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The
“Intercultural Cities Conference” is a huge success
LIVERPOOL played host to an
International Intercultural Dialogue Conference, from1 May 2008 to 3
May 2008. It was a three-day international conference
exploring migration, diversity and urban life in UK and European
cities. The conference was run by Comedia and EUCLID, in association
with Liverpool 08 and supported by the European Commission, the
Council of Europe and the British Council to co-inside with
Liverpool being the Capital Of Culture and with the European Year of
Intercultural Dialogue 2008..
The European Year of Intercultural
Dialogue is aimed at challenging cities through out the world to
re-think their cultural diversity. It is to help them see that it is
not a problem to be solved, but an asset and opportunity to be
realised if communities can be helped to interact and co-operate
with each other. The event brought in leading speakers in the field,
from the UK, Europe and the US, including Keith Khan, Head of
Culture for the 2012 Olympic Games, Gregg Zachary, writer for the
New York Times, globalisation guru Saskia Sassen, the world
authority on cultural diversity and city planning, Leonie Sandercock,
and practitioners from many cities including Madrid, Rotterdam,
Turin and Stuttgart. To the local media, this was a fantastic
insight into just how each of us see each other, and the places in
which we live. As Liverpool became to be one of the world's great
port and migration Cities, it soon became a massive melting pot of
cultures, even the local Scouse accent is a result of this. But over
recent years, not only has the landscape changed, but so has the
city's reactions to different cultures. As a result Liverpool is
again redefining itself in response to its cultural diversity. To
many Liverpool is still very open to all, but what was raised at The
conference has made some of us question this. For example a few of
the delegates attending commented that:- "Liverpool is
still very divided when it comes to cultural diversity." Some thing
that many Liverpudlians would be surprised to hear. One of these
comments was made in our audio interviews, that you cam play from
this page. Another of the many guests attending said that:-
"We are all racist in some way. We just need to see how we are
racist and then change our perceptions, but that is easier done than
it is to say it." For me, as a reporter, it was in
some ways an eye opener as to what people said about Liverpool and
the UK. It was not just immigration and minorities that were looked
at by the conference, for it also looked at education, the world of
work, the arts, religion and multilingualism. Before the event
conference organiser Phil Wood told the media that:- “II worry
that a 'line of least resistance' approach may prevail in many
cities, where groups slowly drift apart into completely separate
lives; in my opinion this is short-sighted and dangerous. Living
together will pay greater rewards in the long term but it takes
time, effort and no little skill. The conference will tell us about
the people who are already succeeding in this.” It was not
just talking that took place because delegates also had the
opportunity to visit civic, community and business projects in
Liverpool, and were provided with practical ideas on regenerating
communities and models of creative conflict resolution.
The conference's aim was to set a
selection of recommendations for European cities to use on how to
realise their own intercultural potential.
Page 1 of 2.
To find out more about the even and to
read the reports go to:-
http://inter.culture.info/icc.
It is well worth the visit. If you have any comments
about our audio interviews, or any feelings on this topic, please do
let us know by emailing our newsroom at:-
news24@southportreporter.com. |
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