A CALL FOR PRAYER
PCCA Experiential Conference Islamophobia in an Upside-Down World n Migration, January 30 – February 1, 2026
“This is ‘the most Other’ of all Others I can think of” – such was the first comment of a participant about the Conference topic. Who is this “most Other”? And why did that feeling emerge?
This question stayed with me throughout the Conference and beyond. It made me feel edgy, as if there is something wrong with the Conference title, perhaps an upside-down world conjured up in the title itself? I hesitated to approach the topic from close-up, as though it was out of bounds for me. When exploring my uneasiness, I realised that it was the wording of the Conference title that triggered my unpleasant sentiment: It felt that the word ‘Islamophobia’ pulled me directly into dealing with the religion of Islam as such. Realising this, a question arose now in all its clarity: can we deal in such kind of Conference with a set of beliefs in a Supreme Being – a Higher Power embedded in a realm of sacredness, a higher Being that transcends any picture, any name? Highly elusive as it is, it has the aura of the Absolute Other, the ‘most Other’ of all Others indeed. Were we perhaps unconsciously in this Conference reaching out to this untouchable realm of the ‘Absolute Other’? If so, would the inherent inaccessibility of an ‘Absolute Other’ explain that so often in this Conference an almost desperate mood cropped up, a gnawing feeling that we did not understand the Conference topic adequately enough? Is this the reason why we sometimes acted like hiding under a veil?
In any case, wearing a veil does not exclude creative acting, not at all. The Conference showed how in its own way partial concealment enables new perceptions and experiences. In the following I refer to three of mine.
SACRE DU PRINTEMPS – THE RITE OF SPRING
In the dream matrix of the Conference the famous German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch was resurrected. One of her most known choreographies was a rendition of ‘Sacre du Printemps – The Rite of Spring’, a piece of ritual dance from a concert work by Igor Stravinsky, often in short referred to as “Le Sacre”. Its theme is the primal cycle of destruction and renewal.
Perhaps it was not by chance that this dream was dreamt in the night leading to March 1st, the threshold between winter and spring time in the Northern Hemisphere. The emerging dream converged with this very moment of transformation in nature, both addressing the groundbreaking character of change. As one participant of the dream matrix said in her comment: Pina Bausch was a revolutionary. Her “Sacre” signified change as being radical in essence, accentuating the moment of breach in a process of change and emphasising that sacrifice and a measure of violence is part of it. How provocative and alarming this view can be showed spontaneous reactions in the dream plenary of the Conference. Pina Bausch was very aware that the radicality of change needs containment. In the centre of her “Sacre” are collective rituals, diligently structured rites. She used the ritual knowledge of religions where rites are deeply embedded in the structures, a wisdom that has been handed over through generations. It might be worth to delve deeper into the wisdom of religions regarding rites and rituals when thinking about promoting changes in communities, in ourselves and in these kinds of Conferences as well.
CHILDREN ON JACOB’S LADDER
In another dream presented in the dream matrix of the Conference kids showed up, continuously climbing up and down a ladder at a wall in a hotel room. This was not only annoying; it triggered stronger feelings of fear and terror. The dream protagonist was eager to chase them out, for the sake of proceeding with life undisturbed. The motive of the ladder brought to mind a narrative in the Book of Genesis where Jacob dreamed of angels who were descending and ascending, connecting heaven and earth. A first understanding in the dream matrix was looking through the lens of fear, very understandable in today’s world where safety is highly elusive. In spite of this, there might be other spheres of our being in the world that are important to sense, Jacob’s dream hints at them. As the Iranian writer and filmmaker Forough Farrokhzad, wrote in one of her poems: “The horizon is vertical” *.
There is another layer in this dream that I connect with a recurrent theme in the Conference: imparting knowledge between the generations. Several times participants expressed worries about good ways to convey precious values and ideas to the next generation. The dream with the up and down movement of the kids triggered in me a flip of the direction regarding the educational process. Learning could go also the other way round: adults could gain valuable knowledge for their own understanding and for generational transmissions from kids, particularly from the children’s unique access to the unconscious.
A TERRITORY CALLED GAZA
The Conference event brought up a host of themes. The names that were given fluctuated; re-naming happened several times. At a late stage of the Conference, it suddenly became clear that two important topics were not identified with their own names. Without names there was no place where they could be addressed as a community. One of them was Gaza. Gaza did not get its own territory. Although a lot was talked about the need for security and trust, about the fear from being terrorised, about guilt towards those who suffer destruction and death – Gaza did not get its place in this conference. Another topic also disappeared from the perception of the participants: Judaism likewise did not get its own place, although Islam and Christianity each was present with their own territory. How can we understand this? Were these two dimensions unconsciously perceived as being too heated in a conversation about Islamophobia? Was there a phantasy at work that they would bring hate and insanity to the Conference, that over them the membership would split and a dam could burst?
“Pain, nothing else” said one of the conference members when talking about the topic of the conference. All the terror and all the helplessness felt by many participants in the Conference was carried in these words. Through these three words I hear the call of a prayer crying out in a painful desire for a liveable world. Crying out to the Other – whoever the Other is – that he may shed off the phobia, that finally he becomes a witness of pain.
Looking back, I understand the Conference in essence as a rite to reach out to the heart of the Other. I assume we all failed in this, but failing might not be an adversary of change.
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*Forough Farrokhzad: from the poem: Only the Sound Remains, in: Forough Farrokhzad, Let us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season, translated by Elisabeth T. Gray J., New York 2022, p. 96
Berlin, 5/02/26 – Ingeborg Tiemann