Citáty

Citáty jsou pouze v originálním znění v Aj.

“World problems (…) have to be tackled at the global level or you are not going to be able to tackle the problem at all.”

“It’s not a question of whether globalization is good or bad. Globalization is here to stay and we have to be prepared for that. But then the question is: How are you going to live in a globalized world if that globalization process will not have fair rules?”

→ Ricardo Lagos, former President, Chile


“To win an election does not yet mean democracy. Democracy has a framework that governments must observe. And the framework of democracy is the rule of human rights. This means that the majority, which won power, may rule only within the framework of human rights.”

“Governments do not acquire their legitimacy in elections; this is acquired by the voice of the people and by support of human rights.”

“Faith, ideology, democracy, human rights. All these are sacred concepts, sacred words, which we must liberate from the prisons of the government and give to the people. And we must not allow these concepts, these words, to be abused by political powers.”

→ Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Price Laureate, Iran


“We have to be careful not to work for those who want to destroy the “Western Satan” by abandoning our values. They will be respected only if we prove we have not resigned, that the only thing we should fear is fear itself and only if we convince the others that we do not apply different standards to ourselves and to them.”

→ Jiří Dienstbier, former Czechoslovak Minister of Foreign Affairs


“I would like to share with you that in the United States two months ago I was asked to participate in a panel of one session with Iraqi youth, who came from all over Iraq to the United States to form a group of Muslims, Christians, Turkmen, Shiite, and Sunni—I mean all colors of Iraq—for a 2-week program. The media was asked to come and be present at this wonderful event where they were interacting with one another peacefully and with respect. So the response was: “Are they fighting with one another?” The answer was: “Of course not.” They said: “When they fight, call us.” This is a problem today.”

“The word of God encouraged civilizations to borrow from one another, not civilizations to clash with one another.”

→ Mohamed Bashar Arafat, President of Civilizations Exchange and Cooperation Foundation


“Religion does not cause conflicts. Politics causes conflicts.”

“It is always about politics and politicians using religion as a weapon in all these conflicts. So let’s not blame religion; let us focus on the political dimension.”

→ Kishore Mahbubani, Dean and Professor in the Practice of Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore


“Because in the context of, say, Malaysia, where I am from, over the past two years, we have witnessed the emergence of more than two dozen religious-based NGOs, all of which share one common characteristic—they are all sectarian. And attempts at dialogue, and I share the Chairman’s cynicism here, have always been at best cosmetic, to the point where we sit at a table together, we shake each other’s hands, we smile for the camera, but the subtext, the subtitle which nobody reads is, we do not really believe what they believe, but let’s smile anyway because it looks good for the press.”

→ Farish Noor, Malaysian author, historian, political scientist


“Religion is the language we use, it is the holy water we sprinkle, to use a Christian metaphor, on our deepest fears, our deepest feelings, and our strongest beliefs. We have been killing in the name of God. We have probably killed more people in the name of God than souls we have saved in the name of God in the history of our humanity.”

“When we allow the language of religion to stand in the way of communication and stand in the way of understanding we disrupt the discourse.”

→ James Zogby, Founder and President of the Arab American Institute


“We must beware of the perils of categorization, because from that comes the aestheticization of politics, and out of that comes dehumanization, and thus we find ourselves dealing with categories rather than people.”

“Overall, the business sector has done immeasurable good for democracy, for free markets and for the welfare of people around the world.”

“The welfare of society is inextricably intertwined with the progress of business.”

→ Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Cooperation in New York


“The role of business is helping countries to emerge as fully fledged and stable democracies.”

“Business is not something separate from society. Business is society.”

“Business cannot be healthy if society is sick.”

“As a chief executive of a global company, the biggest contribution, by far, that I can make to economic development and poverty reduction is simply to run a successful and profitable company.”

→ Graham Mackay, CEO of SABMiller


“The idea that we should refrain from acting on our beliefs because others believe differently is to place the avoidance of conflict on a throne higher than it deserves.”

“None of us have a right to claim that we have a monopoly on truth. We each have an obligation to listen with an open mind to opposing views. But we need not be shy in expressing our beliefs about responsible leadership.”

“We will gain allies by making clear our understanding that good and evil are present in all of us, and that the common and constant struggle we must wage is to harness the best in each of us. And we will find inspiration in the belief that differences of ethnicity, race, gender, and creed are what give life its richness.”

→ Madeleine Albright, former US State Secretary


“Globalization is not a misfortune. It is an opportunity. It has been created by people and people can shape it in such a way that everyone plays an active part in it.”

→ Wolfgang Gerhardt, Chair of the Friedrich Naumann Stiftung


“We as citizens recognize more and more that freedom has to be fought for, that we really need to fight for our freedom and this is of course the path that has been persuaded by other European nations.”

→ Alyaksandar Milinkevich, Opposition Leader, Belarus


“Without a free and fair and independent press, I don’t believe you can have a free and vigorous democratic, civic and civil society.”

→ Christiane Amanpour, CNN Chief Correspondent


“What we have today is too much information. In other words, there is such noise, such information noise, that an ordinary person is not capable of distinguishing the truth from manipulation.”

“A sort of a great surprise to me is the media, which are reduced to a kind of machine which makes money. Media are now reduced to becoming a way of acquiring capital. And production of newspapers is becoming something like producing shoelaces or some other similar kind of product.”

→ Adam Michnik, Editor-in-Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza


“Freedom is something that we cannot take for granted and it’s something that is not always good. Freedom is not only freedom for good, freedom can be also for evil. (…) Freedom can also liberate the bad, the evil in us.”

→ André Glucksmann, Philosopher


“Media today are a mixture of news, entertainment and advertising. It is perhaps inevitable, but I think it is an essential responsibility of the media to make clear the distinction and make clear which is which.”

“The very idea of truth is directly dependent on the clarity of language. There is no truth without clarity.”

→ Michael Žantovský, Czech Ambassador to Israel


“I believe that truth-seeking is fundamental to our business. However, to be honest, accurate and completely truthful, journalism cannot fall prey to false notions of objectivity.”

“I don’t believe you can do good journalism if you are not rooted in values and if you don’t have some kind of reasonable moral compass.”

→ Jeffrey Gedmin, President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty


“I know that there is a certain American ambivalence about the EU, but I believe on the whole the strengthening of the EU and the expansion of the EU has been something that has been a very positive influence not only within Europe but on the margins of Europe, in Turkey and in Russia.”

→ Paul Wolfowitz, former President of the World Bank


“…the image of the bridge fits hand-in-glove with the life’s work of our host, President Vaclav Havel, who epitomizes the model of the one who has built a bridge from East to West with consummate skill and peacemaking know-how. He defied the odds—those who said the river below was too tumultuous, too dangerous—and succeeded in leading a quintessentially flawless revolution of the twentieth century.”

“If there is any gift needed in bridge-building, it is the gift of friendship.”

→ Doris Donnelly, John Carroll University in Cleveland


“This is something we ought to say together and out loud to every corner of the globe: God is not in the storm or in the earthquakes of racial, ethnic, political or religious hatred and intolerance! God is only in the ‘still, small voice—among the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God’ God is not in the destructive power of violence but in the waves of solidarity with those who suffer. I think it is the path to the future.”

→ Tomáš Halík, Professor, Charles University