The Anna Lindh Foundation is an organisation shared and resourced by over forty Euro-Mediterranean countries, to bring people together as a way to promote dialogue between cultures and respect for diversity.
The year 2008 was the year of International Dialogue. Turning Tides coordinated a project in the North East of England that worked in partnership with 1000 other projects across 37 countries. These projects aimed to develop an awareness and understanding between the citizens of the European Union countries and the twelve countries in the Mediterranean partnership; Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria. Morocco. Albania and Mauritania.
Our project involved a group of young people from North East of England who organised an evening of dialogue about issues from Palestine, Turkey, Egypt, Germany and the UK. This evening was not about judging or making decisions, but about understanding and learning.
Before the event a group of young people discussed and agreed the shared values/behaviours needed for effective dialogue. They then selected youtube clips that represented cultural issues from the countries selected. During the evening event, friends and the local community were invited to join the dialogue and youtube clips provided a useful stimulus for dialogue.
This project was used as the UK case study in The Anna Lindh Foundation publication for 1001 actions.
People said
This evening really made me think about different cultures and our shared values.
Living these values is really important to have a meaningful dialogue - this can be quite difficult!
A very thought provoking project.