Editorial

Keith Cameron

It is the role of humans to seek the truth. As Michel de Montaigne once wrote — le monde n'est une école d'inquisition. It seems to be an innate part of our nature to want to learn and to know more; to be endlessly searching for explanations; to be constantly revising not only our own but also the views of others. This issue of EUROPA online bears witness to this on-going process. There is a full report on a recent conference on minority languages in Europe, a challenge to the accepted theories about the so-called Ecole de Paris, a re-examination of the tenets of the 'Eastern Question' and a personal impression of the French presence in a northern province of Argentina. Each of them is informative and thought-provoking. Like so many articles, they contain also what one might term the 'serendipity factor'. Reading the views, or about the experience, of others allows us to form our own opinions either by contrast or in agreement. They can provoke, albeit unconsciously on the part of their author, reactions or associations of ideas which can offer new avenues for us to explore or provide us with a new way of looking at things and events.

The articles also remind us of the wide range of subjects covered in EUROPA — language diversity, artistic matters, historical interpretation, cultural exports, etc. There exists within Europe an immense diversity, a multi-ethnic society, a plethora of beliefs, customs and practices. Paradoxically, it is by a closer examination of our differences that we will gain a greater sense of unity. The evolution of the world brings home the arbitrariness of concepts such as nationalism and nationality. The mondialisation of our system of communications means that we can follow events in other parts of the globe as easily, if not more easily, than those much closer to home. We are subjected willingly to information about customs and political issues as well as natural and man-made catastrophes in countries which at one stage seemed impossibly remote. There is a gradual awareness that in spite of our differences there exists an underlying sense of human togetherness and a basic desire for harmony and peaceful understanding.

On the more microcosmic level, this journal, by drawing attention to matters for discussion within Europe, reveals contradictions, causes for concern and views which appeal to our sense of justice and of 'getting the record straight'. It is also a forum for helping us understand the social forces which are making and have made a contribution to our society. The more we know about the workings of society, about the mentality and aspirations of those who live within it or have preceded us, the more we are likely to be in a position to influence its evolution for the good of all.