Deep-lomacy #6

International Corona lockdown – consequences for Culture and a Swedish alternative? / Amb. Karl-Erik Norrman, Co-Founder and Secretary General, European Cultural Parliament, ECP, Author, Faculty Member of ICD, Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, former Ambassador of Sweden

Throughout history, Governments forcing citizens into horrible wars and disaster have mainly been authoritarian. But with the arrival of the corona pandemic in 2020, we can witness how 190 more or less democratic governments are forcing their citizens into another type of disaster: lockdown and isolation. According to World Food Program the Corona lockdown will cause long-term collateral damages which are likely to outnumber the fatal consequences of the covid-19 virus itself. It is already evident how the lockdown hurts the poorest people in the world. Lockdowns mean job cuts, fewer means to get food and other necessities, and in already overcrowded slums or poorer areas – a wonderful place for a virus to flourish and rip families apart that have little or no access to healthcare. The brutality of inequality is demonstrated in a tragic way.

But there is another vital pillar of every society that is suffering from the global lockdowns: Arts & Culture. What will be the consequences of Corona for culture?

On March 13, 2020 I was in Amsterdam, planning to attend the Opening Performance on March 16 of a famous Kurt Weill opera. However, on this very day, after the last regular rehearsal, the General Director of the Royal Dutch Opera came up on the stage and announced that the whole production would now have to be cancelled. Hundreds of musicians, singers and people behind the stage were sent home, immediately. Some had traveled internationally and paid for hotels and food upfront. Four weeks of hard rehearsals had been in vain. Everybody was in tears and despair.

This is only one example of the consequences for cultural life of the Corona crisis. All opera houses, theaters and concert houses closed down, leaving both resident and freelance artists without income. Hundreds of thousands of similar disasters have occurred in other branches of arts & culture and in the event business. Now, about four and a half months later, all culture houses and event venues still remain closed. Millions of artists and other people related to the arts & culture sector are suffering.

In previous wars and crisis times, culture has been a necessary escape, a vibrant reminder of the beauty and joys of life. Or it’s been a vessel of critique against oppression, a lens through which to view and make sense of what is going on in the world. Now, it may take years before international cultural life comes back to normal. And many theaters and festivals will perhaps never open. They have already gone (or are about to go) bankrupt. Music and Arts, in institutions, in festivals or in open air-concerts are backbones of peace-promoting and bridge-building Cultural Diplomacy. When we are deprived of these platforms and when live- and real-time meetings cannot take place, the whole idea of Cultural Diplomacy is suffering. Lots of articles and reports have been published in recent months, describing “digital alternatives” as almost as good as real performances, but this is an illusion. Such messages are pointing the wrong way. The essence of Arts & Culture is about the live experience. The success of Cultural Diplomacy is about Tourist Diplomacy, great Sports events, Music Diplomacy, Cuisine Diplomacy, Fashion Diplomacy and Expo-, Fairs-, Festival- and Event Diplomacy. People meeting People – live! All these platforms are now closed. Where are the proportions? Would it not have been possible to save lives from the covid-19 virus without total lockdown?

Swedish scientists took another strategy than most parts of the world. The Swedish strategy was, and still is, controversial, but was based upon experiences from previous pandemics and not upon the “Chinese shock therapy” practiced in Wuhan in January-February 2020. Why did politicians all over the world, nervously and uncritically, try to copy the Chinese, totalitarian solution? In many parts of the world this type of shock therapy seems counterproductive. Sweden did not close nursery schools or schools up to 9th degree. Sweden did not close restaurants and bars. Sweden did not lock down the whole society, but rather issued a series of strong recommendations, including keeping distance, washing hands and isolating risk groups. Unfortunately many elderly people have died, but this was due to previous negligence in elderly care institutions, not due to the corona strategy.

Nobody knows the best way to fight this terrible pandemic, but I submit that perhaps the Swedish strategy, a version of the typical Swedish middle way, might be better in the long run?

Air travel is now allowed again, with relevant precautions, but with 150 people sitting very close to each other, so why shouldn't theaters be allowed to open, with similar precautions? Dear politicians, we have had enough of streaming everything only on digital platforms! So, for the Arts, for Cultural Diplomacy and for our hearts and souls, please open the theaters, concert halls and festivals, so that we can have the full experience of the Power of Arts!