Casa Árabe participates in Beirut’s Spring Festival 

The institution is co-organizing a round table discussion titled “Healing Memories and Building a Future,” as part of this event by the Samir Kassir Foundation.

This festival, created and put into action in 2009 by the Samir Kassir Foundation, was inspired by the title of one of the last articles written by journalist Samir Kassir shortly before he was killed in 2005, and revolves around tolerance and cultural diversity, above all in societies which are dealing with violence and injustice.

More specifically, Casa Árabe is helping to facilitate the presence of Josefina Cuesta Bustillo (University of Salamanca, Spain) and that of Luciano Fouillioux (Museum of Memory, National Human Rights Institute, Chile) at the round table discussion titled “Healing Memories and Building the Future,” held on May 5 at 6:30 p.m. at the Université Saint-Joseph.

A society cannot build its future without first having accepted its past. Based on the experiences of several countries that created mechanisms to deal with historical memory, like Spain, Chile and Northern Ireland, this panel discusses what has not been done in Lebanon and the effects of choosing a policy of amnesty and amnesia. The debate also analyzed the measures which may be established to ensure that, after the conflict in Syria, its society can undertake a true and sustainable process of reconciliation.

In addition to the aforementioned, the panel’s members included Ziyad Baroud (former Minister, Lebanon) and Jane Morrice (Vice-President of the European Economic and Social Council and former MP and President of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, United Kingdom). It was moderated by Carmen Abou Jaoudé (International Center for Transitional Justice, Lebanon) and included a brief introduction by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for Casa Árabe’s Governance Area.

Beirut Spring Festival 2015