This Thursday afternoon the inauguration of the III took place Festival of the Humanities of Dénia in the L'Androna room Baleària, at an event packed with people who wanted to hear the words of experts on this year's theme: thinking about the limits of the future from the present.
Present at the opening ceremony were: Vicent Grimalt, mayor of Dénia; Joseph Ramoneda, journalist and philosopher and promoter of the festival; Massimo Cacciari, philosopher and politician, and Tony Reig, journalist and writer.
The latter was in charge of introducing the event, first highlighting that this is the Year of Maria Ibars and quoting some words from the writer as a reference: "It is important to think before speaking, even more important is to think before doing." Reig pointed out that the festival is part of a broader project that aims to position Dénia as "a city of thought", that is, the creation of a space "that stimulates creativity, that maintains reflection and the transfer of knowledge and that transfers it to society to improve the quality of life and common well-being."
Vicent Grimalt continued his speech: "War is the source of all tears, and democracy always loses with it," the mayor quoted Theodor Kallifatides' words at the first edition of the festival and lamented that "three years later, there are too many people crying in the world."
«A news item from the newspaper El País “The June 2024 forecast this summer confirmed that the world has reached its highest peak of conflict since World War II: nearly 60 active wars, according to a study by the Institute for Economics and Peace,” said Grimalt, who wanted to remind the audience that “allowing yourself to reflect on fear and uncertainty while sitting quietly in a chair is a luxury,” so “we must not forget the fear and uncertainty that many people are already suffering at present.”
The mayor stressed that the mission of the festival is to "promote change, awareness, empathy and for everyone to support humanity, equality and solidarity."
Josep Ramoneda, for his part, mentioned that Dénia is “the excellent city” for this type of event. The philosopher reflected on the current global situation, which he described as “a threat to the human condition itself”, hence the importance of “setting limits”. He gave as an example Trump’s political campaign, in which the technological magnate Elon Musk is participating, in which “limits are broken”.
"Reflection is more necessary than ever, but the consequences of not doing so are wars. We need to think about where we want to go," Ramoneda concluded.
Europe as a mediator of conflicts
Massimo Cacciari then began his talk. The thinker and politician reflected on Europe's role in current conflicts. He explained that Europe, with the past world wars, sought to establish a global hegemony among some of its nations; however, none of them is, which "means political suicide."
The philosopher argued that the United States now played the role of "Atlantic Europe" and that after the fall of the USSR in the 80s and 90s it apparently became the greatest power, causing "the balance that governed the world to disappear."
However, for Cacciari the situation does not end there, as Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa continue to evolve at a rapid pace and "could aspire to be global political factors."
For the Italian, therefore, conflicts will continue if Europe does not intervene, since the role that the United States has assumed is to "maintain the hegemonic position and not understand the differences between countries."
For the world to have a peaceful future, the thinker said, the system must be conceived as "federalism", that is, respecting the differences between the multiple powers. This is where Europe comes into play: "The culture of peace will not come from North America, but from the Europeans. Europe is a bridge, we must be the space for mediating conflicts," concluded Cacciari.
After his speech, a talk took place with Ramoneda and the journalist and writer John Carlin under the title of The limits of politics.
Carlin offered an analysis of the upcoming US elections. He described his home country as “the cultural empire par excellence, whose global impact transcends borders,” saying that its political future will affect countries like Ukraine or Israel more than American citizens themselves.
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