Heidi Rautiomaa, coordinator of the Faiths Without Borders CC in Finland, joined Nancy Momany of the Iris Women CC in Jordan and Global Council Vice-Chairperson Tareq Al-Tamimi of the Volunteering for Peace CC in Palestine (pictured above) for the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Forum, held from April 4-7 at the Pharo Palace in Marseilles.
The forum, held every three years by the Anna Lindh Foundation, brings together youth leaders and civil society organizations with policy makers and intercultural experts from across the Euro-Mediterranean region. With a theme of “Citizens for the Mediterranean,” the 2013 forum focused on the need for intercultural dialogue and cooperation to face the challenges posed to the region following the historic “Arab Spring” of 2011 and the ongoing European economic crisis.
Heidi, a former URI Global Council Trustee, discussed ways to enhance religious dialogue and intercultural cooperation, while Tareq provided a presentation on “Good Practices and Open Space” during a session on Civil Society issues.
“The importance of promoting interreligious and intercultural cooperation in our increasingly diverse and plural societies is without question,” Heidi said. “This need is even more acute in the Mediterranean region, a place that historically has been a space for encounters – as well as clashes – between religions and cultures.”
In her presentation, Heidi noted the challenges posed by religious pluralism and approaches – both secular and religious – to the need for interfaith dialogue between religious minorities and majorities. One particularly effective approach, Heidi suggested, was to identify those universal values that can allow a “dialogue of life” to take place between people whose religious and cultural identities may be worlds apart.
“I wanted to remind people that there are common values already found in the great religious and philosophical traditions of humankind,” Heidi said. “People need to be made aware of them again, and those values must be lived out in dialogue.”
Participants at the forum, who included more than 1,300 people from 44 countries, agreed to launch the Euro-Mediterranean region’s first handbook on teaching intercultural citizenship at schools. In addition, the forum heralded the official launch of Citizens for Dialogue. Sponsored by the European Commission, the new organization will focus on civic capacity-building across the region’s Arab societies.
For more information, visit the Anna Lindh Mediterranean Forum site.
