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Adyan Conference
Education and civil society professionals from across
Europe and the Middle East gathered on Thursday
and Friday, 2nd and 3rd of June, at the International
Conference on Cross-Cultural Education to discuss ways
to promote intercultural dialogue and increase mutual
understanding.
The conference was organized by the Adyan
Foundation and the Faculty of Humanities at Notre
Dame University-Louaize as part of the Euro-
Mediterranean Understanding Program, which was
designed and implemented by Adyan in partnership
with the Anna Lindh Foundation.
The program “…is based on the belief that to
overcome the clash of ignorance and misunderstanding
we need to foster cross-cultural education within both
academic and civil society organizations,” said Professor
Fadi Daou, head of the Adyan Foundation, during
remarks at the opening session. Adyan is a Lebanese
foundation, established in 2006, dedicated to interfaith
studies and spiritual solidarity.
Dr. Martin Beck, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s
representative in Jordan, Father Walid Moussa,
President of Notre Dame University-Louaize, and Jorge
Sampaio, President of the United Nations Alliance of
32
Civilizations, also addressed the opening session.
The two-day event was set to include discussions on
tools for inter-religious and cross-cultural education,
and to include a session on the recent Arab uprisings
and what the events could mean for cultural diversity
in the region.
Speaking of the lack of understanding in the region,
Daou echoed remarks made by Rabindranath Tagore,
the first Asian Nobel laureate, who in his acceptance
speech in 1913, worried that a calamity of obscurity
was preventing the peoples of the world from
understanding each other.
“Almost a century after, the circumstances have
changed but not the feeling of being oppressed by this
calamity of lack of understanding and sharing between
the East and the West, but more specifically between
the Arabs and the Europeans,” said Daou. “The culture
of the future where a stranger is welcomed as a
brother is still an urgent task and a challenge for each
society, for the Mediterranean region and the world.”
Daou also emphasized the significance of holding
the first International Conference on Cross-Cultural
Education in Lebanon.