Calcutta, Jan. 27: As much as Nobel laureate Gunter Grass called for resistance to single-power domination, fellow author Amitav Ghosh spoke of the urgency of fighting Islamic fundamentalism in a discussion today.

Organised by Max Mueller Bhavan and The Telegraph, Pakistani journalist Najam Sethi and professor T.N. Madan, a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Society, were the other participants in the discussion, ?Segregation of world cultures in the contemporary world: clash, convergence or cooperation?.

Grass, speaking in German, stressed how important it was for ?countries to resist the domination by one power? to gain an equal footing in negotiations. The ?one-sided interpretation of globalisation? means that its ?success depends on the promotion of just one kind of culture?.

The contradictions of the world have led to the poor becoming the worst victims of development. ?On the one hand, there is a landing on the moon and on the other, we haven?t been able to feed all the people on this earth,? said Grass, at the talk moderated by Girish Karnad.

The main pillar of the clash of civilisations is Islamic fundamentalism, said Sethi. ?Fundamentalism is as modern as modernity,? he added.

The creation of Israel, the oil boom and the US-sponsored jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan are at the root of a possible clash of civilisations. ?This is a political encounter that should be put squarely in the context of the Cold War,? he said, adding that the struggle against it ?needs to be waged in each country, particularly in the United States and Israel?.

Muslim fundamentalism is a powerful sub-culture that must be ?combated vigorously?, added Ghosh. ?Rare is the fundamentalist that has anything to say about God,? he added, recalling his experiences in an Egyptian village where it was the young and educated who were siding with the jihad in Afghanistan.

George W. Bush?s ?coalition of the willing? ? the US, UK and Australia ? rose from a ?shared history of territorial expansion?, Ghosh said.

If convergence of cultures is the chosen path, offered Madan, the ?homogenised vision? of globalisation ?spells unequal distribution of power?.

?The world will be what the powerful want it to be,? he said ? as in the case of Bush who believes ?liberty is given to all of mankind by his God?.