On December 4th at the Teatro Titano, a free event focusing on education, rights and citizenship will take place.
Twelve figures primarily involved in education, art, and research, as well as humanitarian work, will discuss issues such as education, rights, and citizenship at a conference organized by the University of the Republic of San Marino and titled "Thinking about Peace: Interdisciplinary Perspectives."
Scheduled for Thursday, December 4th, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. at the Teatro Titano, the initiative will bring to the stage personalities involved in schools and academic institutions, film, publishing, music, and theater, as well as in the affirmation of tangible solutions to multi-level crisis situations.
The opening ceremony will be led by Laura Gobbi, Director General of the University of San Marino; Luigi Guerra, Director of the Department of Human Sciences; and Teodoro Lonfernini, Secretary of State for Education and Culture.
This will include the testimonies and reflections of figures such as Yousef Hamdouna, project manager for the Italian NGO EducAid in the Middle East, who has been involved in humanitarian and development projects in Palestine for two decades, with a particular focus on inclusive education and the rights of people with disabilities, and Fatima Mahfud, who is active in refugee aid projects in the Sahrawi refugee camps in Western Sahara.
"In a time marked by war and violence that are challenging the very foundations of civil coexistence, the University is called to reflect on its role in building a culture of peace," the initiative's scientific committee explains. Hence, a conference described as "a laboratory of ideas and practices, an opportunity to reaffirm faith in the possibility of living together in diversity, of imagining shared futures, and of taking action."
The day "will be dedicated to the memory and moral legacy of Alexander Langer, a European intellectual, environmentalist, and activist of the second half of the last century who made peace and intercultural dialogue his ethical compass." Some of his works, along with those of other authors, will be included in a library set up alongside the event, available to the public with books and multimedia content.
In parallel, speakers on the conference stage will include Electra Stamboulis, school principal and art curator, Wissal Houbabi, performance poet and writer, Giancarlo Nivoli, director of the Master's in Criminology and Forensic Psychiatry at the University of San Marino, Marco Aime, anthropologist and researcher in the Alps and West Africa on topics such as identity and racism, Elisa Vendemini, teaching assistant at the University of San Marino also involved in the UN Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, Andrea Paco Mariani, director and co-founder of the independent cinema platform OpenDDB, Cecilia Fasciani, documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist for newspapers such as L'Espresso and Internazionale, Fabrizio Battistelli, founder of the Department of Social and Economic Sciences at the University of Rome La Sapienza and president of the international research institute "Archivio Disarmo", Micaela Casalboni, actress together with the Teatro dell'Argine for projects involving intercultural contexts and social, Tonino Perna, former president of the Aspromonte National Park and of the Ethics Committee of Banca Etica, Councilor for Culture of Messina and Deputy Mayor of Reggio Calabria, among the founders of the magazine "Altraeconomia" for international cooperation, fair trade and critical consumption.
The conference's scientific committee is composed of six academics from the University of San Marino: Michele Bacciocchi, Maria Elena D'Amelio, Luca Gorgolini, Roberto Paci Dalò (who will curate two musical performances, one with Houbabi), Riccardo Varini, Karen Venturini, and Federica Zanetti.