New Agora
International Academy on Intercultural Dialogue
New Agora is an international mobile academy launched by the Borderland Foundation. It includes a series of debates about the crisis of multiculturalism in contemporary world and our response to it. The main goal of this education-cultural project is creating new reflection and practice of intercultural dialogue. We want to inspire a debate about today's multicultural societies in Europe and about the ways of putting the ideas of intercultural dialogue into practice; to present and promote good practices – example of interesting and successful projects from the sphere of education and culture, implemented in multicultural communities. Three-day's symposium consists of lectures given by distinguished intellectuals, panel dicussions, and presentations of the projects. The event is intended to be a public debate, in which a broad audience takes part.
Background
We hear more and more of the multicultural society crisis. Faced by new waves of refugees and emigrants, close contact with Islam and other cultures, rebirth of old national- or religious-based clashes, we are witnessing a rebirth of attitudes of hostility to what is different, hostile to sharing common values and living together in a culturally diversified society. In Europe's multicultural cities and borderlands once existed the agora – a place where various ethnic and religious groups could meet; space, which made the dialogue among them possible. It lived on their separateness, preservation of distinctive traditions. At the same time it was an irreplaceable link for their coexistence, created a culture of dialogue, which influenced the ethos of everyday life. Are we witnessing a decline of agora in modern, multicultural democratic societies? Haven't we, imperceptibly, lost agora and the culture of dialogue that accompanies it? And if we have – how can we see it restored? Do we need a new agora today? Is it not in contradiction with the ever so powerful pressure on diversity and separateness? What are the sources of today’s crisis of multiculturalism and what are the ways out?
The main goal of this education-cultural project is creating new reflection and practice of intercultural dialogue. We want to inspire a debate about today's multicultural societies in Europe and about the ways of putting the ideas of intercultural dialogue into practice. We want to disseminate the awareness of the problems and challenges of multiculturalism. We also want to present and promote good practices – example of interesting and successful projects from the sphere of education and culture, implemented in multicultural communities in Poland and abroad.
History
In 2006, the first New Agora took place in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and was organised in co-operation with the P.E.N. Centre of BiH and the Media Center Sarajevo. The topic of this event was the 10th anniversary of war in Bosnia as the first sign of the crisis of multiculturalism in contemporary Europe. The lecturers were, among others: Uri Avnery (Israel), Mufti Mustafa Čerić (Bosnia), Bo Strath (Italy). In 2007, the event took place in Wroclaw, Poland, and was organised in co-operation with one of the local universities and with the support of the City and Mayor of Wrocław. The lecturers included Zygmunt Bauman and Eva Hoffman (Great Britain). In 2008, the meeting was organised in Sejny under the title: “Pedagogical Province of Bridgebuilders: New Philosophy of Intercultural Education”. It engaged mainly lecturers from Poland. Each 'New Agora' gathered about 100 participants.
New Agora Project has received a fund from the Ford Foundation for 2005-2007.
