The Oasis is the holding metaphor for the quality of the dialogues. The Oasis is about enjoying and shedding my guard to be in a calm place within society. Everyone feels better when being centered and at ease. I then get more present and aware of myself being a part of the context. I also get more interested in other people and their perspectives.
Sometimes exceptions from this ability to enjoy one’s calm place might demonstrate its strength. During Dialogue Cafées, a few people have violated the format. Two of these incidents took place this year.
• Rasmus Paludan, the Koran burner, came to the first dialogue. He brought two friends and was followed by three civil policemen. The police officers sat down outside the circle, Paludan with friends took place in the circle. The theme was “Democracy and freedom of expression”.
We didn’t recognize him at first. Yet, he directly demonstrated a peculiar behavior, preparing to make a statement – while one of his friends started to film. Gently, we spoke with him asking to respect the format and stop filming. After a few minutes, he decided to leave the circle with his followers – and the rest of us appreciated being able to start the dialogue on the topic.
• Another day, we had a dialogue on “What does it mean to be Swedish? Who gets included?” This was a conversation with lots of energy among a totally 18 to 20 participants. Vulnerable newbies in Sweden, “old Swedes”, and aggressive haters of Islam participated. Two of the latter categories came very late, and one of them – a well-known media personality – got antagonistic towards Islam and indirectly towards other participants. Here we had to make her stop the violation of the format, first gently, then more firmly. She left with her friend after a short while.
• A more peaceful, sensitive, and deep conversation on the “Indigenous people'' theme. Five persons born into the Sápmi tradition participated. The dialogue was important for all of us. A tremendous mutual understanding was raised. There is such little awareness about the history of the Sápmi people in Sweden, and it's a tragedy that Sweden continues to exploit the Sápmi region and destroy the forest. It's high time that the Swedish people are made aware of their colonial history and reconcile with the indigenous people of Sweden.
