2020_10_01_World’s largest political network promotes global solidarity

World’s largest political network promotes global solidarity in response to COVID-19 crisis

CDI endorses Humanitarian Islam’s call to embrace “the spirit of cooperation rather than conflict, within and between civilizations”

CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango

BRUSSELS, Belgium, October 1, 2020: Gathering virtually for the first time in its 59-year history, Centrist Democrat International’s (CDI) Executive Committee has adopted a resolution to address “the widespread social isolation, economic hardship, despair, fear and anger triggered by the COVID-19 crisis in societies across the globe.”

The call to action was issued in a Resolution on promoting solidarity and respect among the diverse people, cultures and nations of the world, unanimously passed by the Executive Committee of CDI—a center-right coalition spanning 73 nations that includes the European Union’s largest and most successful political group, the European People’s Party (EPP), and many ruling parties in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Antonio López-Istúriz White—Secretary General of both CDI and EPP—warmly thanked leaders of Indonesia’s Humanitarian Islam movement for drafting the resolution. He also expressed his appreciation for the Indonesians’ having recognized Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain’s role in laying the foundations of a rules-based international order in the aftermath of WWII, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Second Vatican Council and the establishment of the European Community.

Juan Carlos Latorre, President of CDI’s Latin American affiliate, Organización Demócrata Cristiana de América (ODCA), agreed with López-Istúriz on the importance of Jacques Maritain’s contribution, which was animated by the profound moral principles and universal values of Christian humanism.

Finally, CDI President Andrés Pastrana Arango—the former President of Columbia—concurred with the CDI/EPP Secretary General, and also thanked his Indonesian colleagues for having drafted the resolution, which builds on a January 23, 2020 resolution unanimously adopted at a CDI Executive Committee meeting held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The October 1st resolution observes “that some of the most profound advances in the human condition emerged in response to severe crises, including the horrors of pandemic, war and grave historical injustices, such as genocide and slavery, whose consequences continue to haunt us to the present day.”

The resolution affirms that “the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) represents a significant contribution to the development of shared civilizational values that may unite the diverse people, nations and cultures of the world” and lauds “the historic role of St. Pope John XXIII, Jules Isaac, Jacques Maritain, John Courtney Murray and other spiritual and intellectual luminaries in shaping the Second Vatican Council, including its teaching on religious freedom (Dignitatis humanae) and on relations between different religious communities (Nostrae aetate).”

The resolution also acknowledges “the U.S. Department of State’s Report of the Commission on Unalienable Rights and its re-affirmation of the spirit and substance of fundamental human rights, including those articulated by UDHR,” while “[r]ecognizing that the universal values and aspirations expressed in these documents have long been articulated and embraced by the world’s great cultural, religious and ethical traditions,” including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Islam.

Press conference in Yogyakarta following a January 23, 2020 meeting of the CDI Executive Committee, which adopted a resolution also drafted by leaders of the Humanitarian Islam movement

“Anticipating that the 21st century may witness the emergence of a truly global civilization, which offers an unprecedented opportunity for people of every faith and nation to cooperate in building a better life for themselves and their children,” the October 1st CDI resolution warns “that in order to fulfill the promise of a just and noble civilization, we must promote solidarity and respect among the diverse people, cultures and nations of the world, so that the innate human will to dominate others—and the threat of tyranny posed by the nexus of dogmatism, political and economic power, and technology—do not lead, instead, to the dystopian future anticipated by George Orwell in his novel 1984, with its memorable image of ‘a boot stamping on a human face—forever.’”

The resolution states that “hatred of others—whether based upon ethnic, religious or ideological ‘tribalism’—is inimical to virtue and noble character, which represent the only secure foundation upon which to build a peaceful and prosperous global civilization” and notes that “political and ideological polarization tends to create a false dichotomy between ‘conserving’ and ‘progressing,’ when in fact these principles are intrinsically symbiotic by nature and essential to human flourishing.”

The resolution concludes by stating:

We urge opinion leaders in the fields of religion, education, popular culture, government, business and the media to advocate and promote the spirit of cooperation rather than conflict, within and between civilizations;

We recommend that dialogue among the world’s diverse peoples, cultures and religions employ the principle of “the highest common denominator,” founded upon the noblest aspirations of every civilization;

We resolve to build and bequeath to future generations a global civilization whose constituent elements retain their distinctive characteristics. To emerge and flourish, such a civilization must respect the equal rights and dignity of every human being and embody the principle of “harmony and unity amid diversity,” as expressed in the mottos of the European Union (In varietate concordia) and the Republic of Indonesia (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika).

The full text of the resolution may be viewed by clicking on the image below: