An encounter of Med. cultures

In our times, Ulysses and his saga of the Inner Sea have many a time inspired initiatives to bring together the cultures of the Mediterranean. Ulysse 2009 is no exception but participants of this encounter in Malta and throughout the ensuing voyage that ended last week in Beirut, Lebanon, wanted to go a bit further.

The organisers, foremost among whom was the French Ambassador in Malta, author Daniel Rondeau, who promoted this happening, made it their intention to completely claim their heritage and their share of the future of this cradle of civilisation. The Mediterranean washes upon the shores of three continents. This common sea, as a medium of communication, has taught its shoreline communities to give and take, to convey, to question and even to evolve distinct cultural frameworks inside a world that has remained as intricate as it was in the time of Homer and Virgil.

The Mediterranean, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Louis Galea, said, has radiated out far beyond its shores and embraced the entire human experience with its knowledge, laws and beliefs, its three monotheistic religions, its respect for nature, beauty, the sacred and reason.

Under the auspices of its three main backers, the Embassy of France in Malta, the Malta House of Representatives and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean - the latter represented by its president, Rudy Salles, and Sergio Piazzi - the Malta Encounter was held at the Chamber of the Malta Parliament in early October and proceeded on its symbolic voyage to Tunisia, Tripoli, Limassol and Beirut on board the French naval vessel La Meuse.

Along the way, through similar encounters to that of Malta, Ulysse 2009 invited intellectuals, artists, poets and parliamentarians to form alliances of ideals, strengthen their fundamental values and confirm their common heritage in order to build a future that, in the words of President Emeritus Guido de Marco, who also addressed the local encounter, will regale the world with a Pax Mediterranea.

During the Malta Encounter, Mediterranean authors from France, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Malta celebrated Ulysses, the great mythological figure as an inspiration to a Mediterranean identity while another round table of analysts mused on the spirit of monotheism and poetry. Another group of scholars from France, Tunisia, Algeria and Malta traced the footsteps of Albert Camus while proposals of alliances were forged by participants coming from Malta, the EU, Italy and Greece. Among their conclusions, participants referred to the Mediterranean building blocks of regionality and culture.

The Malta Encounter also invited a number of distinguished speakers, foremost among them Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for justice, freedom and security, who expressed hope for more EU member countries to show solidarity with migrants. In two separate presentations, Fr Peter Serracino Inglott, Malta's representative at the European Convention, spoke on migration and Salvino Busuttil, president of Fondation de Malte, dwelt on the common heritage.

During the plenary workshops participants debated the environment and pollution, immigration, security, trade and religion.

In his concluding remarks, the French Ambassador compared his personal images of fishermen in different parts of the Mediterranean to attempts by modern political leaders to spread the net of solidarity and fight sea pollution as well as face up to tragedies such as that of the boat people. He also mentioned France's assistance to Malta in taking a large number of migrants and promised the same will be done next year.

The Malta Encounter was concluded by Tonio Borg, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who referred to the diversity of the sea that unites different communities. He affirmed Malta's vocation towards a Mediterranean union having very often taken initiatives in various international fora to strengthen and enhance political, economic and social cooperation among states. Dr Borg praised French President Nicholas Sarkozy on his initiative to establish the Union for the Mediterranean and rightly pushed the issue to the top of the European agenda with equality and co-ownership for all parties at its core.

The symbolic voyage of Ulysse 2009 ended in Beirut, Unesco's current Book Capital of the World, where the visit coincided with the internationally-acclaimed Salon du Livre, during which conferences were held. Among the guest writers were Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, the French Nobel prize laureate for literature. The voyage was officially closed on October 23 by the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Bernard Kouchner.