Nova Europa: Europe's Second Renaissance (4)

The nineteenth century was a time of great accomplishments for European culture. In music, it was the century of some of the greatest composers of all time, Beethoven being the greatest of them all. It also marked the birth of modern literature, giving the world many of its first great novelists, the vast majority of them from Europe. It was the century of Charles Dickens, of Victor Hugo, of Alexandre Dumas, of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Goethe among many others. In theater, it was the century of Ibsen, Wilde and Shaw. In the visual arts, it saw the rise of many of the greatest of all-time such as Cezanne, Gauguin, Goya, van Gogh, Monet, Rodin and Blake. It was also the last great century of philosophy, having seen the likes of Nietzsche, Marx, Engels, Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Tocqueville and Mill. It also produced some of the greatest opera composers in history, such as Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner. Overall, it was probably the greatest single century in European arts, the zenith of its civilization.

In the twentieth century, things were certainly very different. The energy of the great empires and the lives of its young generations were consumed, for the better part of a century, by wars inside and outside of Europe. The result was the death of millions, the destruction of entire cities, the collapse of once robust economies, the fall of some of the greatest empires in human history and the inevitable decline, in all areas, of the European nations. This was the ultimate legacy of the European wars of the 20th century. By the time Russian and American troops reached Berlin, Europe had become a wasteland.

In the second half of the century, the United States and the Soviet Union assumed the position of world leadership that had once belonged to the western and central European powers. The United States, in particular, seized the opportunity to take over as the world's leading military, political, economic, scientific and cultural power, a position it still holds to this day.

As a result of these profound political changes, the cultural outlook of the 20th century was radically different from the preceding century. The United States became the dominant power in almost all cultural domains, both new and old.

In literature, the 20th century saw the rise of the great American novelists. Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Charles Bukowski, Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Phillip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, Stephen King or J. D. Salinger, to name just a few. In Europe, in the same period, the big names became almost exclusively insular. George Orwell, Arthur C. Clarke, J.R.R. Tolkien, Ian Fleming, C. S. Lewis, William Golding and J. M. Barrie are some of the most famous today. The continent, however, produced few and far between world class writers comparable in skill and fame to the great 20th century English language literary masters. Furthermore, most of the greatest continental writers of the 20th century lived and wrote in the first half of the century, like Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Herman Hesse, Erich Maria Remarque, Marcel Proust or Fernando Pessoa.

Opera and philosophy have become objects of curiosity to late 20th century and early 21st century people. The visual arts lost much of their relevance in the eyes of the public. Continental theater has also lost much of its weight to modernity, with the medium becoming increasingly dominated by the productions staged in London and New York. The musical in particular, an inherently American genre, has turned New York's Broadway into the capital of world theater. The 20th century was also a transfiguring era for music. The great composers, orchestras and symphonies of the 19th century are now ancient musical history. It is now called classical music and is far from being one of the most popular genres these days. Modern genres such as jazz, country, pop, rock or rap dominate the musical world today. All of these genres are dominated by American or, in lesser degree, British musicians. English has become the language of music. The European continent, once home of the greatest musicians in the world, now listens primarily to music from the United States or the UK, and produces little of its own.

In fact, the twentieth century was a deeply transformative period for culture in general. An important part of this process was the creation of a number of art forms that didn't even exist in the 19th century, such as comics, cinema, television and videogames. These new art forms shaped culture in the 20th century and carried on into the 21st century. All of these cultural media, in particular cinema and television, are almost completely dominated by the United States.

As a result of all this, Europeans have grown accustomed to surround themselves almost exclusively by American cultural influences. They listen to American music, watch American movies and TV shows, read American comics and novels and play American (and Japanese) videogames. They do most of these things whilst using the internet through American websites such as Google, YouTube, ITunes, Amazon or Netflix. They access these websites  using electronic hardware and software largely manufactured by American tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Intel or Hewlett-Packard. The United States is the world's leading military and economic power, yet its greatest power comes arguably from its culture which has conquered Europe and the World.

This state of affairs should not be allowed to persist. Out of all of Europe's present shortcomings, there is none more demeaning and prejudicial to the European spirit than cultural subjugation. In fact, it would be an immense mistake to underestimate the importance of culture in our society. Man is an inherently cultural being. Culture is a vital part of any society, having the power to shape men and women like nothing else. It is also the most important and durable legacy of any civilization. It endures the destruction of its parent civilizations and survives, if worthy, the passage of centuries or even millennia. Even today, nearly two thousand years after their demise, civilizations such as ancient Greece and Rome continue to be relevant to modern men in no small degree thanks to the everlasting appeal of those cultures and their cultural legacy in areas such as drama, literature, philosophy, architecture, mythology and the visual arts.

Culture is undeniably a big part of people's lives in modern European societies. As a general rule, Europeans dispose of a considerable amount of free time. a goo share of it being spent in cultural activities such as watching TV or movies, playing videogames, listening to music, reading books or going to concerts and sports events. It is fair to say than that Europeans are culturally engaged, yet most of that culture comes from across the ocean. This is leading to a process of increasing Americanization which degrades Europe and renders it culturally irrelevant. A situation that contrasts sharply with Europe's tradition of being a centre of world culture.

It is therefore imperative to take decisive measures to reverse this sad situation. This change must come from multiple sectors of European society and politics, from the bottom to the top, starting with the people. Europe needs more young people engaged in supporting and creating European culture. We also need to be more encouraging of young artists, just like we need to be more encouraging of young entrepreneurs. National governments should also realize the importance of culture and start actively supporting these creative forces. Finally, the European Union should be given the resources to sponsor the arts on a European level. It should seize this opportunity to achieve two important goals. Firstly, by promoting the arts on a European level, the EU will actively encourage the formation and consolidation of a pan-European culture and identity. Secondly, a vigorous EU program of development of the European arts is the best chance Europe has of regaining its place as a dominant cultural force in the world.

Europe is currently living a period of cultural dark ages. Its cultural importance in the world stage has diminished to a point of near irrelevance, and the whole continent is currently immersed in foreign, specifically North American, culture. This shouldn't be a cause for anti-American feelings, it should rather serve as motivation for European peoples and institution to work towards the goal of producing more culture and assert its own identity in the present century.

The EU should use the current cultural crisis as a pretext to launch a continent wide program of artistic development the likes of which the world has never seen before. This would allow it to save the continent from cultural irrelevance and subjugation and at the same time to establish the basis of true pan-European culture and identity.

This cultural project should be anchored by the creation of a European television channel, capable of broadcasting to every home in the continent, and managed by a newly created European Cultural Agency. The channel should broadcast European news, sports, films and television shows, original and syndicated from other European channels. Its mission would be to develop and promote high quality European cultural content.

Similar initiatives should take place in other areas of culture, such as cinema, videogames, comics, literature, music, theater, the visual arts, opera, dance, philosophy and architecture. The ultimate goal of the European Cultural Agency would be to create a cultural body of work the likes of which the world has never seen, therefore revitalizing the European arts. The status of cultural super power acquired in this way would greatly strengthen the EU and the European people. It would foster essential values and qualities such as dignity, pride, imagination, unity, solidarity, self-esteem, ambition and self-fulfillment. If the 20th century, marked by disunion and infighting, was one of cultural and political decline for Europe, the 21st century should be when it decides to rise again, united, strong and renewed.

Europeans have a unique chance at the moment to change their lives. To change history. It is, ultimately, a matter of choice. On one hand lies mediocrity. On the other lies eternal glory. It is time for Europeans to chose the latter by correcting their past errors. Nationalism and disunity brought Europe on her knees. Politically, militarily, economically, scientifically and culturally. Only union can save her. The European Union has the power to restore Europe's once great cultural tradition. It is imperative that it uses it and that Europeans get behind it.