Email
Print
ShareDemocracy could certainly do with some nurturing at this age of paranoia. And it is great to see culture and media take centrestage in deliberating Europe's future. Till now we have primarily seen trade talks and political dialogues, focused mainly on who to include and who to leave out from the European Union and economic policies. So an attempt to define a cultural identity for Europe was exciting.
The European project, the EU has officially declared, is a cultural project, a grand work in progress, more a process than a product. And since media and culture are catalysts of democratic growth, focusing on these would enrich the process. Journalism stimulates communities to participate in democracy, and the arts can create a common public space. These help in building a cultural identity, which would be essential if Europe is to be defined in cultural terms.
As we discuss the importance of the arts, of a free press, pluralism and diversity, the media's role and other clearly top of the heap issues for the cultural policy makers of Europe, I feel rather smug about my homeland. For ages we have balanced various religious, cultural, linguistic and regional identities to be comfortable as Indians. Maybe our rich cultural heritage had something to do with it. And the fact that the Indian media is one of the best in the world. Our press is passionately critical, combative, entertaining (far too much, lately), thought-provoking and free. Not as free as one may wish, given the increasing control of politics and business interests on media, but certainly free from government control.
In one workshop, we discuss intercultural dialogue -- and focus squarely on 'Islamic culture' versus 'atheist Europe'. How can Europe have a dialogue with 'the other', lament some discussants, if there is nothing to learn from 'the other'? I try to explain how intercultural dialogue is a routine process in pluralistic countries, how we do it all the time, every day, in India, where our personal cultural background doesn't offer a barrier to communication till we choose to make it one. And that there is no one 'Islamic culture' out there -- there are a variety of Islamic cultures, just as there is no single 'atheist Europe' and unless the West sees that, there can never be a solution to the problem. Besides, you can never have a dialogue if you are convinced that you have nothing to learn from 'the other'. Also, isn't it time you stopped thinking of Muslims and their culture as 'the other', given the increasingly discontented Muslim population in Europe?
"Shut up, girl," says a voice in my head. "You construct 'the other' too. And your wonderful civil society allows Indian Christians and Indian Muslims to be slaughtered, low caste Indians to be tormented and killed, Indians from Bihar and UP to be attacked ruthlessly in Mumbai -- where the heck is your grand tradition of inclusive bonding, of tolerance and mutual understanding?"
I shut up. We have certainly lost the edge on pluralism and diversity. Oh well. I step out in search of the girl with kaleidoscope eyes. This is Liverpool, after all.
The writer is editor, The Little Magazine.Email: sen@littlemag.com
