Rhodes Forum - World Public Forum "Dialogue of Civilizations"

Rossen Milev/Svetlana Lazarova
Balkanmedia Association, Sofia (Bulgaria)

The creation and development of writing systems are part and in some cases to a great extent the driving force of all major world civilizations. Although the question of the existence of a common pre-language, and also some common written signs is still open, with time different civilization circles were formed and they passed through the relevant stages of perfecting the different writing systems (polygenesis). This diversity of writing systems as well as the richness and diversity of human speech and also the variety of anthropological types, clothing, everyday needs, culinary and folklore traditions and, of course, the very manner of thinking and activity of the individuals, have created since ancient times a diverse, versatile and in its unity beautiful and harmonic picture of the human world. In spite of the differences, all civilizations looked upon writing as a divine gift, a road towards some higher spiritual occupation and transformation. In Ancient Greek mythology Prometheus, who brought fire to mankind, called letters and figures “the eternal source” and “eternal memory” of humanity while the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius claimed that “symbols and signs rule the world”. This tradition of perceiving writing as a high spiritual deed continued in all “world religions” of later times – Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam and this was true also of the religious notion of the Maya and the other ancient American tribes. Everywhere writing developed in close ties with language and the other specific national characteristics but also with some autonomy of the artistic, visual expression. Everywhere unique calligraphic traditions were founded. The written heritage and the richness of nations are tied in one by the invisible net of the language of beauty, understood by all, that expresses the human spiritual strive. In the East, and first of all in China there developed – and up to the present day, the ideographic writing, while in India, Persia, in the Judean, Greek-Roman, Christian areas and later Islam civilizations, on the territories of Europe, Western, Central and Southern Asia, Near East and Africa usually the ideographic period was followed by the development of great diversity of alphabet writing systems. Here the basis for the different alphabet systems was first of all the Greek alphabet which initially was based on the Phoenician tradition and also another group of alphabets – the Aramaean. The same way as the Chinese script played a major role in the development of different writing cultures of Eastern Asia, especially the Japanese. In America developed until the Conquistador crusades in the 15th century original writing system by some of the Indian nations, mainly the mixed logographic-phonetic system  of the Maya in Central America, but also the so called “knot writing” of the Peruvian Indians.

The transfer of writing techniques and experience as well as writing materials, such as papyrus, parchment and paper and later the printing technology throughout civilizations, the mutual influences and enrichment determined the development of written cultures in most of the world. In this process India, for example, gave the world a universal numerical system, which we in Europe call ‘Arab figures’ because they have reached us thanks to the intermediation of the Arab civilization. Religious symbols, such as the cross, the crescent, lion, etc. have also been signs well understood by people speaking different languages and of different cultures. Such are some modern signs related to transport, medicine, the internet communication now.

One of the first people that contemplated over the problem of universal communication of people from different countries and civilizations was the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) – he was the first one to formulate the necessity to create a characteristica universalis, universal writing system. To some extent this was achieved by the creation of some artificial, computer languages. Otherwise the problems of communication through written signs and languages in our world would have looked different: The more vivid domination of the English language and Latin writing would be opposed by the aspiration of different counties, cultures and civilizations to preserve and further develop their own languages, writing systems and traditions. Grounds for such world cultural policy are quite solid since countries such as China, India and Russia that have their own writing systems dominate large parts of the planet’s territory, population, economy and resources. Besides, many international documents that guarantee the future development of diverse writing systems, such as the Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions by UNESCO in 2005 have been passed.

There also exist similar directives of the European Union, Council of Europe, etc. Since 2007 when Bulgaria became a member of the European Union the Cyrillic alphabet, together with the Latin and Greek became one of the three official alphabets of united Europe. The efforts of international and naturally the relevant national organizations would be directed mainly, as this was trued regarding the protection of rare languages and cultures, at the preservation and development of autochthonic writing systems of smaller nations such as Armenians, Ethiopians, Syrian Christians and Copts, Laotians, etc. But regretfully there are still, regardless of the gradual and especially during the last century mass literacy campaigns for large parts of the world population still regions in Asia and Africa that lag years behind and the problem of literacy for millions of people still exists. To that we can add the problem of technological literacy and its even harder financial dimensions. The creation of an international platform for the preservation and development of written cultures, an international center-museum of world written culture and possibly a magazine provisionally called “Scriptura mundi” would correspond to the new way of planetary thinking and consciousness, to the ideas of harmonious and enjoying equal rights for development of civilizations and cultures, a policy of balanced diversity, the endorsement of individual identities of different civilizations in a situation of global transformations, in the process of formation of new architecture of the (post)crisis world.  The new communication technologies, the ‘live’ existence of writing in the internet, the electronic/mobile communications create, as any new technology, new chances and new challenges and threats for the preservation of individual, true written national cultures. To rely here, or for that matter in any other sphere, only on the ‘self-regulatory market principles’ is quite unwise as was proven by the latest developments in the world. We need new cultural policies, coordination of the efforts, information, preparation and realization of programs and decisions in order to secure in the future the integral civilization diversity of writing: as a universal cultural heritage and as a guarantee for the future harmonious spiritual development of humankind in the age of global economics and technologies in the world. To this planetary macrocosmic world corresponds the human, the individual microcosmic world. The creation, execution, use, reading of written signs which has been widened in scope during the last few decades by the instruments of the new communication technologies – this is a universal creative process but at the same time very personal one. Responsibility for the future development lies on society and its different institutions and on each literate and conscious individual representative of this society.