europe's (torn?) identity - Projects - AEGEE Europe

Europe has to fear the American myth of melting pot. I understand, too, that
regional identities and local traditions will continue to have a valid place in an
individual experience, no matter how reduced. However, I cannot seem to get rid
of the nagging impression that cultural diversity in Europe is acquiring the flavor
of folklore, traditions that are endorsed by transnational corporations as
long as they remain quaintly frozen in time and above all powerless.
Corporations are happy to support mass tourism and the increasingly popular
heritage industry. At best, this is a short-term economic strategy for survival of
small European nations (and especially post-communist ones), a strategy that
is by definition politically defensive.
In such a context, it becomes necessary to entertain the possibility of re-shaping
inter-cultural competence instead of simply and passively tolerating the
existing condition. Unlike tolerance (a term frequently used in the vocabulary of
modern European ideas), inter-cultural competence encompasses the desire to
learn about the other and a true effort toward familiarization. This means that
when dealing with relatively unknown cultures, an individual is not a slave to
his/her own tradition but instead his collective habits of self-reflection and selfevaluation
assume an added layer of meaning as they are, in the light of intercultural
exchange, subject to critical scrutiny. This, in turn, deepens individual's
sense of himself and expands his horizon. What is crucial is that the concentric
circles of multiple identities that form the basis of European identity stem from
mutual respect, and not from a hierarchical order of cultural values.
We have a long way to go. The moment when annual budgets become the main
topic and the size of a particular European nation becomes the main standard
for a participation in a common life is the moment when cultural diversity is
lost. And let it not be overlooked: cultural diversity is Europe's greatest asset.
If we allow the contribution of each nation to our common narrative be based
solely on its “net weight”, then we will soon find ourselves in a situation where
our lives will be divided into two different streams. Our official, public, economic
and political life will be carried out in two or three large European languages,
whereas the private and emotional life (of both individuals and ethnic collectives)
will be carried out in smaller local languages. From then on it will not take
long for cultural values to be perceived only in terms of their museum and folkloric
value. Tourism would be transformed into an unprejudiced gesture of
voyeurism that by definition is of an egoistic and isolating nature and has nothing
to do with urgently needed inter-cultural competence and understanding.
Unfortunately, it seems that there is a good chance that the small, exotic, rural
languages will affirm Marx's presumptuous prediction about a class of unhistorical
nations that will grow obsolete in the name of more effective unification.
Such unification would enforce only exclusive standards of economy, rather
than any real notion of collective European identity. The sustenance of
European cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity is the most credible basis for
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