Not always so visible but equally significant is the "culture war" that pits the upholders of diverse national, ethnic and religious traditions against the promoters of a standardised global model of modernity, mainly inspired by the post-modern American social model in its extreme commercialism, individual atomism, moral anomia and utilitarian cynicism to which we alluded earlier. In that system personal biological identity is under attack, as it is seen as a purely socially construct, to be replaced by willful temporary choices that reduce human beings to the status of undefined creatures separated from their natural and social environment and suitable for economic use and harvesting.
There is a clear tendency, perceptible in fashionable economic, psychological and artistic theories, to reduce people to the animal element of their nature, contrary to the tropism of ancient civilizations which emphasizes the divinity of the soul and the dignity of the body translated in various rites and codes related to chastity, modesty, decorum and privacy.
The "man as a - domesticated - animal" zeitgeist is an outcome of the mechanistic theories of geneticists like Richard Dawkins who describe all living creatures as biological robots used as containers and vehicles by their "selfish" genes, denying the existence of the soul and of any higher purpose in life other than reproduction and proliferation. Cartesians saw animals as mere biological machines and many materialists accordingly reduce human beings to the status of mechanical creatures that may be bred in industrial facilities through cloning, artificial insemination and stem cell culture. The question however arises as to which of the humans will breed others? Will there not be masters and tools, creators and creatures?
The current ideology, despite its loud calls for individual rights and liberties, is indeed spawning a world in which all living forms, including humans, are commodities or goods within the global market. Yet at the same time, the inevitable scientific recognition of animals as close relatives of human beings, also endowed with intelligence, sensitivity, emotions and reason, makes a society based on the exploitation and mass killing for human use increasingly unacceptable. Either life in all its diverse unity is acknowledged as deserving of regard and protection - as it was in many ancient cultures such as India's -- or else human beings too will increasingly be objectified and deprived of their dignity and freedom in the pursuit of economic gain.
If the above lines appear too simplistic and one-sided to reflect the complexity of the currently prevalent ideology, it should be pointed out that the pernicious principles I have outlined are not universally and uncritically applied and accepted in our global society. However they are gaining increasing power and agency because of the mighty financial and political forces that promote them. What has been said may thus be regarded as a rather grim, perhaps exaggerated but essentially truthful outline of the future that awaits us if the present hegemons continue to have their way.
All efforts must be made to convince people all over the world of the need for a radical change in the global order and in socio-economic philosophy before it is too late. They must unite to fight the powerful minorities bent on retaining control over the planet's destiny and, as geopolitician Chauprade put it "reaffirm the necessary verticality in politics" which must be connected with higher principles and values, in a spirit of cosmic humanism , and not merely serve economic interests and individual conveniences.
The world is not only a market, it is also and above all a politeia and a cosmos whose innate harmony must be understood, preserved and not subverted. To that end, the Forum in its concluding remarks called for "new models of inclusive and equitable development".
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