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Tuesday, 26 July (4.45pm) – Sunday, 31 July (noon)
Learning to live in a multicultural world
Diaspora and peacemaking in Europe
Have a look at the programme – I spent a few days at Caux last year and loved it. Loads of people (including young interns) from all around Europe in a huge palace hotel just above Montreux on Lake Geneva.
Lectures, networking, panels, discussion groups, training – along with leisurely meals on the sunny terrace, challenging speakers and a spot of washing up duty to keep the costs down (92 Swiss francs per person per night, 55 for students).
I’m extra happy to be going with my 22 year old daughter this year – I can’t think of a better companion.
With the recent election result from Finland and the face-covering ban in France, I’m keen to meet other Europeans and look at migration, identity, religion and European history in all its complexity.
Anyone else coming?
Heard from Angela & Nina at IoC Switzerland that the programme for Learning to Live in a Multicultural World: Diaspora and Peacemaking in Europe is ready and will be at Caux, Switzerland, on 26 – 31 July 2011.
I only caught the last couple of days this year but it was well worth it.
Two sessions on the 2011 programme have caught my eye -
Identity
Identity is a crucial issue when cultural diversity becomes a reality. This is not only true for diasporas, but also – and no less importantly – for the host society. Current debates about
religious/cultural symbols, integration or assimilation, about radicalized second – and third generation immigrants, and the fear of loss of ‘European’ values, are revealing the growing
importance of identity. Taking the concept of ‘multiple identities’ as a starting point, the following questions will be addressed: How is the issue of identity related to the growing cultural diversity in Europe? What is the reason for and role of identity politics? What benefits – if any – could the notion of ‘multiple identities’ provide?
Participation and power relations
This theme will explore the mechanisms of exclusion and inclusion. The plenary will focus on the issues of power and power relations, and relate them to the question of social, economic and political participation of diaspora members. What are the power relations currently in place – within diaspora communities, and between them and host communities? What are the forces for social, political and economical exclusion of diaspora communities? How can diaspora communities influence power relations? Case studies will provide practical examples of how existing power structures can be influenced, and political, economic and social participation increased.
Irresistible. Anyone else from the UK coming?
Luc on butler duties at what was Caux Palace Hotel
This place wasn’t just a hotel, it was a palace hotel (& during the Belle Époque, not Edwardian era – I’m learning). We all take turns with cooking and cleaning chores which helps jumble us up.
Today I had breakfast with Claire from the CEJI course and a Russian sociology student who has a passion for cooking. We discussed chicken-in-oven dishes: she puts the potatoes (a staple in her part of Russia) in with the chicken from the start and has tried a rice stuffing.
At lunch I chatted to someone based in Geneva who is involved in group conflict mediation both here and in Guatamala.
Lunch on the terrace
At supper I sat next to a Hungarian studying in the USA with strong views on the importance of civil society – positive social capital, trust between neighbours & colleagues, youth groups, sport, artistic communities, etc.
This is not evident, he says, in Hungary at the moment – people tend to be scrabbling for themselves and don’t see the point in coming together to start up, say, a youth club or athletics team. I think he was saying that in Hungary the individual’s responsibility is to earn money and the government’s job is to do anything else which is necessary – education, health care, etc.
He reckons globalisation hasn’t worked in favour of post-communist European countries. Combined with a poor economic outlook, lots of young people are trying to leave the country – often Germany, the UK or the US. Interesting contrast with the Broken Britain/Big Society we’ve been hearing about recently and the drive for social cohesion and local involvement. I suggested he get in touch with the New Economics Foundation. I wish there was a better term for ‘civil society’ – too much like ‘civil service’ and being coldly polite. ‘Third sector’ isn’t much of an improvement. Ordinary people don’t use these words and don’t think of themselves as part of a sector or civil society, even if they are.
View from the terrace across Lake Geneva
A couple of excellent women on form this morning: Annemarie Sancar from the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation and Samia Allalou who is a journalist, activist and member of the ‘Women Living under Muslim Laws’ solidarity network in France & Algeria. Annemarie was scathing of what she saw as a simplified public conversation about women’s rights in Europe – in particular of Muslim women’s rights, often reduced to either/or groups -
- natives v immigrants
- emancipated v oppressed
- black v white
- modern v traditional
- when the reality is a lot more complex. Women with less power are more vulnerable to labelling, less able to challenge it. She didn’t have much time for western feminists who want to free oppressed migrant women by charging in like Crusaders to ‘rip up their cultures on the operating table’. The focus on headscarves detracts from important economic and political issues, with assumptions that they represent the oppression of women by men – this is not her experience (neither is it mine) and waging war on a piece of clothing, she said, does not make you a human rights activist. Behind each scarf is a life story, and, as importantly, behind every criticism of a headscarf is a life story, too. Being told to stop wearing a scarf by feminists or governments can feel pretty much like patriarchy.
I missed a very good workshop on LGBT immigration within global diversity – will have to catch up on papers. It’s fascinating living with people from so many different places – just like south London! My internet connection was set up by a young man from Mombasa.
Tomorrow tackles ‘Europe – the Fortress’ before settling down to the World Cup match – plenty of intercultural material there, too.
Good to meet up this evening with several people from across Europe who were at the CEJI course in Brussels last November – all practitioners/activists in their own fields. The kind of work we’re involved in draws from the whole person, so catching up inevitably includes news of love affairs and bereavements – between us, over the last six months, we cover much of what it means to be human in 2010.
It’s refreshing to be amongst people who have different geographic and historic starting points – I tend to get very London-centric. Before I left, I was told more than once that the UK is perceived to be ahead of the game on inter-faith relations compared to other European countries. But each nation has a very specific history and rather different challenges to rise to: Germany’s relationship with Turkey and its guest worker scheme; the way France’s tradition of laïcité is playing out in response to current demands.
I’m hoping that strengthening contact between grassroots multifaith groups across Europe will enable us to learn from one another in the broadest sense.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s workshops.
View from the tiny one-carriage train which pulled us up to Caux from Montreux.
I’m halfway up an alp in a very grand building – used to be an Edwardian hotel. Sweeping corridors, stunning views over Lake Geneva and the mountains and huge sculpted, painted and gilded public rooms. Extraordinary place.
Over 300 (mostly young) people speaking several languages – looking good.
