Ποιειν Και Πραττειν - create and do

Open Issues at Poiein kai Prattein

 

Platform for Intercultural Europe and Poiein Kai Prattein: a standpoint of view

The Platform for Intercultural Europe has focused primarily on migrant /immigrant related issues. They are considered to be a test case of Europe's capacity to integrate people from different cultural backgrounds. As there are as many different levels to integration, as there are real differences within society for both individuals and groups to integrate themselves, the fact that there are besides open equally many shut doors presents a huge problem. Next to inequality and lack of cohesion, it is inacceptable that acts of discrimination continue to be made on the basis of color, religion, gender and ever more so cultural background. The migrant is often without a real sense of home. He or she goes through various forms of humiliation and has no Right to speak up on his or her behalf. It all may have began with war driving people out and thus puts many more on the road many have gone already on before, namely that of exile.

Whatever the reason for having left home, the migrant undergoes a tremendous change and confronts the need to justify his or her existence without having any moral legitimacy often in the eyes of those asking for official papers. As everyone knows once you have not such papers, there is a problem!

In terms of culture, it has been said in a report about UK museums and cultural institutions in 2005, that too few of them have a staff which reflects the composition of the diverse population existing in every city. There are missing the artefacts of the various communities making their own creative contributions, and even if museums have collected some of them, they lack the experts who could interpret them and tell their story. All of this can be linked to the crucial importance of such narratives being told which reflect all integration efforts to strengthen and to retain social and economic cohesion. The holding together of society is a matter of being out bounded and therefore open to many new possibilities to develop together.

In Athens, Greece work all migrant groups face difficulties of integration. Especially in a crisis like this one, immigrants must make tremendous efforts to have their Rights be respected. As this can be done only in co-operation with Greek, EU and international citizens, communication linkages needed to created in order to prevent exclusion and discrimination. These two are more often linked to misunderstandings and fear of the other(s). It is important to attain Rights for all, Greek citizens and the socalled foreigners.

It has always been the credo of the Polis in Ancient Greece that no judge should treat a foreigner different from a citizen of the Polis. This demand for equality in front of the common law should be a shared constitutional principles everywhere in the world. Only that can ensure a sound base for a common life to be shared.

When attending the EU Youth Project 'Nation and Identity' in Kreisau in January 2012, alone the place reminds what resistance against Hitler and Fascism meant, namely to be against all kinds of discriminations and to base all attitudes towards every human being on the assumption that there exists human kindness in response to human goodness.

April 2012

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