Justice, Equality and Inclusion in the Mediterranean and in Europe
Foreword
Senén Florensa. President of the Delegate Committee of the European Institute of the Mediterranean
The project “A Sea of Words”, organised jointly by the European Institute of the Mediterranean and the Anna Lindh Foundation, began in 2008 with the aim of contributing to fostering dialogue between societies and citizens, men and women, especially youths, from the countries of Europe and the Mediterranean through exchange of knowledge and experiences between local and cultural traditions. The short story contest seeks to show the different realities and sensibilities that coexist in the Euro-Mediterranean region from the point of view of its young people.
After the great reception of the first two short story contests, the third was dedicated to social progress as an effort to construct more just, egalitarian and inclusive societies. 336 short stories were received, far more than in previous contests. The number of participants has continued to grow since its first year, a pleasing demonstration of the rich creativity of the minds of youths when exploring the weight of historical memory, describing the contradictions of contemporary societies and imagining a shared future of hope and opportunities.
Today’s more plural youth show some fractures and, in order to avoid conflicts, can only relate to each other through intercultural links. This interculturality must not only be exercised in the countries themselves and between those countries that share a linguistic closeness, but also between the youths of the countries of the South and North, with the aim of facilitating understanding of diversity and fostering exchanges that make it possible to get to know each other better. Youths, their dreams, realities, potential and actions, can open fresh ways of resolving and preventing new conflicts, which are very difficult to develop from other ambits.
Literary language allows us to confront and interlink these issues of such different natures. Moreover, the literary message makes it possible to enter into the everyday, to get to know the particular, the individual, together with the collective and the political. The short story enables us to enter into the complexity of differences without generalising them, but rather by simply describing them. From this point of view, literary production is a fundamental means of expressing and describing events, ideas and emotions that can be directly transmitted to and by young people from all over the Euro-Mediterranean region.
This book is a collection of the 20 winning short stories. All of them reflect individual or collective experiences of dialogue and trust and of the search for peace, justice and mutual awareness. This is the basis for an egalitarian society.
Foreword
Andreu Claret. Executive Director of the Anna Lindh Foundation
The contest “A Sea of Words” is now in its third year thanks to the determination of the IEMed in believing in the potential of this programme and the collaboration of the Anna Lindh Foundation. “A Sea of Words” represents a unique format of cooperation, known as an “inter-network initiative”, between the Secretariat of the Foundation and one of its national networks, in which the two partners share the design, coordination and implementation of the programme.
This third Euro-Mediterranean short story contest, whose best titles make up this collection, was dedicated to social progress as an effort towards the construction of more just, egalitarian and inclusive societies. The organisers received 336 stories and 20 of these were selected by an international jury. The number of participants in the contest has continued to grow since its first year, which shows the desire of youths in the region to transmit ideas and thoughts and contribute to a vibrant literary landscape.
Their stories follow the evolution of the times and mentalities and help us, in the adult world, to observe events with an appropriate distance, beneficial curiosity and critical spirit. Looking at the plots of the winning short stories, the work of Alfredo Zucchi, Ayelet Gundar and Ana Pessoa, we can trace a bridge between the two shores of the Mediterranean to help see the events from this distance, beneficial curiosity and critical spirit. They offer a space for dialogue that goes beyond the traditional and explores the voice of fiction, creativity and fantasy. The barriers and frontiers between peoples are taken down word by word and sentence by sentence, creating spaces of participation and opportunities for sharing different visions.
The literary art has this extraordinary capacity to take situations to unimaginable limits and for readers to compare their everyday experience with the opposed extremes of good and evil. “A Sea of Words” is a tool that helps all of us to understand the importance of challenges such as managing diversity, overcoming violence, hatred and wars, and opening our internal circles to other groups, cultures or nations. This is one of the most important missions we must confront and commit to.
The work of the Anna Lindh Foundation focuses both on the development of social solidarity and the consolidation of democracy with the objective of creating spaces and meetings that foster participation. How can we involve citizens of the Euromed region so that they can develop democratic rights and liberties? “A Sea of Words” prioritises this development to contribute to better understanding, respect and trust in constructing the future. This was the purpose of launching the contest three years ago and I am proud to see that, in this third year, “A Sea of Words” has come of age as an important initiative in the panoply of Euromed cultural programmes.
Literary Language, Instrument of Dialogue
With the issue Towards Greater Equality in the Mediterranean, we present the best titles for the third year of “A Sea of Words”, the short story contest for men and women aged between 18 and 30 living in the Euro-Mediterranean area. The topic deals with the promotion of social progress and struggling towards more just, inclusive and fairer-minded societies.
“A Sea of Words” has reached its third year in 2010 thanks to the efforts and convictions of the European Institute of the Mediterranean and the Anna Lindh Foundation and their strong belief in this programme. “A Sea of Words” represents a unique method of cooperation, known as a “network initiative”, since the selection of stories involves all the Anna Lindh Foundation national networks.
336 short stories from 37 Euro-Mediterranean countries were received in 2010. The high level of involvement is due to the fact that participants can write in any of the official languages of the Euro-Mediterranean zone.
The broad scope of the call was possible thanks to its promotion by the more than 2,000 organizations that make up the 43 national networks of the Foundation, as well as other networks in the Euro-Mediterranean area, such as the Euro-Mediterranean Non-Governmental Platform, the European Youth Forum and the Euromed Permanent University Forum. Diverse organizations linked to some of these networks also strengthened the call through their own websites, newsletters and journals.
In order to carry out the selection and translation process of the 20 winning stories, there was a pre-selection at national level conducted by the network coordinators of the Anna Lindh Foundation in each of the 37 states. Later, the organizers called an international jury comprising Elisabetta Bartuli, translator and professor at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice; Jamila Hassoune, Moroccan writer and librarian; Pere-Antoni Pons, Catalan writer; Najwa Barakat, Lebanese writer; and Pierre Joseph Mejlak, winner of the second contest.
In the 20 selected stories, a variety of circumstances and key issues such as social invisibility, radical behaviours, social violence and ostracism come to light showing the different realities of our societies.
The jury members gave a special mention to three of the contest winners for the high quality of their stories and the originality of the subject matter: Alfredo Zucchi, with his piece Milena is a Sex Bomb, won the first prize; Ayelet Gundar, with the story Sunset won the second prize; and Ilija Đjurović achieved third place with The Stutterer.
Through their stories, the three winners analyze the different aspects of how societies react when a death occurs: from the discriminated Indian who is left to die with no help, to the child who is mocked by his old friends because of a murder he committed, ending with the most tragic one, when a son indirectly kills his father while searching for money to celebrate his birthday.
In Alfredo Zucchi’s Milena is a Sex Bomb the main character reflects a cross section of youths in Naples and, more generally, the issues emerging in a difficult society like that of the Italian city. Ayelet Gundar’s Sunset clearly expresses the meaning of fear and prejudice as a couple knocks down a man with a motorcycle and, out of panic, decides to leave him dying since he is a foreigner and they fear persecution by the law. Finally, in Ilija Đjurović’s The Stutterer, the simple life of a coastal holiday town, and in particular of the story’s main character, is overturned by the murder of some parents by their own son.
We would like to thank the company Mediterranean Editors & Translators (MET) for their special and voluntary participation in translating two of the winning stories.
The awards ceremony to present prizes to the 20 contest winners took place on 13th December 2010 at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, which the participants were able to visit.
The next day, the 20 winners participated in the workshop “Literary Language, Instrument of Dialogue”, during which the jury talked to the winners about the literary perspectives of the stories and their themes. In the second part of the workshop, Peter Bush, a university professor and translator, explained the complexity of translation and its importance in communicating the original message.
The following day, as a shared intercultural experience, there was a two-day trip to the town of Granada, including a visit to La Alhambra, the Pabellón Al Andalus and the Parque de las Ciencias.
The European Institute of the Mediterranean and the Anna Lindh Foundation wish to thank all the people who have contributed to the success of “A Sea of Words”: firstly, the 336 participants of the contest and the 43 national networks of the Anna Lindh Foundation; the members of the International Jury for their magnificent work and unfailing devotion; and the El Legado Andalusí Foundation for organizing the cultural visits in Granada. Special thanks to all the members of the work team of the European Institute of the Mediterranean and the Anna Lindh Foundation, especially their directors Senén Florensa and Andreu Claret.
