By Lilach Meir
The Interreligious and intercultural Internship took place for the 3rd time in Bilbao, in the Basque Country in Spain, between 10th -19th of December 2007. It was organized by Pax Romana which is an international association of Catholic professionals and intellectuals composed of local federations, groups and individuals.
This year the participants in the internship were 15 young people from different countries: Lebanon, Thailand, China, Georgia, Israel, Ghana, Spain, Bosnia, The Netherlands, Malta and Colombia. Each person came from a different religion and cultural background (Muslim, Christian, Bahai, Buddhist, me being the only jew etc.). The organizers were Paul from the Basque (spain) and Budi from Indonesia, both of them work in Pax-Romana.
On Tuesday (11/12), after a short introduction of the participants and the programme we started the internship with the question: Why Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue is important. The lecture was given by a Catholic priest from Bilbao (Gaspar Martinez). In his lecture he said that in the global world there is no more division, as it used to be, between two big blocks- Capitalism and Communism. Moreover, today we can find in each religion a wide scale of streams and practices. However, in light of the uniformity and homogeneousness due to the globalization process, people tend to go back to their traditions and their identity for defining themselves, and this is very important when you come to create a real dialogue. A person who can not define his own identity can't contribute anyhting to dialogue. When we approach a dialogue we bring along with us our history, values, culture, memories, etc. There is a big meaning to have a cultural dialogue and religious dialogue which are integrated with each other.
After that we had a lecture about Judaism which was given by Rabbi Meyer. The Rabbi gave a short summary about Who is a Jew, What is Judaism and the connection between Judaism and Christianity and Judaism and Islam. In addition, he described the hatred and discrimination toward the Jews throughout history and spoke a little bit about the anti-Semitism in the world then and today. One of the things which surprised the participants and even me was his claim that religion is not a matter of faith but a matter of doing and therefore you don’t have to believe in god. He also said that the beauty in Judaism is that it doesn’t deal with symbols and that there is no blind faith, you need to check and criticize each commandment.
The discussions after that, which took place in small groups and not in a form of a lecture, dealed with the definition of private identity; Why is it important to define myself, Which elements build my identity and Who am I. The conclusion was that everything influences the building of our identity: religion, nationality, gender, education, languege, culture, family, friends, etc. The identity is a dynamic process, influenced by the environment, and for each person it is important to identify himself and to have a sense of belonging to a group, people, etc.
On Wednesday (12/12), after we finished discussing the private identity, we started talking about Who are the others and How to build a dialogue. In this discussion we said that the others are not us, they are different from us and they define themselves by the same elements which define the self (such as: history, culture, values, etc.). Further more, we said that there is fear from the unknowen and this is why it is hard to create a real dialogue, but it is important to be open minded, to learn, accept and respect the others and to realize that we have things in common, common grounds. A dialogue consists of different levels but it is not necessary that each dialogue will include all the steps.
After thet we went on a tour to Deusto University and we heard a lecture by professor Concha about Citizenship:What does it mean in the global world of today. We talked about Global Identification, National Identification and Cultural Identification. A dialogue requires: skills, interaction, discovery and knowledge, attitudes, etc. After the lecture there was supposed to be a dialogue with the students of Deusto University, but it was cancelled.
On Thursday (13/12) we went for a two- days trip. We started in Loyola, a city which is very important to the Basques and we had a tour at the house of Loyola and the church nearby. In the evening we had a meeting in which each one of us spoke about his religion, and it was fascinating because we came from different religious backgrounds. On Friday (14/12) we visited a Synagogue and a Jewish Cemetery in Bayonne , France. In my opinion, the tour was very important because the best way to understand things is by seeing them. We got an explanation about prayers in Synagogue, Israeli holy days, Jewish burial and etc.
In the evening we came back to Bilbao and went to dinner with the Bahai community and got to learn about their religion. The meeting was unique because many of the participants didn’t hear about this religion before. I knew about this religion (because I have visited the center in Haifa and Akko several times ), and I was very pleased from the opportunity to meet people from this community and to hear about their lifestyle.
On Saturday (15/12) we had a free day so we toured the city, we visited the Guggenheim museum, one of the most famous museums of modern arts. Later on that day we had a cultural evening and each one of us spoke about his country and his culture, we brought traditional clothes, food and drinks which belong to our national cuisine, and we even danced Busque dances. The evening was very enjoyable and special.
On Sunday (16/12) we heard a lecture by Lawrencia Kwark (Who joined us throughout the whole internship) about Citizenship: it is significant in today’s context. In the lecture we discussed human rights, citizenship, rights and obligation, the connection between the individual and a legal institution (mostly it’s the country), Civil Citizenship, Political Citizenship and Social Citizenship, etc.
After that we heard a lecture about the muslim community in Bilbao, their lifestyle and their difficulties as a minority in an area where the majority is Catholic.
On Monday (17/12) we had a disscusion about Citizenship, Security and Democracy. The discussions were led by Taha Ozhan (a muslim from Turkey who is a member in a SETA Association; intellectuals from turkey who deal and write articles about politics, economy and society in Turkey and in the Middle East). We focused on the threats in our world. The session was very interesting because each one of us spoke about his area. I explained about the significance of the existence of Israel, the conflict with the Palestinians, the Iranian threat, the increasing Anti-Semitism, etc. The last session that day was led by Egide Rwatmawar (He was from Rwanda and participated in the entire internship almost) and it was about immigration, the reasons for immigration, How the immigrant deals with the process, the coping of the country of origin and of the receiving country. He also told us his privat story about his escape from Rwanda at 1994, during the terrible massacre in which more than one million people from the Tutsi tribe were killed by the Toho tribe.
On the last day we worked on writing a final Statement which summarized all the activity during the whole internship. We visited in the Basque center and learned about them. In the evening we read the declaration in a public conference with many people: students, Bahai community, profesors, etc.(I attached the declaration in the end of the report). We finished in a Farewell Dinner and received certificates.
In summary, the internship was a unique and an unforgettable experience. We learned a lot about each other, discussed very important issues and built genuine ties. This sort of internship is of high importance and it is crucial to send a representative each year; 1. It is important to have an Israeli and jewish representative, who will share and provide the others with knowledge ragarding different issues in Judaism and life in Israel (this year for instance the group included two Palestinians who shared their experiences and it was necessary for the group to hear the other side in order to get a better understanding of the situation).
2. The theme of the internship provided an opportunity of knowing and accepting the other and vis versa. Creating a dialogue with people from other cultures and religions is highly important and enables acquaintance with Judaism and Israel not by direct propaganda but rather by personal experiences. Therefore, cooperation with Pax-Romana and other non-Jewish organizations is very important.
3. The personal experience has a much bigger impact than any book or website, and enables the participant to be a true representative both during the internship and when he returns to his country.
My participation in the internship was a life-time experience, in which I have learned a lot, met great people (for example: a Lebanese whom it would have been impossible to meet were it not for the internship), and felt great pride to represent our country and religion. I thank the Jewish World Congress in general, and Peleg Reshef in particular for having faith in me and sending me to this internship, and also Pax Romana for organizing an amazing and unique conference and for the warm welcome.
We, the citizens of the world, are all addressing humankind – the individuals, both religious and non-religious, the different cultural and religious communities, political parties and people in power. Coming from different ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds, we have experienced living and sharing together. We have tackled together issues of identity, culture and religion, citizenship in multicultural and multireligious society. Through significant inputs from experts of different disciplines, visits to various religious communities, and particularly by personal discussion and sharing, we have reached the following conclusions:
- The “others” are a part of me; they help me understand myself better; they are complementary and should not be threatening.
- Beyond different ethnical, cultural, and religious identities, we share our humanness.
- Different religious, cultural, and political identities should be respected and accepted by all individuals.
- Religion should not be a barrier between people but a means of sharing of potential goodness of human beings.
- We should be aware of power dynamics and how easy it is to misuse religion for political purposes leading to conflict.
- We believe that there are values and attitudes fundamental for interreligious and intercultural dialogue such as openness, mutual understanding, eradication of prejudices and stereotypes, respect, listening and willingness to learn and love the others.
We propose that the above mentioned values can be fostered through personal responsibility and empowerment for active citizenship through education. We believe that multicultural and multireligious dialogue is not only theological debate but also an essential part of our daily lives. A community setting, like the one we have experienced, is crucial for a holistic approach to dialogical process. Personally, we are going to spread the spirit of dialogue and disseminate the learning outcomes through different projects in our local organizations and communities. However, one should not expect quick results but the dialogue process is the first and the most important step. Therefore, everyone should give priority and dedicate time to these efforts. Furthermore, our living and sharing together for ten days, despite the different conflicting backgrounds, gives us reason to have hope and optimism towards the future.
