The ‘Dialogues without borders’ cycle promoted by the international reggae festival Rototom Sunsplash in Benicàssim, through its Exodus Cultural AssociationThe event, for the first time, makes a geographical leap to Valencia as part of its roadmap to export the cultural machinery of the event throughout the Valencian Community and throughout the year with the goal of deseasonalizing culture and weaving new alliances with the public.
After the inauguration of the cycle last December at the Llotja de Cànem in Castelló with the theme of human rights as a backdrop, ‘Dialogues without Borders’ will land on Friday, January 26 (6:30 p.m.) for the first time in Valencia, at the Llotja de Cànem in Castelló. La Nau Cultural Centerwith a session on ‘Religions and peaceThe poems of Rafael Alberti, Blas de Otero or Pascual Casal in his homage to Sorolla, and the violin of Cristina Sanchez.
Promoted by Exodus, this second debate has the participation of the University of Valencia and the collaboration of the València-Mediterrani Association for UNESCO and the Antonio Camaró Foundation.
Moderated by Charo Pizano, representative of València-Mediterrani Association for Unesco, the session will bring together the voices of prominent representatives of the main faiths: Come Tenzin Choky from the Buddhist community; Carmen Puig, on behalf of the Baha’i Community Assembly; Swami Rameshwarananda Giri, member of the Hindu community and advisor of the Hindu Federation of Spain; Vicente Mota, as the voice of the Muslim community; Vicente Botella, representative of the Christian community and diocesan delegate for Dialogues and Interreligious Relations; and Francisco Fontana, president of the Jewish–Christian Friendship Association , who will participate representing the Hebrew community.
“Aware that there is a religious connotation behind many conflicts, this session aims to give a twist and provide an opportunity to hear the contribution to peace of these religions,” explained Exodus. “It is a necessary dialogue at a time when the subject is even more relevant due to the geopolitical situation in the world and the clash of civilizations we are witnessing,” added the organization.
However, “it seems very appropriate to bring together so many faiths in defense of peace, and a civil movement such as the Association Against Intolerance, a benchmark in the denunciation of hate crimes and the fight against racism, to guide this debate,” Exodus said.
As part of its hallmark, the cycle seeks to travel in each of its sessions not only through different cities but also through carefully chosen scenarios integrated into the narrative. “For this start of the year and in this second staging, we materialized this objective of diversifying locations and we are going to the La Nau Cultural Center of the Universitat de València, a beautiful and solemn place as is its Aula Magna, and with a very current topic,” explained from the organization.
Poetic and choral tribute to peace
‘Peace without end, true peace. Peace that rises at dawn and does not die at night’. It is one of the verses of the poem ‘Peace, Peace, Peace’ by Rafael Alberti, which will backbone the second, and innovative, structure of the event: a poetic-artistic tribute to peace, and that will take over the exposure by each speaker of the proposal of peace and tolerance from their religion.
Thus, to the main performance by the rhapsode Juan Manuel VeraThe selection of poems, together with Alberti’s ‘Pido la paz y la palabra’ (Blas de Otero) and ‘Pintaba la paz. Homage to Sorolla’ (Pascual Casañ), will be joined as a performance the reading in unison by the speakers of some of the verses. A choral cry to that “luminous peace” and “endless” that the poet from Cadiz claimed to reflect and glimpse harmony in difficult times.
