The Use of Dialogue: The Values Caucus and the Iranian Ambassador<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

By Sylvain and Phyllis Ehrenfeld

 

Is dialogue possible when the partners’ differing values may involve violence and threats to life? A unique group at the United Nations, the Values Caucus, is dedicated to the importance of seeking dialogue wherever possible. The Values Caucus searches for common values in a non-confrontational setting which emphasizes active listening to discover the values of others, a search for ways in which they can be shared, and ways to use these shared values for action towards peaceful cooperation in an interdependent and culturally diverse world. The Values Caucus is not officially a part of the UN, but functions within it.

 

Martha Gallahue, of the American Ethical Union’s National Service Conference, has been active since 1998 in the Coordinating Council of the Values Caucus. In their Coffee Series, ambassadors meet NGOs in an informal setting, and are invited to speak from their personal sense of mission and ideals. The series, stretching back to 1997, has included talks by ambassadors from Chile, Mexico, Lesotho, Burundi, and Sudan. In the words of one ambassador, “I spoke the way I did because there was no microphone”.

 

On 17 October, 2002, the invited speaker was the Iranian ambassador, H.E.M.R. Javad Zarif. “Debate is non-productive,” he said. “Only dialogue can be useful. But in order to have dialogue, it must spring from a culture which promotes it. What I do at the UN is debate. If I did not, I would be sent home.”

 

Mr. Zarif emphasized that the legitimacy of governments depends on participation by their peoples. September 11 should have made dialogue more rather than less important. The possible war with Iraq would bring great suffering to the Iranian people and the region. Iran had already experienced the shock of chemical weapons from the war with Iraq, weapons which had been sold to them by the US.

 

It was clear that participation in decision-making and sharing of power were major issues in his thinking. His comments appeared to reflect not only the international situation, but that of his own government, in which a liberal parliament is struggling against the power of the fundamentalist mullahs. Terrorism, he remarked, was created by two groups, the demagogues who fomented it, and the people who responded to their calls. Material goals were not the only motivation for terrorists; non- participation, contributing to powerlessness and alienation, promoted an other-worldly view of life.

 

Mr. Zarif ’s talk did not encourage any easy optimism, but the honesty and directness of his message only reinforced the desirability of dialogue at all levels. In a hybrid and contentious world, the Values Caucus is an ambitious undertaking.