A lot has been said about the urge to create a sense of commonality, to build a shared public sphere, to understand differences across European countries and its citizens as the source of a more nourishing environement… Well, now it´s the time to make that happen. To make the critical and historical choice between either solidarity and Europe, or neither solidarity nor Europe.

It is an institutional challenge, for sure. But it is also, even more, a citizen challenge. For all of us that have grown up with the idea of Europe as a space identified with democracy, welfare state, human rights, political freedom and social and cultural progress, losing Europe - losing that idea of Europe - is losing the faith in an entire political project, even beyond its European significance.

So my desire in the context of Culture for Solidarity is to exchange thoughts and feelings about that very urgency. And I mean it in a very concrete way: let us take time to listen to each other, to undestand different perspectives and experiences, to build a space for respect and curiosity for one another. Let us believe in the simple and yet powerfull act of getting together.

Photo credit:
Citizen art in Guétary, Southern France.