All photos via Estudios Revolución
By René Tamayo León, translated from the Spanish
"We are going to rescue hope; we are going to save pessimism for better times," said Dominican friar Frei Betto in his keynote lecture "Justice as a path to peace and balance in the world," at the opening of the VI International Conference, “Por el Equilibrio del Mundo” (“For World Balance”) on the 172nd anniversary of the birth of José Martí (January 28) in Havana, Cuba.
The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, attended the opening of the biannual meeting, which will be held between January 28 and 31 under the slogan "For dialogue among civilizations and for a culture of peace."
At the inauguration, messages sent by Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew were read, and representatives of governments, social movements, solidarity groups with Cuba and other activists from all continents took the floor.
The UNESCO José Martí International Prize was awarded to activist Lizeth Quiñones Sánchez, leader of the Colombian Association of United Midwives of the Pacific (ASOPARUPA), who received it on behalf of her colleagues and those women, she said, who "for centuries have exercised this ancestral practice in defense of life."
The conference was attended by more than 600 representatives from 98 countries, and some 400 delegates from Cuba. Members of the Political Bureau participated, Esteban Lazo Hernández, president of the National Assembly; Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister; Roberto Morales Ojeda, Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee, and Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The session was also led by Doctor of Science Eduardo Torres Cuevas, president of the Martí Program Office, and Héctor Hernández Pardo, coordinator of the organizing committee and moderator of the exchange, among other members of the World Council of the José Martí Project for International Solidarity.
CUBA IN THE BALANCE OF THE WORLD
Archbishop Antoine Camilleri, apostolic nuncio of the Holy See in Cuba, presented the traditional message that has been sent by Pope Francis to the Conference since its third edition.
The Holy Father shared his reflections with the members of the progressive movements who are now meeting in Havana in the Year of the Jubilee, "a year of graces according to the ancient season of the people of Israel," he wrote, "which was presented as an opportunity to restore peace and social fraternity through forgiveness and reconciliation."
"Hope is a very appropriate value for this forum that they are holding in Havana; because its aspiration to be open, plural, and multidisciplinary gives it the capacity to look into the reasons that move the heart of today’s men and women.” Pope Francis said in his letter to the Martí conference.
Archbishop Santiago, metropolitan of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean of the Greek Orthodox Church, read the message of Patriarch Bartholomew, which was sent in the context of celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the consecration of the Sacred Orthodox Cathedral Church of St. Nicholas of Myra in the Cuban capital.
Reflecting on the challenges that humanity is going through today, Patriarch Bartolomeo greeted the Conference and highlighted the role of Cuba and Martí's preaching at crucial moments, where peace, solidarity and humanism must prevail.
The Japanese Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai and other global and solidarity institutions, as well as personalities from Guyana, India, Hungary, Venezuela, Italy, and Belgium also conveyed messages.
Also taking the floor were Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma and leader of the parliamentary Friendship with Cuba group; and Dessima William, president of the Senate of the Caribbean nation of Grenada.
"UNITY IS THE ONLY WAY TO CONFRONT BRAVADO"
In the keynote speech that concluded the first plenary session, the Brazilian intellectual Frei Betto underscored the importance of these meetings, because, he said, of "their humanistic, ethical and social justice thrust, and for being a source of inspiration and ideological alternative for those of us who fight for a better world."
He stressed the urgency for these movements to become aware of the need to change the course of events on a global scale, which is to fight for a better world, for a world of justice, because, he reflected, peace will only come as a daughter of justice.
"The defense of justice and the daily ethical practice are indispensable to achieve the balance of the world," said Betto, who radically denounced the hegemonic practices that those who leading a hyperconcentration of wealth want to impose, today using and needing a buffoonish and extravagant political class. Because, he explained, the nature of capitalism has changed.
In a dissection of contemporary capitalism, Betto stressed that traditional corporate power has now been transformed into an oligarchic power that seeks the deconstruction of the "administrative state" and that it needs a buffoonish political class that hypnotizes and diverts the struggle of peoples for their rights into attitudes against migration, Blacks, Muslims and any "scapegoat" that appears.
In the face of all these threats and realities, Frei Betto called on the progressive forces of the world not to be defeater, but to be militants of hope and to reclaim governments in the service of the people.
For this, he said, we need more awareness, more ideas, and also more actions, to make our practice the basis of truth.
"We have to create unity, we have to seek cooperation, and we have to seek, above all, that people in poverty rise from a naïve consciousness to a critical consciousness, which depends on us," he said. "Unity," he said later, "is the only way to confront bravado."
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