Immigration is reshaping Europe. Numbers are high. Tensions are rising. Where multiculturalism was intended to resolve this by having diverse communities integrate and live side by side in harmony, in practice, it has far too often led to separation and disconnection. Despite best intentions, multiculturalism has failed. This begs the question: if not multiculturalism, then what? Mechelen, a small town of 85,000 inhabitants in Northern Belgium, serves as a good example.
Dear friends, I write to you not as an enemy, nor adversary, but as a brother, a fellow anti-fascist, and progressive who shares your hope for a better, more humane world. And I trust fully you understand that hope must walk hand-in-hand with honesty, and such honesty obliges me to speak to you plainly.
Around my neck hang two symbols: a crucifix and a pendant engraved with the last letter of the Greek alphabet - Omega (Ω).
These words by poet Walt Whitman, which question and answer the meaning of life during a time of momentous change, resonate profoundly today. More than 150 years later, we, like Whitman, live in a period similarly marked by great change. Amidst this uncertainty, two contemporary thinkers stand tall and remind us of our potential, calling us to contribute our verse to a grand, powerful play.
The Parrhesia Diaries 