IEMED - Institut Europeu de la Mediterrània

Cultural diversity is the result of choices and actions by individuals who recognise themselves as part of a group or adhere to community and religious traditions. From this point of view, economic, social and political relationships between groups, communities or nations give intercultural dialogue a position of priority. There is no relationship without mutual understanding.

But no human relationship is without confrontations. The Mediterranean area in particular, a region of continued action and interaction, is currently seeing how some of its main conflicts not only are not coming to an end but are becoming more aggressive and ferocious. The recent case of intensification of the conflict in the Gaza territories, for example, is resulting in a major growth of regional instability, as well as generating tensions between people of different cultures and origins in the Middle East and Europe and the Mediterranean in general.

Although all military conflicts can have components of cultural and religious identification, their roots and causes are always of a social, political and economic nature. The role of intercultural action is that of stopping these conflicts from becoming crusades between cultural and national identities and to contribute to the construction of a shared culture of peace and coexistence.

The European Union recognises the need to call on its citizens to play a role in the management of cultural diversities, constantly enriched by the changes and alterations brought about by the globalisation process, but also to be able to have an active role in the attempt to find a resolution to conflicts that can as far as possible satisfy the different parties and finally lead to a lasting and just peace.

The Union for the Mediterranean specifically makes it clear that the Euro-Mediterranean strategy in relation to culture has one of its main principles in the recognition of the importance of dialogue between cultures. And in this framework, young people, their dreams, realities and potentialities have a primordial social role to play, as their action can open up new channels of resolution and prevention of new conflicts, which are very difficult to develop in other fields.

Along the same lines comes the appeal of the Alliance of Civilizations to those who believe in constructing rather than destroying; to those who embrace diversity as a means of progress and achievement rather than as a threat; and to those who believe in the dignity of the human kind rather than the superiority of some.

In keeping with the proposals expressed, it is necessary to strengthen and prioritise a more structured cultural exchange to involve citizens – and particularly youths – in the management of the complexities of our socio-political reality and call their attention to the need for a more direct intellectual involvement in the resolution of existing conflicts.
The project “A Sea of Words”, in its 2009 call, is being held again with the aim of contributing to the encouragement of dialogue between peoples, and exchange of knowledge and experiences between different local and international traditions.

However, this year the project is aimed at greater involvement in building bridges of trust that lead us towards reconciliation, while they can also involve an opening of our social environment to contribute to fostering a more dialoguing and dynamic society in which young people, as the future generation, can play an important role in raising awareness of the importance of mutual understanding of different cultures, and of the need for coexistence that must be peaceful and mutually enriching.