so much courage come from? From the awareness that when times get tough, one has to be more daring. This is what Chiara Lubich did when she founded the Focolare Movement at a historical moment marked by the devastation of a world war, the collapse of ideals, and the loss of hope. She asked herself if there was any ideal that did not risk being buried under the rubble, and she found an answer: God. Around this, a community started to flourish, and today, it extends to the farthest reaches and ventures into ambitious projects like this one. It seems that for great things to start, they need the farsighted gaze, full of wonder, of those persons capable of looking beyond a difficult and gloomy present.
Inclusion is the key word for this initiative and for the New Global Foundation.
It is quite evident that the meaning of inclusion has been subject to change in recent decades. Until a few years ago, inclusion was a moral concern, considered positive insofar as it reduced social marginalization. Inclusion was the idea behind many educational projects aimed at overcoming all kinds of discrimination. In an era marked by class differences, inclusion was the way to give lower classes the opportunity to enjoy the same social and economic benefits as the upper classes. In other words, inclusion was the way to bring into the mainstream of society those who could not make it on their own.
Today, this meaning of inclusion is not the most decisive one. Inclusion is no longer a possibility given to someone, but a necessity that concerns everyone. Every day, we experience that reality is multiple and interconnected, that the principle of global interdependence shows the validity of the principle that “whatever happens in any corner of the world can have a repercussion in any other place on the planet.” Natural sciences discovered this principle long ago. Back in 1962, Edward Lorenz coined the famous saying that “the slightest flutter of a butterfly in Brazil can cause a hurricane in Texas,” on which he based the emerging chaos theory. Today we realize that hurricanes are neither the first thing nor the only thing to be afraid of. We are experiencing how a virus, that has emerged from who knows where, is producing death, disease, and social limitations everywhere. We are discovering how deforestation in one region on the planet is causing incalculable damage to the planet’s ecological balance.
We have seen how the loss of fuel from an oil tanker in one area of the world has been the cause of massive marine pollution elsewhere. We have repeatedly experienced how a change in a financial index on a stock exchange located far away can produce redundancies in another part of the world, and so on.
If this series of events describes the condition of interdependence between areas on our planet, it presents itself in the same way, even if proportionally reduced, within any human community. Even our cities are affected by multi-cultural and multi-religious situations. In our cities, too, there are poor and rich neighborhoods, places where people of certain cultures meet, and spaces where citizens of different traditions and world views live together, often with difficulty. So, interdependence is experienced even in our human communities.
One possible response to this situation is to close oneself off in the fortress of one’s own security and find oneself alone with others like ourselves, to hold back, to erect walls, and prevent people from crossing the borders and meeting with one another. This temptation exists and is known by those who are afraid of multi-cultural encounters and want to solve the challenges of interdependence by denying them. But this is not the temptation of the majority. There is no barrier, no wall, no boundary that can prevent human beings from recognizing that they share a common destiny. How often, especially in recent times, have we heard warnings such as “nobody saves himself alone,” “we are all in the same boat,” “no man is an island”! This is clear, and we are learning the hard way, that we cannot live a happy life if suffering and despair are planted all around us. If my destiny is embedded in the destiny of all; if my happiness depends on the happiness of others, then it will depend, above all, on those who do not possess it.
The logical consequence is that without an inclusive attitude, without planned and competent inclusiveness, one gets nowhere. Inclusion, as we understand it, presupposes searching among the intervening spaces of our global society and discovering those intangible realities, that do not even have the strength to represent their own interests or have lost all hope of seeing their rights recognized. I believe this is a very important point: it is not just a matter of initiatives aimed at including those who are worse off, but also of getting rid of those invisible human conditions that can create negative and uncontrolled processes that influence the equilibrium of every order and level.
Paradoxically, we are at a favorable moment to dream about and elaborate an order for society that cultural traditions – from Stoicism to Christianity, from Iusnaturalism to Kantian Enlightenment (to speak only of the West), – have always advocated, each with its own insights. This is now being defined as deeply rooted and cordial cosmopolitanism (Cf. Cortina, “Cosmopolitan Ethics,” 2021) and it could have the following conceptual premises: an inclusive “we” reluctant to polarization; a civic or social friendship; an inclusive liberal-social economy (“the enterprise of the future will be social or it will not be social”); an ethical journalism at the service of open societies; a cosmopolitan social citizenship; a global governance translated into a kind of democratic cosmopolitan state (“a political project of cosmopolitan democracy that globalizes democracy and democratizes globalization”); a new alliance between techno-sciences and humanities. (Cf. Ibid.) All this is based on respect for peoples’ identities and, above all, on cosmopolitan ethics, which means “dialogical ethics of cordial reason,” an informal ethics of intersubjectivity that relies on the principles of hospitality and compassion, and on a transnational and global moral conscience. This moral conscience offers special attention to the poor and excluded, comes to terms with human vulnerability, and is supported by an ethical education based on human dignity and the dignity of creation. This has been sustained by a long list of scholars for quite some time: from Appiah, Archibugi, Beck, Brock, Canei, Rawls, to Habermas, Nagel, Held, Nussbaum, Parek, Pogge, Cortina, and Sen; and also by the hard work, although obviously limited, of the best NGOs that support integral development and international institutions. (Cf. Ibid.)
I believe that fostering the realization of such a project should be part of the Nuova Global Foundation’s whole mission. It seems to me that it adheres creatively and effectively to Pope Francis’ driving force to promote an antidote against the “throw-away culture,” which we can define as the “culture of exclusion.” Eradicating poverty and including the least of our brethren in the mainstream of society, exposing hidden conditions and drawing attention to them, discovering situations that are invisible, and bringing them up for political consideration and decision, are processes that qualify for the humanism launched by Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew, the Iman of Al-Azhar and other religious leaders. Some of the most significant recent events include the “Economy of Francesco” and the “Global Compact on Education,” to which the Focolare Movement has contributed since their very beginning.
Therefore, I would like to conclude my speech, hoping that today, we have launched a new, long-term process that will be able to “address the hurtful questions of a humanity that, at times, is disoriented and lost in social fragmentation. This is an important step towards a more united world, a significant piece of the mosaic that represents the one human family. We do not lack reasons for hope. As A. Cortina says, ‘developing a new narrative, a common narrative, is becoming increasingly difficult and necessary.’ “Global challenges (climate, pandemic, digital, immigration and poverty) require cosmopolitan responses.” (Ibid.)
Jesús Morán
