Migrants, Minorities, Belongings and Citizenship. Glocalization and ...

African music club, etc.). Intercultural sites are still relatively
underdeveloped, or hidden, or based on quickly changing constellations
of informal networks. (Bozóki and Bösze 2004:135-136)
In the Hungarian report, Bozóki and Bösze report four different types of a glocal site: (1)
professional, (2) leisure, (3) cultural/social, and (4) friendship. Concerning the fourth
category, they report that
Many glocal sites are not really permanent sites but rather glocal
activities which are based on friendships and informal relationships.
Those were started as occasional events but became less regular
activities/sites. Their survival solely depends on the willingness of
people to keep them alive. […] Here, primarily, activity shapes the
chance for participation in decision-making processes. Those who come
regularly can naturally be able to participate in decision-making without
any formal ‘legitimacy’. (Bozóki and Bösze 2004:136-37)
The third model comprises countries where politics and public spaces are premised upon
one or another sort of homogeneity, from which some persons feel a need to escape – as
expressed by many respondents in Austria, Denmark, Finland, and Norway. The glocal
sites in Vienna, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Bergen proved to be more institutionalized
than those in Budapest and Tallinn. According to Fischer,
[WUK] is the largest of such sites in Vienna, it has a reputation of
cultural diversity and it is renowned for its alternative grassroots system
of decision making (Fischer et al. 2004:40).
This description of the glocal site in Vienna also illustrates the policy-relevancy of glocal
sites. The situation in the other three countries is not much different. Masoud
Mohammadi, a musician and user of the Nørre Allé Medborgerhus in Copenhagen, wrote
in a local newspaper chronicle,
Today, after ten years’ efforts by the users, workers, and administrators
in this place, the ‘House’ has developed to become one of the most
active and fascinating sites in the capital. A ‘house’ which Copenhagen
inhabitants can all be proud of, no matter which ethnic background they
may have. 3
3 Chronicle by Masoud Muhammadi in PåGaden, 10. årg. (2003), No.5 (my translation from Danish). The name
of the newspaper in English would be “on the street”.
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