Based on the provision that the SCO is an international civilization-scale organization because it includes four generally-acknowledged civilization-scale states: Russia, China, India and Iran, the model of such space should include a certain information nucleus that is likely to be represented by a civilizational ideology, plus structures of civilizational governance using inter alia up-to-date IT solutions.
I think that the development of a common civilizational ideology for the SCO today is the most urgent and vital task, which fulfillment is an only provision of comprehensive and creative progress of this Organization in the future. Otherwise very soon it can come to a deadlock.
The need to develop the SCO civilizational ideology as soon as possible is determined by the current situation in the world. As we see, termination of worldwide antagonism between two global ideological systems, the capitalism and socialism (communism), has resulted not in the unity of the world, but in radically escalated intercivilizational strain. The global contradictions and conflicts between civilizations are aggravating , especially it is visible in the relations between the West with Moslem World. We witness a real information war to destroy a national cultural nucleolus.
But the main battle starts in the human mind. All-embracing computerization penetrates into all spheres of human life. On the one hand Internet opened new opportunities for dialogue and joint activities of the people, but on the other hand it has greatly increased opportunities to manipulate the people and human sense. It is more and more difficult for the human-being to avoid misleading in the ever-growing information flow carrying certain “new” values.
This is the SCO civilizational ideology that should become a locating support, effective shield of public conscious and social and cultural life, instrument of counteraction against destructive and misleading actions. It will become a counterbalance to the destructive expansion of the Western culture posing a threat to civilizational values of the SCO countries and to civilizational identity of their nations.
The SCO civilizational ideology will make it possible to consolidate the civilization nucleolus of this Organization, ensure its integrity in the epoch of value integration, and also to plot a true vector of civilization development.
The purposeful development of the new ideological unity in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is first of all a moral and spiritual problem. The SCO civilizational ideology is a conglomerate of the best that is organic to all nations and civilizations. It is a synthesis of principles, national ideas, national ideologies, national civilizational values, projects and intellectual initiatives.
Simultaneously, we speak about preservation of the national identity, respect of original cultures of all nations, states and civilizations, respect of harmonized interests, actual political, social and economic, cultural, scientific and other aspects both today and in the long-term prospect.
The SCO civilizational ideology is a sphere for implementation of the Russian Idea and ideas of other nations in harmonious conformity with each other. This ideology should accumulate the historical experience, perform its mission to date and provide the basis for the future creative development of the SCO.
The spiritual and moral aspects of the SCO civilizational ideology should be elaborated based on comprehension of its own cultural, historical, civilizational responsibility for the destiny of the peoples and states not only of the Organization, but also of the world community. The elaboration of the ideology itself should secure understanding of that fact that civilizations, peoples and states can provide for survival of the mankind, its breakthrough to the future in conditions of growing global challenges and threats only by their common efforts. This ideology should help finding the ideal social and economic life order built on deep spirituality and morality, on common sense, on conscience, on justice and truth.
The SCO civilizational ideology will make it possible to see the SCO space as an organic whole, it will help to develop strategic vision embracing the globe, expand public conscience, provide for transformation of understanding the security as preservation of integrity using the concepts of contradiction management, understanding the education as a process providing the human with the knowledge, will and spirit, understanding all other aspects of human life.
I think that the fundamentals of the civilizational ideology already under development today. And the initiative belongs to the Chinese comrades. For instance, Chinese philosopher Wang Xiang in his book published in 2006 wrote that the SCO mission is to be a source and guarantor of the public well-being. A recent decision of the XVII Congress of the Communist Party of China on harmonization of the development with the nature and echosphere is not less important.
The Chinese leadership task to build a middle-class, harmonic socialist society to the full reflects its intention to harmonize the potential of the nature with satisfaction of ever-increasing needs of the people and simultaneously reduce the man-made burden on the biosphere. It is a very important precedent in the world history and practice, exemplary for all SCO countries.
Unfortunately, modern Russia lags behind in development and implementation of scientific and conceptual - ideological development solutions, whereas it has the richest theoretical heritage. Probably absence of the national ideology that was actually banned by the liberal Constitution of 1993, has its negative impact on these processes. Meanwhile, Russia has lots of worthy ideas. We may just recollect Dostoyevsky, who saw a mission of the Russian nation in restoration of the harmony both inside the country and between the countries. He considered this harmony a goal of human, state and governance evolution.
The creative heritage of Mendeleyev has a lasting scientific - practical importance for the development of the civilizational ideology. His vision of the future from the past contains the required description our social tomorrow. He described an ideological provision of the rational state governance, scientific and industrial activities of the society. His recommendations are aimed at " … consolidation of initiatives and efforts, at their implementation, at the need to learn to be careful in the use of our own natural and human resources and opportunities ".
Russian scientist Vernadsky, student of Mendeleyev, developed the ideas his master to affirm "a principle of reasonable people assistance to each other for improvement of their life where a key target is enlightenment of the nation for the benefit of the people ". By the way, Vernadsky saw those features in socialism that were omitted by Marks, Engels and Lenin who are the founders of this doctrine. Vernadsky connected occurrence of Marxism not with aggravation of class contradictions, but with huge growth of scientific and theoretical knowledge, with a boom of creative human thinking. He understood socialism as a direct result of scientific vision development and as a power of scientists.
Thus, the SCO civilizational ideology may include both the ideology of liberalism (as far as it is acceptable), and ideology of socialism, and religious doctrines. For example, the SCO civilizational ideology could contain ideas of Great Ayatollah Imam Khomeini expressed in his Testament about protection of the oppressed and miserable, about establishment of a social justice order for the benefit of all people, about priority of spiritual - moral values and guides, about inadmissibility of all types of immoral behavior.
The SCO civilizational ideology should help to Russia to leave, at last, the paradigm of "civilized divorce" within the framework of the CIS and effectively join the civilized family of nations and civilizations in the SCO space on the basis of harmonious cooperation.
The SCO civilizational ideology as a system of moral, religious, philosophical, political and legal visions and ideas uniting peoples and states for their joint development, is actually capable of acting as a self-determining vector in the construction of the Organization itself, in its practical activities, in provision of collective security, including data protection.
Combination of the form and content of the IT facilities with ideological substance of communication channels within a common SCO information space opens for the member-states of the Organization the most favorable opportunities for creative and sustainable development, support of their durability and viability.
Simultaneously, elaboration of the integral civilizational ideology of the SCO to the full meets the needs of the mankind because its implementation enables it to solve not only regional but also global problems, preserve basic values of the present and future generations, and ensure peace in the world. Probably, it’s high time to establish an intellectual center within the framework of the SCO that would focus on elaboration of a draft civilizational ideology.
Communication at roundtable-conference “SCO and International Telecommunication Projects” (13,12.2007, Business Centre "Alexander - House", Moscow).
