PES Manifesto

Isabella Frenning: Common media and basic education

Published Monday, April 28, 2008 at 09:30
by Isabella_Frenning (626 views and 2 comments)

The great thing about the European Championships or the Eurovision is not only the love of the game or the passion for great (?) music – but also that both events are shared throughout our member states and can be used as a common point of reference.

So far, most other events are not. We need to make it possible for Europeans to receive information about the same developments in public life if we want to deepen the European identity. It is often said that a common public sphere should be the foundation for building a stronger sense of European community and shared identity; that we need to talk to each other and share the same experiences if we want to share the same political goals as well. But when trying to construct European-wide medias, we must not only overcome the challenges of our diverse languages, but also those of education and participation. Though many members of my generation speak at least one European language besides from their own, many still find it hard enough just to learn their native tongue.

And while talking about how to make people participate in the European debate, we must also ask how to make them participate in political life in general – not only at the European level, but throughout all of society. The first step to do that, I would argue, is education. How can we expect our citizens to engage in highly complex discussions in other languages than their native one, when we still fail to provide every sixth with the most basic education? Even if we succeed in constructing common European channels of communication, they will not be more than empty pipes until we give all our citizens the most basic tools to fill them.

Tags: blogger of the week, education