Creating Trust with Cultural Policy

Turning Europe into a fortress is not the answer to providing greater security. Instead, we have to promote cultural exchange – both at home and with Islamic countries. By Zafer Senocak

The escalating conflict in Iraq once again shows how limited the use of military force is in the fight against terrorism and in the process of nation building. Force, regardless of how technologically refined it may be, is not only a limited instrument, but also counterproductive.

There is reason to fear that the embittered patterns of conflict that have long existed between Israelis and Palestinians and which have led to a strengthening of extremist positions are today being reproduced in Iraq and soon could spread across the whole of the Middle East and beyond like wildfire.

The German government made the right decision not to participate in the war against Iraq. Yet the current situation demands a more proactive role, which doesn't only focus on immediate events. The stubborn position of the occupying powers in Iraq leaves little cause to hope that there will be any fundamental change in the confrontational course before the upcoming American election.

Locked in a vicious circle

The resultant damage, in particular the radicalization of the broad masses in the Arab world, will only lead to more terrorism, suffering, and hate. We find ourselves locked in a vicious circle, from which even diplomacy offers only a slim chance of escape. New approaches and situations to encourage dialogue have to be found wherever armed clashes have previously obstructed discourse between the parties.

Even though the German government has issued many speeches emphasizing the importance of cultural contact, it hasn't really recognized the creative potential that lies in a well thought out and coordinated foreign cultural policy. Germany is better prepared for a more active cultural policy than many other countries. It is regarded with trust, particularly by those in the Islamic world. This position brings with it responsibility as well as posing a challenge.

Europe has grown closer to Middle East

Cultural policy abroad not only makes our policies more visible, but also transmits our ideas, points of view, and vision to local peoples, as well as allowing us to be open to their ideas, thoughts, and dreams. Cultural policy abroad is successful when it fosters communication. It is not only Europe that has grown closer together in recent decades. Immigration to Europe has also bound our continent to the whole of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East closer than ever before.

When finances are tight, culture is pretty much the last area to receive any funding. It is exactly this position that we have to rethink. After September 11, a great deal of resources have been spent on security, and, which is certainly welcome, also a little in the area of culture, such as the promotion of dialogue with the Islamic world. Yet, how can this dialogue succeed in the current situation? How can we make it more effective and stimulating?

Security in exchange for cultural dialogue

Whoever wants more security has to search out and maintain dialogue. The ever-greater expenditures for security merely delude us into believing that we are safe. We no longer live in an age – if such an age ever truly existed – in which the most heavily built fortress guaranteed the best security. The only fortresses that remain are in our heads. Are we, however, mentally prepared for our times? People are extremely insecure and overtaxed. This is no less a security risk than a hole in our borders. Nothing makes people more dangerous than a feeling of insecurity.

In protecting our democracy, freedom, and security, we can't only leave the war against terrorism to armies and special units of the security forces. All citizens are called upon to serve, not as informers, but as thinking and feeling beings who can rediscover the creative potential of thinking and the exchange of ideas, as well as being open to encounters with other peoples. Neither the Renaissance nor the Enlightenment would have been possible without the stimulation provided by other cultures. I ask myself where and to what extent this is still taking place with respect to our current learning and thinking processes.

Why don't we develop the House of World Cultures in Berlin, an institution recognized and respected the world over, into a laboratory for creative exchange? It would be perfect as a site for analysis and inspiration, reflecting the worldwide network of cultural links in the heart of Berlin. Without this institution, many thinkers from the Islamic world would be even more unknown in Germany than they are today. The intense links existing between the Goethe Institutes around the globe and an institution such as the House of World Cultures and the various teams working in the Foreign Office could result in the emergence of sorely needed synergies.

Turkish community in Germany as a link to Muslim culture

The Turkish community living in Germany, in particular, provides an organic link to Muslim culture. Fortunately, Turkey is also a country currently engaged in a promising experiment of modernization. Yet, do we truly see the opportunities that this development could offer us?

Turkish-German cultural relations remain underdeveloped, Goethe Institutes in Turkey are poorly equipped, news of intellectual debates in Turkey rarely reach us, and the "Turk" is too often characterized as alien and incapable of integration in the local media. In addition, globalization and the process of European integration necessitate a rethinking of national cultural policy. One positive observation is the increased cooperation of cultural institutions between European countries. However, this is merely a beginning.

Islamism has now become a religion of the young. We condemn its language and way of thinking, yet it remains, for the most part, unanalyzed. Beyond the language lies an emotional level that also remains untouched and which produces feelings and images inaccessible to rational thought. Thus, suicide bombers are regarded as some sort of pop stars. It is not only the seduced and misled who jeopardize our security, but supposed heroes who release the vent up emotions of millions. And what is our reaction to all of this? Unfortunately, only an endless stream of talk shows. This certainly won't solve anything.

Instead of just reaching for a helmet, we need a plausible alternative strategy. Cultural encounters consist of discourse with the "other". "We are you" is the motto of a new journal focusing on art from the Middle East published in the Brooklyn district of New York. When we are able to recognize the others in the mirror, then we have come one step further.

A society that has to discuss whether or not to invest in or subsidize culture is clearly one that can't spare the breath to do something about the exhaustion facing its own civilization.

Zafer Senocak

Translated from the German by John Bergeron

This article was previously published by the German daily Die Tageszeitung.

Born in Ankara in 1961, Zafer Senocak has been living in Germany since 1970, where he has become a leading voice in the German discussions on multiculturalism, national and cultural identity, and a mediator between Turkish and German culture.

The widely published poet, essayist, journalist and editor, has won several prestigious literary awards in Germany. His works have been translated into Turkish, English, French, Dutch, and Hebrew.