By Victor Francisco
Editor of Omutumwa Newspaper, Namibia
The world of today is a world characterized by deep differences and contradicting realities. It is a world of which humanity has achieved remarkable feats in science, technology, medicine, and architecture. But it is the same world where billions of people live in poverty, are faced with food insecurity, and die from malaria.
It is a world where the rich get richer, but the poor also get poorer.
This is a world where the global north has for decades enjoyed economic prosperity and social development, while the global south has remained behind. It is a world where billions of dollars are spent on fighting wars, while little to no effort is made towards fighting poverty; a world where obesity has become a major concern for some societies, while malnutrition is the big concern in the other societies.
It is a world where fruits from the world trade and commercial enterprise go to the construction and modification of skylines of major cities, while little aid is offered to a humanity which continues to live in slums and ghettos, and the homeless, and even stateless people of the world.
This is the same world of which countries which are blessed with abundant natural resources benefit little to nothing from those resources, while the nations which have none are enjoying the fruits of the rich earth. A world of which people in rich nations are flying to the moon and have become space tourists, while poor people in poor nations struggle to put food on the table, or have a proper roof over their head, and to have clean water for household consumption.
But imagine a world where there is no poverty, hunger, conflict. Imagine a world where the various civilizations of the world come together for a dialogue, a dialogue that seeks to close the deepening gap between the rich and the poor, building a bridge between the north and the south, and extending a hand of friendship and brotherhood between the powerful and the powerless.
Imagine if this dialogue of civilizations and dialogue for an equitable global modernization were to happen today.
Imagine if one of the nations of the global south is to lead this dialogue, and indeed lead the whole movement towards the realization of a world where, in this 21st Century, abject poverty, war and human suffering become a thing of the past.
In fact, the prelude of activities to the 2025 Belt and Road Journalists Forum has just put on display why the realization of such a harmonious world is possible. While the City of Ganzhou, in Jiangxi Province, China, was selected to be the host of the Forum, several days towards the Forum showcased the successes of China in economic inclusiveness, green ecology and the preservation of the country’s rich cultural heritage.
The activities, which consisted of site visits through Jiangxi Province by journalists and media practitioners from various countries of the global south, dismissed all the misconceptions I had about Chinese cultural, political and economic interests and agendas.
Although the information and the education of my society have been influenced by the narrative which says that China is a communist country, and a country which does not practice democracy – a country with a government which makes no allowances for citizens to have freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of association, nor any of the freedoms which are guarantees for social progress and equal wealth distribution, the picture on the ground, as seen during the field trips through Jiangxi Province, proves otherwise.
Here is a picture of advanced social development and shared prosperity. As we went traveling for hundreds of kilometres by rail and by road from one Chinese city to another, town to town, village to village, all that was visible was clean environments, green surroundings, and highly developed infrastructure. Poverty, homelessness, and dreadful environmental conditions, which are common to my country – and of course to some of those countries which are praised as beacons of democracy and good governance – were not visible to me.
Rather what I got was fresh insights; fresh insights leading to a need for a continuous dialogue of civilizations for a shared prosperity and common developmental destiny of the global community if a country like China can be allowed to take the lead.
If China as a nation is able to create for itself such kind of modern and common development for its people, it then should be possible for the Chinese recipe for success to be replicated and passed over to the rest of the world, especially to the Third World. China’s shared prosperity should not end within the borders of the Chinese state but must spread across to become a shared prosperity for the whole human race.
The factor of cultural differences has been one of the factors creating divisions of the human race. Some cultures of the world have been unwilling to coexist and develop in modernity and harmony with other cultures, for fear of losing their ethnic and traditional identities. But the example of the Hakka community, which many years ago moved from the northern parts of the country to Jiangxi Province, where it has since thrived and lived harmoniously with the rest of the communities within the borders of China, has become a shining example of how possible it is to promote common development without destroying cultures.
If this Hakka example would become an example for all cultural communities across the world, from the Middle East, to Europe, Africa, the Americas and the rest of Asia, then the world can become a better place.
One does not have to image the possibility of such a world if, as journalists, we understand the need for promoting the dialogue between and within nations where cultural differences, economic interests, and social disharmony have tended to fuel conflicts, wars, and economic suppression of the weak by the powerful.
Indeed, it is possible to have Asian civilizations, African civilizations, European and American civilizations – all without clashes of civilizations, conflicting cultures, nor contradictory economic interests.
As communicators, journalists have great powers to convey the message and to encourage continuing dialogue between individuals, within communities, and between nations of the world to work towards the creation of civilizations of common destiny as a human race rather than civilizations of common disgrace.
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.