FROM MARTIM MONIZ, IN THE HEART OF MOURARIA, TO INTENDENTE THERE’S A TRAIL SHOWING OFF A REMARKABLE PIECE OF THE WORLD. OMNICULTURAL ? YES, THAT’S THE GOLDEN RULE.
Looking down from the terrace of restaurant Topo, in Martim Moniz Shopping Center, Lisbon offers a hopeful wish of omniculturalism that insists on being fulfilled, where lisboners and foreigners show what they have in common and live in harmony in all that differentiate them. It’s a sort of trail asking to be visited and better known and where there are no outsiders, where portuguese and foreigners are learning together how to become locals , being a part of what is becoming trendy, with no ghettos or even whispers of prejudice.
It’s not exactly about integration: if you believe multiculturalism can be resumed to the simple mix of cultures, faiths and dreams, this omnicultural example takes the idea one step forward. You integrate each other, so to speak, as if that was the most solid future. Bars, restaurants, hotels, all kind of commercial activity flourishes through an attempt of portraying the world, exalting tourism and everyday life at the same time. And the cultural associations here are already landmarks of art and varied exchange of experiences and legacies.
There are dangers, of course. That as in other areas of Lisbon this place of contact and fruitful dialogue with foreigners that live and work here and are already seen as neighbors, friends and trustworthy suppliers (no more outskirts or exclusive quartiers…) may be destroyed by the greed of builders, landlords or property owners with their impossible rents. That this amazing place ‘upgrades’ only to satisfy those with big money to spend in order to get even more money out of it and clearly are not interested in investing where cultures mingle and learn from each other in peace and adventurous curiosity. There is such a fear in the air, that the example may end instead of prosper, that the rule that applies to all major cities when it comes to the presence of hardworking foreigners may also be applied from Mouraria to Intendente. Lisbon has his ghettos? Yes, but not here. Not anymore. Or not yet?
Av. Almirante Reis
Largo do Intendente
So this is all about proximity, different nationalities, religions and opinions coming together and intertwining in one place, a serious issue that defies curiosity and refuses to become a strangely typical curiosity. Indians, Africans, Asians, Brazilians, Latin-Americans, people from the South or coming from the North, they all are giving new worlds to Lisbon and the city knows how to gain from that , how to give back. And how they can do it together.
Contrary to so many other capitals of the world, Lisbon believes to be able to teach (or at least advise) on how to sustain a model of society, made of open dialogue and the proper sense of what it means to have a common goal and a common sense of what works and is the right thing to do. In this place, portuguese and foreigners alike are trying to show that their city no longer lives in promotional clips. A real capital, at a planetary scale, where everybody, from all corners of the world, embrace the idea of being neighbors and count on each other to make it work. Now, that would never fit on a postcard…
