22/12/2021
FSG
Pere Aragonès, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, closed the conference. Tania Verge, Minister of Equality and Feminism of the Generalitat de Catalunya, also attended the event.
Dialogues for Interculturality is an initiative of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, in collaboration with the “Club of Rome” Office in Barcelona and "la Caixa", that took place on 9th December, for the 4th consecutive year, at the Palau Macaya in Barcelona.
The aim of Dialogues for Interculturality is to encourage a debate on the value of interculturality and on the recognition of cultural diversity as a factor of development within the framework of Human Rights, in a context marked by the increasing excluding discourses that tend to reject, ignore or exacerbate diversity by emphasising differences.
The aim of this conference is to establish a dialogue and debate based on the universal language of citizenship, promoting equal rights and fostering intercultural relations based on respect and recognition towards different cultures. An intercultural perspective that also serves to counteract exclusion, discrimination, inequality and invisibility of minorities such as Roma.
Jairo Jiménez and Bianca Galusca from the Fundación Secretariado Gitano in Catalonia, welcomed more than 120 people, including representatives from public administrations, civil society organisations and the Third Sector, among others. The event could also be followed on streaming.
The conference was officially opened by Jaume Lanaspa, Head of the “Club of Rome” Office in Barcelona, who spoke about "the key elements of the intercultural approach"; Francesc Ventura, Director of the Interculturality and Cohesion Area of "la Caixa" Foundation, who talked about the 10-year experience of the ICI (Intercultural Community Intervention) projects; and Sara Giménez, President of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, who highlighted that " the intercultural proposal entails knowledge, respect, and the promotion and correction of social errors".
"Interculturality beyond the myth"
Ángeles Solanes, Professor of Philosophy of Law at the University of Valencia and former President of the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination, opened the session with a presentation entitled "Interculturality beyond the myth". Among other considerations, Solanes pointed out that "if we want to build an interculturality that has a legal-political perspective, we need to work on the idea of cultural identity as a right".
This was followed by a round table discussion entitled "Interculturality, Tolerance and Diversity", moderated by the journalist Cristina Manzano, columnist for El País and El Periódico de Catalunya, with the participation of Miquel Torres, Director of the organisation “Justícia i Pau” in Barcelona, Miguel Ángel Aguilar, Chief Prosecutor for Hate Crimes in Barcelona, and Aya Sima, human rights activist and a reference for the local and regional associative movement.
Pere Aragonès, President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, closed the conference and expressed his "commitment to equality”. He also called for "administrations, parties, social organisations and society to make collective efforts to combat discrimination".
Tania Verge, Minister of Equality and Feminism of the Generalitat de Catalunya, also attended the event.
The publication with the report of the previous edition (2020) by Antonio Ortega, is now available at the following link. All the editions (2018, 2019 and 2020) can be consulted on the Dialogues microsite (spanish version only). The report of the last edition (2021) will be available from May 2022 and will be prepared by Pastora Filigrana.
4th edition of "Dialogues for interculturality". Barcelona, 2021
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