Seattle and Bergen share common values
An open letter to the people of Bergen by Lori Ann Reinhall, president, Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association
It was approximately one year ago that I sent a letter to the people of Bergen to talk about the uncertainty around a major shift in the political climate in the United States. Today the message seems just as relevant, as we have seen the relationship between our two countries tested — and the message of citizen diplomacy seems more important than ever.
Four years ago I became involved with Sister Cities International through activities with the Nordic community here in Seattle. For several years leading up to this, I had participated in the celebration of Norway’s Constituation Day, Syttende Mai, at Bergen Place Park in the Ballard community, home to many Norwegian immigrants and their descendants. Having studied and worked abroad for several years, I already knew the benefits of cross-cultural exchange, and I was still filled with curiosity and wanderlust. I loved Scandinavian music, literature and art, and I loved to travel: the Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association seemed like a good match.
That said, I struggled to understand the underlying thrust of the organization. What exactly were we supposed to do, and why should we do it?
All of this become clear for me when two Bergen artists, Kari Aasen and Eli Veim, came to visit Seattle early 2016 conjunction with the Flora Metamorphicae installation at the Nordic Heritage Museum. Four-thousand ceramic flowers adorned a gallery there, but more importantly, a friendship between us blossomed. We toured the city together, we sat down and enjoyed a good meal, we toasted one another, we talked and laughed for hours. In the end, we discovered we had so much more in common than not in common, and a bond was forged.
Precisely these types of person-to-person encounters lie at heart of what sister cities do. Sister Cities International first came to life at President Eenhower’s 1956 White House conference on citizen diplomacy, where he envisioned an organization that could be the hub of peace and prosperity by creating bonds between people from different cities around the world. Eisenhower and his generation had witnessed the ravages of war in Europe firsthand. Eisenhower reasoned that if people of different cultures could celebrate and appreciate their differences, they could build partnerships that would lessen the chance of new conflicts.
Today we know that the world looks much different than hoped, yet many successes have ensued. In Bergen a totem pole stands in Nordnes Park in commemoration of the friendship between our cities over the tears, and in Seattle, we now proudly display a gift from Flora Metamorphicae, as we celebrate fifty years of the Seattle-Bergen Sister City Association. We have seen productive exchanges between our cities in business, industry, education and the arts.
Yet at this moment, winds of change are blowing and there is a sense of uncertainty in the air. We read with embarrassment that former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik was held up for questioning at a U.S. airport, and we feel deep concern when we learn that for the first time ever Norwegian students feel afraid to come and study at our local universities: this is not who we are in Seattle.
The cities of Seattle and Bergen share common values of civic engagement, openness and tolerance, and as your friends here, we promise to defend these values. Officially, Seattle proudly proclaims itself a sanctuary city that welcomes all people of all races, creeds, ethnicities and national origins. It is place for everyone to feel safe, a place where our close friends in Norway can feel especially at home.
As His Majesty King Harald V shared with us on his 2015 official visit to our city, “Our cultural bonds andyour warmth and generosity make it easy for a Norwegian to feel at home here in Seattle.” It is our sincerest hope and endeavor that the people of Bergen and Norway will always feel welcome here with us here in our beautiful city on the West Coast of the USA. Together we will make it through troubled times. Politicians and governments may come and go, but true friendships endure — always.
