Peace, justice and rights: the Mediterranean that we defend from ALForum2025

–Jovesólides, present at the Euro-Mediterranean Forum of the Anna Lindh Foundation, together with Euro-Mediterranean leaders and networks to weave dialogue, cooperation and a shared future.

#ALForum2025 | Spanish Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation

“When the encounter is real, so is the change. And we need that change. We need that peace. And an end to all wars.”

Lourdes Mirón

President oj Jovesólides

From 24 to 26 June, more than a thousand people from 43 countries gathered in Tirana (Albania) for the Anna Lindh 2025 Euro-Mediterranean Forum, under the theme ‘From Knowledge to Action: Redefining Dialogue in the Euro-Mediterranean Region’.

An essential meeting at a global moment marked by wars, inequalities, climate crisis and the alarming growth of hate speech, racism and Islamophobia. This forum once again demonstrated that interculturality, cooperation and intergenerational dialogue are more than concepts: they are concrete and urgent tools for building peace, justice and a future in our common region.

And they are especially so at a time when social media, artificial intelligence and the spread of fake news fuel disinformation, hate speech and social fractures. Also in a context marked by the escalation of violence and crimes against humanity suffered by the civilian population in Gaza, a drama that cannot leave indifferent any person or institution that defends peace, justice and the dignity of peoples.

Several roundtables and panels addressed how disinformation, algorithms and digital manipulation have a direct impact on intercultural dialogue, on the perception of the other and on the construction or breakdown of coexistence. Fighting Islamophobia, racism or narratives of violence is today, more than ever, about understanding how discourses are generated on digital platforms and how they can be counteracted through education, culture, cooperation and social action.

The event was inaugurated by HRH Princess Rym Ali, president of the Anna Lindh Foundation, together with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) and special envoy against Islamophobia.

Among the most important speeches was that of Stefano Sannino, Director General for the Middle East and the Gulf of the European External Action Service (EEAS), who reaffirmed the European Union’s institutional commitment to interculturalism, dialogue and cooperation in the Euro-Mediterranean region. This is an essential commitment in a context where combating Islamophobia, racism and hate speech is a priority, as is firmly confronting any form of violence or violation of the fundamental rights of peoples.

In addition, the need to promote real policies that facilitate mobility, exchange and effective cooperation between the peoples of the southern and northern Mediterranean was underlined, especially at a time when borders are hardening and inequalities are growing.

“The stability of the Mediterranean is not built from offices, but from the people, the communities and the stories we weave every day”

HRH Rym Ali

President of Anna Lindh Foundation

In this context, the Spanish Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation had an outstanding presence, both in number and quality. Diverse organisations, committed to peace education, the defence of human rights and the promotion of interculturality, contributed their voice, their experience and their capacity to generate solid alliances. A network that demonstrates that when generations, knowledge, cultures and territories cross, the opportunities for transformation multiply.

Jovesólides’ participation was a reflection of this commitment to a Mediterranean that is committed to social innovation, justice, cultural diplomacy and the redistribution of power to communities.

In the panel ‘Social Innovation for Sustainable Futures’, Lourdes Mirón, president of the entity, defended social innovation as a transformative tool for labour inclusion and sustainable development. She shared the experiences of projects such as #InnovaAgroWomen, #LaRuta4punto0 and #Digiwave, which combine rural knowledge, agroecology, technology and social economy to empower young women and strengthen territories.

“When technology is put at the service of life, change is not only possible, it is unstoppable.”

Lourdes Mirón

President of Jovesólides

Boutaina El Hadri, manager of Jovesólides and anti-racist activist, took part in the workshop ‘Langues, récits et territoires : vers une diplomatie culturelle du quotidien’, where she argued that the most powerful cultural diplomacy is not born in offices, but in the streets, in the squares and in the everyday stories that recognise us as equals.

“Cultural diplomacy is built from everyday life, from respect, recognition and a shared narrative. This is where we fight Islamophobia, racism and all forms of dehumanisation.”

Boutaina El Hadri

Manager of Jovesólides

The voice of Alejandro Pérez, Jovesólides’ awareness-raising technician, was present at the round table ‘Ensuring Meaningful Youth Participation in the Med’, where he addressed the urgent need to strengthen structures such as youth councils and ensure that they are spaces for real and not symbolic participation.

“It is not about including youth. It’s about sharing power with them”.

Alejandro Pérez

Awareness-raising technician of Jovesólides

The three interventions of Jovesólides drew the same common thread: the conviction that the challenges of the Mediterranean can only be addressed from the real encounter between cultures, generations, knowledge and territories. That innovation, cultural diplomacy and participation are not complements, but essential tools for building peace, justice and opportunities.

If this forum made one thing clear, it is that social transformation cannot be the exclusive task of one generation. Nor should it be. Betting on youth is essential, but that does not mean displacing or undervaluing those who have sustained, for years and decades, the struggles for rights, justice and coexistence. True change is only possible through intergenerational collective intelligence, where the freshness, innovation and energy of youth are combined with the memory, experience and resilience of those who have built the path before.

It is in this balance, in this mutual recognition, that the Mediterranean we dream of is woven: a Mediterranean that is fair, inclusive, peaceful and full of shared opportunities.

This forum has been, once again, a fruitful space to generate new alliances, design transformative projects and strengthen networks that work for a fairer, more sustainable and peaceful Mediterranean. A Mediterranean that cannot exist without intercultural dialogue, without cooperation between generations and without the active commitment of all the voices that weave community, resistance and hope from the local to the global level.

Because the challenges of the Mediterranean are not only at the physical borders, but also at the digital ones. And building peace today also means confronting disinformation, dismantling hate speech and putting technology – including artificial intelligence – at the service of coexistence, human rights and social justice.

Our recognition and gratitude to HRH Princess Rym Ali, for her closeness and commitment to human rights and cultural diplomacy; to Josep Ferré and the team of the Anna Lindh Foundation, for building this essential space; and to the Spanish Network of the Anna Lindh Foundation, for being the network, engine and support of a plural, active and deeply transformative civil society.

From Jovesólides we continue to believe that social action, innovation, cultural diplomacy and intergenerational cooperation are the best tools to build peace, justice and future. Because when the encounter is real, so is the change. And we need it. We need it more than ever.