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In amongst the scholarly contributions to Arches Quarterly IV/8 you’ll find something a bit different, with food, Canon David Porter & Billy Bragg in it.
That’s my piece (p 74).
I talk about the intentional, if limited, Abrahamic pluralism in early Andalusia, Sicily & Salonica (now Thessaloniki) – wonderful places, extraordinary history. How do we negotiate our different histories in the re-telling of them?
There are some seriously good articles in here – on the Moriscos, Turkey & the EU, Balkan Muslim identities, Welsh Islam & Muslim soldiers in WWI & WWII.
If you’d like a complimentary hard copy, let me know.
And tell me how well we’re doing nowadays – Muslims, un-religious people, Christians, everyone – living together in Europe (& elsewhere – some of you read this blog from distant lands – I’d love to hear from you).
How is it where you are, whether you’re Muslim or not? Convivencia? Tricky? Work in progress? A nightmare? A joy?
A first for the EU Parliament – a seminar for religious associations.
I’ve written about my day trip to Brussels on the London Boroughs Faiths Network blog.
Here’s a bit of background. European visitors to this blog are particularly welcome to leave comments – look forward to responding to them.
Just back in London from an *intensive* day in Brussels with a bunch of remarkable people.
Four of us from the UK met up with eight more from a variety of religious and humanist traditions from other European countries. We squished into a tiny office and offered our thoughts on a possible Europe-wide network of existing intercultural or all-faiths-&-none groups.
What’s the best way to describe this kind of grassroots group? Multifaith & interfaith have ‘faith’ in them, which excludes humanist and secular value-based traditions. Someone suggested ‘interconvictional’ – is that going to catch on?
I was extra pleased that there were plenty of women – and action women at that, no messing.
Five of us had a further meeting at the European Commission in the afternoon. The Berlaymont building would drive me nuts to work in – endless grey and blue corridors. There must be a consultancy specialising in this kind of bureaucratic design – you find it from Fez to Finland.
Looks like there may be a gathering towards the end of this year, probably in Brussels. Would your interconvictional group be interested in joining us? Let me know :)
Brussels cobbles look their best in the rain - November 2009
I’m booked on Eurostar to Brussels next Monday. A handful of us (some from the UK, others from Europe-wide networks) have a meeting at the European Commission to talk about intercultural/all-faiths-&-none groups across Europe.
So, what is the European Commission? It’s part of the EU – the civil service bit of it, led by commissioners from each EU country – but with more of an active role than the UK civil service, for example it’s responsible for proposing EU legislation as well as implementing it.
It’s not the European Council (EU heads of state), the European Parliament (MEPs) nor what is often called the Council of Ministers (government ministers from EU member states).
Most of these bits of the EU seem to have presidents – either a person or a country:
- Herman Van Rompuy is President of the European Council
- Hungary is the President of the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers, I think)
- Jerzy Buzek is the President of the European Parliament
- José Manuel Barroso is the President of the European Commission
There’s also the sinister-sounding European External Action Service, led by the UK’s Catherine Ashton.
If you go boss-eyed with unrelenting bright blue backgrounds, tiny print, yellow stars and hopelessly high “Europe” & “Council” word-counts when you search the Euro-web, this little diagram from The EU – What’s in it for me? will help:
So, now you know ;)
I’ll ask the Eurobloggers (& see the list of Europe links on left of this blog) to check this post for accuracy, but it’s making me feel dizzy already.
I love Brussels. I’ll be taking my best English, my schoolgirl French and my shaking-hands way of saying hello.
Eddie Izzard
I’m for the Eddie Izzard approach to speaking new languages – just get on and do it. In public. Trouble is, many of us educated in the “Don’t open your mouth until you get your endings & subjunctives right!” school find it mighty hard. The day of multilingual blogging stirred up latent performance anxiety on my part, not hugely assuaged by a number of folk blogging competently in not just one foreign language, but three or four!
It’s also an Anglophone thing – we don’t often find ourselves in formal settings abroad where English isn’t spoken, so the drive to be understood is less intense. Jacob Christensen’s post astonished me -
As you have probably noted, this is (usually) a blog written by a Dane in English.
This is slightly ironic as I am rather sceptical of the trend to equate “international” with “English”, something which has led to almost any other language than English to disappear in the Danish educational system – French, German, even Swedish are going the way of the Dodo.
When Scandinavians meet these days, they tend to speak English even though the national languages hardly differ more than the dialects within each country. (If you don’t believe me, try listening to a Swede speaking Skånska or, even better, a Norwegian speaking the dialect from the Bergen area).
I also liked the bobbles – å – in his Danish (oops) Swedish version. What do they do to the sound or meaning?
Add to that the British/Commonwealth thing – English is widely used in the UK’s old colonies, including of course the USA, so there are numerous countries we can visit without a phrase book.
Reading the fluent multilingual blogs yesterday (and bravo to the British Council, EC London and UK FCO folk Thom Reilly & David Lidington for joining in), I wondered – is there a gap between those who move easily between two or more languages (and cultures) and those who do not? Is it just people who’ve worked abroad who manage it?
Apart from friends who have settled in the UK from another country, in the grassroots work I do I rarely hear Anglophone Londoners speaking any other language. The only time I speak French (or Hindi) is when giving directions to visitors on the street. The only meetings I have attended with simultaneous interpretation have been in Paris and Switzerland. I guess some of us are in between – pretty incompetent at our one or two extra languages, but able to get by and interested in communicating across boundaries; linguistic boundaries – but often the accompanying religious and cultural ones, too.
speech bubbles from mediacology.com
The boundaries we seek to lower are sometimes only between us and next door. My British friends originally from Pakistan speak Urdu socially, at home and in the mosque – and English at school, work and in the “public square”. Understanding a bit of Urdu, a bit about Islam and enjoying a hot biryani means the relationship isn’t restricted to formal life – we can be friends as well.
My immediate neighbours in London include three Albanian men, a family from Sierra Leone, a Kosovar and an extended Irish family. Over 141 languages are spoken in my part of town. Portuguese, Yoruba, Spanish, Somali, French and Twi are, in order, the languages most spoken at home (after English) by local schoolchildren. This reflects the significant number of families from Madeira, Brazil, Nigeria, Ghana, Somalia and North Africa, Columbia and other Spanish-speaking parts of South America. If I lived in another area, it could be Bengali, or Punjabi or Polish. Inner London is incredibly multilingual – how come we Anglophones are so tongue-tied?
It has knock-on effects, too – Martin Kettle had a good piece in the Guardian last month -
It is hard to recall a time when the national, not just the London, mind was less informed about or engaged with Europe than it is today.
Europe may still be this country’s major export market. Millions may still take holidays there. Our football teams may still battle for the glamour of being “in Europe”.
In the larger sense, though, being in Europe has never impinged less.
One idea yet to be realised is food-based: Women’s Language Luncheons (needs a snappier name, granted). Inviting Algerian-born women (keen to sharpen their English) together with English-speaking women who want to learn French; Columbian-born women with those who want to polish up their Spanish; Madeiran and Brazilian women with girls wanting stars on their Portuguese GCSEs. Perhaps a two course meal, with a change of language at half time?
networking . . .
Visits to Bosnia and Brussels last year (and to Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany this year) have encouraged me to try to develop an informal network of grassroots multifaith groups across Europe. With different historical and trading backgrounds, each European country has its own historic language(s) and also those spoken by its current residents. If I lived in Berlin, I’d want to be able to say hello and thank you in Turkish.
Religious traditions are often associated with the language of their scriptures. I’ve been on a crash course in Hebrew – I’d love to do the same for Arabic. Sanskrit and Ancient Greek are two more. Latin is not often taught in British schools, but is another with a vast history which crosses geographical borders.
Language, history, religion and the global economy are intertwined. What does all this mean for communications between grassroots groups across Europe? Get some funding for interpretation? Stick to English? Get everyone going on sign language? Run some Izzard-style workshops?
mugs from the family kitchen
Sharing experiences/ideas across Europe on just and peaceful co-existence of people from different traditions is as important as it has ever been – Roma communities, laïcité, hijabs/niquabs, freedom of speech, violent extremism, minaret bans, religious discrimination/freedom, far-right movements, hate crime, threats to burn books, lesbian & gay concerns, desecration of graves, Papal visits and “new atheism” all come to mind and I’m sure you’ll be thinking of more.
Each country approaches these topics in its own way, but there are significant knock-on effects: the Swiss minaret referendum prompted a far-right protest against a mosque in north London. The protesters, Stop Islamisation of Europe, started in Denmark and is now active in the UK.
Instead of threats, stand-offs with the police and fearful communities, we need to work out how we want to live through
- thoughtful, well-informed public conversations and
- thoughtful, well-informed inter-cultural relationships at local level
Both could be enriched by stronger links across the continent – and for that we need to be able to talk!
I expect we’ll muddle through some exchange visits, send awkward emails and rely, as ever, on goodwill and perseverance (Chapeau! to Eddie Izzard) – but any suggestions on how we go about this are very welcome.
Carreaux de la mosquée, Kreuzberg
Quand on peur qu’on ne peut pas parler la langue étrangère qu’on apprenait à l’école il y a beaucoup des ans, mon avis est: allez au pays plus étrange et essayez de parler leur langue. Voila! Un peu de magique et immédiatement tous les mots de la langue de l’école reviendra . . . au temps quand on a besoin de parler l’autre.
A Berlin en Juillet, j’ai prends le petit guide de conversation allemand. Mais le peuple de Berlin est très gentil et un peu d’anglaise, un peu de française et un petit, petit peu d’allemande était suffisant.
Appartements à l'est de Berlin
J’ai resté à Mitte, près du centre ville.
Je m’intéresse à relations entre les groupes religieux et entre les gens qui suit une tradition religieuse et les gens qui ne l’ont plus – comment nous vivons bien ensemble. J’ai fait une promenade de Kreuzberg.
Sankt Michael Kirche, Berlin
J’ai rencontrée des chrétiens d’une église, St Michael, avec une paroisse qui avait été divisé par le mur de Berlin. L’église, avec des autres églises, des mosquées et des synagogues au niveau local, rassemblent leurs membres de temps en temps pour le dialogue interreligieux et pour des fêtes.
Empreinte du mur de Berlin
Il y a beaucoup de familles qui viennent de Turquie à Kreuzberg. Chaque pays de l’Europe a une histoire particulière et chaque pays à son propre mélange de population et de religions. Beaucoup de gens Turques est arrivés ici pour travailler, comme «Gastarbeiter», depuis les années 1960s.
L'extérieur de la mosquée
La mosquée et l'église, Kreuzberg
Sankt Marien-Leibfrauen, Berlin
Je suis trouvé une petite mosquée près d’une très grande église. La mosquée n’est pas encore finie, mais elle est déjà belle, avec des carreaux bleus et rouges.
L'intérieur de la petite mosquée
Les ouvriers m’ont invitée à l’intérieur – ils appartenaient à la communauté Turque. Ils m’ont montré l’église qui a été tout près et m’ont dit qu’il y a bon relations entre les deux.
J’ai aimé Berlin – c’est très vivant. J’ai regardé la Coupe du monde finale à l’extérieur du café (il faisait chaud) avec plusieurs gens. Certaines personnes ont bu la bière et les autres ont fumé la hukka.
La Coupe de mondial (hukka à gauche, bière à droite)
Le lendemain matin, j’ai essayé de voyager en train à Londres, via Bruxelles. Mais une tempête a perturbé les trains. J’ai eu de la chance de rencontrer Daniel, qui travaille à l’UE. Il était très gentil et je l’ai suivi à plusieurs trains jusqu’à Bruxelles. Nous avons mangé un repas a Köln – la gare est tout près de la cathédrale.
Heureusement, Daniel parle anglais très bien et a un grand (comment on dit « dry » ?) sens de l’humour – j’ai appris beaucoup au sujet d’Allemande et l’UE. Herzlichen Dank Daniel!
Daniel cherche le train prochain
Nous sommes arrivés trois heures en retard et j’ai raté le train à Londres – mais quel surprise! Eurostar m’a donné une chambre de l’hôtel pour la nuit gratuite et j’ai eu l’occasion de visiter le Grand Place et de me souvenir les temps heureux avec mes amis à la course CEJI en Octobre 2009.
Je travaille pour faire les liens plus étroits entre les groupes multi-religieux de la base à Londres et ces groupes des autres capitales ou villes a l’Europe – à l’intérieur de l’UE et à l’extérieur.
J’ai des relations en Bosnie, Wien, Bern, Bruxelles et maintenant Berlin. J’espère que « London Boroughs Faiths Network » sera en liaison et encouragera le début d’un réseau pour échanger des informations, des idées et des visites. Mettez-vous en contact avec moi si vous êtes intéressé.
Pour le moment, regardez Semaines de rencontres islamo-chrétiennes, Our Shared Europe, BEPA, Caux, Women without Borders Wien, All Faiths and None, WCEN et LBFN blog (venant bientôt).
Merci à Antonia pour l’idée de la journée du blogging multilingue – bon chance à tout l’Europe !
Arrived in Brussels for week-long awareness training on religious discrimination, made possible by a mobility grant from the EU, through Grundtvig. People from different religious traditions from all over Europe are taking part – well from all over the EU, so not from Bosnia (wish you were here, Bosnia friends!).
So, another internet café, another keyboard to master (this time azerty). This café is fantastic. It’s called Outpost and is really an alternative youth club, full of teenage boys, board games and computer games, Twix and crisps to buy, plenty chat and laughter, even a table for mums to sit at while they wait. We should have one in Clapham.
The work starts tomorrow.
Mayor of Tuzla
Today everything shifted gear. We (now warmly welcomed as a delegation) met the Mayor of Tuzla, a large town in the north of the Federation entity of Bosnia (Bosniac majority), which was traditionally a salt mining town (tuz means salt). Local TV cameras and photojournalists were busy. We had heard from the Defence Attache at the UK Embassy that the Bosnian administrative apparatus was so large that it was debilitating for the economy. It was interesting to hear a local politician explain things from his point of view. He said the Dayton agreement ended the war and everyone is thankful for that. However, the huge government apparatus (based on two entities and many cantons in each entity) was now a burden and that the constitution needs to be revised to suit the needs of the country today. There are 14 Prime Ministers, 200 Ministers and 500 MPs for a country with a relatively small population. He joked that in Britain you can live and die without meeting a government minister, whereas in Bosnia every other person is a minister or about to become one. These individuals are reluctant to advocate a slimming down of the system because they would lose their status and generous salary.
This week is a key time for Bosnia because the EU and USA are meeting members of the Bosnian government to discuss possible amendments to the consitution. The Mayor was unhappy that no hint of the proposals had been released prior to this important meeting.
Just out from a reception at the British Embassy where we were briefed by the Defence Attache. Both entities within Bosnia, the Republic and the Federation, which are kind of parallel administrations, are in favour of EU and NATO membership, but there are difficulties in meeting the requirements. I was interested to know why the EU and NATO were keen to see Bosnia become a member of both groups.
Much talk about religious, cultural and ethnic identities. I have seen a few women in fashionable hijabs but no niquabs so far. Plum brandy is a local speciality and seems to be drunk by all communities when, for example, visitors come for supper.
