ISA's International Festival
By 1914, global trade had increased four times in two generations. Newly installed telephones enabled people to communicate instantaneously with others half a world away, and steam ships and railways meant they travelled further than ever before. Western nations had never been so prosperous. Science and culture had never been so fertile as ideas flowed effortlessly across borders.
Then it all collapsed. And to the sound of cheers in London, Paris and Berlin. Many people felt that they were demonstrating pride in their nation by celebrating war with another. In the four years that followed 16 million died prematurely as a result.
Last night, ISA celebrated our annual international festival. We are a school where around 50 nationalities come together to learn and play, to make friends and find out about other ways of living. We don’t take this for granted. Nor should we in a world with so much tragic conflict between and within nations. Creating an international community takes hard work and clear intentions.
One of the highlights of the festival was the international parade. Students didn’t march behind a flag, but in grade levels with their peers: they weren’t forced to choose a single identity but chose costumes and totems to display the diversity within themselves, in turn, showing how inclusive their classes are.
Last night was a celebration of the way we want the world to be. A world where people can be proud of their differences and, united with others, make those differences more than the sum of its parts.
A year after the peak of prosperity and culture in 1914, Europe and the world descended into war. The voices of hate and division prevailed. It wasn’t that peoples disagreed, but that they could no longer listen to disagreement. I hope ISA shows a very different way of being.
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