GES and violent extremism: Recalling Obama’s rousing 2009 Cairo speech

US President Barack Obama landed in Nairobi yesterday for this years Global Entrepreneurship Summit. It will be exactly a week since the re-opening of the Westgate Mall last Saturday, nearly two years after a terrorist attack that left 67 people dead. Whether by coincidence or calculated timing, the re-opening of the mall just before the hosting of the GES could not have been more apt. It somewhat echoes the beginnings of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which has become an annual affair. When President Obama was articulating the US-led entrepreneurship project in Cairo, Egypt, in 2009, one of the running threads of his speech – delivered in his characteristic eloquence and rousing fervour – was the issue of violent extremism. With violent extremism stalking the region and the world, it not only threatens the goodwill of forums such as the global summit but the promise they holds. Having brought delegates from across the world, the GES describes a global unity of purpose to economically develop as one, complementing and learning from one another despite our different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. As President Obama put it during that speech in Cairo, “We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum – ‘Out of many, one.’” Religion should never be the one to divide us, jeopadising our very humanity. Without mincing words, he observed how among some Muslims – such as the Al-Shabaab ideology as it has manifested in Kenya murdering Christians – there’s a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of somebody else’s faith. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld. President Obama explained in simple terms what Kantian philosophy has described as the categorical imperative, of which I will quote him verbatim. There’s one rule that lies at the heart of every religion, he said, that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples – a belief that isn’t new; that isn’t black or white or brown; that isn’t Christian or Muslim or Jew. It’s a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilisation, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It’s a faith in other people. All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort – a sustained effort – to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings. Kenya is the sixth country to host the high-level summit, which has brought together entrepreneurs “at all stages” of business development, business leaders, mentors, and high-level government officials. Since 2010, when the US hosted the first Summit, it has subsequently been hosted by Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Morocco. The spirit of the summit is about the possibilities that exist, of which President Obama pointed out there is need not be contradictions between development and tradition. Countries like Japan and South Korea, he observed, grew their economies enormously while maintaining distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. As he put it, we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world that we seek – a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God’s children are respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together. E pluribus unum – Out of many, one.

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GES and violent extremism: Recalling Obama’s rousing 2009 Cairo speech