The age-old paradox of democracy

 

My presentation today at the NEMO conference. Here

Without water, one dies in nine days, yet one can live for five years without human touch. Is the latter a luxury?

Choir of ex-miners at the Mines of Lousal. Coming together to sing was (and is)
important to them. (Photo: Maria Vlachou)

The title is a quote from Justin O´Connor’s book “Culture is not an industry – Reclaiming art and culture for the common good”. Before I get into it, two episodes from my professional life come to mind.

In 2016, Access Culture found out about a working group constituted the year before by the Portuguese government to tackle the refugee crisis. The following sectors where represented in this group: Directorate-General for European Affairs/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreigners and Borders Service, the Social Security Institute, the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training, the Directorate-General for Health, the Directorate-General for Education and the High Commissioner for Migrations. Culture was not invited to be part. Our association wrote to the Ministry of Culture and we were informed that the group was almost completing its task and that the Ministry would pay more attention in the future. More attention to what…? Noone considered that Culture had anything to do with the arrival of refugees to a small country – not even the Ministry of Culture and perhaps also quite a few cultural professionals.