We have realised the first round of our think tank, the Castrum Peregrinin Dialogue, with the generous support of the Pauwhoff Fund and in close partnership with the European Cultural Foundation and the Dialogue Advisory Group. The latter – an internationally acclaimed group of peace mediators- holds office here in our premises.
The ECF is a kindred organisation that is close to our heart in many respects. With our own history as a hiding place in which art, culture and friendship helpt young people to survive in this house we embrace ECFs mission to strive for an open, democratic and inclusive Europe within which culture is a valued and key contributor.
Together Castrum Peregrini and the ECF share the desire to develop viable concepts of living together in diversity.
In our recent publication The House of Gisèle we have published Kenan Maliks wonderful article Living in Diversity, a lecture that he delivered when we launched the house of Gisèle and Job Cohen unveiled a plaque at our building in May 2016. We took Kenans tekst as a motivation, a framing paper so to speak to bring together a divers group of thinkers from all walks of life and various disciplines to meet three times in one year for 2,5 days and analyse in a conversation, the root causes of fragmentation in Europe and the world today and what we need to take into account when thinking about how living in diversity can work. We tried to balance participation of man and woman, younger and older generation, white and non-white, various religious backgrounds. Also we made sure that we create a protected environment, apply Chatham House Rules for instance, so that everyone feels safe and can speak up, be vulnerable and engage in a dialogue that is based on learning from one another in the first place. Our experience is that our heritage – like the studio of Gisèle – offers a frame, physically and spiritually, which makes those conversations more easy, respectful and intense.
Also we engaged two experienced moderators, Avrum Burg, members of our board of recommendation, author and former speaker of the Knesset as well as Ram Manikkalingam, director of the Dialogue Advisory Group, seconded by Fleur Ravensbergen.
We work to a set agenda, everybody of the 20 participants around the table gives a short input to a certain session, like social justice, and then we speak for 1,5 hours, before we go to the next session. All is reported and after three meetings we bundle it to share it with opinnleaders, programme makers, activists etc. For this first round of meetings 2016/17 we strive to publish outcomes by December 2017.
Participants
- Avraham Burg, author, former politician, a.o. speaker of the Knesset (moderator)
- Ram Manikkalingam, director Dialogue Advisory Group (moderator)
- Fleur Ravensbergen, deputy director Dialogue Advisory Group (moderator)
- Mirjam Shatanawi, curator Middle East and North Africa, Tropen Museum, NL (rapporteur)
- Brian Burgoon, Director Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam, NL
- Adeola Enigbokan, Social Scientist, Amsterdam/New York
- Quinsy Gario, poet, artist, activist, NL
- Osman Kavala, president Anadolu Kültür, Istanbul, TR
- Charl Landvreugd, artist, curator, writer, Rotterdam, NL
- Kenan Malik, writer, lecturer, broadcaster, London, UK
- Dominique Moïsi, political scientist and writer, Paris, FR
- Wendelien van Oldenborgh, artist, representing NL at 2017 Venice Biennale, NL
- Thijs Tromp, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Amsterdam, NL
- Diana Pinto, cultural historian, Paris, FR
- Jordi Vaquer, regional director for Europe at Open Society, ES
- Katherine Watson, director European Cultural Foundation, Amsterdam, NL
- Gloria Wekker, Anthropologist and author, NL
- Gertraud Auer Borea d’Olmo, secretary general Bruno Kreisky Forum, Vienna, AT
