10. Mai 2018
60 Jahre Goethe-Institut Kairo

Impulsvortrag des Präsidenten des Goethe-Instituts Prof. Dr. h.c. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann

Anrede,

We are gathered here today for a very special occasion: 60 years of the Goethe-Institut Cairo. For all of us this is a day of joy and gratitude. At the same time it is a day which obliges us for the future to continue our joint deliberations on tomorrow's world in the spirit of our commitment to international collaboration.

60 years of the Goethe-Institut Cairo has meant a colourful history of political, social and cultural changes, and at the same time 60 years is clear testimony to mutual trust, the credibility of our work and the equality of value attached to the relations with artists, cultural players and groups of civil society. This has constantly been confirmed anew despite the profound changes and the framework conditions, which have not always been easy.

The Goethe-Institut Cairo was one of our early foundations in the world. Having emerged from the first language course provider in Sharia El Bustan it soon became one of the largest Goethe-Instituts worldwide, with its own library and an extensive programme of events. We are very happy that we were able to move into the new building in good time before the anniversary celebration – a wonderful ensemble with a converted garden at its heart and the architectural interplay of open facades and traditional components. The building thus already expresses the interplay of two cultures. In Germany we have a saying: whoever builds, stays. This is certainly true with respect to Cairo, with its lively community whose creativity is the engine and mirror of social changes and for which cultural exchange is a need. Contemporary literature, film, performance, graphic art or music express political, social and cultural concepts, convey am impression of hopes and fears. Art and culture are not the playground of artists and intellectuals, they are an essential part of society. The contest between the plethora of perspectives and the related exchange makes the commitment to the Goethe-Institut so important. Perhaps it is the artists and poets who will bring us closer to the future. They may not necessarily be the ones who make the weather, but they may possibly possess a barometer.

There are today 160 institutes in nearly 100 countries. There is clearly a need for cultural exchange. While in the 50s and 60s the Goethe-Institut was concerned with awakening in the world understanding for the new Germany, and in the 70s and 80s the social debates and the reflections regarding a self-critical Germany played a major role, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 it was necessary to face up to the challenges of a multipolar world. Today it is more a matter of creating scope for movement and space for dialogue, of facilitating encounters, of initiating cultural exchange and co-productions, of strengthening players from the civil society and of establishing an infrastructure for culture and education.

The ability to engage in discourse is a thread passing through the various phases of the Goethe-Institut, as is the recognition that culture does not play a role in the competition between systems and neither is it a suitable instrument in the service of hegemony. Culture is not a peacemaker as such. Culture is a mutual gain when it opens up, communicates, furthers reciprocal knowledge and is rooted in an appreciation of the diversity and equal value of others – all on the basis of the freedom of art and science.

Globalisation and modernisation have not produced a uniform world. On the contrary, it is more segmented than ever. Global competition has now created a changed participation in the spheres of power and influence. New centres and peripheries have emerged, with sealed parallel worlds, with jump-over effects where purely economic thinking invades all areas of life. Throughout the world flows of migrants have been triggered and population will continue to grow exponentially.

Precisely because the world exhibits such differences, lack of synchronicity and ruptures, because it demands of people a high degree of willingness to change, global formulas or world-spanning control systems are not the solution. On the contrary, a way must found of rendering possible a critical, imaginative conversation with and in the world, a way which questions rigid clichés and which credibly endeavours to engage in a responsible dialogue. Culture lives from encounter and mediation. It is concerned with making the world more readable. Only if it is more readable are translation and dialogue possible. Not the knowledge community but the learning community is the structure for an international cultural policy which the Goethe-Institut has committed itself to.

The Goethe-Institut is uniquely qualified to carry this notion of cultural and educational work. The founders placed the implementation of cultural end education policy in the hands of an independent organisation and did not subordinate it to governmental responsibility. The fact that it is not part of government is important for its credibility and the sustainability of partner relations. It is a foreign policy of the civil societies in terms of a system of understanding and regulation which is the responsibility of the parties involved. It needs people who expose themselves to dialogue, with the ability to deal with cultural differences. This system is linked with the foreign ministry by way of a general agreement on objectives. In all electoral periods parliament and government have stood by this independence. The common basis is the interest in an open and free society capable of engaging in discourse, one which is rooted in the rule of law, human rights and a democratic constitution.
Under the impact of the changed conditions in the world the Goethe-Institut has also changed over the past few years. This reform process can be summarised in three terms Innovation – Interaction – Inspiration.

Innovation comes from the locality, in other words the Goethe-Instituts in the world acquire their unmistakable character and impact from local knowledge and experience, from the expectation of partners and their own possibilities. This is not a matter of representation but of participation. The watchwords are cooperation and coproduction. This gives rise to fresh impulses. In addition to the linguistic and cultural programme the Institute is using increasingly residence programmes. Worldwide there are about 100 of these involving extended stays by German artists and scientists, and there are now four houses of residence: Tarabya Cultural Academy in Istanbul, the Villa Kamogawa in Kyoto, the Vila Sul in Salvador de Bahia, with the special feature of a south-south dialogue, and the foundation of the German Academy in New York. These are ambitious locations which build up a strong personal network and provide the base camp for collaboration.

Interaction is the task of the regions – 14 world regions have been defined -  who autonomously provide for their reciprocal networking by delegating responsibility for finances and matters of content, thus ensuring the visibility, scale and sustainability of their work – again on a participatory basis. Cairo is the seat of the regional institute which stretches from Morocco to Saudi Arabia with a total of 18 institutes. This decentralised structure is crucial for a pragmatic approach which brings together different voices, facilitates an exchange between artistic positions and hence throws light on a cultural potential. In this region this involves, for example, cultural programmes in the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, culture and the urban space with the social responsibility of architecture and women in the Arab world. A programme which brings together leading representatives from Europe and the Middle East through artistic interventions and which spotlights the work process in festivals in Cairo, Beirut, Brussels and Berlin, plus of course educational programmes for young people.

In Sub-Saharan Africa the Goethe-Institut relies in particular on inter-regional networks. For instance, Moving Africa brings together artistic talents across national borders, organises festivals in towns and lends them an international profile. Music in Africa is a digital platform which renders contemporary African music accessible and links it to the musicians' biographies. In this way it not only provides for an artistic future with permanent work structures but also provides for an economic future. By 2019 all African countries will be involved. These are just a few examples. They have been made possible by the merger of the Goethe Instituts within a region. There are also examples which go beyond the individual regions. This is the case with the subjects of the culture of remembrance or colonial history.

Inspiration is the task of the head office in Germany, which, through service, evaluation and identification of the best developments, feeds the creativity of the German cultural scene back into the loop and provides for creative partnerships. It is also responsible for the world-spanning digital structures in its informative, cultural, educational and linguistic work. Today the Goethe-Institut's website can boast around 35 million visits a year and in the social media around 4 million people follow the Goethe-Institut. The immense flood of information, the fragile speed and the manipulability also create problems. The Italian writer Umberto Eco once remarked that it is becoming increasingly easy to impress more and more people with less and less knowledge. Media competence is therefore an important standard for us.

The new directions taken by the Goethe-Institut in its work would not be presented completely if we failed to mention the German language. 15.4 million people learn German and the number is growing. The Goethe-Institut is the first address for this worldwide. The number of participants in the Goethe-Institut's language courses has increased by 20 % over the last five years, and in the schools by 5 %. Firstly mention should be made here of 140 German international schools. Another decidedly successful school model is the joint initiative of the Zentralstelle für das Auslandsschulwesen (ZfA) and the Goethe-Institut, Schools – partners for the future (PASCH). There are now about 1500 PASCH schools in the world. In the selected quality schools of the individual country German language departments leading to university entrance qualification are set up, teachers from the country concerned are given initial and further training and the best students are invited to summer camps in Germany. These learner biographies include helping to think out and shape the transition to a university education.

The German language is also central to the integration of people who have chosen Germany as their new home, willingly or under pressure of circumstances. The distinction between the internal and external concerns has long been superseded. For some considerable time now Germany has been a country of immigration, and this even more so since the influx of war refugees in 2015/2016. The key to enabling migrants to participate in the society is the German language. The Goethe-Institut has highly effective instruments for imparting the language, including facilities in the digital domain. By virtue of its close contacts with the countries of origin it is also familiar with the cultural mentalities, and this knowledge is helpful in achieving successful integration.

Central to our work is the encounter with people. And to underscore this point I would like to quote Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: We don't get to know people when they come to us; we must go to them to find out what they are like.

Finally I would like to express my special thanks to all those who have shown such commitment and imagination in shaping these relations over many years and in many initiatives and projects, who have not shied away from the hard slog of the practical challenges and who have always been present with great skill and passion. I am talking here, on the one hand, of the current and former employees of the Goethe-Institut under the present management of Elke Kaschl Mohni and, on the other, of our numerous partners locally and in the region. Mutual respect and common objectives will carry us into the future. My warmest thanks!

Es gilt das gesprochene Wort!