11. Dezember 2008 - Josef Pampalk

First I express my thanks to both the directors of the Europahaus Köszeg und Burgenland for inviting me to sum up this colloquium on Global Learning. But I have to tell you that I have been warned not to speak about real life or any concrete projects as there is no money! So be aware, how much constrained executive directors are by circumstances. Similarly, Jody Jenson, the director of international relations of ISES denounced this morning the "academic inability to address the needs" and asked for a "holistic approach to healing the region". She has in the same intervention identified here in the region of Köszeg much more flexible and open structures and also an absolute commitment of people, especially of young people. So, without a big budget but with a diversity of students, young committed people, and cooperative neighbours and friends, we have to make individual choices, reinvent together something new and to decide together something which still needs to be spelled out a bit clearer.

Reviewing the program of yesterday and today with all its different inputs, we have travelled a lot, forth and back; both diachronically through historic stages of societies and their revolutionary means of expression from speaking, writing, printing to automation and artificial intelligence, and synchronically by embarking in global thinking. Utopia, dreams and vision have always been important for humanity in order to imagine and to create some-thing new. But we also have been reminded (Friedrich Pohlmann), that utopia can be misleading towards totalitarianism or fundamentalism, even be abused by fascist or communist regimes or just become an alibi or an excuse for not doing something urgently needed in the present real world. Even we might feel discouraged ourselves by utopia - without disposing of real possibilities to do something about implementing it.

You are therefore strongly invited now to discover with me, that you have a capacity for action and also an enabling environment! As Marianne Gronemeyer said, because of our fundamental fear of the future and our sense of powerlessness or inadequacy, we would prefer to eliminate surprises, get control over the unknown and 'to pull a rabbit out of the hat' by taking refuge in some kind of unrealistic vision. Thus or by other means we are trying to manipulate the world, to reduce other people to objects or to 'targets groups' - instead of respecting them as 'subjects' and trusting ourselves as subjects and agents of change. As opposed to this greedy attitude, the history of pedagogy revealed to us an ideal of coolness, calmness or non-attachment of Meister Ekkehard in the Middle Ages (Otto Langer). To become cool in that sense means to become an inter-dependent and inter-subjective human being. In fact our itinerary has taken us in two days very far: from Chartres - as the poetical aspect of utopia - over Paris - the political practical and rational dimension of utopian power - finally to Köszeg. Without forgetting, we arrived here via the atopical "Cyber-society" (Niels Werber), where topography does not count, only access, and where distances and regions are phasing out, but the polarisation of inclusion and exclusion is still looming…

So here we are in Köszeg, a new generation of one single globalised world embarked, in the process of discovering a framework to better understand the complex globalisation and in the process of structuring a completely new process to face and shape it. This meeting is part of these universal changes and the efforts to cope with it. Our colloquium is profiting from synergies and has to contribute something useful to the great needs in this and other parts of the world. You don't have to start from scratch: we have been made aware of the tiresome steps and achievements made by our forerunners and pioneers in the 60s, 70s or 80s with their development aid, or third world and finally one-world information campaigns (Helmut Hartmeyer, Karl Kumpfmüller). We thus need only to continue without repeating any of the errors or limitations of this slow broadening of awareness. Yet, although the UN proclaimed a new slogan for human development in every decade and sponsored expensive programs in education, health or agriculture, the life of people has gone from bad to worse. Even the 'official development aid' is rarely human rights oriented, but very often serves the political or economic interests of donors. We must not forget, e.g. the Tanzanian approach of 'ujamaa' - praised by Karl Kumpfmüller today as an example of self-reliant development - has been strongly opposed by the Federal Republic of Germany, in the name of its 'Hallstein Doctrine'- which prohibited African countries from accepting help from the GDR during the cold war! The missing link in all these sector-programs and equally in the new 'Global Learning', is the recognition of Human Rights, which include not only political ones, but also social, economical and cultural ones! As in earlier stages of global learning, an inter-disciplinary approach was very difficult for traditional teachers, so today, it is still too difficult for donors and experts to understand the all encompassing human rights dimension of access to schooling, hospitals, clean water, land, work, freedom of expression, state of law…

Therefore, yesterday evening's celebration of the 60th anniversary of the universal declaration of Human Rights was most meaningful and significant for our ongoing colloquium. This opens up our minds and hearts to a quite different understanding of Global Learning, which otherwise would become just another temporary slogan without any or just minor consequences. It makes us realize that instead of talking about "them down there (in the South)" we are all involved in this globalised world! Instead of discerning in our societies just a lack of information and a deficit of knowledge, we become aware that we too lack something and have to change. Measures to be taken are no longer just information campaigns, but Global Learning means to capacitate ourselves and others to realise how inter-dependent our global world has become and to get involved in bringing about a more just dis-tribution of goods and opportunities.

In the face of such a perspective and challenge, we see Köszeg in a different light: even with no money available, we can see ourselves, our visions and obstacles, our weaknesses and potentials as if for the first time, as those who are bringing the future! Yes, you do make a difference by the quality of your commitment!

"The first criteria for this quality lies in the needs and in the human rights of this region, with its Hungarian, Croat or German speaking villages (which Janos Pusztay spoke about) and - of course of our respective regions where others of us come from (Eisenstadt, Germany or Asian former ex-soviet Republics).

" The second criteria is the way we structure this learning process on different regional levels linked together by our sharing of experiences and insights supported by our 'organic academics'. How will we follow up this action research during 2009 and the next year? Köszeg, Szombathely, Schlaining or Eisenstadt must never be downgraded nor remain a "gated community", but become the cradle and motor of a global learning network in Pannonia or Central Europe!

Our future network will grow only if it is based on actions which are realised and reflected by ourselves and if this colloquium and the following strategic meetings turn them into common lessons learned by the participants and new starting points for further steps. I would be cheating you, by hiding from you that this will demand some changes in our old individualistic approaches. Moreover, since this my "Utopia GL-NP("global learning Network Pannonia") is one without funding, all the directors Bariska, Goettel, Miszlevetz and some others of you may just think that I am one of those artists, mentioned by Bernd Guggenberger, whose specific utopia and truth consists exactly in this 'exaggerating'.

I'm neither an artist nor enlarging the Europahaus Köszeg and Europahaus Burgenland beyond what is true. I would like to become a prophet, without overstating the significance of each one of you and the significance of your collaboration. That's why I finally remind you how Marianne Gronemeyer challenged those directors and each of us, firstly to question apparently over-powering realities and routines, and secondly, to "auf-hören", a German word with the double meaning (a) of 'to listen to, to become totally ear for the future, (b) 'to stop doing or to end something':

By doing so and by becoming totally 'ear', together we will all be participating in the launch of a "global hearing" in this region and of the above mentioned holistic approach to change our region and by this, to be changed ourselves. That is why I said in the beginning, Köszeg is wonderful, it is wonderful that you exist! Our common thanks to each of you for becoming part of this our 'Global Ear Network in Pannonia' and for continuing to see yourselves and all your individual works as constituting part of and as contributing towards it.