Integration conference "My home, our home: what unites us in a multicultural community" on 15th and 16th November in Tallinn, Estonia. Conference webpage: www.integrationconference.ee

1. Bridging the Narrative Gap Through
Culture and Commerce
Victoria Preston (King’s College London, United Kingdom)
Igor Merheim-Eyre (International Republican Institute, Belgium)

2. • Conditions of the individual (e.g. social, economic, or personal)
• Frustration with the direction of the country or a bigger polis (e.g. the EU)
• Existing prejudices inherent in a given society
• Lack of knowledge and a fear of the unknown ‘Other’
• Weak democratic institutions
• Narratives targeting specific groups (e.g. conservative segments of the society)
• Narratives often based on genuine concerns but increasingly tailored to appeal
to emotions
Societal vulnerabilities

3. Narratives –
Case study of the Czech Republic and Slovakia
• Western moral degeneracy
• Putin’s Russia as a defender of traditional values
• Migration destroying our/European culture
• Religion-based values are incompatible with liberal democracy
• Western subjugation of Central-Eastern Europe
• Loss of national independence and sovereignty
• Peace in Europe is threatened
• Russia has a legitimate right to a sphere of influence

4. How do we respond?

5. Negative
Rhetoric
Lowers Trust
Audiences
turn to native
language
media
Exacerbates
Divisions
The problem

6. • Paradigm of externalities – history, nationality, language, ethnicity, ‘otherness’
• Emotional rhetoric emphasises differences in values or identity.
• Broadly binary narrative of ‘us and them’.
• Limited focus on diversity and inclusion.
• Absence of narrative on Estonia’s social vision or goal.
Communication features

7. • The debate is framed by narratives about geo-politics, nationality, language
and socio-economic issues.
• But in strategic communications, before we attempt to address any
problem, we go right back to basics to reframe it.
• So what does this particular problem look like if we reframe it?
Re-framing the problem

8. Defining the Goal

9. • It’s not just about media and rhetoric: there are underlying structural
considerations.
• Ethnic inequality - Bad for social cohesion and prosperity; disrupts trust and loyalty
to the state; can generate internal as well as external security issues.
• Gender inequality – If you don’t develop and reward all your available talent, you
cannot compete with countries that do.
What are the obstacles?

10. • Start with 100% adult population fit and available for work (OECD figure for Estonia
is c. 845,000)
• Deduct 25% to account for the ethnic Russians who are typically educationally
disadvantaged (Lindemann & Saar 2012)
• That leaves 75%. Deduct 50% to account for gender inequality (Statistics Estonia
estimate gender pay gap in Estonia is the worst in EU at 20.9% )
• That leaves 37.5% of your workforce fully trained and fairly rewarded. (c. 316,000)
• What if the football team looked like this?
Some rough maths (not statistics!)

12. • History dictates the present, but it need not compromise the future.
• Building a fairer and more equal society will take generations to achieve.
• Structural and constitutional change is necessarily cautious and slow.
• But social enterprises and the arts can afford to take bigger risks.
• Let’s look at some cultural case studies, then generate a few ideas.
Change takes time

13. Said-Barenboim West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Inter-cultural projects

14. Bethnal Green City Challenge

15. • Grand Union Youth Orchestra/Shoreditch youth Dance and Malmo Youth Dance
Company (GUYO/SYD/MYDC)
• El Sistema – Venezuela
Socially-Inclusive Projects

16. Grand Union - SYD - MYDC

17. El Sistema

18. Relief & Reconciliation
Inter-faith projects

19. Conclusions
1. EMOTION: Identity, nationality, language, security are highly emotive concepts, here
as elsewhere.
2. RHETORIC: There is an opportunity here to reframe the public conversation using a
more collective narrative, and a more inclusive vocabulary.
3. ACTION: While resolving structural obstacles to diversity and inclusion is a longer-
term challenge (in Estonia and in the UK) there is an opportunity to make a difference
to the lives of many individuals in the near term through social enterprise and the arts.

20. Thank you for your
ideas and participation!