The events of Sept. 11 have forced us to reevaluate our assumptions about our place in the world. As sorrow, fear, anger and uncertainty fill our hearts and minds, we realize that our lives will never be the same.

But these events also drive home the need to promote toleration, respect, understanding and equality throughout the world. International education plays an important role in this, humanity's greatest mission, and I know that this tragedy redoubles UCLA's resolve to contribute to this vital project.

Writing in the early 1990s, Benjamin Barber sketched two alternative futures. One was a "McWorld" of U.S.-led capitalism and secular liberalism. Its antithesis was a fractured, tribalist world of "Jihad." Before Sept. 11, many Americans would have seen ours as a benign McWorld, one that was more democratic, prosperous and peaceful than ever before -- and largely built by benevolent American activism.

But this comforting vision has now been shattered, highlighting two facts often overlooked. The first is widespread anti-Americanism, ranging from the rolling wave of mass protests against "American globalization" to the escalation of terrorist activity against U.S. targets. The protesters and the terrorists share the belief that the United States acts in cavalier disregard of broad swathes of the world's population. Whether this is true is less relevant than the simple fact that in the past decade of unquestioned U.S. global hegemony, material conditions deteriorated for most people in the arc from South Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa. The widening gap between the haves and have-nots has been a breeding ground for anti-American backlash.

The second fact about the post-Cold-War world is that "traditional" communal ties have not been overwhelmed by a homogenized global culture. Globalization has been a powerful centrifuge, scattering around the world communities that were previously localized. But distance has not weakened old cultural bonds and identities. This is because the communications revolution that made Tiger Woods a global icon has also allowed dense interactions among members of far-flung ethnic groups. This has clear and sobering implications for waging a "war against terrorism." The global thicket of cultural ties into which terrorists are interwoven will present a major obstacle to winning the new kind of war being discussed.

In the light of these facts, American policy should concentrate on two objectives. The first is obvious: Those who participated in the destruction and devastation of Sept. 11 must be brought to justice. The second requires action in the longer term. The United States must work harder to reduce the pervasive inequalities that breed extremism of all kinds. We must not only change the inhumane conditions endured by many around the world; we must also deepen our understanding of other cultures and of our impact on them. If the United States is to be a global force for good, many long-standing policy assumptions should be rethought from the ground up.