Travel Tips

Holland does not excist. This might me a strange eyecatcher to open with, but it was princess Maxima, the future queen of the Netherlands who observed this. The mainstream culture of windmills, wooden shoes and Calvinism has made space for cultural diversity. Opponents of this nowadays multicultural society are trying to safe Holland from its disappearance. As a VT-er you are in a dilemma now. You might want to visit Holland, in order to explore the culture, so what to think when someone tells you it doesn’t excist. On the other hand you might be a supporter of cultural diversity. Multiculturalsim deserves a chance. Travelling makes us fit to look with an open mind to other cultures. Travelling ruins prejudice. The more we travel the more we celebrate cultural diversity. And perhaps you learn culture relativism as well. A good additude in a world that becomes more and more globalized and individualistic. Whereas culture nationalists try to make you afraid off the “otherness” of minority cultures at home, a well travelled mind does not go for that cheap rethorics. Cosmopolitanism is the way to respect other cultures and learn from them, instead of demanding them to assimilate to the mainstream culture at home. The fear for the “otherness” comes from the lost of traditional bounds such as the neighborhood, the church or the family dued to the forces of globalization and individualization. To trigger this feeling of lost in a changing world culture nationalists point at the new comer cultures, who par excellence incorporate the truth that nothing remains unchanged. The call for assimilation of these minor cultures becomes louder and culture relativism is seen as an old post modern, left wing stay in the way for forcing national virtues and values upon the migrants cultures. Multiculturalism is out of fashion it seems. It seems that we enjoy seeing mosques, burka’s and temples when we are abroad, but please not in our own country in the West. Now, in order to stress the importance of the mainstream culture, culture nationalists have to inventt this so called national culture again. In order to ‘nationalize’ new comer cultures new traditions, values and idea come as a blueprint for a post multicultural society

No coincidence the elites created a ‘canon’ in the recent years, in order that everyone had to learn the dogma’s of national history. A pity, the coincidental ruling elite dictates what ‘facts’ we have to take for granted. The content of a history class as a political instrument. Not an improvement for the development of a critical mind. It is clear that culture nationalists see history as a logical, finalistic process, in which ideas and values have developed in a superior way. In time we have reached the final stadium of a liberal democracy and cultures that have not reached this stage are seen as ‘backwards.’ Unfortunately that’s a simplified vision. History is marked by breaches and everytime the content of culture is redefined. Since there is thus no fixed content of culture, we are left with an ad hoc culture, which has no superior value. So ‘the’ Dutch culture doesn’t excist. Maxima was right: Holland does not excist. Because the ‘culture’ content gets reinvented all the time, no one can say what the core of this culture is. It is an ideological project. One can see that with the canon: what shall we include and what not. Better leave out the slavery and the colonial past perhaps? Critics of this relativistic thinking are afraid we make the national culture fade away. They are eager to find new icons for national identification and point to us as being not patriotic. This sounds as old as the ninetheenth century were these sorts of culture nationalists feared chaos and disobeyance. They were well aware of the fact that people naturally don’t identify with nations, but only with particular groups they belong to, driven by self-interest. This search of identity is the hot topic of the day. There isn’t a day that the national identity and the so called problematic multicultural society isn’t in the media. Travelminded as we are we lost our appetite for cultural diversity. The fear for otherness gets populized by popes of conflict-thinking, such as Samuel Huntington, who sees cultural differences as the new main reason for war and hate. He identifies civilizations with religions/culture and thus makes us believe that we only identify with one overarching identity: religion or culture. This is a narrowminded view Sen, an Indian thinker rightly points out that people have multiple identities. We belong to many groups. Speaking in terms of civilizations reduces us to creatures with only one relevant identity. Religion is only one of the many identities someone can have.

People get their identity from a rich reservoir of identities, such as profession, town, class, language, political preference. Someones identity can f.e. be formed by being a supporter of FC Barcelona, a listener to American R&B and a fan of the dutch monarchy. There is not such as one identity that eliminates all the others. We are rational people that can walk from identity to identity. Culture nationalists that want to impose one overarching national identity hinder us in our personal development. We then are not free in informed reasoning, while choosing our preferences from a divers offer of cultural values that a multicultural environment could provide. When we define people as creatures who have several identities we can understand and tolerate their choices and make the chance of conflicts smaller. There is more chance of mutual understanding. Putting people in boxed one dimensional identities is stereotyping and can create an us-them atmosphere within the country, which is dangerous. Thinking in fixed boxes makes blind for the existence of transcultural hybrids. Its not possible to determine what the exact identity is that these people should give up in order to assimilate. Thinking in fixed boxes encourages prejudice. We travelers had thought that travelling had freed us from them. However, the dream of multi culturalism is over, according to the nowadays (political) climate. Too many problems, it is not working. Look at the USA, where the melting pot ideal has failed! We forget that many multicultural societies are doing well, such as Canada. There is indeed a future for cultural diversity. as Indian thinker Parekh shows us. There are two argumentations to reconsider. First we have to aknowledge that all humans share a common humanity which makes it possible to come to a common set of moral values, that are acceptable for everyone and thus can form a foundation for a future society characterized by diversity. These moral values can be developed in an inter cultural dialogue. Such dialoge gives insight in different cultures and therefore it is possible that one learns to respect other cultures. Because the dialogue results in respect, the outcome can be satisfied and acceptable for all parties. Coexistence based on shared values makes it possible that conflicts can be minimilized. Besides the common values the participating cultures are free in expressing their own culture. As said above, when you speak of culture you have to remind it is an ad hoc moment. On a base of rational argumentation illiberal values and norms can be brought into the dialogue. They will be sorted out in case there is no common agreement on them

. In practice it can be the case that a minimal agreement on the existing legal system is enough. Critizers on this view often fear that the muslim ‘culture’ will demand islam laws in such dialogue. Then it is again thinking in fixed boxes. Many muslims from the Arab world respect the liberal democracy and rule of law. Islam and democracy can well go together. Secondly, cultures are entities not capable off realizing a full arsenal of human values and capacities. Within one culture values conflict and only some can be realized where others get ignored. Therefor, several cultures together can complete and correct eachother, offering possibilities and options for self-realisation. Multi culture enriches the society. It is non sence that the main stream culture would disappear. In a cultural diverse society it will just exist nexto the other cultures on an equal base. Equality in culture and religion means then no discrimination in the juristic possibility to excersice legal rights. When a Christian is allowed to wear a cross necklace as a teacher in public school, then a muslim should be allowed to wear a headscarf as a teacher. Both have the same right to exercise their right of religion. But, critizers will say that sticking to their own culture creates problems in this multi cultural society. Not adapting leads to disemployment, crime, low education. The media gives that image. What the media shows is again those certain ethnic minority groups causing these troubles. Culture nationalists then of course argue that this comes from them having culture differences. Its an easy and cheap way of analyzing these problems. In fact these problems are not culture differences but the well known poverty problems, such as low social mobility. In the ninetheenth century they were connected typical to the local working class or so called problem families, now these problems are appearing amongs those who are often at the lowest layer of society, the minorities. Its clear that crime and such is not inherent to the belonging of a certain culture, we see successful members of a cultural group, that are not forced by their cultural background to cause so called problems. The reason that they don’t cause those problems by which some members of their cultural group reach the mediais that they are social mobile. Tackling down the so called problems multi cultural society is a question of equal chances, and equal accessibility to all the sources of the welfare state. A reversion in thinking is needed. If someone doesn’t have a chance for a job because he decides to stick to his own cultural identity, it is said that he makes a better chance when he assimilates. But if the need for assimilation is not anymore the public opinion, then someone sticking to his own culture may have a better chance to find a job. It is time to be open minded again, treasure the enrichment that cultural diversity gives and resist against the trend of culture nationalism.