By: Palina Mahilina
Hints on essential vocabulary for Intercultural Cities.
Clashes of culture have been in the news for quite some time, and the number of international organizations taking cultural issues as their main concern keeps on multiplying. If you are thinking only about UNESCO you are mistaken: you could also have heard about the Alliance of Civilizations of the United Nations (UNAoC) or the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO), the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research(UNICRI), the Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (ISESCO) or the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
We listened to international perspectives on integration and intercultural relations of high representatives and found out what is and should be done for new-generation cities.
Inter and Multi
If you are cultural enough, you probably already distinguished between interculturality and multiculturality. They say multicultural policies can lead to segregation under certain circumstances, so it is better to stress the dialogue among cultures than diversity. Be careful with just reading about cultures and those intercultural TV-programs –they can damage your cultural health!
Grown-ups – back to school!
Helena Barroco from UNAoC places emphasis on the lack of intercultural education of local governors: city-mayors should be educated to treat intercultural questions and unite the community. Since it’s no longer a provisional matter, but something we will face everywhere in the future. Thus, a long term vision of implementing should be introduced locally.
Who are you: non-Islamic or European?
Cultural education is a way of preserving peace and intercultural dialogue: ISESCO helps this understanding. Besides projects in Islamic countries, they work together with European countries. For instance, teachers in Europe are educated to explain to the non-Islamic world how the Islamic culture works. Definitely, cities need an educated population.
Haven’t still migrated?
Alberto D’Alessandro from UNICRI suggests having a new vision on the city as they are still growing bigger. Our cities don’t have borders, also because of the Schengen zone, and we definitely should think about our common future. Can you imagine that the population of Tokyo city is bigger than the number of inhabitants in Canada? Small cities can show the good example of interculturality.
Cities also become bigger not only because of people leaving the countryside for urban life, but also because of those looking for a better life. Thus, Carmela Godeau from IOM says migration in general contributed to the acceleration of life on our planet.
These are the basics needed to discover the world of intercultural cities from the NGO perspective.
