European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008

If we were to add up all the people living in the 27 member states, we would get some 500 million people. So the European corridors reflect an echo of remarkable variety of languages and sounds, the European space is filled with hundreds of nationalities and traditions, and globalization continuously adds to the process. In the European Union people live very close to one another, about 7% of the world’s overall population regards this place as their home, while the area only covers about 3% of the Earth’s total.

When and where do all these thoughts from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds mix and interact? Where and how does intercultural dialogue come into being?

Most likely it is happening within each of us, where there is interest, tolerance and respect for someone else’s religion and way of life, food, movies, language or music. No matter whether it is provoked by a desire to understand something pleasant or something that, at least on the superficial glance, seems so different.

The European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID) 2008 recognizes that Europe’s great cultural diversity represents a unique advantage that we should further explore.

The slogan “Together in Diversity” reminds us that different cultures cannot be separated from each other, but rather be granted the space to breathe and live together. Cultural spaces that live side by side and do not interact with one another but rather stay within their own closed borders are like airtight boilers, where tensions simmer. The least we can do is to drill breathing holes into them. As goes the European motto - In varietate concordia.

Make the most of this year of intercultural dialogue! The international webpage of the year can be found here.

Sincerely,
The Open Estonia Foundation