or On the Significance of the Festival for European Solidarity in Sofia
Until quite recently, it seemed that Europe had overcome its centuries of hostile fragmentation and had achieved peace. After a long and difficult unification process, spanning decades, 27 countries now share common legal and administrative frameworks, ensuring free movement, an enormous market, the exchange of people and ideas, and mutual tolerance of differences.
The events of the last several years, however—the global financial crisis, waves of migrants, Brexit, the pandemic, the wars in Ukraine and the Near East—have unexpectedly raised new walls and fronts. Isolationist sentiments have awakened, and the ghosts of the old geopolitical “spheres of influence” have been revived. At this moment, even in the EU, some countries are reestablishing or strengthening their borders, building fences, controlling free access, and exercising digital surveillance.
This calls our unity into question and serves to remind all of us that unity is something more than a good institutional structure—it requires solidarity. And solidarity does not end with parliament and commissions, with common standards and economic unions, or even with military alliances and security measures: it presupposes a common sense of belonging. At its very heart is the emotional connection among all Europeans, the sense of being a “we” and the readiness for mutual support. And this also requires a cultural project: the awareness of a common heritage and a common cultural destiny—in the past, the present, and the future.
A difficult task—because it does not stop at the celebration of the great and diverse European cultural achievements, but inevitably implies the recognition and overcoming of a number of historical sins of Europe itself: the colonial conquests, the catastrophes of the world wars, crimes against humanity, the Iron Curtain. But there are still many contemporary issues for which we do not yet seem to have a solution. The motto “unity in diversity” should be realized beyond any traditional Eurocentrism, but how far can we get with the universalist spirit of European culture? What kind of “we” do we need—inclusive or exclusionary? One that consolidates Europe within its continental civilizational boundaries (but where do these end?), or one that opens it up to the riches and diversity of the world? Are solidarity, support, and emotional connection possible with all of those who share the “European dream”? And is it realistic for such a borderless, universalist idea to be sustained in times of the global migrations of millions, of increasingly guarded borders, of fanatical religious regimes, and of raging wars, real and hybrid? Can we save unity and start building solidarity against the rising populisms and nationalisms already constructing invisible new walls around us?
The Sofia Festival is unlikely to answer these questions. Its goal is smaller, but clearer: within its modest framework, not only to thematize, but to practice diversity and solidarity. The organizers intend to do this through a mosaic of cultural, artistic, public, and academic events organized by more than 15 international partners. A means of achieving this will be the sought after resonance—the connections between the cultural manifestations, the common problems and their intersections.
The first edition of the festival is dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The general theme of “Walls” will be the focus of an international academic conference of the same name, but solidarity and walls will be discussed in different ways and throughout the events of the festival: exhibitions, discussions and talks, literary meetings, films, concerts, videos, performances, and various others cultural forms. Bulgarians, Germans, French, English, Serbs, Poles, Romanians, Ukrainians, Czechs, Dutch, Americans, and Russians; scholars, writers, artists, curators, musicians, journalists, educators, and diplomats will remember the Berlin Wall and will talk about the cultural bridges that connect us, but will also discuss the barriers—visible and invisible, old and new—that divide us.
The festival starts out in Sofia, but we hope that it will grow to connect many cultural initiatives and European cities in an international network which will spread the message of solidarity.
Through this exchange of views in public, artistic, and analytical languages, we hope to activate the popular debate about the values of cultural tradition, freedom, and democracy that unite Europe.
And if this solidarity practiced through discussion and culture stays with us for a few months, that will be no small thing.