FICRT Foundation and San Juan del Castillo Foundation reflect on tolerance and integration

"Tolerance and values for living together in a plural context and in crisis" has been the backbone on which the sociologist Zakaria Sajir, researcher at the Employment Group of the Spanish headquarters of the European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN), and the anthropologist Alicia Guidonet Riera, coordinator of the Interreligious Space at Fundació Migra Studium, have discussed within this space for dialogue created by the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance (FICRT) and the San Juan del Castillo Foundation, under the moderation of the Foundation's president, Alfred G. Kavanagh.

This first conference was inaugurated by the Director General of the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance, Jumaa al-Kaabi, who pointed out that "contemporary reality urges peoples and societies to live together in tolerance, wherever they are, particularly in contexts where there is religious pluralism, multiple cultures and different positions".

Next, the sociologist Zakaria Sajir, as part of his proposal for the management of diversity in Spain, explained that peaceful coexistence depends on two fundamental issues: firstly, the empowerment of individuals and communities so that they have their own voice and avoid being instrumentalised in the political game; and secondly, the creation of a framework for dialogue that is capable of promoting the cultural wealth of second generations. In this respect he pointed out that "young people of the second generation have within them both the seeds of dialogue between cultures and the seeds of the destruction of Europe. However, what we finally sow in our societies depends not only on them, but on everyone".

Next, the anthropologist Alicia Guidonet Riera, through her presentation, approached care as a form of resistance to the social crisis we are experiencing. In this sense, she explained that the way to do this is to focus on the contributions of religious traditions in relation to care, understood in a broad sense, and demonstrating that resisting social dissolution is opting for coexistence.

Likewise, the coordinator of the Interreligious Space at Fundació Migra Studium has stated that "creating a relationship with someone else means welcoming them and letting them welcome you. It implies receiving them and giving them space, allowing ourselves to be received and broadening our outlook. It means going out of oneself to find oneself in the one who, by knocking "inopportunely" on our door, provokes a movement in and among us".

After a fruitful debate thanks to the questions of the attendees, the course was closed by Macarena Úbeda Rojo, who in her speech highlighted that "it is necessary to take care of ourselves with a view that is placed on the margins, and to encourage dialogue in the form of words that are found to be inspired by other models".

Thus, the first activity in a cycle of three conferences entitled 'Tolerance and Integration', organised by the Foundation for Islamic Culture and Religious Tolerance and the San Juan del Castillo Foundation, has concluded. The result of this link between both institutions was the collaboration agreement signed in 2020, thanks to which various actions have been carried out in favour of peace, tolerance and the promotion of inter-religious dialogue.