Volume 3 No 1 - 1999
EDITORIAL
K. Cameron
One would have to be deaf or blind or both not to have come to the realisation that the media has a determined policy to work on public consciousness and to make the passing from 1999 to 2000 something to remember. Throughout the world there are conferences in every discipline, national exhibitions and presentations which suggest that something must be done to mark the new millennium. Although one may be aware of the pressures and one may try and resist them, it is certain that because of the publicity there is an air of expectancy abroad and people actually believe that next year, apparently the first year of the new millennium, will be different.
It would be unwise to ignore this generally heightened feeling and its accompanying enthusiasm. What have we, who are interested in matters European, got to consider? For many people in the United Kingdom, Europe, or rather the European Union, has become a threat. A threat to national sovereignty and to national identity.
The threat is not one that can been seen, it is one which is perceived because of adverse media coverage. Some have adopted a negative and a confrontational stance. By so doing, they imply that European unity is something which, paradoxically, suggests greater togetherness but, according to their interpretation, spells division and loss.
Others see within the Union a greater working harmony and the way for individual states to flourish. Even the most committed 'unionist' has to concede that other points of view have to be discussed and may prevail. What is needed is a forum where people of differing views can express them freely. This online journal constitutes such a forum. It is not just, however, an organ for views on the European Union. Its brief is Europe and all the countries, cultures and civilisations of which it is composed.
This issue reminds us of the diversity of matters of interest in Europe and which go beyond the boundaries of the European Union. There is an article on the former East German Security Service (the Stasi), one on a pan-European initiative, the European Computer Driving Licence, another on Europe as seen through the eyes of a colleague in Beijing and, finally, a view on the Serbian crisis and the Russian connection. Each of them offers an insight into European activities and provides an opportunity for comment and further discussion.
When I travel outside Britain, especially if I am in another continent, I feel a sense of identity with Aristotle, Beethoven, da Gama, de Saussure, Goya, Ibsen, Magellan, Manet, Nobel, Puccini, Shakespeare, Smetana, Watteau, etc., all of whom were Europeans but only one of whom would share the same nationality with me. This journal is in existence for you to explore either from within or from without the mechanics of Europe, its art, its culture, its civilisation. I hope that the millennial wave will bear you along to submit an article which will draw the attention of not only European readers but also those from all over the globe to some aspect of European affairs. Our greatness may lie in our achievements or in our analysis of them or, indeed, it may lie in our ability to face up to our weaknesses.
Copyright © 1999 Intellect
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