| UNITED FOR PEACE
Welcome to the website of the Fondazione Mediterraneo.
To work together for peace requires commitment from us all.
The most essential means to achieve this is that of dialogue between
cultures and societies, as a primary element to ensure shared progress
and development. Our Institute both as a network (but above all
as an means for the creation of networks) has founded its work on
this guiding principle.
Our work is vigorous and determined, because it looks to the future
and is based on the hope that the populations of the Mediterranean
may:
- Achieve lasting peace;
- Work towards a social economic and political reconstruction
of their countries, within the currently recognised borders;
- Live within their diversity of culture in perfect harmony and
in a spirit of tolerance, dialogue and freedom.
The distinctive approach adopted by the Foundation since 1994 (in
accordance with the principles stated by the Council of Europe,
and subsequently by those of the conference of Barcelona) has been
that of promoting the process of Euro-Mediterranean integration
by the means of science and culture.
This strategy is both original and realistic because I am firmly
convinced that in the Euro- Mediterranean area it is essential that
dialogue and mediation prevail over military solutions. It also
concurs with the essential position of the Mediterranean Foundation, which stands as a reference point for the respect of
linguistic and cultural diversity and for a lasting dialogue between
cultures and societies.
This political, economic, social and cultural challenge involves
everyone.
The interdependence between men, society and physical space is now
considered a norm, and scientific and technological changes, economic
and financial globalisation and the transmission of information
in real time are all leading mankind towards an era of standardisation.
This by no means entails a common destiny. On the contrary, the
inequality and poverty that weigh on the world stand as proof of
this. Further proofs are the risk of hegemony on the part of some
powers in making decisions that affect the future if the entire
planet, and the obstacles to information placed before the weaker
and poorer populations.
Other risks are the subjection of local economies to industrial
strategies that little relevance to the actual needs of their countries,
and the monopolies held by certain individuals (whether in a private
or public capacity) on the construction of standardised models of
behaviour, consumption, thought, creativity, and in short, of life
itself.
In the context of the gigantic expansion of international exchange,
States, but more especially citizens, sense that control of their
world is being taken away from them and that a “single culture”
is being imposed on them. Faced with this loss, especially in the
Mediterranean, there is a great temptation to withdraw into oneself,
to become fixed in archaic values that are rooted in he past, in
a climate of intolerance that often leads to fanaticism, hatred
and rejection.
If we want to prevent the cold war of yesterday from displacing
itself into a sort of religious suicide, assisted by the massive
international migrations, we need, in the widest sense of the term,
to democratise globalisation before globalisation perverts the nature
of democracy.
This entails the promotion in a fast and efficient way of dialogue
and aid initiatives between conflict-prone areas, such as those
of the Euro-Mediterranean context.
I am convinced that the linguistic and cultural areas which have
traditionally been present in the Mediterranean, currently constitute
special areas for solidarity which, if supported by dialogue and
assistance, would offer the best guarantee of democracy, peace and
shared development.
Never like today has the dialogue between cultures been so indispensable;
not only in the Mediterranean, but as a world-wide social project
where cultures can mutually complement and reinforce, rather than
exclude one another or become submerged, and in which it would be
possible to achieve unity without losing individual identities.
It is essential that we work together for the creation of a multi-polar
world of languages, cultures and traditions, and the conduct of
truly democratic international relations.
All this, however, presupposes that the world’s cultural diversity
becomes a precondition for the construction of a genuine dialogue
between peoples; that the recognition of culture as a dominant force
is not seen as an exception, but as the foundation of a new process
of civilisation, where culture is not restricted to art and literature,
but includes every aspect of life in its spiritual, institutional,
material, intellectual and emotional expressions in the diversified
social contexts. In other words that culture, in a world that where
mutually conflicting forces are often present, may take on the role
of a “positive force” capable of making an effect on
history.
The recognition that culture and development are inseparable, without
falling into a simply commercial and economic approach to culture
(especially in the area of human rights), is essential for the construction
of the future, in the Mediterranean, as elsewhere.
This process requires concrete action that is common to the thirty-five
countries of the Euro- Mediterranean Partnership, especially in
the area of human rights and the promotion of democracy.
The message we would like to send out is simple: to promote dialogue
for the coexistence of diversity and lasting peace.
Our hopes are high that arms will be abandoned and that the violence
must cease.
The peoples of the Mediterranean, at the dawning of this new millennium,
must at all costs leave behind their tragic past and make the most
of the wealth of their great heritage, which has been and still
constitutes a universal asset for mankind.
Michele Capasso
President of the Fondazione Mediterraneo
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