Opening ceremony

(original versions of the speeches)

Oldřich Černý
Pane Havle, pane Sasakawo, Vaše Excelence, vážení účastníci konference, milé dámy a pánové, dobrý večer. Opět nastal podzim, se začínajícím podzimem je zahájeno Forum a já mám opět velkou trému jako každý rok. Přesto mi dovolte, abych vás uvítal jménem čtyř nadací:

1. Nadace Forum 2000 – hlavní pořadatel této konference,
2. Nadace Vize 97 – Dagmar a Václava Havlových, která nám laskavě propůjčila pro dnešní večer tento krásný prostor,
3. Nadace Nippon Foundation,
4. Nadace The Sasakawa Peace Foundation, bez jejíž vstřícnosti, porozumění a podpory by možná dnešní večer každý z nás trávil někde jinde.

Já jsem na začátku tohoto týdne s prezidentem Václavem Havlem probíral některé konečné detaily konference Forum 2000. A Václav Havel se zeptal: „Kolikáté že je to vlastně Forum?“ „Deváté, pane prezidente. “ „Fakt?“ odpověděl Václav Havel a řekl to takovým tónem, že se do dneška vlastně netuším, zda se upřímně zaradoval, jak se Foru daří, anebo naopak vyděsil, jak ten čas zpropadeně letí. Nejsem si úplně jist, čemu vděčíme za to, že můžeme letos zahájit devátý ročník. Snad je to výběrem témat, která jsou jistě nějakým způsobem relevantní, možná je to tím, že v Evropě není mnoho takových velkých konferencí, jež jsou zároveň přístupné široké odborné i laické veřejnosti. Nicméně zato jsem si stoprocentně jistý, že vím, komu za Forum 2000 vděčím: dvěma lidem, panu prezidentovi Havlovi a panu Sasakawovi.

„A nyní dovolte pane prezidente, aby Vás Vaše firma pozvala na podium.“

Václav Havel
Dámy a pánové, vážení přítomní, dovolte mi, abych vás co nejsrdečněji přivítal a poděkoval vám, že jste přijeli. Jsem skutečně překvapen, že je to už devátá konference Forum 2000, neboť když jsme chystali první, domnívali jsme se, že bude jediná. Alespoň tak byla myšlena. Ale stalo se a možná se dožijeme i desátého jubilejního ročníku. V čem byl smysl oné první konference? V tomtéž, v čem je smysl i všech dalších, totiž pozvat lidi různých profesí, různých národů a náboženství, lidi z různých civilizačních okruhů, aby společně hovořili o budoucnosti naší civilizace, o stavu dnešního světa, o nebezpečích a hrozbách, které se nad ním vznášejí a o tom, jak těmto nebezpečím čelit. To vše jsou věci, o kterých byly napsány stovky chytrých knih, ale s problémy, které odkrývaly, jsem se začal - takříkajíc fyzicky - seznamovat až při svých státnických cestách; předtím jsem totiž neměl pas a vše jsem znal jen z doslechu. Znovu a znovu jsem si tak uvědomoval ohromnou rozmanitost, pluralitu dnešního světa a pýchu, s níž by jeden civilizační okruh chtěl, aby se mu všechny ostatní přizpůsobily. Uvědomoval jsem si ohromný samopohyb soudobé civilizace, která se snaží všechno zestejnit, abychom nepoznali, zda jsme v pražském hotelu nebo na letišti v Tokiu. Proti tomu ovšem stojí vůle národů a kultur zachovat si svou identitu, zůstat sami sebou, zachovat si své tradice, své zvyky. Tyto rozpory byly tedy impulsem k prvnímu uspořádání konference, jejíž účastníci si sami vynutili, že se opakovala vícekrát, a která se znovu a z různých stran k tématu vracela a kladla si otázku, jak je možné, že lidstvo toho tolik ví o svých problémech a zároveň tak málo dělá pro to, aby je řešilo, nebo jim čelilo. Letošní setkání tedy akcentuje soužití různých kultur, koexistenci v dnešním globálně propojeném světě, jako jedno ze základních témat všech konferencí předchozích.

Dámy a pánové, dnes jsem tu ve dvojí roli. Jednak jako spoluiniciátor celé série konferencí Forum 2000, ale také jako hostitel. Nadace Vize 97, kterou jsme s mojí ženou před lety zřídili, je hostitelem dnešního slavnostního zahájení, neboť jedním z jejích programů je rekonstrukce tohoto chrámového prostoru, který je již asi rok zpřístupněn veřejnosti. Nazvali jsme ho „Pražská křižovatka“ v naději, že se stane místem setkávání lidí, kultur, duchovních proudů, prostorem diskuse. A je-li takto předurčený prostor otevřen, kde jinde by mělo mít Forum 2000 své slavnostní zahájení, než právě zde.

Děkuji vám za pozornost.

Oldřich Černý
Pane prezidente, děkujeme, my Vás bereme za slova a budeme tohoto prostoru využívat, až Vás to bude mrzet. Děkujeme za nabídku. Nyní zvu na podium předsedu správní rady Nadace Nippon Foundation a spoluzakladatele Fora 2000 pana Sasakawu.

Yohei Sasakawa
Your Excellency, President Havel, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, the Forum 2000 conferences have been held with great success for the past eight years under the pre-eminent leadership of President Havel. As you know, this forum was first established to provide a place where intellectuals and leaders could come together to share their wisdom and experience. Here they have developed concrete measures toward the common goal of world peace. Globalisation has been a central topic throughout the series of forums. The first five years of the forum was dedicated to the formulation of broad philosophies on globalisation. The past three years, on the other hand, have consisted of more advanced and specialised discussions aimed at the development of codes of conduct based on these shared philosophies. In other words, we have worked on the development of a new paradigm for social change. And now, as President Havel has said, the time has come to put these plans into action. The shared concern initiative – a brainchild of the Forum, led by President Havel – has already begun to put various plans into action. The initiative is composed of a number of Forum participants, including myself. It issues a joint statement with the aim of addressing and resolving the important challenges of today’s world. It is a significant initiative aimed at putting ideas into action. The theme of this year’s forum is “Our Global Coexistence: Challenges and Hopes for the 21st century.” When we think about these challenges we face for global coexistence, I cannot help but always feel that the current globalisation process falls short in terms of humanity and ethics. I believe that we need to return to the basics and create a new kind of globalisation: one with a human face. Last winter, I received a Christmas card from Prague with the one-line message “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you.” That message is very similar to the message that I had been trying to convey using various expressions at the beginning of every Forum. “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you” is a philosophy shared by various religions in Asia, including Hinduism, Confucianism and Buddhism. I also believe that it is a basic law of peaceful human coexistence. You could even say that this idea lies at the foundation of human ethics. I’d be very pleased if I could say that this Asian notion is gaining wider recognition and understanding for I believe that acceptance and patience for different views and ideas lie at the core of human nature. Looking on at this year’s participants, I feel very encouraged. We are fortunate to have many delegates who are most qualified and eager to discuss the issue of global coexistence, its challenges and hopes. This is exactly the direction that this Forum has been heading from the very beginning. The diversity of participants here is evidence that we are on the right track; that we are well on our way to realizing our goal to provide a platform where a diversity of values can interact and promote greater understanding and tolerance. I’d like to welcome all of you gathered here. I look forward very much to a lively and constructive exchange of views on our common concerns. In closing, I’d like to express my deepest gratitude to the organizers of the Forum for their hard work in organizing such a wonderful Forum. Thank you very much.

Oldřich Černý
Pane předsedo Sasakawo, děkuji Vám za laskavá slova na adresu Fora 2000. A nyní… po světě chodí dva proslulí Mike Moorové. Ten první je americký filmař Mike Moore, kterého na Forum 2000 nezveme. Tím druhým Mike Moorem je bývalý novozélandský ministerský předseda a bývalý generální ředitel Světové obchodní organizace a toho na Forum 2000 téměř vždycky zveme. A já jsem hrozně rád, že mu to letos konečně vyšlo. Ladies and gentlemen, Mike Moore…

Mike Moore
Well thank you for the introduction. I’m always a little embarrassed when I’m introduced as a former New Zealand prime minister. It’s true I was the youngest prime minister in a hundred years, but it’s equally true that I was the shortest serving. They couldn’t wait to get rid of me. I don’t know why I support democracy so much when I see what it’s done to me in my own country. People ask me about this and I always explain, “Well, I was young. You do stupid things. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’ll devote the rest of my life to try and recover my family’s good name.” But I guess it’s as director general or former director general of the WTO that I’ve been invited here, and that’s the position I had when I first met President Havel, who has been a personal hero. He’s a person of great moral consistency and clarity. There is school of historic thought that says there are no great men or women. There are only great occasions and great opportunities. I beg to differ. I think I could write a very good novel thinking what would happen if President Havel had been president of Yugoslavia and Milošević president of Czechoslovakia. I think there might have been a great difference. This is a conference of serious issues and substance and I look forward to the discussions. There’s much to talk about. There’s much still to be done. There are dangers everywhere and the possibility of miscalculations everywhere. But just occasionally, now and then, particularly for the benefit of the young, we should look back over the last twenty years and celebrate some of the great achievements. Twenty years ago, Central Europe and Eastern Europe were under the jackboot, as was all of Latin America. Now, all of Latin America save Cuba is freer. There’s never been a time in the history of our species when so many people have enjoyed the right to govern themselves. And over the past fifty years, we’ve seen the greatest and sustained lifting of living standards in history – life expectancy up twenty years, infant mortality down two thirds, literacy exploded, hundreds of millions of people from China and India and elsewhere have been lifted from extreme poverty. I think we have learnt what works and what does not. Consider Haiti and Malaysia – same living standards in 1960. South Korea and Ghana – same living standards in 1960. Now South Korea has an income equal to Portugal’s. And look how Portugal’s income, living standards and human rights have exploded since the fascists left and they joined a wider, freer and better Europe. In 1945, both Burma and Thailand had the same living standards. Now Thailand is five times richer and many times freer. Those countries that do the best are those that respect human rights, property rights, have independent courts, an honest, professional public service, accountable, replaceable politicians, an active civil society, free trade unions, a free and competitive media, and religious tolerance – freedom of religion and freedom from religion. The more open economy, the more open societies always do best. This can be no historic accident. There was an argument, a sort of theory to rationalize appeasement of dictators during the Cold War, that we should support the strong man theory of development. You can still hear echoes of it in my region – the Asia Pacific. And they use to say that only strong men can force up change, that democracy doesn’t work for the very poor. The populist politicians would play on ethnic and religious differences. This story played out in Europe in the 1930s with attacks on decadent democracies. It’s just not true. Even among the poorest countries, the more democratic, the more tolerant, the more open, the better the result. Can I commend to you a recent study by the US Council on Foreign Relations entitled The Democratic Advantage, and here it nails down the argument by a comparison of low-income democracies versus low-income autocracies, measuring literacy, life expectancy, infant mortality, agricultural production, debts, deficits, access to clean water. Low-income democracies get a result 20-40% better as opposed to autocracies. Democracies, at least since the second war, have not gone to war with each other. Eighty percent of all interstate conflicts are instigated by autocracies. They are more vulnerable to civil war. There’s never been a famine in a democracy – a free country with a free media. You know, no country has ever gone bankrupt because it’s had too much trade or too much foreign investment. The commercial competition that applies the blowtorch of transparency is a cleansing agent against the perils of crony and phoney capitalism and the corruption that goes hand in hand with that kind of protection and privilege. And I’ll make the case that, in the main, globalisation has not made countries poor. It’s the absence of it that has. Those countries and those people that are locked out – their face is pressed against the window. They wait in vain for a train that won’t come home if their governments and societies are closed. There is much wrong with the global trading system, but it’s a case of not enough trade, not too much trade. And it is a tragedy that, for the last fifty years, wherever poor countries have an advantage – in textiles or in agriculture, then the rich countries want special exemptions. And you can see this happening now with wealthy countries worrying about issues such as outsourcing, which will of course already give benefits to tens of thousands of poor countries. In December this year, hopefully in Hong Kong, there will be progress on the Dohar development round. In agriculture alone, if we could cut that deal, that will bring five times more to Africa than all the overseas development assistance put together. When the Tokyo round of negotiations were launched, President Kennedy said “This new round will help developing countries like Japan.” I think that makes the case for the benefits of an open trading system. So we know what works. We know which levers to pull. We’ve learnt that democracy, property rights, social mobility through equality, through investment and education – we know that tolerance and diversity are now good economics as well as good in themselves. When I look at the problems the world faces and the discussions we’ll be having in the next day or so, I can’t think of a problem we face that cannot be improved by more openness, more democracy, more ownership and more human rights. So we know what works. We know which levers to pull, but for some reason we haven’t the ability to purchase this ticket. Why is that? Leaders who don’t miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, who are devoted to opinion polls and focus groups, lose their nerve too quickly, because by its nature politics can be a short-term thing. And this building reminds me of a story of a very devout man. He was a bit of a God-botherer. He prayed to God five to ten times a day. He irritated the Lord. And he would pray over and over again – “God, let me win Lotto.” This went on for year after year, five to ten times a day – “God, let me win Lotto.” Even the Lord got irritated and he’s a patient woman. And with a flash of lightning, the Lord came down to earth and saw this bloke. And he said: “Help me out here, buy a ticket!” We know what works. We know what fails. We just, I think, need to buy a ticket.

Oldřich Černý
Já děkuji Mikeovi Moorovi, jehož projev mě přesvědčil, že jsme věděli, co děláme, když jsme ho tak dlouho zvali na Forum 2000. A nyní vystoupí soubor Bambini di Praga – dejte nám minutu dvě na uspořádání jeviště. Děkuji.


Choir singing (Bambini di Praga)