|
Home About JGCG Vision & Mission Advisory Board Editors Contact Us Current Issue Archives Book Reviews Bookshelf Commentaries GCGI: - Arabic - Chinese Mainland - Chinese Traditional - English - German - Japanese - Persian - Turkish Common Good - Conferences - Future & Past Conferences Call for Papers Submission Guidelines Paper Review Form Future Issues Related Links Site Search |
|
Editors’ Notes for Fall 2011 Dear Colleagues: It is very gratifying to see that the digital world has been so positively contributing to the world of education, research, knowledge, networking and more, by removing the barriers that have been hindering this process. The Digital Age continues to alter all aspects of our lives at personal, family, regional, national, and international levels. Nowhere this can be observed better than how the social networking sites and other forms of digital communication have been able to bring so many people together demanding socio-economic and political change, harnessing and nurturing liberty, democracy, equality and justice. Hundreds of thousands of people, young and old, employed and unemployed, black and white, men and women, have come together in a continuing and lasting global unity, partaking in a dialogue of civilisations, faiths, cultures and peoples in consideration for the common good. This global movement has risen in a thousand cities on six continents: from Tahrir Square to Alexandria and Tunisia; Rio de Janerio to Bogota; Santiago, Chile to Barcelona; Zuccotti Park to Oakland; Wall Street to St. Paul’s; Frankfurt to Brussels: Rome to Athens; Toronto to Vancouver, Chicago to Philadelphia, Sydney to Brisbane and more, rejecting neo-liberalism and its prevailing socioeconomic, political and business models, demanding a better, kinder and more humane world. Our journal is just one of the advantages of this rapidly changing Digital Age. It allows us to serve as a communication channel for exchanging information and facilitating a constructive dialogue between and among diverse members of ethnic, religious, and cultural groups. Education is the foundation for a good and fulfilling life, setting the individual on a path of personal fulfilment, economic security and societal contribution. Today the world of knowledge and competence is in a constant state of flux. The same can be said for the universe of visions, aspirations, and dreams. For many centuries it had been considered that education in general and universities in particular were responsible for the moral and social development of students and for bringing together diverse groups for the common good. Is this still the case? We were able to address some of these questions and more at the education panel that I was honoured to co-convene with my learned colleague, Prof. Nur Kirabaev, Vice-Rector, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia at the World Public Forum, “Dialogue of Civilisations” Annual Conference in Rhodes, during 6-10 October 2011 (http://www.rhodesforum.org/2011-panel-5). At our panel we had an intense and fruitful dialogue over the importance of inculcating values into the standard business/economic/education curriculum. We agreed that values, particularly the values of social justice, equality, respect for the earth, community, trust, wisdom, integrity, and the common good, are sorely lacking in the standard business education. We are delighted that some of our speakers sent us their papers, which we are very pleased to share with our readers. We would also like to thank Dr. Vladimir Kulikov, Executive Secretary, World Public Forum” Dialogue of Civilizations” (www.wpfdc.org) for kindly agreeing for us to jointly with them to publish these papers. With collapsing personal relationships and media skullduggery, with failed education, politics, economics, business and banking, with compromised religion and religious institutions, plus the corporate takeover of science, technology, medicine, food, water, utilities and more, one small, but hugely powerful five-letter word, has dominated the news: trust. Who trusted who? Who lost the trust of whom? Who can be trusted? How can we trust? What can we trust? It seems trust and trusting are in danger of being lost altogether. Nonetheless, trust is fundamental to life. If we cannot trust anyone or any institution, then, life becomes intolerable - a constant battle against paranoia, conspiracy theories and looming disaster. We lose our freedom. We are pleased to have received papers on this very important global issue. Our authors have eloquently addressed some of the important questions on trust. Whilst in the final part, we have published an excellent paper on the new social media and global communication in the 21st Century. As the year 2011 winds to a close, and together we will all be looking forward to a healthy and happy Holiday Season, we want to thank you for your ongoing commitment to the common good. We are all facing some very serious and continuing global challenges, requiring many systemic changes. The best results will come when we work, share and cooperate with one another. Finally, we wish to extend a very warm invitation to all our readers to consider participating at and contributing to the forthcoming GCGI Conference which is hosted at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, during June 25 to 28, 2012. Strengthening the Public Good: Business, Government & Civil Society Relationships (http://management.dal.ca/news/CommonGood/) Yahya Kamalipour and Kamran Mofid
|
