Sonja Licht: "'living together', a necessary concept for our survival"
By Yulia Kochneva, 14 February 2011
Over the past sixty year, Europe hasn’t been just the continent of the Enlightenment and the birthplace of Democracy. Rejection and hatred led to the most barbarous events in its history. Highlighted by the current crisis, the rise of xenophobia and racism is threatening more and more Europe.
Sonja Licht, director of Belgrade Fund for political Excellence and member of the group of Eminent Persons of the Council of Europe is trying to address the threats of intolerance and discrimination that are pressuring Europe. Along with other European personalities of the group, she works on the preparation of the report "Living together in 21th century Europe - Pan-European project" that will be presented at a ministerial conference next may in Istanbul.
What does your involvement in this working group mean to you?
I was very honored when the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Thorbjørn Jagland invited me to be part of this group, especially when I heard who the other members were. I was also very pleased to participate in this challenging endeavor as someone "representing" the civil society and particularly the Council of Europe's Network of Schools of Politics.
How is work organised within the group? This group is composed of 10 eminent persons from different countries, are the cultural, historical and political differences felt within the working meetings? Is this an asset or does it create difficulties?
The group agreed at its first meeting in Strasbourg about the entire "itinerary" of our work, the topics we want to cover and the schedule of the meetings. We also met a few personalities from the Council of Europe itself, including the Secretary General, and addressed the issues that will definitely be addressed by the report. Our next meeting in Budapest was devoted to the Roma and their problems in Europe. The meeting that followed took place in Istanbul where we discussed migration and religious differences in contemporary Europe. There will be three more meetings; the last one devoted to the draft report generated by all these discussions, materials prepared for the meetings in advance, hearings with various personalities - including officials, politicians, academics, civic leaders, religious leaders, media and educational experts and others.
The truth is that the group is both heterogeneous and harmonious, meaning that we are coming from different cultural, political, historical backgrounds and have very different personal experiences but at the same time we all represent very similar values. And also very important - we are all ready to listen and learn. In my opinion this is a very important precondition to be able to put together a valuable report.
How do you define "living together", an overused expression in Western Europe, and do you consider it to be one of the main challenges of the European project?
In the midst of the war in former Yugoslavia, in 1993, the Soros Fund in Belgrade organized a huge multi-year children program under the title "Let's live together". In one of the summer camps (for refugee and local children, who were also children from various ethnic background) a drawing session was devoted to the topic of the entire program. A 9 years old boy draw a black and white sheep playing together, one white the other one was black. But they were also bleeding. This drawing was turned into a poster and illustrated in the best possible way our intention and our concerns, understood more thoroughly and clearly by a child than by many intelligent and even well educated adults. Thus, "living together" is maybe used to often, but as long as we try to understand and respect each other and appreciate the fact that Europe is Europe in a cultural and civilizational sense as long as it remains united in diversity "living together" remains a necessary concept for our survival.
Which recommendations would you like to see included in the final report?
The recommendations will be discussed by all of us during our work. Right now it is too early to speak about them. We are together travelling through an exciting and complex and I am sure we will manage to come to some serious thoughts and, I hope, important recommendations. We all agree that we would like to turn this report into a challenging contribution for further debates about the nature and the future of our common Europe.
You are often called the “mother of civil society in Serbia”, how can we encourage civic engagement in European countries as well as across the continent in order to fight the rise of xenophobia and the multiplication of racist acts?
By encouraging citizens to participate in building that common Europe, by teaching them to be proud of the fact that they are Europeans, and that European identity means inclusion. It is not only unacceptable but also totally ridiculous that some even preach xenophobia and racism in the name of defending Europe from others. We need civic engagement in order to defend our genuine European values, but also to be able to meet the challenges of the 21st century: climate change, lack of resources… Without full participation of citizens, without major grass-root initiatives that will bring back solidarity and full respect for common good, and different politics that must be based on ethics and not on partial, vested interest we might loose not only Europe but our unique and wonderful planet.
The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has already adopted several recommendations on the fight against racism in different political and institutional fields, though without leading to very concrete results, how will your recommendation contribute further?
By deepening and widening the debate about these recommendations and issues they are addressing. And hopefully by energizing more people to not only talk but act accordingly. There is a sense of urgency among all of us in the group and I am sure among most of those who really care for the values and objectives the Council of Europe stands for. There is no time to loose if we want to preserve and further develop human and minority rights, democracy, rule of law.
Do you think the Council of Europe is an appropriate framework to identify effective means of action considering the diminishing financial commitment of its member states? Would this not represent a credibility problem?
I am a great believer in the Council of Europe. It has been for more than two decades since I started working with this organization. This is the main reason why I am determined to struggle for the further strengthening and broadening of the Network of Schools of Politics as well. And yes I am sure that the Council of Europe is the most appropriate framework to address all these issues we are concerned with. I hope this organization will be revitalized through the necessary reforms it is going through, and I hope that the report of our group will add to the enrichment of its conceptual framework. I expect that the member states will also recognize how important the Council of Europe is for their own future as for the future of our entire continent and our world.
Photo: Archives of the Council of Europe
