Madrid: One week before the World Forum for Peace in Cities

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..

An article by Natale Salvo for Pressenza (reprinted according to Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license)(translation by CPNN)

Everything is ready for Madrid to host the “World Forum on Urban Violence and Education for Coexistence and Peace”.

“Organizers say that cities are the main space for interaction between people, collectives, businesses, ideas and values. But they are also spaces that generate inequalities and the proliferation of different types of violence. Cities and local authorities have the duty, the responsibility, to work for peace, against violence as a means of conflict resolution and for education, peace as a means of coexistence and future well-being. We need inclusive, safe and sustainable cities.”


(Photo credit: Ayuntamiento de Madrid CC by)

On Monday, November 5, at 4:30 pm, the Matadero Cultural Center will welcome local leaders, international and civil society organizations and networks to open a joint process of debate, brainstorming and building solutions that foster urban environments that can put an end to the manifestations of violence.

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(Click here for the Spanish version of this article or click here for the French version)

Questions for this article:

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?

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Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena, Vice President of the Government Carmen Calvo and Nobel Peace Prize winner Wided Bouchamaoui as well as many members of social organizations will attend the opening ceremony. Among the guests are Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona and ​​Gabriela Firea, Mayor of Bucharest.

Representatives of social organizations, among others, will be: Federico Mayor Zaragoza – Foundation for a Culture of Peace; Patrick Keuleers – the United Nations Development Program, Mpho Franklyn Parks Tau -UCLG, the global advocacy association of local and regional governments and José Graziano da Silva, Director General of FAO. The Mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, will represent FEMP, the Federation of Spanish Municipalities.

Among the few hundred participants from all continents, Italy is not represented by a mayor, but exclusively by the writer and activist Patrizia Fiocchetti, who will participate in the debate on “Violence for radicalization, extremism and international terrorism “.

The Forum’s work, which will end on Thursday November 8, will include 12 debates on topics such as violence in sport, aporophobia [N.d.T. an attitude of hostility, more or less visible, towards people who live in poverty or precariousness] and social exclusion, violence against women, international terrorism, violence against children, racist and xenophobic violence, phobia against LGTBI, lack of access to housing, corruption and interreligious dialogue against violence.

With this initiative, now in its second year, the city of Madrid hopes to become known as the “capital of peace”.

Pressenza Italia will be present at the event and will endeavor to inform its readers.