‘They are bombing now’: ‘Intercultural Dialogue’ in times of conflict

This article argues that the concept of ‘Intercultural Dialogue’ in its present dominant manifestation has run its course. I argue that this concept is one which may work and make sense in stable, open and equal jurisdictions where there is relative ‘freedom from fear and want’, but that it is at best, limited and at worst, dangerous when used in situations of conflict and aggression and under the creeping conditions of precarity which mark out the present form of globalisation. In this, I turn to field visits undertaken in the Gaza Strip in 2012 with the Life Long Learning in Palestine project. I make a connection to the work of Carolin Goerzig, with Hamas, to the conflict transformation practice of Jean Paul Lederach and to Graeber, Bigo and Scarry's theoretical and practical consideration of emergency and security conditions post-9/11. I do so in order to argue for a re-politicised concept of intercultural dialogue such that it might fit the conditions of precarity with which the field of Language and Intercultural Communication is concerned.