Recovered archive. Dates, ages, roles and announcements reflect the original publication; they are not current updates.
To mark World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the trans-Mediterranean Maydan Association is organising a day devoted to the Mediterranean on Tuesday 21 May, from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Room E1 at the Luigi Einaudi Campus of the University of Turin.
Reflecting on the region’s challenges, a transnational group of citizens from both Mediterranean shores has launched a petition asking European candidates and political parties to support a new vision of integration between the European continent and the Mediterranean region. The appeal, “Embracing the Mediterranean Means Saving Europe”, is unique in involving citizens beyond the European Union’s borders. It has already received support from more than 80 figures (Original file not found in the available archives) in culture, politics, science and activism, including Italians Moni Ovadia, Leoluca Orlando, Donatella Bianchi, Massimo Cacciari, Erri De Luca, Nadia Urbinati, Pietro Bartolo and Tiziana Ferrario; Egyptian author Alaa Al-Aswany; Oxford University professor Peter Frankopan; Palestinian author Suad Amiry; French essayist Thierry Fabre; European Economic and Social Committee president Luca Jahier; singer-songwriter and former director of Greek National Television Dionysis Tsaknis; Moroccan writer and former culture minister Mohammed Achaari; Valencia’s deputy mayor Neus Fábregas; and Entela Kasi, poet and president of Albanian PEN.
The day opens with a video message from Moni Ovadia, readings from “First They Came for the Migrants: An Investigation into the Europe of Walls”, an Almateatro production, and a presentation of the appeal by Lisa Ariemma, co-president of Maydan. A round table follows: “Between History, Geography and Culture: Why We Are Children of the Mediterranean”. Participants are educator and trainer Amilcare Acerbi; Almateatro founder Gabriella Bordin; Carovane Migranti co-founder Gianfranco Crua; anthropologist Adriano Favole of CPS; Ivana Nikolic, who gives testimony in the video “Being Europe”; and journalist and Almateatro company member Vesna Scepanovic. Historian Gabriele Proglio of the University of Coimbra will moderate.
The afternoon begins with a screening of “Being Europe”, by Davide Rigallo and Gabriella Bordin, followed by a round table, “A New Partnership for a Free and United Mediterranean”, moderated by educator and journalist Karim Mehref. Participants include Rosita Di Peri of CPS; Waldensian pastor Davide Rostan of Valsusa Oltre Confine; Nouhoum Traoré, vice-president of Associazione Mosaico; and European election candidates Salvatore Barbagallo of Forza Italia, Giuseppe Mastruzzo of the Five Star Movement, and Daniela Padoan of Lista la Sinistra. Mehrez Drissi, adviser to Tunisia’s education minister, will contribute via Skype.
The petition supporting the appeal was launched in partnership with the Albanian Forum for the Alliance of Civilizations; Tadamon–Egyptian Refugee Multicultural Council; Efimerida ton Syntakton, Greece; Progetto Mediterranea; the Mediterranean Democratic Institute for Development and Training, Morocco; the Greater Middle East Platform, Netherlands; the Centre for Comparative Conflict Studies, Serbia/Croatia; the European Institute of the Mediterranean, Spain; Irenia–Jocs de Pau, Spain; and Sweden’s National Museum of World Culture. Related events will take place simultaneously in Egypt (Cairo), Greece (Athens), Morocco (Tangier) and the Netherlands (Amsterdam).
The full programme is available here (Original file not found in the available archives).
For information, contact Lisa Ariemma on 338 6783558.
