Conclusions in english

Conclusions of the seminar “For peace, justice, dignity and rights of peoples in the Mediterranean area” (14-16 November 2007, Barcelona)

The participants of the seminar “For peace, justice, dignity and rights of peoples in the Mediterranean area”, members of civil society organizations belonging to communities and stateless nations which share the Mediterranean territories, put forward the following conclusions:

We confirm that for each of us the Mediterranean Sea constitutes –as it has always been for thousands of years– a common point of reference consisting of a large plurality of histories, languages, cultures and political, social and economical circumstances. This role as a point of reference has recently been boosting due to the process we have come to know as globalization, a process which enables us to perceive that we are all part of what is happening everywhere in our planet and we share liabilities for it. The actual on-going processes currently taking place in the Mediterranean allow us to confirm the imaginary line that deeply segregates the so-called North, wealthy and highly developed, and the impoverished South. We observe a growing fracture that is paradoxically deepening the division between the two sides of the Mediterranean rim and hinders the bridgening of gaps for co-operation and mutual understanding.

In front of this new reality, the participants have decided to search for ways to bridge these gaps, taking into consideration the fact that they all belong to peoples or communities which are marginalised or not fully recognised in both the North and the South sides, and also work in favour of individual and collective human rights and the promotion of emancipatory struggles for linguistic, cultural, social, and economical rights. In spite of the lack of mutual knowledge and recognition, there is indeed a common framework that bring us near to each other.

We are aware that if co-operation among us and mutual understanding, in accordance with current human aspirations of freedom and liberation, could be achieved in the Mediterranean context, we would become pioneers in making another world possible. Bearing this in mind, and thanks to the dialogue and exchange we have established in these workshops, we constitute ourselves as a network, making the most of the advantages provided by the new information and communication technologies. This is our bridge. Certainly, such a bridge is a challenge running at the opposite direction of so many other obstructing bridges upon which people are forced to emigrate, unequal wealth and power-relations circulate. Thus, we set up a network that should enable us to establish innovative forms of co-operation, democratic co-existence and peace and which hopefully becomes a model in the near future.

The network’s internet domain is www.gensmediterranea.org and will be available soon. Until then you can use http://gensmediterranea.blogspot.com

The participants have appointed the organisers of the seminar, CIEMEN, to host the secretariat of the network for the time being. The e-mail address will be gensmediterranea@gmail.com, whereas CIEMEN’s general e-mail address is ciemen@ciemen.cat or Sandra's e-mail: cooperacio@ciemen.cat.

Barcelona 16^th November 2007