Multicultural recipe

What ingredients are needed to become a multicultural society?
Restaurants from all over the world, news from all over the world, internet connection for everyone, multilinguism, multicultural policies, international schools, NGOs? Are those ingredients necessary? Are they enough?
What else do we need to build a multicultural society? Is that desirable? Do you know any multicultural society? How does it work?
What does "multicultural society" mean to you?

Elitisme?

Últimament he estat llegint alguns blocs i alguns testimonis sobre Andorra i una idea que ha aparegut sovint es que Andorra i els andorrans (com diuen "aquells de pura sepa") son elitistes. Creieu que els andorrans eren o són elitistes?
A vegades pensava en elitisme relacionat amb la llengua i la cultura. He tingut la impressió que el català fa unes dècades era símbol d'elitisme a Andorra, era el que diferenciava un immigrant d'un nacional. Ara sembla que el domini de la llengua catalana diferencia un immigrant ben integrat i un de no-integrat...
Les escoles andorranes abans del 1982 eren privades, o m'equivoco? Perquè els immigrants aprenien a parlar castellà i no el català quan arribaven a Andorra? Potser els andorrans no volien obrir-se i transmetre la seva cultura a immigrants?
Ara sembla que tot ha canviat, i entenem que sense obertura no hi ha pas comprensió ni unió, ni força. El català no pot tancar-se a espais privats sinó s'acabara perdent.

Però, el altre dia estava llegint un testimoni d'una senyora d'uns quaranta anys que m'explicava que era catalana, que parlava català a casa però no era pas filla d'andorrans. Explicava que, a Andorra, quan era petita els fills dels andorrans no jugaven amb els fills dels immigrants, ni que aquests fossin catalans. Interessant... Sembla ser que aleshores la llengua no era suficient per eliminar la discriminació... També em comentava que ella es sentia andorrana però que els altres no l'acceptaven com sent una andorrana, d'aquells "de pura sepa"... També comenta que fa quaranta anys, els fills d'andorrans tenien unes condicions de vida elitista, cosa que els fills d'immigrants no tenien i això els diferenciava.
Potser es aquesta la diferencia entre andorrans fills d'immigrants i andorrans fills d'andorrans... Potser sempre em va mancar una mica d'elitisme? Que en penseu? Han canviat les coses? Quina es la vostra percepció? Hi han tantes veritats ... Quina és la vostra?

Immigrants and citizens

Should the immigrants have the same rights as the citizens?
Should they be able to work in high positions, to open a business, to buy a house, to vote, to teach their culture and language, to practise their religious rites, to voice their needs? Should we organize our country, our national teams taking into account the nationality or the residence of people?
What do borders mean to you? A line that divides? A line that has to be crossed? A line that has to be respected? A line between you and the others?

One-nationality policy, yes or no?

Many countries do not allow their citizens to combine their nationality with another one. In fact, this decision raises many issues, in an individual level, in a national level and in an international level.

What are the strengths and the weaknesses of one-nationality policy? Should it be encouraged or discouraged?

"The policy issue is whether dual nationality should be tolerated and encouraged, with the aim of working out the problems that arise, or whether dual nationality should be discouraged. Some commentators stress the benefits to the individual and sometimes the two nation states of dual nationality, and stress that problems that arise with dual nationality can be overcome. Others argue that the problems and conflicts of dual nationality can best be minimized by reducing the incentives for individuals to seek dual nationality, for example, differential rights to land ownership or inheritance or different tax law."

Our goal: SUCCESS

Yesterday night, my husband and I were thinking about "success", how to describe it, and after talking about ingredients like fulfillment, enjoyment, health, love, responsibility, citizenship and money we found the following and beautiful definition of success, and we agreed with it. And you, how do you measure your success?

"What is success?
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by
A healthy child, a garden patch
Or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed
Easier because you have lived;
This is to have succeeded."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Una identitat dinàmica

Aquí us proposo un tros de un article en el Diari D'Andorra que trobo força inspirador. Es del Molt Il·lustre Ministre Juli Minoves. De fet, té una visió molt positiva sobre el desenvolupament d'Andorra i de la seva identitat dinàmica. I a vosaltres que us sembla?

"Andorra ha adoptat un altre enfocament, un de més obert. Tot i mantenint les nostres velles tradicions, ens trobem en un procés dinàmic d’incorporació en la cultura nacional de moltes influències exteriors i reconeixem que aquest procés ampliarà la nostra cultura comuna. El fet d’incorporar els altres no pot reforçar una mena de solidesa material o de rigidesa conceptual. Ens planteja inevitablement el repte de si serem capaços de fer que el nostre patrimoni cultural es vegi enriquit i augmenti. És el gran repte de la nostra identitat: moderna, oberta, tolerant, acollidora i alhora reconstruïda amb valors comuns i ancorada per aquells aspectes positius i necessaris que representen la nostra llengua i la nostra tradició política de pau i de democràcia."

Andorra, el país dels Pirineus

Hi ha molt molt molt més a Andorra! :)

Desafíos...

Andorra es un país de paz. Claro que sí.
Pero he aprendido que es un país de paz negativa.
La paz negativa es buena, a pesar de su ingrato nombre. De hecho, he aprendido que la paz negativa se define esencialmente por la falta de guerra. Pero eso no significa que no haya violencia, claro que la hay. Lamentablemente la encontramos en muchas partes porque la violencia no se traduce solamente por violencia física, sino también por “violencia estructurada”, o sea violencia que se traduce de mil y una maneras, como por ejemplo la desigualdad, la discriminación, entre otras. Por lo tanto, donde haya “structural violence” aún no se ha alcanzado la paz positiva.
¿Y por qué hablo yo de todo esto? Pues de hecho porque hace algunos meses me dijeron que no entendían porque estaba tan preocupada con las condiciones de los inmigrantes en mi país, al fin y al cabo es un país muy tranquilito donde los ciudadanos nacionales y los inmigrantes cohabitan en paz. Sí, pero en paz negativa.
El hecho que en la escuela se discrimine algunos alumnos o que éstos se sientan discriminados por su raza, clase social o origen de su familia es una señal clara de que algo no va tan bien como creemos. Sí, hay discriminación y racismo en la pacífica Andorra. ¿Qué estamos haciendo para eliminar estas violencias? Cerramos todos los ojos, y hacemos ver que somos todos iguales, ignoramos nuestras diferencias y ya está, somos iguales. Pues a mí me parece que no, que no es así. No debemos ignorar sino valorar lo que cada uno tiene de diferente, porque cada diferencia nos aporta un granito más de cultura, de pasión, de vida, de visión.
No podemos ignorar que somos un país multicultural. Hacen falta más medidas políticas que reconozcan la riqueza de nuestro país, hacen falta pedagogías multiculturales en las escuelas, hacen falta leyes que reconozcan no solamente lo que nos une sino también lo que nos diferencia.
Reconozco que el gobierno promueve muchísimas iniciativas para la integración de los inmigrantes, por ejemplo con clases gratis de catalán. Lo que me preocupa es que muchos siguen viendo los inmigrantes como un atentado a la lengua y a la cultura de su país. Yo entiendo que los inmigrantes deben integrarse lo mejor posible al país de acogida, pero entiendo que sus identidades no deben ser rechazadas ni aniquiladas por ser diferentes. Creo que el aprendizaje debería ser más multilateral y no solamente unilateral. Al fin y al cabo, los andorranos no sólo somos hijos de andorranos, somos también hijos de españoles, de portugueses, de franceses, de marroquíes, de chinos, y nuestras identidades se entrelazan y se enriquecen mutuamente. Se teme por el catalán, por la cultura y cohesión nacional. Lo sé.
Y es que los desafíos de la inmigración, de la globalización son muchos, pero muchos son también sus tesoros, ¿no deberíamos compartirlos?

¡Un abrazo multicultural a todos y a todas vuestras identidades más o menos reveladas!

Let's begin!

The idea of creating this blog has come from an academic project for one of my course: Education for Social Change. I have then decided that I wanted to write my final paper about Andorra, its multicultural population and its challenges in education. I thought that a blog will be a space to share ideas, perceptions and experiences about immigration, languages, multicultural spaces, national cohesion and citizenship.
I thought about the name of the blog during a long time, about the way to start, the language to use and then I discovered that I wanted this blog to be more than an academic project that would begin with the outline of the final paper and end with the presentation of the final paper. The creation of the blog has become something more. I have discovered the pleasure of having a blog, of writing my feelings and sharing them with others! But, all this excitment also made me lose my first objective which was writing about and asking people to participate about multicultural experiences.
I have been reading a lot of things. I have been learning a lot! So many things are making sense!
I have recently read Amartya Sen and his text “The violence of illusion”. In this text, Sen translates my struggle of identities. In fact, I feel that I cannot be reduced to one identity, I do not have just one identity, and I cannot not narrow my identity to one of my main characteristics.
I feel that it is dangerous to dichotomize my different identities, I do not want to have “competing identities”, because I believe my identities must not bring conflict but they have to be a source of richness and warmth. But sometimes, the fact that we want to belong to two countries at the same time is a experience that carries many complexities.
The immigrants, or the daughters or sons of immigrants know that it is not easy at all to harmonize two “competing identities”, for example the one linked to the home country of the family and the other linked to the country we have been living. I belong to many groups, groups defined by my citizenship, my family country, my religion, my gender, my class, all my experiences and choices.
To say that I am just a woman, I am just a daughter of poor Portuguese immigrants or that I am just an Andorran citizenship is based on the illusion of a singular identity that others attribute to me.
The problem comes when I feel discriminated because of one of my identities, or let me correct, because other people looking at me just through one of my identities.
But you know, as Whitman said, “I am large, I contain multitudes” and we all are and do!

Passo-me!

Passo-me da cabeça. Fico com uma cara... pior que estragada, como dizem!

Gente nova, gente bem vestida, gente vaidosa a abrir um rebuçadinho e pam!, cá está a minha cara de indignação! Pessoal a comer um menú qualquer on the way, e quando acabam, pam, cá estão outra vez os meus olhinhos bem abertos, em sinal de espanto. Para onde acham que vai o invólucro do rebuçado? E toda a parafernália do menu? Para onde? É para o chão, claro está! Para o chão do metro, da rua, de qualquer lado!
Mas que educação os pais, as escolas, a sociedade estamos a promover?! O que é que anda a falhar? Onde estão o respeito, a cidadania, o amor?

Outra coisa que ando a ver muito por aí e que não acabo de perceber, e espero que alguém me consiga explicar, é: porque é que os rapazes andam com as calças a cair, com os boxers e traseiro à mostra?! Porquê?

Menos mal que há esquilos...

Veo veo, ¿qué ves?

Me encanta la publicidad. ¡Es verdad! No me importa que la película se detenga para poner publicidad, bueno al menos cuando la publicidad es buena, original y fresquita. Toda esa creatividad, esas ganas de convencernos a comprar algo, como nos seducen con humor, con imágenes que tocan nuestra sensibilidad... Hay anuncios que, de hecho, son obras de arte y enamoran.

Pero esas obras de arte también son peligrosas, son armas que luchan por el consumismo, por nuestra preferencia, por nuestra cartera, nuestra tarjeta de crédito. ¡Tantos anuncios en la tele, en la calle que intentan convencernos a comprar esto o aquello! Y es que está cientificamente comprobando que inconscientemente o no, pensamos: " Al comprar y usar este perfume, voy a ser tan sexy como la actriz del anuncio..." A veces sentimos que de hecho contribuye para el falso y efímero aumento de nuestra autoestima. Pero las publicidades que más me gustan (además de aquellas de Skip, que apesar de ser un detergente nos acostumbra a publicidades fantásticas, bonitas y alegres. Skip es la excepción a la regla de que todos los anuncios de detergentes son aburridos, exagerados y aburridos, sí, otra vez.)

A lo que iba, aquellas publicidades que más me gustan son las campañas de sensibilización, por todo lo que nos transmiten y de la manera como lo hacen, desde las nuevas campañas contra la violencia doméstica del Ministerio de Igualdad hasta las campañas sobre la educación de los niños. Y me despido por hoy con este enlace de una campaña que debería circular hasta estar bien asimiladita por todos. Ala, aquí va:

Who? Me?

Today, again, I realized that nationality has not to be the same as identity. Again, I found that even if I have just one nationality, I may have more than one identity. In fact, I can clearly recognize my nationality, I have a passport :) nevertheless, when I think about my identity, there is no documents, there are feelings, experiences and so a diverse and wonderful world in it!
There is my identity based on my family roots, another identity based on social and national influences, one based on the education I have been receiving, and all these change according to the experiences lived. When I go to the country of my parents, I feel not a tourist, there are some ways of living that have been passed on to me; but there is also some confrontation between the parents’ country and the country I belong.
It is also when I am in a different country that is not my home country that I really recognize my national identity. Yesterday night, once again, I went to an international event, this time led by the fantastic organizations One-to-World and Fulbright, and when the speaker said the name of my country and I had to stand up, I felt more Andorran than ever. I am glad to meet people who are curious about my country! So, in fact, my nationality is a great part of my identity. It is one very important part. But, I have other parts too… in some way I feel also a little bit Spanish because Spanish language and culture were my first approaches to life, and I also feel Portuguese especially due to the experiences promoted by my parents and by my husband, I have even felt a little bit French when I have been studying in a French school. Should have I stood up when they were calling all these countries? ;)

Why?

Welcome everybody!

I am sure you are wondering why have I chosen this name for the blog!

So, let’s start with the explanation of the name “On hi cap tothom”.
It was so difficult to find a name for the blog I felt that translated my motivations! My beloved husband and I have been thinking during three weeks, “what about Intercultural Train? What about the Puzzle? Or the Puzzle Project? What about Identities On the Move? What about…? ” And then one fantastic night, doing some research on Andorran linguistic policy, these words appeared to me and just made sense “On hi cap tothom”. It is Catalan and it means more or less “A place for everybody” .
What I really want to promote here is dialogue, the sharing of different ideas and experiences in the field of intercultural education. I am very interested about migration issues, complexity of identities, the roles of foreign languages learning, cross-cultural understanding, multiculturalism, Human Rights Education, national cohesion, global citizenship and you know what? it is an endless listing!
Feel free to participate, to speak in the language you prefer from these (the ones I can understand): Catalan, Spanish, Portuguese, French or English! I will switch from one to another freely! Do it too!
Share your ideas, your perspectives, your blogs and projects, and make me change my mind or not! :) And don't forget to sign the guest map on the bottom of the page, if you feel so!
And again:
Welcome everybody! :)