The conference will bring together as speakers Andrés Perelló, former Spanish ambassador to UNESCO and general director of Casa Mediterráneo, and Cristina Sánchez, former RNE correspondent in Jerusalem.
“In the 1% of the planet’s water that the Mediterranean Sea represents, the mirror of the world converges; everything that can happen outside, happens here, because the load of conflicts that it lives is proportional to the load of history that it bears”. This is how Andrés Perelló, lawyer, former Spanish ambassador to UNESCO and current general director of Casa Mediterráneo, exemplifies the complexity and scope of this tiny and eclectic sea, the protagonist of a new session of the “Dialogues without Borders” series. “Even with all the centuries of confrontation behind them, we have to find the time for encounter and tolerance,” Perelló warns.
Showing off its itinerant profile, this cycle of debates for reflection and empowerment of the values of peace, respect and multiculturalism promoted by the Rototom Sunsplash festival and its Cultural Association Exodus, lands for the first time in Alicante.after visiting different sites in Castelló and València. It will do so at Casa Mediterráneo, in the provincial capital, next Monday, June 3 (19.00 hours, with free access) with ‘The Mediterranean, meeting of civilizations’, the eighth session of the cycle, which began last December.
The session, presented by freelance journalist from Alicante Sonia Marcoauthor of the documentary series ‘Mediterranean Women’, will bring together Andrés Perelló and Cristina Sánchez as speakers.former RNE correspondent in Jerusalem and winner of the AMECO Press-Woman award, who defends feminist communication and the elimination of the obstacles faced by female journalists in the exercise of their profession.
The objective of this new dialogue is, as Andrés Perelló advances, to seek arguments for the rapprochement of the civil society living in the 23 countries of the Mediterranean basin.
A challenge confirmed by Exodus: “This session is an opportunity, at a critical international juncture, to vindicate the view of the Mediterranean focused on interculturalism and miscegenation, to offer a reading of its history in terms of tolerance and respect”. “The Mediterranean is an ambivalent space, that kilometer zero where the future of humanity is being decided, but we want to keep the positive aspects of the crossroads of civilizations that have taken place there and be able to redirect history to the right side, to rescue the values that have allowed this exchange between the global south and the north.”
“The Mediterranean unites three continents, brings together the three monotheistic religions, is the scene of two wars: the one in Gaza and the one in Syria, which is still active; it also encompasses more than 66 recognized languages; a failed state: Libya; and a closed border between Morocco and Algeria,” recalls the former Spanish ambassador to UNESCO. “But even so, we must ensure that all these elements that separate us become elements that unite us,” he says. “There are reasons for understanding and peace, and this goes through mutual respect for each of the nations, cultures and religions that converge in the Mediterranean.”
Casa Mediterráneo also urges to join efforts to coordinate, for example, actions in defense of the health of the Mediterranean. A sea that suffers 20% more pollution than the rest. “Climate change does not understand ideologies, and no country alone can put an end to it. We need a coordinated policy, and this discourse should be developed by Spain, as an eminently Mediterranean country, and be presented to the EU,” says Perelló. “Spain has to make the first stitches so that this can be sewn,” he says.
Founded in 2009, Casa Mediterráneo is a meeting point for public diplomacy that works to promote mutual knowledge and rapprochement between Spain and the rest of the countries of the Mediterranean basin. The landing of the ‘Dialogues without Borders’ series in this space means “giving a loudspeaker to this awareness platform of Rototom and Exodus and projecting its message to the civil society of the 23 countries that bathe the Mediterranean”, emphasize from the institution.
The session ‘The Mediterranean, meeting of civilizations’ is the first of the actions promoted in the framework of the collaboration agreement signed by Rototom Sunsplash and Casa Mediterráneo. In addition to the reflection guided by Andrés Perelló and Cristina Sánchez, the day will also include an enogastronomic tasting accompanied by music.
