Cultures & Civilisations Dialogue programme “7th ASEF Talks on the Hill”
“Beyond Black and White: Confronting Modern Realities of Racism and Xenophobia in Asia & Europe”
13th-15th November 2005, Barcelona Spain.
The 7th Talks on the Hill brought together 15 high level individuals from Asia and Europe to address the issues of racism and xenophobia in the two regions. Held in Barcelona and hosted by Casa Asia, this meeting dealt with real and current occurrences and manifestations of this phenomenon, with the objective of coming up with policy recommendations on improving the situation.
This flagship think-tank programme of the Cultures & Civilisations Dialogue utilises a unique format of meeting organisation and facilitation that has proved to be very effective in encouraging brainstorming, debate and discussion on pertinent, current and sometimes sensitive topics of relevance to Asia and Europe.
The participants of this “Talks on the Hill” meeting were challenged to address the rather sensitive issues of racism and xenophobia in their respective countries, as well as understand the issues faced in other countries and regions. The group discussed issues of immigration and labour migration, the role of education in perpetuating racism and xenophobia, the media and national and international policies. The participants at this meeting comprised of academics, Directors of think-tanks, NGO activists and policymakers.
This “Talks on the Hill” meeting preceded the 2nd edition of the East-West Dialogue organised by Casa Asia and in collaboration with ASEF, Club de Madrid and UNESCO. The panel organised by ASEF during this conference consisted of 5 participants from the Talks on the Hill meeting who presented the major themes and findings of the meeting as well as engaged the audience in discussion, further elaborating on their experiences and ideas on countering racism and xenophobia in the two regions.
Detailed information on the participants as well as the content, agenda and the final report of the meeting is available on the Cultures & Civilisations Dialogue website at http://www.civdialogue.asef.org.
This meeting was organised with the generous support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK.
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