It is a funny thing symbols, really. One day, they’re decorating your birthday cake, the next, they’re burning on the West Bank. One day, they’re in your daily Qur’an, the next, they’re in a Danish, a French or a German newspaper with a bomb in their turban. One day, some Americans think your country is the capital of Stockholm (not kidding!), the next, they’re “supporting the Danes’ rights to freedom of speech” by drinking Carlsberg and eating Danish hot-dogs during football games. Seems ridiculous? It is. And it is not.

We all know the pictures – if not of the Muhammad Cartoons (because your local newspaper/tv-station refused to show them), then of the scenes of angry Muslims across the world. We don’t have to get into the violence – that debate is dead and buried. There can and should be no acceptance for the scenes of violence, or the jeopardizing of innocent people’s lives.

Aside from the fact that a hot-dog is never going to get Denmark out of a diplomatic hurricane the size of Katrina, it is ridiculous, because it should have never gone so far. To stay with Katrina for a second, the levees were obviously breaking, and people should have been evacuated a long time ago. From a Western standpoint, defending the right to freedom of press and freedom of speech is more than just rhetoric; it is our vision, and it is the price we have won from centuries of hard struggle. That is not to say we cannot teach others how to play, but, to my recollection, no one even asked us if we could come out. Jyllands Posten did not necessarily fail when it decided to publish the cartoons, but the world press failed fatally when it neglected to show both sides of the story.

The cartoons and the chaos were the result of almost a decade of radicalization in Danish immigration politics, a conservative coalition government containing Dansk Folkeparti (“Danish People’s Party”, a right-wing party accused of racism on several counts), and an increasingly harsh tone in the public immigration debate. Was it wrong then to want and to have a debate? Absolutely not! It was an acute necessity. But as Theo van Gogh’s tragic murder, and the burning banlieues of Paris illustrated, the wheels of globalization are racing, and it’s a bumpy road – Europe is not, and never was, a one-way street. The fortress that was once national borders is now wide open. What we do and say in the West will be felt and heard in the East.

It is not ridiculous that we stand our ground, but when we know it’s contaminated, we had better get off! We should be able to comment on anything from cars to religion, without having to fear either Opel or the orthodox. But insolence is for kids. It’s a big world, and though the children are our future, a big world calls for grown-ups to lead the way.

That the cartoons would make the blood boil in Denmark, the Gaza Stripe, in Pakistan, in Lybia, and Syria was no surprise. Not if you knew the full story. Unfortunately, not many did. If we fight to maintain the right to practice free speech and free press, the least we can do is to tell the story, the whole story – no omissions, no holds barred.

By Peter A. Dahl
This article was written as part of the M100 Youth Media Workshop 2007 on Sept. 2, 2007

There is more to Potsdam than just Popcorn. You wouldn’t want to miss the RBB canteen, the deserted Uni Potsdam Campus on a Sunday night or a group of 35 young and aspiring journalists engaged in dead-serious media discussion and production. That’s quite a treat actually

After day two and three of the M100 Youth Media Workshop we can safely say our first impression did not last very long. Day two started with the introduction of all the participants’ projects.

We really liked:

• WC Press – A multinational media upstart that tries to establish a news and entertainment outlet at the very last sanctuary. The toilet. If you want to become a distribution partner, write to the headquarters in Kiev.

• EasternMag – A magazine that hopes to unite people from Eastern Europe and to spark interest in Western Europe for all the things that happen in places like Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn (and that’s a lot).

• Europocket TV – This webTV reports and comments on all the going ons in Europe. They offer a range of shows that deal with politics, culture and every other youth-related topic of importance. You can access their content in three languages.

• Of course, we also presented tapmag. Watch our slideshow here. (5 MB!)

So why did all these people with those big ideas get to meet? Apparently, someone, somewhere out there believes that 35 young journalists can make a difference when you place them together. The aim was to provide answers to pressing issues that arise out of religion, globalization and transcultural encounters.

While nobody came up with a solve-it-all formula to old questions, the gathering nonetheless served its purpose – to foster intercultural dialogue. Most of us left Potsdam with new friends, new insights and a new perspective on today’s Europe. Still, most of the conclusions remained trivial. Big News: There is no one-size-fits-all solution of how to turn journalistic ideals into practise in an ever complex and controversial cultural environment. But hey, at least we all got to meet and talk about it.

If you want to have a look at the productive outcome yourself, go over to orangelog.eu.

[Show as slideshow]

Located a stone’s throw west of Berlin, Potsdam drew national attention on Easter Sunday 2006, as a German-Ethiopian husband and father was sent into a coma by the blow to the head by an assumed, yet unidentified, right extremist. It was a punch on the nose for a nation, desperately fighting to move past its all too tragic past.

Today, more than one year later, Potsdam is still a city of stark contrast. The city’s fairytale surroundings, with its renaissance castles and gardens, create an almost condescending backdrop of a bewildered youth (Potsdam has an unemployment rate of 11,6%).

The irony couldn’t have been clearer: Germany’s own Disneyland-look-alike framing a discussion on the “Dialogue Between Cultures” at the annual M100 Youth Media Workshop – an event where select European (and Israeli) young journalists come together to discuss “complex journalistic dilemmas.”

Now, I might only be 25, and a mere young’n in this writing game, but I am old enough to understand that grand openings are notoriously bound to crash before they even get off the ground. Let’s get one thing out of the way: This, the M100’s Grand Opening, did not crash – it sort of hovered 10 cm above ground.

Prominent people were present (as prominent as one gets as a “filler” for the “filler” of the guy who was actually supposed to be there), and words only superseded by “Coca-Cola” and “OK” were thrown around like popcorn at a pajama party. Nonchalantly sprawled on barstools, set in the shape of a horseshoe (for good luck, hoping that would really get the baby off the road?), editors-in-chief and “fillers” alike discussed the triumphs and trickeries of modern-day journalism.

The following are excerpts of fragments of this night’s pajama party. Hold on to your popcorn:

“Complexity is a challenge for journalists who’s job it is to make something complex simple” (Dr. Roland Löffler, Herbert Quandt-Stiftung)

“Lady Di is just a dead Paris Hilton” (Dr. Joachim Huber, editor, “Tagesspiegel”)

“Don’t lie if you know you’re lying” (Dr. Joachim Huber, editor, “Tagesspiegel”)

“80% of today’s journalists are ‘lost’ – corrupt. Write for the things you believe in! Will you defend your independence?” (Hans-Ulrich Jörges, deputy editor-in-chief, “Stern” magazine). Mr. Huber quickly sided with the remaining 20%.

The keen reader might have trouble making any sense of this. In all honesty, I’m trying to myself. And in all fairness (and yes, “fairness” was thrown around, too), there was more to the discussion than big words. The “fight against terror”-rhetoric was attacked for being “a fight against everyone who’s against secret services and censorship for politics,” as was Germany’s bland handling of Pres. Bush. “You don’t make movies like Michael Moore in Germany,” said Mathew D. Rose (author and free-lance journalist, Berlin). “Jon Stewart! Forget Michael Moore! Jon Stewart!” Prof. Dr. Susan Neiman (Einstein Forum) chimed in. The intentions were good – really, they were. Only, it was like the old school style cup holder on an old Mazda, where the cup holder was just a slight bump in the door of the glove compartment: it’s nice that they bothered, but you kind of know you have to hold the cup yourself, if you don’t want to spill.

The young, aspiring journalists listened. Some learned. And they rushed the buffet, chewing away to the echo of Mr. Rose’s words of wisdom, “it’s a hard job, but don’t lose your sense of humor!” How could we ever?

Stay tuned to see how much closer we’ll come to sense on our way through a new cosmos tomorrow… Popcorn’s included.

By Peter Dahl

The first posting on our shiny new website is great news for all of us:

The tapmag project was selected as one of the best in a range of 100 competitors from 21 countries. So we will participate in the Youth Media Workshop in Potsdam.
Log on to the M100 website to learn more:

www.m100potsdam.org