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6.1.1. What is the source of the international community’s shift towards cultural diversity?

Through its principles, the neo-liberal economy which characterised the eighties led to the deregulation and privatisation of the telecommunications sector. From then on there was a trend towards concentration of information and its large-scale transfer.

In world trade negotiations (GATT and WTO) “intellectual property”, cultural goods and services, were treated as simple merchandise.

More particularly, the “culture” industries and their information and communication networks promote a new “universalism” which tends to lump culture into one big mass and imperils its diversity.

“In the same order of ideas, (the case of Austria), I am of the opinion that one of the essential elements of the European Union is that it is incapable of conducting an offensive war…The reason is that it comprises so many peoples and cultures, that it would conduct war against itself”. Archduke Otto von Habsbourg in  « Le nouveau défi européen »  Fayard 2007.

 

See also MATTELART A, Diversité culturelle et mondialisation in “La Découverte” – Paris, 2005

The conflicts which break out in the world often have ethnic or religious origins.

See also HINTINGDON Samuel, . 1996.

The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) deliberated over these matters at its 33rd General Conference (on October 20th 2005). The convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expression was adopted by 148 votes. This convention was to come into force three months after the deposition of the 30th instrument of ratification. By spring of 2006, only Canada and Mauritius had ratified it.

See also GAGNE G. La diversité culturelle, vers une convention internationale effective? Fides, Montreal, 2005

 

6.1.2. Why is this convention important?

This convention is important because it lays the first stone of a body of international law on culture, in a context characterised economically by a trend towards concentration around powerful culture industries, and technically by the development of the internet, which could favour either cultural pluralism or the supremacy of a single cultural model.

 

6.1.3. Why is it innovative?

This convention is a founding document because it was the first time the international community legislated in the domain of the circulation and exchange of cultural activities, goods and services, which up to then had been solely governed by trade law drawn up until 1994 by General Agreement on Trade & Tariffs (GATT) and then by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

It introduces the concept of the dual (economic and cultural) nature of cultural activities, goods and services, which could never be reduced just to their market value, and whose treatment cannot, therefore, be governed merely by trade regulations.

See also MUSITELLI Jean, summary of his contribution to: la diversite des expressions culturelles: le role de l’education,Paris, Palais du Luxembourg, February 2007 seminar organised by

It recognises the right of countries to implement public policies in support of cultural expression in order to guarantee a real diversity which market mechanisms are not enough to guarantee, a right with the concomitant obligation to open up to other cultures.

It institutes a framework of solidarity between North and South intended to help deprived countries to equip themselves with the tools of cultural development.

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6.2.1. What is meant by “culture”?

It is recognised that culture is a resource that is continually being worked on and reinvented; groups vest themselves with it and it moulds them. The word dates back to the 16th Century; the modern definition of it is a creation of the 19th Century. It’s birth and development are linked with the science of anthropology.

The idea of a culture particular to a group is German in origin: “Volkgeist” (spirit of the people). So the German word “Kultur” introduces a new concept: works created by the mind; the language, religion, philosophy and morality which are particular to a people and distinguish it from others.

Nowadays, according to the context in which it is used, the notion can have many meanings: forms of intellectual development; creative skills; types of leisure; ways of thinking and doing proper to a social group; artistic and literary traditions; an affective attachment to a place; country or time; a set of ideas and values; different customs; the language and forms of social life.

More fundamentally, it signifies man’s aptitude to adapt to the constraints of nature.

Anthropologists use the following three characteristics to define culture:

• it is not innate but acquired;

• the different aspects of culture are a system, i.e. all the elements are interdependent;

• it is shared and thereby marks out the limits of groups.

See also IMBERECHTS M, in : Integration europeenne, un processus a geometrie variable. Minutes of the Symposium. Brussels, European Parliament, March 2004.

6.2.2. Is the diversity of cultures a recognised fact?

Human societies differ one from another in space and time through beliefs, specific abilities, rites, religions, languages and ways of feeling, understanding and reacting.

And more than that, it is a general rule that: all individuals differ one from another by reason of many criteria: what they have inherited from the past, the conditions in which they live, maternal and paternal culture, social status…

In the schools, the presence of children from immigrant families makes this diversity more evident.

Therefore, cultural diversity is the result of different expressions, just as biodiversity is the record of biological diversity in nature. It has been raised as a concept, championed as a principle and taken into the domain of law.

What is at stake in cultural diversity gives it its basis:

• First, ontologically: like biodiversity, cultural diversity is a fundamental and essential dimension of human beings and a right that guarantees their dignity;

• cultural goods and services are more than mere merchandise because they are also and especially the expression of singular values and individual identities.

6.2.3. Is the diversity of cultures accepted automatically?

Cultural diversity is the postulate of any humanistic attitude; it presupposes the mental capacity to stand aloof from oneself and one’s system of references and values, to open up and engage in a dialogue.

However, this diversity often appears incongruous to people, on all sides.

Michel de MONTAIGNE * said: “

“When you think, put yourself in the place of any other person” Emmanuel KANT* The philosopher made this maxim the basis of a whole philosophy, a way of “living together”, a widened mentality and way of thinking.

6.2.4. How is ethnocentrism opposed to cultural diversity?

Ethnocentrism is an automatic and universal tendency of people to see their own culture as a model and view any deviation from this model as a sign of inferiority. An ethnocentric attitude is a major stumbling-block to the study and understanding of other societies.

This is how Claude LEVI-STRAUSS* defined ethnocentrism:

“The oldest attitude, and no doubt one with a solid psychological basis, since it tends to resurge in each of us when we are put in an unexpected situation, consists of rejecting outright the cultural, moral, religious, social and aesthetic forms furthest from those with which identify ( ….. ) Paris 1952.

Levi-Strauss also showed that, whereas the history of Europe is characterised by a development of economic and technical power, the Europeans tend to consider societies that have been able to advance in these spheres as societies without a history, i.e. “primitive”.

Cultures are certainly very different, but to put the difference down to inequality is merely a form of ethnocentrism.

6.2.5. How important are the media in the context of cultural diversity

In our modern society the media occupy a central place as a means of communication, so, as far as cultural pluralism is concerned, they have a crucial role to play.

 

“The role of the press is to give an account of reality in its complexity, which means putting across the plurality of points of view, making plurality an active and living principle”, part of a statement made by Edouard DELRUELLE in the context of the debate on citizenship organised by the Senate of the Federal Belgian Parliament on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the founding of Belgium. Media and citizenship10th May 2005.

We are today in the presence of a superabundance of information (a multiplicity channels dealing with various subjects, a diversification of techniques and means of information such as the internet….), which for some people is accompanied by the simplification of information and a disappearance of pluralism in the media while, for others, it means increased access to different cultures.

Are the media now a threat to diversity inasmuch as they are moulding a uniform world? Market forces have caused an ever-increasing concentration of press groups, particularly in the countries of Central Europe.

“The threats which could hover over pluralism of information are especially linked to the economic policy of media groups, to the orders given to editorial departments by managers and to the conditions of work in the editorial departments”, Jean-Jacques JESPERS* on the occasion of a debate on citizenship and the media.

These economic pressures (audience and sales figures) weigh upon pluralism and the quality of information: for example, on-the-spot journalism tends to be replaced, increasingly often, by copy from despatches, which inevitably leads to a “sameness” of information.

There is a tendency to treat the reader as a “consumer” rather than an intelligent person; to see this you’ve only got to look at the “sensational news” and the simplified and reductive view of the world constructed by the media. Competition largely explains how the content has become depoliticised and the absence of any spirit of criticism: they tell stories instead of analysing the diversity and complexity of the world. Nevertheless, the fact that people are more educated is also leading to a greater abundance of cultural programmes and documentaries and their enrichment, which encourages awareness of cultural diversity. For this last trend to prevail, teachers will have to give it support through the syllabi.

Debate, opposition, exchange, a critical attitude, openness, the postulates of cultural diversity, are now imperilled by the way the media is becoming so uniform. Plurality means that differences in points of view are respected, that they can at the very least be exchanged and communicated. And it’s a lot more than just that, plurality means being willing to “transform yourself”, to “put yourself in the other person’s place”, which is going a long way beyond tolerance.

6.2.6. What sort of teaching should be developed in order to integrate cultural diversity into education?

Education has a direct influence on how people act, their attitudes, their mores and their vision of the world.

In order to promote cultural diversity in education three paths, at the very least, could be proposed:

- Free expression

An approach to teaching encouraging freedom of expression in young children, which enables them, on the basis of their own individual experiences, to develop their capacity to understand and assimilate their own culture, identity and system of values and share these with their fellow pupils. One particularly important way this can be done is through the integration of immigrant children into conventional schools. It is essential to become aware in this way in order to open up to the cultural complexity of others.

In multicultural classes, this way of acquiring the mechanisms of communication (reading and writing) allows children from very different backgrounds to have more lucid and enriching relationships among themselves. This subject-centred differentiated teaching encourages not only the acquisition of knowledge but also the child’s personal development, creativity and openness

- A broadened interpretation of content

A lateral view reached through comparative analysis shows that one shared event, at a given time, can have very different connotations from one region to another depending on the specific characteristics of the time, the variety of geographical conditions, the impact of pre-eminent personalities, motivations linked to a particular context. This approach, which is really meant for teenagers and adults, enables them to grasp at once not only the simultaneity of large-scale movements, the concordances and similarities, but also the disparities and contrasts: that’s to say the cultural diversity.

- Training of teachers for interactive teaching

That’s to say training based on an open and differentiated teaching relationship, founded on dialogue on the basis of a thematic structure enshrined in the chronology and a broadened interpretation of content.

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6.3.1. How is Europe’s location on the Eurasian landmass and its geography the source of its cultural diversity?

Traditional geopolitical theory has the Eurasian landmass as the planet’s focal point. This huge chequers-board is home to 75% of the world’s population and 2/3 of the world’s present output is produced there.

The geographical position of Europe between the Northern latitudes and the Mediterranean’s sub-tropical climate, on the one hand, and between the Atlantic with its Gulf-Stream and the Urals and the Caucasus, on the other, allows it to enjoy a climate favourable to human development.

An exceptionally indented coastline and the resultant penetration of the sea into the interior of the continent have encouraged sailing as a means of transport. This has not only favoured exchanges among European people but has made them want to travel about the world, which has helped to spread their civilisation throughout the planet. The Europeans systematically criss-crossed the planet. They can be considered responsible for the globalisation of the world’s economy.

Geography and relief make Europe a huge plain extending for some 2,000 km from the shores of the Atlantic to the Urals and surrounded by mountain chains: the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Carpathians, the Balkans and, finally, the Caucasus, which stretches along 1,000 km of the shoreline of the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea have been barriers to exchanges between cultures. But on the other hand, the very well developed network of rivers (Rhone, Rhine, Danube, Volga, etc.) has also favoured movement and trade among the different regions of Europe.

Europe is also characterised by high population density and by the variety of its cultures, which have developed in areas made different at once by geography and by historical context. This density has left few natural regions untouched, save for a few inaccessible regions (the Tundra in the North of Scandinavia and Russia and the summits of the Alps).

It is the diversity of this setting which has naturally given rise to a diversity of cultures just as extraordinary.

It should be noted that the geographical cut of Europe does not match that of the countries occupying it. In this way, Turkey and Russia, for instance, sit astride the European and Asian continents. Whilst in Roman times the Mediterranean was looked upon as an inland sea (mare nostrum), nowadays it is a barrier politically more difficult to cross. Observation of this has led several writers to see Europe more as a collection of thoughts than a well defined geographical entity.

See also: (Jacques Le Goff in “l’Europe racontee aux jeunes” – “Europe told to the young”, Bernard Coulie*, Rector of the University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) in his article “Culture europeenne: un itinéraire” – “European culture – an itinerary” (see “articles and conferences”).

6.3.2. In broad terms, what migration has been involved in populating Europe?

 

To trace the first stages of the establishment of a population in Europe you’ve got to go back to Prehistoric times. There were three waves of migration worthy of particular note and these were largely linked to changes in the climate.

Quitting his African home, Homo erectus penetrated into Asia and then into Europe (1,800,000 to 200,000 BC). Traces of the “archaic” Homo erectus are to be found, the earliest in Southern Europe (Georgia, France, Spain), then further North following a mellowing of the climate (Germany, Belgium, Great Britain) and finally in Greece and Hungary.

Between 100,000 and 40,000 years before our time, there was a second wave of people moving from the Near East to Western Europe, particularly towards Scandinavia, where the last hunter-gatherers are to be found.

The third wave (40,000 to 3,000 BC) was the Neolithic wave: agriculture, stock-raising and pottery spread in Europe. Starting in the Mediterranean basin, people began to settle with the development of agriculture and stock raising, which went along with hunting, fishing and gathering and complemented these activities, and gradually the process of settlement spread throughout the whole continent.

At the end of the 2^nd millennium BC, the many cultures that had developed were creating a patchwork of diverse regional groups in Europe.

In protohistoric times the widespread use of metal lead to trade linked to the indispensable contribution of tin and copper. This development is inseparable from the Indo-European expansion. Archaeological sources indicate that throughout the whole of Europe at that time common traits were developing along with great variety in the decoration of arms and pottery, in funereal trappings (for incineration and burial rites), in forms of habitat, etc.

It is striking to note the wide dissemination of artefacts traded from North to South and from East to West in Europe.

It was in protohistoric times that writing appeared in the South of Mesopotamia and among the Hittites and the Greeks.

The Phoenician colonisation in the Western and Southern Mediterranean, and then the Greek civilisation explain the cultural transformation of the Mediterranean basin, which differed from the continent as a whole, mainly through the development of cities there. However, embryonic cities of the same era have also been identified in the North East of Europe, which confirms that there was communication between these regions and Central and Southern Europe.

The Greek colonisation was to give the Mediterranean basin a cultural character comparable to the Celtic regions, yet very different from it because of the written remains.

Later, important cultural phenomena such as the idea of city states, the political concept of centralised organisation, writing with the aid of various mediums, the art of discourse and democratic debate were to be disseminated widely in the Mediterranean basin, then they would be spread further afield through the expansion of the Roman Empire.

At the end of the 1^st millemium BC, while the Romans were extending their empire all over Europe, the German tribes settled to the North West of the Limes. At the same time, the Finno-Hungarian peoples and the Balts, who had long been neighbours in Central Russia were also pushed westwards and settled around the Baltic.

The Roman expansion was to create a vast area of common civilisation in Europe where different cultural characteristics would, nevertheless, persist, as is recorded by the writings of Julius Caesar* and Tacitus*, who, struck by the Germanic cultures, devoted the celebrated work De Germania to them.

At the end of the Roman empire, in the 4^th and 5^th centuries AD, in the rush of Germanic movements under the pressure of the Huns (Turco-Mongols from Asia), the Slav tribes settled in Central Europe, from the Baltic to South of the Danube, and they were soon followed by the Avars and the Bulgars. The sudden shifts of population which marked the 4^th and 5^th centuries introduced new linguistic groups into Europe, as well as new ways of political, economic and social management. The now semi-sedentary Germanic tribes overthrew the structures of the Roman Empire and replaced its administrative centralisation by kingdoms with different languages, family structures, jurisdictions and religious habits which still mark Europe today.

At this time and long after, another Turco-Mongol tribe, the Khazars occupied the area between the Black Sea and the Caspian Seas. They were encouraged to settle there by Byzantium, which wanted to prevent the Arabs from crossing the Caucasus .

At the end of the 1^st millennium AD, whilst Europe may have been temporarily sheltered from invasions from Asia, it would still be a theatre of population movements. In fact, as from the 11^th century the Europeans set off on a crusade to the North East, in the direction of the Baltic countries, the Northern slavs. Numerous crusades took them towards the South West and the Near East, occupied by the Arabs and threatened by the advance of the Turks. They undertook large journeys of exploration towards the Far East, like those of Marco Polo and Plan Carpin.

Between the 13^th and 15^th centuries Europe suffered the last big Asiatic invasions: the Mongols would occupy the whole of North Eastern Europe, whilst in the South East of the continent, the Turks invaded the Balkans even before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This dual occupation was to cut Russia off from Europe for 200 years (until the time of Peter the Great), creating at once not only deep cultural ruptures but also a Renaissance and a dynamism which would reach its full strength and extent at the end of the 15^th century and in the 16^th..

These population movements, a very general outline of which is given here, have determined the linguistic map of Europe and explain the diversity of customs, of economic and social developments and religions in Europe.

At the end of the 15^th century the migratory movements were linked to the great discoveries and colonisation. After a systematic study of this 15^th century colonisation, we can state that it was undertaken by all European countries but there was an enormous diversity in the motivations, the means, the leaders and the results involved.

The wars of religion and the persecutions which largely marked the Middle Ages took on a dramatic amplitude when all the monarchs of the first half of the 16^th century used religion to strengthen the nation-state (Henry VIII, Gustave Vasa, Charles V, Francois I , Suleiman the Magnificent,..)

In the modern age, the great ideological and political revolutions that marked the end of the 18^th century did not affect all the countries of Europe in the same way, particularly the countries remaining under the Turkish yoke (the South East of Europe) and all those still under regimes with a monarchy based on divine right, like Russia and Prussia. The economic transformations linked to the industrial revolution had a disparate impact from one region to another, particularly since the industrial revolution didn’t happen in all the regions of Europe.

Whilst the demographic explosions may have affected the whole continent and particularly Russia, they did not have the same effects in all regions of Europe. For instance, Russia was to “empty out” its immense reservoir of population into the colonised areas (Siberia, etc.), whilst, from Western Europe, over-populated to saturation point, there was massive emigration: between 1850 and 1900 seventy million left the old continent, fifty million of them never to return.

Nowadays, Europe is the focal point of vast waves of immigration linked to conflicts and difficult economic situations in the countries where the immigrants come from. Most of the migrants are from Africa, but they are also coming from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. This particular migratory phenomenon is bringing about a profound change in the linguistic and religious map of Europe. It has led sociologists to speak of “social classes” being replaced by “ethnic classes”..

6.3.3. What are the major linguistic families in Europe?

Cultural diversity is expressed in various ways. Language is one of them.

Europe can lay claim to a surprising linguistic diversity by reason of the number of languages long spoken and the recent assimilation of Asiatic and African languages.

Beside Basque, the origin of which is not really known, three main groups of languages are recognised.

The Indo-European languages are the Continent’s most important group. Study of these languages and comparison between them have thrown light on this civilisation and its origins. Linguistics also provides us with proof of the existence of one single source language.

The Indo-Europeans first showed up in history around the 3^rd millennium BC: they came from the South of the present Russian Federation, an area extending from the North of Armenia and the Caspian sea to the steppes of Central Asia.

The primitive Indo-European linguistic community probably lasted up to the beginning of the metals age. It was at the beginning of the 2^nd millennium (BC) that distinct languages began to appear and gradually evolve: Sanskrit in India, old Persian in Iran, Greek in Greece, Latin and Italy, Celtic in Central Europe, the Germanic languages in Eastern Europe and the Slav and Baltic languages in Central Russia.

The Semitic family is comprised of two groups (Assyro-Babylonian, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic…. ) and a Southern group made up, on the one hand, of pure Arabic ( as well as its dialects and the hybrid tongues to which it gave rise, like Maltese) and, on the other, of Himyarite (Sabean) and tongues derived from or similar to it.

As far as Hebrew is concerned, it is worth recording that since Ancient times it has always been spoken in Europe at different intensities, depending on whether the Jews of the Diaspora had been assimilated to a greater degree into the country where they had settled or wished, on the contrary, to affirm their identity by speaking their traditional language. In some cases, Hebrew became mixed with a local language to form a new one like the Yiddish of Central Europe or the Sephardic spoken mainly in Spain and Greece.

The Turco-Mingol languages have been in Europe from the antiquity; in the early Middle ages they were used by, among others, the Avars and then in the 7^th Century by the Bulgars. Like the Huns, they have left no significant trace in the European linguistic substrate (except in place-names).

The Caucasian Languages A sort of “bridge” between the European and Asiatic worlds, the Caucasus (440,000 km²) is an extraordinary meeting point. Its mountains and valleys have served as a refuge for many ethnic groups who have kept their cultures, religions and languages in such a way that this place represents the biggest concentration of ethno-linguistic diversity on the planet.

Over the last decades, Europe has been enriched by a big change in the distribution of languages, particularly Arabic which has become the working language for millions of Europeans of Western and Southern Europe, Scandinavia and Spain. A very large Chinese and East-Asian community has also settled in Europe. In these communities, the languages of where the people came from are still very much alive.

6.3.4. What’s the difference between plurilingualism and multilingualism?

Plurilingualism is “the use of several languages by the one same individual”. This is different from multilingualism, which means” the co-existence of several languages within a social group”.

It is worth pointing out that there are more bilingual than monolingual children in the world; so multilingalism is the norm. Monolingual children are usually from countries where their maternal tongue is an international language.

“A plurilingual society is made up mostly of individuals capable of expressing themselves in more than one language with various degrees of competence, that’s to say of multilingual or plurilingual individuals, whilst a multilingual society may be made up of monolingual people who don’t know each other’s language” . “European Monitor of Plurilingualism, European Charter of Plurilingualism, Paris, 2007.

6.3.5. Why is plurilingualism an essential vector of democratic citizenship?

Linguistic diversity is a basic ingredient of the European identity and language still gives privileged access to any culture.

A vector of tolerance and acceptance of differences and minorities, plurilingualism is a particularly effective aid to communication in public debate.

The fact is that translation can never be exhaustive or perfect. It still limits comprehension between two people talking to each other. Understanding will always be better when each person knows the other’s language. This is true, as regards both the information conveyed and the emotions involved, and real mutual comprehension can be based only on the pooling of cultural languages.

Since our knowledge of one another takes root in mutual comprehension, plurilingalism is intrinsic to active citizenship. Political Europe and a Europe for citizens cannot exist without the essential vector that is plurilingualism; it is an excellent means of affirming the lasting nature of the national entities in Europe.

Besides, since language is a source of knowledge of others and, hence, of recognition of them as citizens, plurilingualism creates a feeling of European citizenship

Indeed, “Active European citizenship as an addition to national citizenship, cannot be imagined without an increase in and a deepening of the exchanges between people and individuals, and the main vector of this is language” . European charter of plurilingualism, op.cit. Plurilingualism, culture and citizenship. P.6

For the people to be associated with the drawing up of European policies, they need to participate in the public debate. However, without plurilingual abilities, the capacity for effective interaction and communication does not exist.

6.3.6. Why must linguistic diversity be established as a priority?

At the time of globalisation, linguistic and cultural diversity must be established as a priority.

Languages express concepts that are not always equivalent to one another and sometimes they are untranslatable. Since it is enshrined within intellectual and cultural frameworks of reference, and hence it gives rise to meanings and expressions, the establishment of one single language of international communication is not a guarantee of mutual comprehension and, therefore, of knowledge of the other person.

Being rich in its geographical, cultural and linguistic diversity, Europe must do everything in its power to encourage this linguistic diversity and ensure that it is valued.

6.3.7. What problems does linguistic diversity present in Europe and why is it nevertheless one of its major trump cards ?

The 27-Member Europe encompasses a host of different languages spoken by the different nations and regions which go to make up the European kaleidoscope, not to mention the languages of immigrant populations, which are all just as important. Europe’s identity is made up by its cultures and languages, both ancient and modern. It cannot exist without respect for this diversity.

The problem of linguistic diversity in Europe arises in the running of its institutions (working and procedural languages), and also in the contacts that Europeans have among themselves.

Throughout history, linguistic unity has been considered one of the fundaments of national unity. So, it is a matter of developing a greater degree of consciousness of the specifically European dimension of multilingualism and the wealth that it represents for Europe.

Today, in Europe, just as in the world, it is noticeable how English is imposing itself as the language of communication and jeopardising the originality and the richness of European multilingualism. Tomorrow it could be Chinese. It is recognised that it is a basic right to have one’s mother tongue and the principle of plurilingualism must be enshrined in the documents for accession to the European Union.

“Knowledge of one or more foreign languages is naturally an important widening of our field of vision, so it is a necessary additional freedom in the current European context” European charter of plurilingualism, op.cit.

6.3.8. What is Esperanto?

 

Esperanto is a constructed language which is simple and easy to understand. It was invented by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof*. He was worried by the lack of communication between inhabitants of his town of various origins – Jew, Poles, etc. so he worked out a language that was easy to understand, with roots and prefixes and suffixes enabling the whole vocabulary to be worked out. There are no exceptions and it can be learnt in about 1/10 of the time needed to learn the other big international languages. In his first publication, Zamenhof used the pseudonym “Doktoro Esperanto” (“Doctor Hoping”), which is where the name came from. The language has the advantage of being neutral, in the sense that none of the people speaking it is imposing his/her language on the listener(s), like the ecu in the monetary field. It was designed be additional to the mother tongue.

The known first call for a single European currency came from a group of Esperanto-users who were well aware of the advantages that could accrue from the establishment of such a currency (see illustration 1.2.1.b.).

There are numerous internet sites teaching Esperanto. Through them you can also find Esperanto users, whose world numbers are constantly increasing.

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6.4.1. What are the domains of responsibility of the EU as far as cultural matters are concerned?

In 1992 the Maastricht Treaty officially recognised the cultural dimension of European integration for the first time.  Article 151 of the Treaty setting up the European Community (which is still the legal basis of cultural policy) seeks to promote cultural diversity and have the value of Europe’s common cultural heritage fully appreciated, whilst  respecting the principle of susidiarity.  This has enabled the EU to take action to safeguard, spread and develop culture in Europe.  

However, it is the Council that decides  by a unanimous vote on questions of political culture, the precise intention of this arrangement being to preserve cultural differences and diversity.  In this way, the role of the EU is restricted to encouraging cooperation among the cultural protagonists of the different member states or complementing their initiatives.  It’s more a matter of trans-national cultural cooperation giving an added European value than a real common policy.

In order to give substance to its cultural policy, the EU is implementing measures of support for cultural initiatives such as the “Culture”, “MEDIA”, “Citizens for Europe, programmes and the “European Capital of Culture” projects.  

There is also a cultural dimension to many of the Union’s other political domains, such as education (particularly language-learning), scientific  research, support for new technologies and the society of information and social and regional development.  Between them, the European Social Fund (EFS) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) have devoted up to 500 million euros annually to projects with a cultural content.   

About activities in the cultural domain;
europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/s20014.htm

About the programme Citizens for Europe:
ec.europa.eu/citizenship

6.4.2. What does the “Culture 2007” programme consist of?

The programme “Culture 2007” is one of the programmes of cultural assistance of the EU which is administered by the Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) of the European Commission and directly promotes cultural projects in member states.  It is successor to the “Culture 2000” programme and the old “Raphael”, “Ariane” and “Kaleidoscope” programmes and covers the period 2007-2013.

“Culture 2007” has an available budget of 400 million euros for all cultural activities which are not audiovisual and it is articulated around four objectives:

• to help professionals of the cultural sector to perform in other countries;
• to help works of art and cultural and artistic products to circulate and become known beyond national frontiers and to be preserved;
• To encourage the gathering  and spread of information in the cultural domain;
• To promote intercultural dialogue.

The ultimate aim of the programme is to promote a common cultural area among Europeans, so as to create favourable conditions for the emergence of a (sense of) European citizenship.

About the DG EAC
europa.eu/dgs/education_culture

About the Culture 2000 programme:
europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l29006.htm

About the Culture 2007 programme:
europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l29016.htm

6.4.3. What will be the “European Capitals of Culture in 2008”?

In 2008, the cities of Liverpool (in the UK) and Stavanger (in Norway) will be the “European capitals of culture”.

The “European Capital of Culture” programme covers the period 2007-2019, but the scheme was set up by the EU’s Council in 1985.  At the outset the cities were chosen at an intergovernmental level, but since 2005 the Council takes the decisions, following a proposal by the Commission.  Each year one or two cities are chosen as “European Capitals of Culture”, which entitles them to financial aid.  These funds finance exhibitions and shows highlighting  the cultural patrimony of the city and the region around it, as well as a whole series of events, concerts and other spectacles which gather together participants and artists from all over Europe.  The experience has shown that the programme has had long-term effects on the development of culture and tourism in the chosen cities.

Here is a list, by way of example:

2005 :  Cork (Ireland);
2006:   Patras (Greece);
2007:   Luxembourg and Sibiu (Rumania);
2008:   Liverpool (UK) and Stavanger (Norway);
2009;   Vilnius  (Lithuania) and Linz (Austria);
2010;   Essen  (Germany) and Pecs (Hungary).

About the European capitals of Culture:
ec.europa.eu/culture/eac/other_actions/cap_europ/cap.eu_en.html

6.4.4. What are the objectives of the “MEDIA programme”?

The MEDIA programmes have existed since 1990 and their aim is to strengthen the dynamism of competitiveness of the audiovisual sector.  The “MEDIA 2007” programme, which succeeds the “MEDIA Plus” and “MEDIA  Formation” programmes, covers the period 2007 to 2013 and is endowed with a total budget of 755 million euros.  Its aims are as follows:

• to offer training to professionals;
• to set up production projects and companies;
• to distribute cinema and audiovisual films;
• to promote European industry at home and throughout the world;
• to provide the small and medium-size companies of the audiovisual sector with access to finance.

About the MEDIA programme:
ec.europa.eu/information_society/media/index_en.html

6.4.5. What is the official position of the European Union as far as cultural diversity is concerned?

Cultural diversity and multilingualism, based on the linguistic diversity of the European Union, are enshrined in the treaties.  Multilingualism is a basic principle of the (internal and external) linguistic policy of the Union’s institutions.

The Union legislates as to the number and use of official and working languages in its internal and external communications, but it does not legislate about the linguistic policy of the Member States.  Careful reading of the provisions of the treaties (and of the future (?) “Constitution”) and the “acquis communautaire” tells us, inter alia, that:

• The Union “respects the wealth of its cultural and linguistic diversity” (article I-3 : cp . Nice Treaty ):
• “The Union contributes to the spread of the cultures of member states with respect for their national and regional diversity, without losing sight of their common cultural heritage  (article III-280. Nice Treaty);
• As far as common commercial policy is concerned, “The Council also decides, subject to unanimity, about the negotiation and conclusion of agreements in the realm of trade in cultural and audiovisual services, when these agreements risk harming the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Union” (article III-315. Nice Treaty)

It is worth noting that the BARROSO Commission, which came into operation on the 22nd of November 2004, included for the first time a Commissioner Jan Figel,  responsible, inter alia, for multilingualism.  In September 2006 he set up a high level working group on multilingualism, with eleven members from the academic and cultural worlds of the Member States.  On the 1st of January 2007 Commissioner Figel’s responsibilities for multilingualism were entrusted to a new Rumanian Commissioner, Leonard Orban.

The principles of multilingualism are clearly enounced and the instruments for promoting it exist.  Where the problems of effective implementation of multilingualism arise is with everyday communication, whether official or unofficial, both within the institutions and externally with the public at large.

See also:  linguistic diversity and the institutions of the EU:  seven observations and seven measures.  Roger Vancampenhout. Internal working document.  To contact the author:  europa-jetz.org/emfr/spip.php

6.4.6. What is the importance of the diversity of attitudes in Europe?

Cultural diversity leads to significant differences in people’s approaches to various aspects of everyday life.  For instance, the English have a legal system based on “common law”, in which past cases establish precedents and  determine  jurisprudence, or  “case law”. In Latin countries, the laws dictate the conduct of affairs to such an extent that in a country like Italy, for example, almost each public decision is frozen into a written law.

There is also a fundamental difference in approach to the performance of public services.  Whilst the Anglo-Saxons tend to be concerned about the operative performance of their services and ex-post evaluation is a common practice with them, the “Latin” countries concentrate more on the worth of public operations from an accountant’s point of view and look with a less kindly eye upon what the French call “les contre pouvoirs”.   

Another difference can be seen in attitudes to the public authorities.  In the North the public services, for instance, see themselves as providing a “service” to the public, with the stress on the duties arising from being a public servant.  In the countries of the South, however, being a civil servant is seen as a privilege.  In the countries with a pronounced Protestant heritage, the public participate more actively in the life of society, whilst in the so-called “Latin” counties the people feel more dominated by a hierarchy against which they react, often contentiously. .

This cultural diversity makes for Europe’s richness.  Alexis de Tocqueville* felt that it would make any federal European union impossible.  It was at the source of the wars that ravaged Europe throughout its history and it will be the cause of its decadence if the differences are allowed to prevail over the efforts at convergence.  On the other hand, if it is recognised that, whereas each of these differences has its drawbacks, it also has its advantages, this diversity will be the source of a renewal of European civilisation.

“Civilisation is a disease which is invariably fatal”  “Civilisation” by Kenneth Clark.