Reinhard Mohn addressed the political and cultural changes of the past few decades to a greater extent than almost any other business leader. The following interview, the last he gave, was conducted at the beginning of this year and was included in the Bertelsmann Stiftung's 2008 Annual Report. During the interview he focused above all on the foundation's efforts to promote intercultural dialogue as a prerequisite for peaceful coexistence in our globalized world.
Your visits abroad have had a profound effect on your personal and professional life. How have they influenced your foundation work?
Shared values are important wherever people interact, wherever they live and work together. Anyone who has had the privilege of encountering as many different traditions and customs as I have knows how profoundly we benefit from contact with foreign countries and cultures. Certain values are indeed universal, while others stem from local tradition. There is only one way to distinguish one from the other, and that is through dialogue! Getting to know people from other cultures shows us how different lifestyles and customs can be, but it also helps us recognize what we all have in common.
Since experiencing the terrible consequences of World War II as a young man, I have always attached the greatest importance to safeguarding peace in our world. Peace requires not only freedom, but also people who are committed to a democratic culture and willing to work for peace among all nations. History has taught us that power and force cannot maintain a social order over the long term, and this is as true today as it was in the past. What is it, then, that will enable us not only to endure the inevitable changes in culture and politics, in the economy and government, but to seize them as an opportunity to shape the future?
In a democracy, a system designed to help its citizens realize their potential, policymakers need to find new opportunities for people to participate. We know from history that the state has the capacity for both good and ill. Too much government limits individual development; too little prevents the development of community. Based on my experience in the private sector, I recognized that building a democratic community is a multi-faceted process of constant change. Political leaders need to seek dialogue with all aspects of society, both public and private. We designed the Bertelsmann Stiftung as an operating foundation with a conceptual focus, one that looks beyond Germany's borders in carrying out its work. It is essential to identify the best models for mastering social challenges, wherever they may be. International comparisons have allowed the Bertelsmann Stiftung to highlight areas in the public sphere where reforms are badly needed and to introduce innovative solutions. One of the foundation's paramount goals is to undertake such comparisons and use our findings to spark a dialogue among democratic nations in order to achieve social progress.
For me personally, the work of the Bertelsmann Stiftung represents the kind of hands-on civic commitment that I have dreamed of ever since my years as a prisoner of war in Concordia, Kansas. With their grass-roots approach and focus on modern social policy, our projects have sought to make our democracy more efficient and capitalism more humane.
Do any of your visits abroad particularly stand out in your mind?
While I was chairman of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Executive Board, my wife, Liz, and I took numerous trips abroad, both to learn from the initiatives of other countries and to tell other countries about the work we were doing. We have always sought to promote dialogue across the boundaries of national interests and cultural differences. Over the years we have seen the development of initiatives that span multiple countries. In 1991, for example, we hosted a Bertelsmann Stiftung conference of policymakers and media representatives in Barcelona that focused on our educational efforts in the Mediterranean countries. During the conference I described my work with my friend Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem, on building a school for journalists in Israel. At the end of the conference, two Egyptian journalists asked me about the possibility of similar support for their country as well, which ultimately led to wider discussions of a project in Egypt. Despite its impressive cultural heritage and history, Egypt has an alarmingly high poverty rate and only minimal training opportunities outside the cities. Conversations with Egypt's first lady, Suzanne Mubarak, soon revealed that we held very similar views about education, and at our very first meeting we agreed to work together to develop the Egyptian public library system. We had already been involved in designing public libraries in Germany, including in my home town of Gütersloh, and that experience proved useful for this new project. Expanding Egypt's library network was a way of promoting education, and our efforts included training library directors.
We have devoted many years to this project, and it has been a rewarding experience to work with Mrs. Mubarak and Egypt's Ministry of Education. My wife and I have no doubt visited Cairo a good 30 times in the course of this initiative. I have fond memories of our work in Egypt and the friends we made there. In Europe, we are currently witnessing the difficulty of achieving the peaceful integration of cultures that date back thousands of years. I have learned from Egypt that patience, commitment and friendship are indispensable for peace and progress in the world. I have many ties to the Middle Eastern region. Our work with Mayor Kollek in Israel has led to a number of projects that still continue today. In 2003, my wife and I received the Teddy Kollek Award in recognition of our efforts on behalf of Israel. It was a special pleasure to receive this award, which bears the name of my old friend.
What can we learn from other countries? What can they learn from us?
The international involvement of our company and of the Bertelsmann Stiftung has taught me that dialogue and cooperation, based on shared economic and social goals, can overcome borders and lead to mutual understanding. It is particularly important to develop management techniques that allow democratic countries to compete in the international marketplace. Our efforts to achieve dialogue and political and economic cooperation must not be based on an assumption of Western superiority, but on openness and respect for the history and way of life of other parts of the world. The Carl Bertelsmann Prize recognizes groundbreaking initiatives, many of which are found in foreign countries. In 2008, for example, the Toronto District School Board was recognized for its commitment to integrating and educating children and teenagers from immigrant families.
How important is the "dialogue of cultures" you mentioned for achieving peace, and how can the foundation promote such a dialogue?
History has demonstrated that power and violence cannot maintain a social order over the long term; a cultural orientation is essential. Ultimately, a culture's values and norms determine its survival. Political and social reforms must take into account the cultural orientation of the respective society. There is an urgent need for an ongoing discussion of the values that connect us, across all national, religious and political divides. Shared values and goals are indispensable for identifying with and developing a community. We work with scholars and experts from a variety of countries and disciplines who are in close contact with public and private institutions. In 30 years of foundation work, this has led to hundreds of projects yielding insights in a wide variety of areas: business and policy, government and administration, higher education and the media, culture and medicine, the schools and library systems. Notable examples are our many political forums, as well as our international cultural dialogues.
What is required for social progress in a globalized world?
In an era when information and goods travel freely throughout the world, people everywhere want to see improvements in their personal circumstances and progress toward peace and justice in their societies. At both the national and the international level, it is high time that we abandon a culture of antagonism and look for ways to agree on the essence of humanity. A cultural orientation plays a central role in this context.
Although different cultures view human rights differently, we must not allow these differences to keep us from looking toward the future. People everywhere want to improve their lot in life. If we take the ethos of a global community seriously, we must accept our responsibilities and strive to achieve a social order that is based on partnership, humanity and justice. Just as a quest for power leads to injustice and conflict, the combination of economic performance and humane leadership can win the hearts and minds of people all over the world. Violence and superiority are no longer an option. As global competition continues, we will realize that Western capitalism can only be successful if it upholds the principles of humanity. Today, as globalization brings profound changes, the principles of social participation and integration that I underscored back in the 1970s challenge us to look beyond Germany's borders and take action and a political stand.
Our projects have sparked an ongoing social dialogue with cultural organizations, scholars, business leaders and policymakers, and over the decades this has caused me to engage in a great deal of critical reflection. The fundamental questions of humanity and justice in the world's political and social systems remain central to the work of the Bertelsmann Stiftung today.