A Word from the Project Director

“The British Council’s Intercultural Dialogue work in general, and Our Shared Europe in particular, are not designed to confront terrorism: that is the work of government agencies. What we do is to address the cultural damage of the past; and the fractured understanding that our society has of others, they of us, and we of ourselves. We certainly believe that these dislocations and fractures are major contributors to extremism; but our interest is in healthy, open communication and mutual knowledge as positive ends in themselves, yielding better informed, better tempered societies that accept, respect and welcome each other and are at ease with themselves. We do not always aspire to seamless agreement. Sometimes reasoned disagreement on shared premises is just as important: a clear and explicit understanding of this (apparent) limitation is a sign of the respect that is a precondition of successful Intercultural Dialogue.”

Martin Rose,

Project Director Our Shared Europe