A Manifesto for the Just City

A Manifesto for the Just City
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4. The nation state and its difficult
relation to solidarity in diversity
The development of the welfare state
was also fuelled by the nation state
formation, understood as culturally
homogeneous settings, with shared
norms and values because of shared
history.
However, migration and increased
diversity are questioning the nation
state, as a nation state needs
boundaries and in temporal terms
the nation state is built on continuity
(at least in the perception).
Ethnic and cultural diversity
questions both the spatial limits and
temporal continuation of the nation
state.
Migration brings in new perspectives
and intergenerational continuity is no
longer there and has become a source
of division.
5. The urban as the promising scale to
foster solidarity in diversity.
Increasingly, cities are no longer
made out of one cultural majority.
They have become a city of
minorities. Any attempt to include
majorities will exclude minorities.
This is not the direction.
When the first settlers arrived in the
US, they had to create a new shared
history. This is then used as the basis
for forms of solidarity. But today we
cannot wait for a generation when
all these newcomers create a shared
story. We need to be able to interfere
here and now.
The DieGem project thus tried to
see how solidarities were created
at the local level. The ability to
‘share’ is crucial, but theirs is not a
shared history, or a shared cultural
framework. The sharing needs to be
something with a lower threshold.
The researchers in the project
observed that people share places
and practices. Sometimes these
places people share might not be
those of their own choosing, but it is a
shared space in the end. And in these
spaces, people share activities and
practices. It is through these shared
activities that solidarity in diversity is
being created.
6. Examples:
Youth movement, youth associations:
• Commitment: young people
share their time to organise
things with others.
• So, how can you promote
solidarity in diversity? Most
youth movements are not always
very successful. Why is this so
difficult, since the threshold
seems rather low? In fact, it is
difficult because their solidarity
is based on the same sort of
solidarity as that created by the
nation state. The youngsters
commit themselves because
they went themselves to the
youth movement, because they
learned it from their parents etc.,
so based on historical continuity.
And they are supported by the
community and get help from
local entrepreneurs. Maybe
these local entrepreneurs
have also been part of the
youth movements when they
were young, so for them it is
a small step to support those
movements.
Research in Molenbeek:
• Chiro: wanted to be active
in the neighbourhood and
started to think how they could
establish their work in the
neighbourhood again. They
started training young girls
who could involve the local
community. Very interestingly,
these girls started to question
the model of the organisation
(e.g., veil as part of the uniform,
why would they have activities
on Sunday afternoons, etc.). The
most controversial issue was
something they did not expect.
They said they needed expert
professional support (e.g.,
children with war history, etc.).
• In fact, they were pretty
successful in recreating the
youth movement in Molenbeek,
but it took a lot of negotiation.
They did not take history as
assumed, but rethought how the
association should ideally look
like, while taking into account
the current reality.
Example from Leuven:
• A school with high performers,
as it was linked to university
employees.
• In 5 to 7 years, the population of
the school became more diverse.
Initially, the school team didn’t
respond well and the bond
between teachers and pupils
eroded.
• This only changed when a new
school director arrived. He had
no previous history with the
school and focused on building
a community with the people
that were in the school. He also
tried to reconnect the school
with the neighbourhood through
very simple actions: he was
there every morning, talked to
parents, etc. And he connected
to local organisations (e.g.,
voluntary organisations who
organise study groups, etc. ).
KEY TAKE AWAY:
Solidarity is a concept that is related
to the specific spatial and historical
context. In today’s diverse society,
solidarity can be found at the local
level, in shared spaces and practices.
This is a new layer that is added to the
institutionalised forms of solidarity.
Solidarity in diversity can be fostered
by providing the opportunity to
develop shared spaces.
THE 2019–2020 CHILEAN
PROTESTS, KNOWN IN
CHILE AS THE ‘ESTALLIDO
SOCIAL’, WERE A SERIES
OF MASSIVE DEMON-
STRATIONS AGAINST
GOVERNMENT NEO-LIB-
ERAL POLICY AND OTHER
SOCIAL AILMENTS.
Demonstration in Santiago de Chile. Photo by Susana Hidalgo on Instagram (@su_hidalgo). Reproduced with permission. Photo available at HTTPS://drive.google.com/file/d/1gzhBglCl74f55XuKurj6xS4rptyMzuHg/view?usp=sharing