A public dialogue on media and digital tools for the second online forum of the Anna Lindh Foundation Virtual Marathon

The Anna Lindh Foundation Virtual Marathon for Dialogue in the EuroMed region (VM) gathers activities of ALF civil society Network and partner organizations to take place for 42 days until 29 June for 63 online events. The VM aims to highlight the importance of the Intercultural Dialogue to build sustainable societies in the EuroMed region, considering the challenges and opportunities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Towards this goal, in addition to a rich program of civil society and partner-led activities, a series of Weekly Public Virtual Dialogues organized by the Anna Lindh Foundation was designed to stimulate a broad conversation and reflection on significant issues impacting mutual perceptions between people in the region and joint action to address social and cultural challenges affecting societies North, South, East and West of the Mediterranean.

Media and Digital Tools were the main themes of the second Weekly Public Dialogue, 'Digital Threats and Opportunities'. The sudden digital shift driven by the COVID-19 pandemic has made more visible challenges and threats related to diversity and mutual perceptions through increased discrimination, hate speech, racial profiling, and fake news on social media. At the same time, digital technology use driven by the pandemic has lifted barriers and expanded accessibility, inclusivity, and equitable participation in knowledge-sharing online platforms. Digitalization in this context has also offered opportunities shedding light on the crucial role of civil society organizations in acting as information channels and first responders since the pandemic outbreak.

Aissam Benaissa (Connect NordAfrika) moderated the event, which saw the participation of essential network members and stakeholders, including civil society representatives, youth, educators, media, and institutional partners, such as Vesna Loncaric (member of the Cabinet of Ms. Dubravka Suica, EU Vice President, Commissioner for Democracy and Demography); Sid El-Mohri (YMV participant, Algeria); Nadia Henni-Moulai (Journaliste politique Jeune Afrique): Viktória Mihalkó (Anthropolis Association, Hungary); Rachida Mohtaram El Alaoui (Association Marocaine des petits débrouillards); Lurdes Vidal (IEM, author of the ALF 2021 Report); Michael Bush (Education and Society, British Council).

Based on principles of active listening, formulating and responding to arguments, and constructively incorporating feedback in the formulation of recommendations, suggestions, and action points (including policy recommendations), the discussion between the panelists led to an open conversation with the public. Vesna Loncaric highlighted the importance of the Barcelona Process, considered an antecedent of the Union for the Mediterranean and of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area: "During 25 years, the Barcelona Process has been an important laboratory for intercultural action and dialogue with civil society and youth for a more integrated, peaceful and inclusive Mediterranean"; Vesna Loncaric also talked about the importance of social media for dialogue "Social media strengthens links among people across the world, creating an environment for learning and understanding, let's take advantage of this wonderful opportunity and realize that the world belongs equally to each and every one of us!".

Sid El-Mohri talked about the fundamental importance of Freedom of speech, "a crucial component in effective and constructive dialogue, especially interculturally. Compromising the Freedom of speech challenged the dialogue and its quality by individuals who can express themselves, their ideas, opinions, and emotions."

Nadia Henni-Moulai mentioned the risks of rising populism and radicalization "We need to empower young people to think critically. Digital is good, but not enough; it is necessary to get back to the field." During the webinar, also came out different questions based on the topic of the event, such as the development of a new language (or culture) based on the digital "grammar" and a new modus operandi (i.e., algorithms) which involves a re-thinking of the Intercultural Dialogue. Other aspects were linked to making our system more inclusive and tolerant, starting from the lessons from this pandemic and new forms of intercultural engagement on social media as a key vector to organize. This means cross-cultural solidarity messages, collaborations to help marginalized communities, artistic performances to connect people. The analysis of the priority measures on the intercultural dialogue agenda for a post-COVID-19 digital inclusive community was another question for debate. The negative pandemic impacts perpetuated online such as xenophobia, racism, hate speech, and other forms of intolerance raised severe challenges about the intercultural dialogue guiding principles. Moreover, another relevant point was about the role that can be played by digital tools to provide for a better quality of cross-cultural reporting.

A relevant resolution backing the debate was the JOINT COMMUNICATION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS: Tackling COVID-19 disinformation - Getting the facts right. More information on the resolution.

The Anna Lindh Foundation is an international organization, born in 2004, working from the Mediterranean to promote intercultural and civil society dialogue in the face of growing mistrust and polarisation. Headquartered in Alexandria, ALF has coordinators and management staff based across more than 40 countries ALF.

Further event are taking place online in the 42 countries of the ALF network: https://www.annalindhfoundation.org/anna-lindh-foundation-virtual-marathon-dialogue-euromed https://www.facebook.com/groups/3909240492445240

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