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of Cultures Barcelona 2004. E

Adolfo Perez Esquivel and RLgoberta MenchU. Translating into signs language: Delegates at the Parliament of the World Religions.
Peace Nobel Prize Laureates. Dialogues to promote the culture exploring all the ways to communicate and transmit values. People of every places thinking together.
of listening and work towards peace.
this goal, dialogue between civilizations, cul- chair person. Some of the best sessions we The first follow up is Monterrey 2007. I hope
tures, religions, peoples and states is more had were led by media presenters or perso- we'll manage to transfer in a proper way the
necessary than ever. Forum Dialogues promo- nalities that were able both to make the value added of such an event as Barcelona
te critical debate and reflection on issues of public comments follow some kind of logic 2004. Furthermore there are several results
global concern, while facilitating contact bet- and were able to engage the different spea- that will be worked out by the Forum
ween those involved. Three principles have kers in a dialogue between them. Foundation: the type of dialogues organised
guided all our conferences: promoting the cul- putting together interdisciplinary speakers
ture of listening, facilitating the coming-toge- What are the main difficulties for organi- from all over the world; the management and
ther of individuals with divergent points of sing a true dialogue? promotion of the networks of knowledge that
view and questioning the obvious. were created and developed during the prepa-
ration of the dialogues; some of the formats
For us the main difficulty was to find a balan- that were extraordinarily successful, such as
What is a true dialogue? How can it be ce between the star system and other speakers the 141 questions for 141 nights, the peace
organised? How is it sustained? we wanted to invite, between quality and camp with youngsters from areas in conflict,
depth of debates and accessibility for all, bet-
etc. All this will find a platform for develop-
ween having a large representation of spea-
We tried to organise Dialogues in which kers from all over the world and allowing ment in the foundation.
people can meet face-to-face to talk, debate time for opening the floor to the public; bet-
and analyze the main issues affecting the
ween combining the availability of speakers
world today and in the future. The main aim How is the transfer to Monterrey done?
and the agendas of our dialogues; between
of this activity is building bridges of com-
munication, respect and understanding bet- suggesting interesting questions and progres- Once the city is chosen, there is the signature
sing on those lines...
ween individuals, peoples and cultures of a Memorandum of Understanding where
through words as well as through cultural the different responsibilities are established.
and artistic expression. The establishment Who has come? Why? The different institutions involved in the
of this platform, for dialogue does not management of Monterrey 2007 have to
obviate conflict or differences, is based on In 141 days, around 70.000 people have come endorse this MoU. Then there will be a mul-
the pursuit of respectful communication and to the dialogues, and around 2.500 speakers. tidisciplinary team to follow up both the tra-
mutual understanding, always based on the Around 30% were foreigners, an estimate demarks and legal affairs and the contents and
recognition that we live in a diverse world. which should be increased in the next editions spirit of the event. The only recommendation
To be useful a dialogue must be open. It of the Forum. Around 26% of the attendees I would made to them is to talk a lot with peo-
must also be based on knowledge and a were students that chose the dialogues as an ple that have been on the front lines in
determination to understand and appreciate alternative to their regular courses in the uni- Barcelona 2004, not only with the authorities
differences. Face-to-face conversation is the versity. This option made the public a quite and top managers.
best way to communicate and transmit young audience. We were surprised of the
values. The ability to listen effectively is an intensity and number of questions made by How can I get more information?
essential prerequisite in the process of dia- the public to the speakers. In fact, we had pre-
logue, which is why our Dialogues promote pared a number of what we called "row 0',
the culture of listening. that is some people interested in the issues to Use the website at:
www.barcelona2004.org You'll get there
be used as icebreakers in case of heavy silen-
Once those preconditions are met, speakers ce in the rooms, and we never had to use most of the speakers texts, reports and
need to be briefed and engaged in the issues them. Some of those invited persons got even summaries of the different sessions. And /
they are going to speak about. There is not a mad because they wanted their minute of hope that you will also get updated informa-
single format to transmit messages and start glory on the internet and the TV channel and tion on what the Forum Foundation is doing
a dialogue: sometimes is good to have a they did not have the chance to get it. on the different legacies the dialogues have
keynote speaker that will lay down a set of come up with. I guess the first job of the
questions to talk about; other times is better foundation will be to publish a special report
to establish a conversation between the pan- Will there be a follow on? on the dialogues in electronic or paper for-
ellists. It is always good to previously defi- mat. Anyway, it should come out.
ne a set of questions around which presenta- The basic legacies of the Forum Dialogues
tions and comments are to turn around. are intangible, and for that reason more valua-
ble and more difficult to make visible to the
One of the main secrets is to have a good media and the audiences.

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