notion : Community
Community
As Édouard Glissant expressed so clearly, we are human to the extent that there is a diversity of cultures, of communities, or we could say, of "humanities," as he himself puts it. A global community where all humans would be "the same," where we would all have the same methods of calculation, the same types of production, the same language (through that well-intentioned but monstrous fantasy that was Esperanto) would be far more of a nightmare than a utopia.The real challenge is not at all to create a community in the end where everyone agrees, but rather to allow the coexistence of diverse communities, which remain distinct (through their languages, cultures, practices, and values) and do not merge in any way. It is through the exchange between these diversities of values, sensitivities, and structures of attention that the development of humanity can occur. The issue of creating a global common, which is necessary since we have only one planet, lies in determining what should be "communitized" and shared as survival conditions—and what should be protected from homogenization, to preserve cultural biodiversity, just as we protect biodiversity in animal life. This is not about aiming for a single community, but about understanding how the peaceful and mutually stimulating coexistence of different communities is possible... with enough friction to spark enlightenment, but not so much as to risk setting everything on fire. (Astruc & Citton, 2016)