The European Cultural Forum has just taken place in Brussels on 19 and 20 October 2011. Every year the Forum gathers institutions and organisations involved and interested in the making of cultural policy at European level. The themes of the Forum are linked to the EU 2020 strategy of the European Commission.
The near collapse of the financial system and the sovereign debt crisis are testing the limits of Europe’s solidarity and as a consequence the essence of the European project. The cultural movement at the Forum was behaving as if nothing was happening to Europe, or worse that it did not care.
This was the opportunity for the Cultural Forum to calls on Head of States and Governments to work towards Europe’s unity[1] and keep the European utopia alive. Culture activists have a special responsibility to keep alive the perspective of a Europe where all Europeans, despite their cultural differences and mental barriers, work for a common destiny and for the promotion of shared values such as democracy, human rights, social solidarity, cultural diversity and tolerance.
The European project is, after all, foremost a cultural project; nations with different cultures and languages uniting to pursue common goals in spite of resentments and prejudices born from a difficult and a bloody history.
The Euro as well as European institutions were meant to unite Europe! The crisis is now showing substantial cracks in the cement, which is based on purely financial and institutional interests. This is not sufficient to pursue the European utopia.
There cannot be economic convergence without a sociological convergence. Europe has yet to capture the imagination of citizens in the same way as the concept of nation states, rooted in a “common” culture and history, succeeded in the 18th and 19th century. This also means that nation states (which still manage culture) will have to accept cultural collaboration at European level (to abandon sterile cultural competition).
We can now hear or read French intellectuals spreading the idea that the Euro is a German conspiracy to make France less competitive. On the other side of the Rhine German commentators highlight the costs of the Euro to German finances and emphasise Germany’s superiority over its unreliable and undisciplined neighbours. In the UK a bill has surfaced calling for a referendum to leave the European Union. Populists and nationalists in numerous Northern European countries are keen to savage ways of life in Southern Europe to justify national posturing.
We are back to the good old days of foreigner bashing! Despite having the European institutions in place for 50 years, European nationals remain largely ignorant of the customs and culture of their neighbours. This ignorance largely contributes to the lack of solidarity between nations and people. Tax payers are asked to show solidarity with people from other countries they hardly know or have the opportunity to empathize with. What would make us less indifferent and by the same token more European?
The case of Belgium shows how cultural indifference is leading a founding member of the EU to the verge of breaking up. In the absence of interest or belief in the advantages offered by multi-culturality voters are rightly questioning institutional set ups – Why Belgium? Why Europe?
In the foreword of his formidable theater play « Mamma Medea » Flemish writer Tom Lanoye states : « Si la Belgique, avec sa diversité communautaire, cessait d’exister, c’est tout le projet européen qui s’effondrerait ». He adds : « Moi je n’ai bas besoin de la disparition de la Belgique pour être flamand »[2].
It is time to show the fallacy of the current European project:
- The EU 2020 Strategy is architecture without culture.
- There cannot be a European project without a strong cultural component (to reach and touch citizens beyond their wallets!).
- The EU project requires sustaining solidarity amongst Europeans,
- By promoting the fecundation potential of cultures as a means to support innovation, creativity, exchange of thoughts, as well as
- In fighting the sterilization of cultures (leading to intolerance, “repli sur soi”).
The founding fathers of Europe would look today into what makes Europe so distinct: 100’s of languages, 27 nationalities, 100’s of different cultures – the capacity to be singular whilst remaining tolerant and embracing differences. This singularity and ability to mix the different is the essence of the European project. It is a much desired precious economic and social resource for a world fighting monoculture. This project is unique in the world and should continue to serve as an example to build peace and prosperity in Asia, Latin America, African or the Middle East, regions suffering from cultural ignorance and intolerance.
Tom Lanoye should have reiceived a “Carte Blanche” for the European Cultural Forum. The Forum has missed an opportunity to show the importance of culture in the European project, the requirement of solidarity, fraternity as corollary of a European identity. There cannot be Europe without culture. Yes culture is more[3] … and the EU is more than a pay cheque for culture.
Philippe Kern, Founder and Managing Director of KEA European Affairs
23.10.2011
Visit the social media group Creative Europe on Linkedin and Facebook, Twitter @KEAtweets
[1] “There are more reasons now for Europe to Unite” J.C Trichet in the FT on 14 October 2011
[2] “Als België met haar verschillende gemeenschappen, zou ophouden te bestaan, dan stort heel het Europese project in elkbaar. Ik heb het verdwijnen van België niet nodig om Vlaming te zijn” Tom Lanoye, foreword of his play Mamma Medea, Rideau de Bruxelles, www.lanoye.be
[3] Reference to the campaign from Culture Action Europe – http://www.cultureactioneurope.org/ Sign the petition we are more on http://www.wearemore.eu/
European Cultural Foundation (ECF) fully supports and welcomes Philippe Kern’s clear call for action to support culture in the European project. He simply puts the finger on the sore spot, when he writes:
"It is time to show the fallacy of the current European project:
– The EU 2020 Strategy is architecture without culture.
– There cannot be a European project without a strong cultural component (to reach and touch citizens beyond their wallets!)".
In this crisis, which deeply affects the very essence of ‘Europe’, the economic aspect of it is predominant in the political and public debates. The voices striving for a renewed, uniting vision for Europe and its neighbouring countries, showing the greater Narrative of Europe should have more public platforms. For we also need public discourse and targeted action to bring democracy, human rights, cultural diversity and our common cultural grounds right back at the heart of politics. On national and European level, as on both there is so much at stake, the ‘Zeitgeist’ speaks for itself. The world is re-shaping its geo-political and social “order”, which simply requires new political and cultural visions and skills. Therefore cultural civil society actors need to act now and show strong leadership. Natalia Koliada from Belarus Free Theater exemplifies this herself via the national and international cultural actions of the organization which she shared in her presentation during the Forum. Natalia also called for clear stands of European politics to create the conditions for independent cultural organizations to be able to work without being severely prosecuted. This example is one that speaks to most of us, but there are many more initiatives that are of intrinsic human value to the European project, which have to be supported and promoted.
We must move away from solely GDP-driven arguments to consider the shared human values of our common European living space: in the words of Forum panelist Ahmed Al Attar, "Art and culture in themselves are carriers of all human values."
To work with strong cultural change-makers in (and from) the so-called EU neighboring countries will bridge the divide between EU and these countries. Involving these visionary cultural voices in the shaping of national cultural policies and the EU’s external relations worked for ECF for example with the publication on setting up cultural policies in these countries and the More Europe project.
In the context of Kerns’ text and the plea to attribute the right place to culture we also choose to use this place to bring to your attention two initiatives which are concretely aiming at putting culture at the core of political decisions:
The above mentionened More Europe project is a cultural civic initiative whose objective is to highlight and reinforce the role of culture in the EU’s external relations. The alliance exists of national cultural institutes and other independent foundations that will launch on 8 December the More Europe project. The project develops targeted actions to embed culture structurally within the European External Action Service (EEAS).
And secondly, a timely urgent civil society campaign, the we are more campaign, initiated by Culture Action Europe (CAE) . It calls for action on national and European level for the shaping of the next EU Cultural Programme 2014-2020.
The EU is definitely more than a single market and an economic entity, and we are more than mere consumers, solely connected by our monetary value. We are many organisations, made up of individuals who value and act for culture in Europe. The campaign seeks to mobilise everyone who recognises culture as a fundament of Europe’s political project and we want to amplify these voices.
Therefore, we are more calls on cultural organizations to speak up to their national governments and European decision makers. The we are more website provides lobby tools as the soon to be launched application for ready-made letters to be send out to national governments by cultural organizations. In addition there is a message book in different languages to help you with formulating the right arguments and of course the manifesto to be signed.
To conclude we want to highlight Kern’s words:
"There cannot be Europe without culture. Yes culture is more… and the EU is more than a pay cheque for culture."
Posted by: Marjolein Cremer | 30 November 2011 at 12:39
Philippe, I share your concern about the European project. Already Michael D. Higgins, just recently elected as President of Ireland, stated in his book 'causes for concern' that too often there is no real criticism of the state of affairs especially with regards to EU Cultural Policy, and if any is articulated, it is rarely followed up.
When you spoke at the Cultural Forum, you were a lone voice in pointing out that Europe is at the brink of a sheer disaster. Definitely I agree with you that especially those involved in culture should be the most visionary and passionate ones about this European project. And yet the discrepancy between what is happening in Greece and the assumptions on which most of the discussions were based on at the Cultural Forum could not have been greater. It goes beyond the mere 'mind the gap' call of attention in London Tube stations.
Since I am myself in the process of writing up what was said at the Cultural Forum, you might wish to take a look at
http://poieinkaiprattein.org/europe/european-agenda-for-culture-2007/EU-Cultural-Policy/cultural-forum-oct-20-21-2011---presentations-comments/
Surely we shall stay in touch about possible ways to resolve this problem of European governance.
Greetings from Athens
hatto fischer
www.poieinkaiprattein.org where you find as well a diary of the Greek crisis
Posted by: Hatto Fischer | 08 November 2011 at 19:12