Cohe­sion in Diversity
15 The­ses on Cultural
Inte­gra­tion and Cohesion

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Fore­word

Cul­tu­ral inte­gra­tion is the key to a peaceful coexis­tence of all peo­ple in our coun­try. We, the mem­bers of the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion, stand for cohe­sion through cul­tu­ral inte­gra­tion in diversity.

In 2017, our broad alli­ance of repre­sen­ta­ti­ves of social part­ners, the media, reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties, civil-society orga­ni­sa­ti­ons as well as poli­ti­ci­ans and admi­nis­tra­tors pre­sen­ted, for the first time, fif­teen the­ses on “Cohe­sion in Diver­sity”. They were recei­ved with great inte­rest and are still the sub­ject of intense dis­cus­sion today.

Cur­rent social con­tro­ver­sies demand even grea­ter inte­gra­tion efforts from all of us. The deba­tes about attrac­ting qua­li­fied workers and inte­gra­ting them as well as the wide-ran­ging dis­course on streng­thening demo­cracy cau­sed the mem­bers of the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion to carry out a fun­da­men­tal revi­sion of those fif­teen the­ses six years later.

The fol­lo­wing fif­teen the­ses form the basis of fur­ther work by the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Integration.

They address fun­da­men­tal issues such as the fac­tors that shape a plu­ra­li­stic society, the inte­gra­tio­nal effect of gain­ful employ­ment, the importance of the Ger­man cul­ture of remem­brance and the rele­vance of cul­tu­ral diversity.

The mem­bers of the Initia­tive reso­lut­ely oppose anti­se­mi­tism, racism, and any form of group-rela­ted enmity.

Cohe­sion in diver­sity is the uni­fy­ing link of the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion as well as our agenda and our mission.

Olaf Zim­mer­mann
Spo­kesper­son for the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Integration
Direc­tor of the Ger­man Cul­tu­ral Council

The peo­ple in Ger­many as well as those in other count­ries are facing huge chal­lenges. The effects of the pan­de­mic over the last few years, the con­ti­nuing cli­mate change, glo­ba­li­sa­tion and geo­po­li­ti­cal chan­ges, the resul­ting migra­tion move­ments as well as war in Europe and in many other regi­ons of the world unsettle many peo­ple in this coun­try. Exis­ting cer­tain­ties are col­lapsing. Fami­liar habits are incre­asingly ques­tio­ned. What is all too easily for­got­ten are the uphe­avals that Ger­many and Europe have alre­ady mas­te­red. It remains the goal of the Euro­pean uni­fi­ca­tion pro­cess to stand up for a demo­cra­tic and peaceful Europe that fos­ters cul­tu­ral exch­ange. – The Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion stands for a society that anti­ci­pa­tes and accepts chal­lenges so that it can join forces to shape them.

For hundreds of years peo­ple of dif­fe­rent ori­g­ins have been living tog­e­ther in Ger­many. Dif­fe­rent bio­gra­phies, expe­ri­en­ces and regio­nal tra­di­ti­ons have shaped our coun­try and are part of our cul­tu­ral diver­sity, which our society can rightly be proud of. This means that peo­ple migrate to Ger­many and become part of our society regard­less of their ori­gin and natio­na­lity. – The Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion stands for a society that pro­mo­tes diver­sity and faci­li­ta­tes participation.

Immi­gra­tion in any form, whe­ther cau­sed by flight, tar­ge­ted recruit­ment or for family reasons, chan­ges a society and requi­res open­ness, respect, accep­tance, and tole­rance on all sides. Socie­tal change is a con­ti­nuous pro­cess of nego­tia­ti­ons. It is a wrest­ling con­test bet­ween dif­fe­rent posi­ti­ons. It is a pro­cess that invol­ves daily inter­ac­tions and includes all the peo­ple living here. If shaped con­s­truc­tively, this pro­cess is bene­fi­cial for our society and its cohe­sion. Sto­king fears and hosti­lity divi­des society. Pro­blems asso­cia­ted with inte­gra­tion must be addres­sed. – The Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion stands for an open, cos­mo­po­li­tan society that crea­tes tog­e­ther­ness based on the fun­da­men­tal rights and values of the Ger­man Basic Law com­bi­ning it with jointly nego­tia­ted rules. Par­ti­ci­pa­tion in society and inte­gra­tion affect ever­yone living in Germany.

Living diver­sity streng­thens social cohe­sion. Cul­tu­ral insti­tu­ti­ons pro­mote cul­tu­ral inte­gra­tion. They enable peo­ple to engage with the values of a society, they con­vey know­ledge about past and pre­sent-day Ger­many and open up room for new per­spec­ti­ves. – The Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion stands for cohe­sion in diversity.

We have based the fol­lo­wing fif­teen the­ses pro­du­ced by the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion on the defi­ni­tion of cul­ture pro­vi­ded by UNESCO, which says that “cul­ture in the widest sense of the word is a set of distinc­tive spi­ri­tual, mate­rial, intellec­tual and emo­tio­nal fea­tures of society or a social group, that encom­pas­ses, not only art and lite­ra­ture, but life­styles, ways of living tog­e­ther, value sys­tems, tra­di­ti­ons, and beliefs”.

The Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion was set up in 2016 at the sug­ges­tion of the Fede­ral Minis­try of the Inte­rior and Com­mu­nity, the Fede­ral Minis­try of Labour and Social Affairs, the Fede­ral Govern­ment Com­mis­sio­ner for Cul­ture and the Media, the Fede­ral Govern­ment Com­mis­sio­ner for Migra­tion, Refu­gees, and Inte­gra­tion who is also the Com­mis­sio­ner for Anti-Racism as well as the Ger­man Cul­tu­ral Coun­cil. It is made up of 28 orga­ni­sa­ti­ons and insti­tu­ti­ons that repre­sent various social sec­tors. The members(1) repre­sent a wide range of insti­tu­ti­ons and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons, dif­fe­rent poli­ti­cal levels, and inte­rests. They stand for multi-facet­ted enga­ge­ment and cohe­sion in a plu­ra­li­stic society.

In 2017, the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion pre­sen­ted 15 the­ses on “Cohe­sion in Diversity”(2). The inten­tion was to pro­mote self-reflec­tion in a plu­ra­li­stic society that faced great chal­lenges in view of the influx of refu­gees in 2015 and 2016. The Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion exten­ded an expli­cit invi­ta­tion to ana­lyse and dis­tri­bute the the­ses as well as fill them with life.

Fol­lo­wing the raci­ally moti­va­ted attack that took place in Hanau/Germany on 19 Febru­ary 2020, the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion pas­sed the reso­lu­tion “Against Racism and Exclu­sion! For Cohe­sion in Diversity!”(3). In view of the chan­ging civic enga­ge­ment, the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion fur­ther cla­ri­fied its posi­tion on that topic in the paper on “For Cohe­sion in Diver­sity. Sha­ping the Future of Civic Engagement”(4).

Apart from the docu­ments refer­red to, the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion has, since the public pre­sen­ta­tion of its fif­teen the­ses in May 2017, been focu­sed on
rai­sing awa­re­ness of the the­ses, put­ting them up for dis­cus­sion and, by doing so, sti­mu­la­ting the dis­course about cohe­sion in diversity.

To this end, the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion car­ried out annual conferences(5), initia­ted competitions(6) and orga­ni­zed meetings(7). It took part in events and used the www.kulturelle-integration.de web­site to regu­larly publish news about the broad field of cohe­sion in diversity.

Six years after the public pre­sen­ta­tion of the 15 the­ses on “Cohe­sion in Diver­sity”, there was a need, in view of the world­wide chan­ges taking place, to look at the
the­ses with fresh eyes. These updated fif­teen the­ses on “Cohe­sion in Diver­sity” are the result of months of dis­cus­sion within the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Integration.

1 The fol­lo­wing are mem­bers of the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion: the ARD (Ger­man Asso­cia­tion of Public Broad­cas­ting Cor­po­ra­ti­ons), the Fede­ral Asso­cia­tion of Non-Sta­tu­tory Wel­fare Ser­vices, the Fede­ral Asso­cia­tion of Immi­grant Asso­cia­ti­ons in Ger­many, the Fede­ral Minis­try of the Inte­rior and Com­mu­nity, the Fede­ral Minis­try of Labour and Social Affairs, the Fede­ral Asso­cia­tion of Digi­tal Publishers and News­pa­per Publishers, the Con­fe­de­ra­tion of Ger­man Employ­ers‘ Asso­cia­ti­ons, the Ger­man Bishops‘ Con­fe­rence, the Ger­man civil ser­vants‘ asso­cia­tion and coll­ec­tive bar­gai­ning union (dbb), the Ger­man Trade Union Con­fe­de­ra­tion, the Ger­man Asso­cia­tion of Jour­na­lists, Ger­man Cul­tu­ral Coun­cil, the Ger­man County Coun­cil, the Ger­man Nature Con­ser­va­tion Asso­cia­tion, the Ger­man Olym­pic Sports Con­fe­de­ra­tion, the Ger­man Asso­cia­tion of Towns and Muni­ci­pa­li­ties, Ger­man Asso­cia­tion of Cities, the Fede­ral Govern­ment Com­mis­sio­ner for Cul­ture and the Media, the Fede­ral Govern­ment Com­mis­sio­ner for Migra­tion, Refu­gees and Inte­gra­tion who is also Com­mis­sio­ner for Anti-Racism, the Pro­tes­tant Church in Ger­many, the Forum of Migrants based on Parity, the Coor­di­na­tion Coun­cil of Mus­lims, the Con­fe­rence of Minis­ters of Cul­ture, the MVFP Media Asso­cia­tion of the Free Press, new Ger­man orga­ni­sa­ti­ons – the post-migra­tion net­work, the Ger­man Asso­cia­tion of Pri­vate Media (VAUNET), the ZDF (Ger­man natio­nal public tele­vi­sion broad­cas­ter), the Cen­tral Coun­cil of Jews in Germany.

2 Cohe­sion in Diver­sity – 15 The­ses by the Initia­tive for Cul­tu­ral Inte­gra­tion https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IKI_15-Thesen_Publikation.pdf

3 Against Racism and Exclu­sion! For Cohe­sion in Diver­sity! https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Resolution_Gegen-Rassismus-und-Ausgrenzung.pdf

4 For Cohe­sion in Diver­sity. Sha­ping the Future of Civic Enga­ge­ment https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IKI-Grundsatzpapier_Buergerschaftliches-Engagement.pdf

5 First annual con­fe­rence: “Put up for dis­cus­sion…” on 29.05.2018. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/jahrestagung-der-initiative-kulturelle-integration-zur-diskussion-gestellt/

Second annual con­fe­rence: “Inte­gra­tion, Demo­cracy and Media” on 03.09.2019. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/zweite-jahrestagung-der-initiative-kulturelle-Integration/

Third annual con­fe­rence: “Civic Enga­ge­ment: Sha­ping Diver­sity” on 15.09.2020. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/dritte-jahrestagung-der-initiative-kulturelle-integration/

Fourth annual con­fe­rence: “Cohe­sion in Diver­sity: Inte­gra­tion through Work” on 08.06.2021. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/vierte-jahrestagung-der-initiative-kulturelle-integration/

Fifth annual con­fe­rence: “Cohe­sion against Racism” on 02.06.2022. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/fuenfte-jahres-tagung-der-initiative-kulturelle-integration-zusammenhalt-gegen-rassismus/

6 Photo com­pe­ti­tion: “Cohe­sion in Diver­sity – Jewish ever­y­day life in Ger­many” in 2020. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/aktuelles/fotowettbewerb/

Wri­ting com­pe­ti­tion: “L’Chaim: Write some­thing about Jewish life in Ger­many” in Jahr 2022. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/schreibwettbewerb/

School theatre mee­ting: “Hanau – School theatre for cohe­sion in diver­sity” in 2023. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/schultheater-hanau/

7 Con­fe­rence: 75 years after the libe­ra­tion of Ausch­witz con­cen­tra­tion camp – “Enga­ge­ment with history is never-ending” on 28.01.2020. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/tagung-erinnerungskultur/

Theme day on “Chan­ging Media Image: Jewish men and women in Ger­many” on 07.10.2021. More at: https://www.kulturelle-integration.de/termin/thementag-medienbild-im-wandel-juedinnen-und-juden-in-deutschland/