Mick ter reehorst | Are we europe?

Mick ter Reehorst: Europe is a boring subject, one that is not sexy to talk about. I will talk about it anyway. When we talk about Europe we talk about who joins, who leaves. We talk about the economic or political dimension, but never about the cultural dimension. Between the pro- and anti-Europe camps of politicians, nobody ever asks themselves: ‘What is Europe?’”

Mick ter Reehorst, founder of collective storytelling project Are We Europe, wants to remind everyone that identity is a story, and that story can only be told collectively. “Europe is missing a face. But, just as with countries, Europe consists of a common history. We should go back to the essence, the age-old tradition countries are based on: storytelling. In order to do this, we created a platform where personal European stories could be told collectively.”

“It’s not something you hear that often: ‘We feel European’. We often talk about the European identity in a black and white way. You’re either this or that. Theresa May even said: ‘You’re a citizen of your country or you’re a citizen of nowhere.'” Although he doesn’t necessarily consider himself pro EU, Mick ter Reehorst emphasizes the need to focus on the EU as a cultural entity as well. Mick: “Europe is so much more than a political and economical union. Our Schengen generation is the one that should tell the story of a cultural Europe.”

Closing remark: “In my eyes, we will have truly succeeded in making Europe sexy if we succeed in collectively turning the question ‘are we Europe’ into the answer ‘we are Europe!'”