Postscript

It has been one month since the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Reunion in Denmark. One month since our exchange of ideas and friendship. One month since the fellows re-ignited the fires of debate that were first started one year ago. During their stay in Denmark, their understanding of international politics grew from the lectures and meetings they attended. Most of the lectures focused on the world in the era of globalisation and that the world is becoming smaller and smaller due to advances in communication, such as the Internet. The BFTF is a true testament to communication power of the Internet. The Internet has made communication between the fellows easier and cheaper than in years past and some may say that the relations among fellows may not have been so strong without the Internet. Another aspect of globalisation that was discussed was the spreading values of freedom throughout the world. One lecture focused on the clash of values during the Muhammad Cartoon scandal unfolded. During all these studies the fellows had clashing opinions on many different subjects ranging from AIDS relief to war to global warming. While the debates raged on, several common underlining values were realized. The first is a common belief in the power of democracy and global cooperation. In the age of globalisation, the realization that some issues need to be addressed on a global level and that unilateral action is not enough is first step in addressing problems such as global warming. Another common belief is the value of free exchange and debate. This value of the diversity of ideas is an essential pillar in sustainability of democracy. A government in which there is no debate or no exchange of ideas is totalitarian government. On the global level this equates to open exchange among countries in forum such as the UN. While methods of how these global issues are to be solved may differ, as long as an open forum for the solution is available, then the eventual resolution of the issue is inevitable. Though the fellows have been separated from each other for one year the values of the Ben Franklin Transatlantic Institute were never lost. Time has not shaken the bonds of friendship among the fellows or their willingness to discuss tough and controversial issues that are in global spotlight. If the global community could discuss these issues with such openness and enthusiasm, then no problem would be too large or complex to solve. The Ben Franklin Transatlantic Institute serves as a model to humanity of what transatlantic cooperation could yield.

By Lendyll.

Brief summary of the content of our political lectures:

The first lecture was meeting Jacob Bundsgaard at city hall, where the fellows made me deeply proud by participating more than anyone could have expected. Also, it is not hard to understand what the fellows thought so fascinating about Jacob Bundsgaard and the lesson he gave us on Danish democracy and relations - in a global perspective. His speech was most informative, charismatic and well structured. I believe this was the reason that his words stayed with us and was debated several times subsequently. There was in particular one point that he presented to us which reappeared in many of our later debates: “Think globally – act locally”. The phrase turned out to be versatile and also interesting if you flip it so it states the opposite.
Bits of what we learned from Jacob Bundsgaard’s lecture:
Three mayor challenges that Denmark is facing are:
- Integration
- The environmental task: both globally and locally.
- Globalisation: how Denmark and Aarhus will get competitive in global economy. Two main tools are education and innovation.

New terms: Red ocean strategy and Blue ocean strategy.

Jakob Erle spent an entire day with us chatting as well as mentoring. The general theme was Democracy and Globalisation.
Bits of what we learned from Jakob Erle:
The history of globalisation and democracy
Supranational organisations: WTO, ICC, WHO, Kyoto-protocol. “United in diversity”

Definition of Globalisation:
Global exchange of
- Goods
- Capitol
- Culture
- People
Definition of Multilayered democracy:
Local – State – Federal – Global
Local – National – Regional – Global


New terms:
LPG: Liberalisation, privatisation, globalisation.
GONGO: Governmental organised NGO

Kim Hundevadt gave us a lot of facts about the cartoon crisis that were new to most of us.
We agreed on the fact that that the cartoons had not been published without a reason. They were published within a context. The question was rather if there was enough reason for publishing them.

We learned about a struggle of values: Sharia law > < Secular law.
Questions were raised: Should there be a law against blasphemy? Is the cartoon crisis an example of a general lack of respect for the Muslim minority? Were the cartoons tools in a political game?

New terms:
OIC: organisation of Islamic conference
The Arab League

Debate
Sergei Hoxha and Darya Ermolina taught us how to debate with the subject Legalization of euthanasia as an example of British Parliamentary Debate.
In this process we learned about formal debating, asking penetrating questions and the importance of being precise (much thanks to Lendyll).

By Aila Lonka.

Article in Aarhus Stiftstidende

On the 14th of July another newspaper article was written about our project. It is a full page story with several pictures and quotes from interviews with many fellows. The full article is unfortunately only visible online to those who keep the newspaper Aarhus Stiftstidende. Here is the link.
by Aila Lonka