3 Vaclav Havel Quotes on Globalization

Vaclav Havel quotes on globalization

18. The history of the human race has generated several papers articulating basic moral imperatives, or fundamental principles, of human coexistence that - maybe in association with concurring historical events - substantially influenced the fate of humanity on this planet. Among these historic documents, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - adopted fifty years ago today - holds a very special, indeed, unique position. It is the first code of ethical conduct that was not a product of one culture, or one sphere of civilization only, but a universal creation, shaped and subscribed to by representatives of all humankind. Since its very inception, the Declaration has thus represented a planetary, or global commitment, a global intention, a global guideline. For this reason alone, this exceptional document - conceived as a result of a profound human self-reflection in the wake of the horrors of World War II, and retaining its relevance ever since - deserves to be remembered today.

92. This is related to the crisis, or to the transformation, of science as the basis of the modern conception of the world. The dizzying development of this science, with its unconditional faith in objective reality and its complete dependency on general and rationally knowable laws, led to the birth of modern technological civilization. It is the first civilization in the history of the human race that spans the entire globe and firmly binds together all human societies, submitting them to a common global destiny.

96. Our civilization has essentially globalized only the surfaces of our lives. But our inner self continues to have a life of its own. And the fewer answers the era of rational knowledge provides to the basic questions of human Being, the more deeply it would seem that people, behind its back as it were, cling to the ancient certainties of their tribe. Because of this, individual cultures, increasingly lumped together by contemporary civilization, are realizing with new urgency their own inner autonomy and the inner differences of others.