A Soul for Europe Conference 2017
Preparatory Material

Find links to relevant contributions from our online debate for each workshop and read Volker Hassemer’s introduction here.

Have a look at Elmar Brok’s article  ‘It is time for European citizens to take ownership of the European Union’ that serves as preparatory material for all workshops or find Collected Key Statements from the Online Debate, that provides a summary of the whole online-debate.

A Soul for Europe Conference 2017: Preparatory Material

Find links to relevant contributions from our online debate for each workshop and read Volker Hassemer’s introduction here.

Have a look at Elmar Brok’s article  ‘It is time for European citizens to take ownership of the European Union’ that serves as preparatory material for all workshops or find Collected Key Statements from the Online Debate, that provides a summary of the whole online-debate.

Topic 3: Arts an Politics – A Good Match?

 

11:00
– 12:30

Studio C

 

New Stories for Europe?

Organiser: internationales literaturfestival berlin (ilb)
Format: Fishbowl discussion
Active participants: Priya Basil, writer; Daphne Büllesbach, Executive Director European Alternative; Ivana Sajko, writer ; Frédéric Meseeuw. Senior Project Manager BOZAR; Juan Gabriel Vásquez, writer; Simon Mundy, Vice-President of the Writer’s for Peace Committee of PEN International; Nele Hertling, Spokesperson ‘A Soul for Europe’
Host: Simone Schröder, internationales literaturfestival berlin

This fishbowl discussion brings together writers and intellectuals from different European nations. In an open dialogue with the audience, we explore possibilities for new narratives for Europe. It is inspired by a roundtable on the future of Europe, which took place at the International Congress for Democracy and Freedom as part of the 17th international literature festival berlin in September 2017.

Preparatory material:

 

Topic 3: Arts an Politics – A Good Match?

 

11:00 – 12:30 | Studio C

New Stories for Europe?

Organiser: internationales literaturfestival berlin (ilb)
Format: Fishbowl discussion
Active participants: Priya Basil, writer; Daphne Büllesbach, Executive Director European Alternative; Ivana Sajko, writer ; Frédéric Meseeuw. Senior Project Manager BOZAR; Juan Gabriel Vásquez, writer; Simon Mundy, Vice-President of the Writer’s for Peace Committee of PEN International; Nele Hertling, Spokesperson ‘A Soul for Europe’
Host: Simone Schröder, internationales literaturfestival berlin

This fishbowl discussion brings together writers and intellectuals from different European nations. In an open dialogue with the audience, we explore possibilities for new narratives for Europe. It is inspired by a roundtable on the future of Europe, which took place at the International Congress for Democracy and Freedom as part of the 17th international literature festival berlin in September 2017.

Preparatory material:

 

Juan Gabriel Vásquez: Letter to (and from) Europe

  • Values of the Enlightenment can easily be recognised: they are everything that the religious fanatics try to destroy. They are the secular, tolerant, liberal, open Europe, the Europe of empathy, the Europe that I call humanistic, by which I basically mean: on a human scale

Priya Basil: Too Big to Fail! Time to Bail Out European Civil Society

  • A European Holiday will open up space for our unity as citizens.
  • Conceived on the premise that closer trading ties between nations would reduce the likelihood of war between them, the EU has never been able to develop as much more than an economic bloc.
  • If we as citizens want a more imaginative, inspiring Union, if we want different values to guide European politics, if we want the compassion, inclusion and mutual trust, that are the true foundation of togetherness, we have to agitate for it ourselves — even if that’s uncomfortable.

 

Simon Mundy: Forum Aberdeen: ‘My Culture, Your Politics’

  • Cultural loyalty is claimed as the province of conservative nationalists. In the sense that it is used as a badge of obstruction it is — yet those in the other political groups view their culture with affection and respect too. Valuing the achievements of past generations, supporting the institutions that care for the artefacts and memories of those achievements, and backing the cultural activity of the present, is a positive virtue in any society.

Juan Gabriel Vásquez: Letter to (and from) Europe

  • Values of the Enlightenment can easily be recognised: they are everything that the religious fanatics try to destroy. They are the secular, tolerant, liberal, open Europe, the Europe of empathy, the Europe that I call humanistic, by which I basically mean: on a human scale

Priya Basil: Too Big to Fail! Time to Bail Out European Civil Society

  • A European Holiday will open up space for our unity as citizens.
  • Conceived on the premise that closer trading ties between nations would reduce the likelihood of war between them, the EU has never been able to develop as much more than an economic bloc.
  • If we as citizens want a more imaginative, inspiring Union, if we want different values to guide European politics, if we want the compassion, inclusion and mutual trust, that are the true foundation of togetherness, we have to agitate for it ourselves — even if that’s uncomfortable.

 

Simon Mundy: Forum Aberdeen: ‘My Culture, Your Politics’

  • Cultural loyalty is claimed as the province of conservative nationalists. In the sense that it is used as a badge of obstruction it is — yet those in the other political groups view their culture with affection and respect too. Valuing the achievements of past generations, supporting the institutions that care for the artefacts and memories of those achievements, and backing the cultural activity of the present, is a positive virtue in any society.