LITERATURE: Galvanizing Social Progress in the World (Satis Shroff)

Sharing Lit at the Fair (Satis Shroff) Writers from across Europe at the Frankfurter Book Fair 2016 were of the opinion that literature cannot move mountains, but does have the ability to galvanize…

Source: LIT AT THE FAIR (Satis Shroff)

LITERATURE: GALVANIZING SOCIAL PROGRESS (Satis Shroff)

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FridayOct 2016

Sharing Lit at the Fair (Satis Shroff)

Writers from across Europe at the Frankfurter Book Fair 2016 were of the opinion that literature cannot move mountains, but does have the ability to galvanize social progress. The annual book fair in Frankfurt is a place for dialogues and exchange. Europa! Was the motto of this year’s reception for it was also a cultural and political platform.

Flanders and the Netherlands are a cultural and language region and these two countries, together with Germany, have the North Sea in common. This is where barriers disappear and common denominators replace them; where literature, belief in freedom in the word and the exchange of ideas and the friendship of nations take over.

References and differences: Mercedes Monmany, the author of ‘Through Europe’s Borders, a Trip Through Narratives from the 20th and 21st centuries introduces readers to European literature. She shows that the borders, at present guarded zealously by Frontex, are permeable. Her plea is the Europe should not only be an economic idea and zone, but a cultural and spiritual one. She’s of the opinion that we should think about common references and not differences. One thing we have in common is literature. To enjoy culture in the form of literature, we don’t need any visa or passport.

Just buy a book from the nearest bookshop or borrow from the next library, eh?

Seeing further than Europe: Paola Soriga comes originally from Sardinia and her novel La Stagione che verral (The Season That’ll Come) deals with the lives of three Italians born in 1979, who live in a European world, a generation that speaks several languages, benefits from the Erasmus Exchange Programme, low cost flights and enables travels to most European countries. Paola Soriga quotes a fellow Sardinian writer Sergio Atzeni, who is on record as having said: ‘ I am a Sardinian, Italian and European. We are European, but we should also see further than Europe.’

What’s happening in Europe? Stormy days ahead with the influx of refugees from North Africa, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, the lack of cooperation among the EU countries about the fair distribution of people seeking asylum, incapable bureaucrats in Brussels and the resulting In Germany is has become normal to curse alien-friendly politicians, burn asylum homes, bash refugees and talk about national socialism. Hoyerswerda and Mölln have been outdone in recent times and racism is gathering momentum. Neighbour Britain is bent on Brexit because they are fed up of the almost dictatorial demands of the bureaucrats from Brussels. Quo vadis Europa?

Brexit: Britains exit from the European Union is the theme that is discussed in politics and economics not only in Brussels, but also in the streets and pubs in Continent and the UK. As a visitor to the Fair, you can experience the cultural exchange in engaged, provocative and thought-provoking debates, especially talks with the central theme: how can we live together in Europe? Some of the others themes were: publishing in France, Literary Migration in Europe? The Turkey and Europe: How about my freedom of speech and art? Gehen, Kam, Geblieben—Flucht und Migration als historische Normalität, European Crisis and the intellectual debate—in the deadend?

The Jungle: The refugee camp called ‘the Jungle’ in Calais (France) has been dismantled and some refugees set the abandoned tents on fire as a symbol. Most of the desired to go to England. The refugees have been whisked away in buses by the French police to other refugee camps in France, where they can apply for asylum. On the one hand the EU says it has a major problem with refugees, a crisis. On the other hand, the EU invests billions of euros in development aid in African countries. There is yet another important reason why Africans head towards Europe to make a living.

Fishing flotillas from China, Russia and European Union countries have been robbing the means of existence in the coasts of West Africa and elsewhere. An African activist put it aptly when he said: ‘The EU says, we give you development aid and destroys at the same time our fishing-industry.’

A Germany-based Weltspiegel report reveals the situation in Kayar, a fishing town in Senegal. EU countries like Spain use the fishing-license of the Senegalese government and use mega-trawlers to plunder the African resources. Through this sort of illegal fishing West African countries lose 1,2 billion euros per annum. If the world doesn’t stop plundering the livehood of West African and other poorer countries, it will be the children who won’t find jobs in their countries and will dream of new lives in Europe across the English Channel or other points of entry to the so-called prized, rich Continent.

A Cultural Mixed Literature: Shumona Sinha, who comes originally from Calcutta (Kolkota), is the author of ‘Let’s Beat Up the Poor!’ in French (2012) She admits she had Europe in her head even when she grew up in West Bengal’s capital. Writing in French liberates her from her original Bengali culture and from the weight of being a woman.

Reminds me of Jhumpa Lahiri (The Lowland), who lives like Donna Leon in Italy and has started a second writing career in the Italian language.

Shumona Sinha says her literature is a cultural mix. She says she has become another person due to the French language and European culture, and has high hopes for literature and its place in the world.

It is a fact that not only Europeans but also diverse cultures from the former colonies and immigrants from other countries have been living in Europe since decades and the new European generation learn to live together, despite diversity and in spite of rightists in Europe. The very idea of the European Union was to get rid of man-made barriers, manned or unmanned. Although the staunch and big Berlin Wall and the Stasi check-posts with their inhuman automatic guns have been removed, countries like Hungary still build walls and profess European democracy, which is indeed a farce, as far as European rights are concerned. The common cultural values through literature and music which are precious, have to be cherished and not allowed to be undermined by rightist-thinking Europeans.

Toronto’s Annick Press has brought out a book ‘Stormy Seas—Stories of Young Boat People Refugees.’ It is aimed at young people so that they can understand the images of refugees that are shown across the world’s TV channels. The book is written by Mary Beth Leathurdale and Eleanor Shakespeare. A tale of children who have fled persecution or warzones on boats during the 20th century till now.

There is the story of 18 year old Ruth, a Jewish girl, who fled Germany for Cuba in 1939 on the steamship St. Louis. Another story is about Mohamed 13, who fled from the Ivory Coast in 2006 and landed in Italy in 2010.  There are tens of thousands of such youth who are unaccompanied migrants, like Mohamed. Children travelling alone, sans parents, sans guardians.

 Nujeen’s odyssey:  refugee from war-torn Aleppo Nujeen Mustafa brought her dramatic story to the world stage in Frankfurt with the help of Christina Lamb, who is the co-writer of ‘I am Malala.’ Nujeen Mustafa crossed eight miles of sea between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos in a refugee boat. They’d paid $ 1,500 each instead of the usual $ 1,000 to board a dinghy with her family. A 3,500 hundred mile journey in a wheelchair. She had cerebral palsy. The countries crossed? Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria and finally Germany. What an odyssey. Nujeen Mustafa said: ‘ I love writers because they are very deep people who love expressing and writing down ideas.’

Sea Poems: This is what they shared. You shouldn’t be surprised of someone comes to you and whispers a poem in your ear. In case this happens to you, you’ll be asked if you’d like to experience it again. If it hasn’t happened to you, you’ll be obliged to choose one of nine sea poems from Flanders, the Netherlands and Germany. Sit back and relax in the ‘whisper chair’ and travel to the sea in your imagination. That’s what I did and it was so fascinating. Perhaps that’s because my favourite North Sea isle is Sylt.

In the reading mirror tent on the Agora you could hear poets from the new generation read from their works: Charlotte van der Broeck and Thomas Möhlmann. Two established poets Annecke Brassinga and Oswald Egger read from their anthology ‘VERschmuggel’ which means a smuggling of verses, Polderpoesie (Junge Lyrik aus Flandern und den Niederlanden) was presented by Stefan Wieczorek and Bas Kusakman. This was a work with various poets from Germany, Flanders and the Netherlands.