slezan
28.04.04, 22:18
Rudolf Steiner spoke out on occasion against cultural homogenization. Indeed,
he energetically advocatedthat which he alone considered “healing,” namely, a
multicultural society in which the autonomy of eachculture is not violated.In
this regard Rudolf Steiner even took concrete political action. With the help
of leaflet campaigns andby soliciting signatures from prominent people, he
opposed State suppression of minorities. In lieu of acentralized state he
called for three autonomous entities: 1) an independent and spiritual/
cultural life,particularly also for people of different ethnic origins who
live in the same area, 2) a legal system with thesame basic rights for all,
and 3) an economic life composed of associations among producers,
consumersand distributors.In 1922, after the first world war there were plans
to attach Upper Silesia - an ethnically mixed region - toeither Poland or
Prussia, or to separate the “ethnically cleansed” cultural groups. Rudolf
Steiner launcheda political effort with the goal of getting the Silesians of
both ethnic groups to reject, under protest, beingattached to either Poland
or Prussia. In his “Call to Save Upper Silesia” he wrote: “The situation in
UpperSilesia particularly calls out for such a threefold system. Here two
cultures, two cultural individualities -which are intermingled with each
other - are fighting for the chance to live in their own way. The
mostimportant causes of friction are education and judicial practices. Only
by liberating the spiritual/culturallife can these burning questions be
resolved, especially in Upper Silesia. Then both cultures, side by side,the
German and the Polish, will be able to develop in accord with their inherent
forces, without fearingthat they will be violated by the other and without a
political State taking one or the other side. Eachnationality will set up not
only its own educational institutions but also its own administrative bodies
forcultural matters, so that conflict is ruled out.”
