Cultural conflict calls for practical idealism and a sense of community

Mayor Vassil Terziev of the Bulgarian capital Sofia looks at his phone. “It's only about destruction, it's never positive or constructive,” sighs the brand new mayor and IT millionaire. He does not explain himself further and puts his cell phone in his pocket. Terziev believes that privileged people like him should do something for their country, he says a few moments before he addresses the members of the IETM network, but it is not easy. Bulgaria is a relatively poor country that is struggling with growing divisions and pro-Russian sentiments.

Undermining and polarization are a huge problem, which Terziev experienced in the first eight months of his mayoralty. His pro-European policy and his pursuit of better infrastructure, more greenery in the city, improvement of public transport, support for entrepreneurship and talent and transparency of governance are constantly under heavy pressure.

After his speech, I wave him goodbye in my capacity as chairman of IETM and wish him success with all the changes he advocates. “It's my job,” he says as cheerfully as possible, but I'm not entirely sure about it and that doesn't seem unjustified given the current reporting.

In Sofia I meet my international colleagues from the performing arts, who tell quite worrying stories about the regimes in their countries. For example, even a colleague from liberal Berlin says that progressive institutions are being closed, the police are taking increasingly tough action against demonstrators and the strong arm is showing intimidating behavior towards cultural organizations.

Italian colleagues are feeling the consequences of the radical right-wing wind that is blowing and the divisions it is causing between the regions. In Slovenia, where there was hope for a more progressive policy, the public broadcaster has been dissolved.

I met our colleague from Palestine there. Her stories and her nuanced call for solidarity with everyone who suffers from war and violence are impressive. Her speech made me realize to my shame that I have still done nothing for my fellow man in conflict areas, other than watching in disbelief.

Not alarmed

Because these are stories that only become tangible when you hear them first hand. You can learn so much from the media and see such shocking images, but it only becomes truly compelling when you take in the stories from person to person. That is why international meetings within networks such as IETM are so important. Nevertheless, with some exceptions, I encounter my Dutch colleagues less and less in the international field.

“And how are things in your country?”, people now ask me abroad. As a Dutch person, I was rarely asked that question until recently. As one of the richest countries in the world, the Dutch should certainly not complain, was always the noticeable sentiment among my international colleagues, although of course we did that a lot.

But now, to everyone's astonishment, Geert Wilders is in power.

The question is asked with startled eyes. However, in the Netherlands we are hardly alarmed, I hear myself answer. Many assume that everything will work out fine. We secretly think that Wilders 1 will soon fall from his pedestal and that the VVD and NSC will have figured that out anyway. A year or two and we can return to the order of the day.

You wonder which foreign power has given us this sleeping drink. “Nothing has changed in the Netherlands,” some claim, while a radical right-wing government is being installed under our noses in this so-called “guide country” and the poison of polarization comes to us in a constant stream through our mobile phones.

Inflamed fear and discontent drives the population apart and pushes us further down a disastrous path. We are so angry that we send threatening emails to our scientists, journalists, artists, to people with different opinions or preferences, to politicians, to cashiers and civil servants. Apparently we are all angry and no one knows exactly where it comes from.

A culture war is being stirred up that ultimately serves one purpose: to create division and stir up discontent, so that authoritarian, repressive powers take control.

Pitfall

It is a monstrous trap that we blindly fall into when we think that everything will not be so bad and that we can sleep peacefully. So why, despite everything, do we not seem alarmed? Maybe we believe that there is not much going on, we are just egocentric or, that is also possible, we don't know where to start.

This culture battle requires a counterbalance from people who are not afraid to speak out. Who peacefully fight for our freedom of speech and expression. They stand for empathy and compassion and an understanding, cohesive society. There is a need for practical idealists who offer hopeful alternatives. Because no matter how you look at it: we are jointly responsible for this planet and everything that lives on it.

Director and playwright Eric de Vroedt once told me: 'Start with what is within your influence'. In 2020, Merlijn Twaalfhoven wrote the idealistic and practical 'It's up to us' that motivates everyone to contribute to a better planet in their own modest way. Anoek Nuyens gave me 'No is not enough' by Noami Klein as a gift and she doesn't leave it at words. Together with Erik Whien, Rebekka de Wit and Lene Grooten, she founded Bureau Vergezicht, which creates stories about power, climate and shared responsibility.

It is a relatively small rebel club that urgently needs expansion. Call it cheesy but practical idealism and a sense of community are the only way out of a catastrophe that we all see coming but magically try to think away.

Every now and then I think about the saying on the wall of my old high school. A photo of the canteen shows how someone has written: 'Innocent bystander, you're the biggest runt!'. It's not very nice, is it? But it is clear as hell.