And Beyond Barriers, a new committee which aims to promote "a wider awareness of diverse cultures, an empathy for others, and respect for new ideas'', will attempt to teach that.

Mrs. Arlene Brock, a member of the group's steering committee, said: "I wonder how the world would change, how we would experience Bermuda tomorrow, if each one of us who lives here, adults and young people, black and white, male and female, were to wake up with an internalised appreciation for this concept: "That we are all equal and we all bring something special to the table of humanity''.

"How would our individual daily lives change, how would our national and international systems change if we all understood that we need each other in order to survive.'' She added increasing environmental awareness is teaching people the simple reality that they are connected to each other, over time and over space.

"We know, for example, that the felling of trees at the edge of the Sahara decades ago has contributed to the spread of the desert, the derangement of that delicate eco-system,'' she said.

"It has, in turn, been one of the causes of the famine in the Sahel that we see so vividly portrayed on our televisions today.'' Mrs. Brock said: "We are not connected just by geology and geography but are in fact connected by our very humanity in ways we have not truly appreciated before.'' She added that even in the microcosm of Bermuda, human beings must come together and resolve our differences if we are to survive.'' Mrs. Brock said that on April 4 which marks the 25th year of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, an ad hoc coalition of individuals and organisations in Bermuda will mark the date by revisiting and celebrating Dr.

King's vision and life.

"The debate must be opened up and we must look at a number of barriers that divide and devour humanity including gender, disability, age and so on. We decided that in Bermuda the time is ripe for honest discussions.

"We wanted to go beyond the normal recitation of the origins of the barriers that divide us.

"We wanted to go beyond description of the effects of these barriers, and we wanted to encourage our community to look at practical steps that we can take to begin to dismantle theses barriers.''