Posted on 05/18/2005 7:40:54 AM PDT by dead
JORDAN - Former US president Bill Clinton and Hollywood actor Richard Gere are to join some 30 Nobel Laureates today for a gathering of the world's top thinkers in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra.
The conference - set to include luminaries such as former peace prize winner the Dalai Lama - has set itself the none too modest task of finding solutions to the world's problems.
The meeting has "a lot of possibilities because the people who are meeting are not political, they have no agenda," said Gere, star of "Pretty Woman" and a close friend of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
"The principal problem (in the world at present) is that we (the people) feel separated.
Interconnectiveness is a first thing to do, and if we behave this way, 99% of the problems will be solved," he said.
Jordan's Finance Minister Bassem Awadallah said the conference - hosted by Jordan's King Abdullah II and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel - was aimed at bringing the best minds together to think about where the world is going.
"They are coming in from various disciplines in order to discuss issues because they believe the world is in real danger," he said.
Over the course of two days, the 29 laureates and other leaders will examine and try to find solutions for problems in four main areas, including terror and peace, economic development and poverty, health and environment, and education and media.
"They might come up with a process," said Awadallah. "Maybe they will agree to meet once every year for two years, to launch a website."
The conference will take place amid centuries-old rose-coloured ruins of Petra, a World Heritage Site some 200 kilometres south of the capital Amman.
It is being held just days ahead of a World Economic Forum summit on the banks of the Dead Sea in Jordan.
King Abdullah told reporters when the conference was first announced in March: "Today, more than ever, we need creative minds to address the issues of the age. And one of the most urgent is this: How can humanity know so much, achieve so much, and still fail so many people so badly?"
Organiser Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor and writer, co-sponsored a similar conference in 1988, when French President Francois Mitterrand hosted some 75 Nobel laureates.
"Can we effect a change?" said Wiesel in promotional materials for this year's conference.
"Can we bring about a 'merger' between power and morality? We are on a runaway train hurtling toward the abyss. Do we have the determination to stop it? It will not be easy but we must, lest our past become our children's future."
Other conference attendees include Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who won the 1994 peace prize, former Northern Ireland Protestant leader David Trimble, a 1998 peace laureate, and author Wole Soyinka who won the 1986 literature prize.
The acclaimed novelist and travel writer V.S. Naipul, a literature laureate from 2001 will also be present, along with several winners from the fields of chemistry, medicine, economics and physics.
AFP
"They might come up with a process," said Awadallah. "Maybe they will agree to meet once every year for two years, to launch a website."
That'll help.
Gere jammer.
I don't recall voting for Mr. Gere for any office, has anyone else? Perhaps someday he will be appointed to his true role as ambassador to the Intergalatic Council.
Hahahaha, that's a good one. Now seriously, who's attending?
This is from The Onion, right? Gotta be.
I think if we blame America, whites and Christians for all the world problems, that would be a big help...
Gere's ambition is pretty obvious. He is working
toward a diplomatic post once a Democrat President
hits the White House! He does NOT want to remain
in Hollywood once his "Lead Role" scripts run out.
Can you see Gere as a senior character actor?
Neither can he!
Didn't I see this in "Team America"?
his top is a thinking machine, his bottom a gerbil exercise gym...
This is a good idea. We really should have someone who can speak for the entire world at this gathering.
Amazing that one of the "world's top thinkers" would saying something about an event that Bill Clinton will be attending. Idiot.
Hopefully all problems will be solved because when gender challenged Gere says Interconnectivness he means lets form a circle and screw ourselves to death.
But Richard Gere speaks for the entire world!
I think he represents the US at the Maharishi University in Fairfield, Iowa...
"Can't we all just get along?" - Rotney King
Sounds like the Masons are at it again!!!
But Richard Gere speaks for the entire world!
This is news to me. When did Yoko Ono resign?
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