2002

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR PEACE
to the memory of MARIAGRAZIA CUTULI and JULIO FUENTES.
Journalists killed in Afghanistan - War correspondents, ITALY-SPAIN

War. Tangle of wrongs and passions, of infamy and greatness. Like a tear in the fabric that – millennium after millennium since the first ancestors at the beginning of the reflection and consciousness which established rules and laws to curb instinct, repress egoism, find a conception of good, link people in mutual aid with general and shared values and made us less transient in the large sea of being, thanks to the persisting trace – hardly renews in the present, perpetuates in the future and marks an identity higher than the biological one. A tear in which, in the struggle of a force against another, the tragically constructed civilization becomes somehow uncertain and sometimes wavering. And there they were, without hatred or partisanship, to witness courage and cowardice, examples of compassion or abuses, of generosity and baseness, without prejudice in search of the truth that each fighter distorts. There, to found on that truth a better understanding of both parts, of the suffering of both, to challenge the opposing beliefs and lay the foundations of a new agreement so as to put an end to hostilities and establish a new, possibly fairer, peace. For this understanding, for this better and more human future, they were there: determined, sparing no pains, without escaping risk. Without any support, except for the distant support from their newspapers which had entrusted them with a mission more difficult than fighting, almost always more obscure. There, unarmed among armed people, serene among passions, courageous without boldness, more determined than fighters. There, always ahead where the battle is raging, convinced and determined. Until the sacrifice, just like Maria Grazia Cutuli and Julio Fuentes whose mutilated bodies and broken mobile phone were brought back to us. But their voice we gather here and their message we repeat in their name are not broken.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR DIPLOMACY
NEHAD ABDEL LATIF
Egyptian Ambassador to Italy, EGYPT

In a long and patient process he has built the bases for a strong Egyptian-Italian dialogue by solidifying the knowledge of the societies living on the two shores of the Mediterranean. He was one of the protagonists of the 2 nd Euromed Civil Forum of Naples In 1997, giving a constructive contribution for the cultural, economic and social cooperation. For this reason the Fondazione Mediterraneo attributed to Nehad Abdel Latif the Mediterranean Award for Diplomacy 2002.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR ISTITUTIONS
ANTONIO BASSOLINO
President of Regione Campania, ITALY

As Governor of the Region, he instituted a Department for the Relations with the Mediterranean Countries. Symbol and warning of a policy that, being aware of the turn of the millennium, has realized that Naples, Campania and Italy itself have no future outside the tissue where along centuries has been constructed, among clashes and encounters, exchanges and unions, a great and specific Euro- Mediterranean unity, to which the whole Europe should turn again so as to reinforce and develop the values on which it has constructed its own identity and resulting from the syntheses occurred in the Mediterranean.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR ART AND CREATIVITY
MONI OVADIA
Singer, actor, ISRAEL

The search for novelty in life, custom and thought, which has been the dynamic force of the West since its first establishment, has frantically accelerated towards “modernity”. With regard to the societies which have rigorously maintained their traditions as concepts and custom as well as social order and even the forms of art, literature and language, “modernity” has an impact giving rise to a turbulence which – unlike invasions and wars that are suddenly upsetting but rapidly subsiding – can hardly calm down since “modernity” is violently confronted to convictions and habits, so it upsets well‑established economies, imposes to break the fabric in which everyone is contained but sure, blocked but steady, it liberates the individual and pushes him towards perspectives launched over nothingness. A deep, unprepared and unexpected break, giving rise to hopes that are not realized, bearing an illegible message. In the entire non-Western World, particularly in the Islamic World which in this situation cannot even find the promises of Greek philosophy that had nourished the West and that Islam itself had in part given back to it by Its falsafa, the consequences of that impact are overwhelming, they provoke oppositions which rigidly cling to the past. Facing such a great preclusion and violence, it is very difficult to try to promote mutual understanding and start a dialogue. It is with this aim that Moni Ovadia has dedicated, with passion and endurance, his constant work of research and invention to the revival and re-interpretation of ancient Sephardic and Arabic songs from the XIII and XIV century, recalling the common roots of those cultures that are today taken as ground for confrontation by peoples who, instead, cannot attain their renaissance without new cooperation and harmony.

Awarding Ceremony
Naplesi, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR MEDIA
VITTORIO NISTICO'
Journalist, ITALY

Journalism follows and tells everyday and historical events. It is rare for a newspaper to enter history becoming an Integral part of It. This is the case of “L’Ora”, prestigious newspaper of Palermo and Italy, during the long season when it was directed by Vittorio Nisticò. It is an example in the history of Italian and Mediterranean journalism. By his recent book “It happened in Sicily: the roaring years of Palermo newspaper ‘L’Ora’“, published by Sellerio, Nisticò reports on crucial events in Sicily as well as on the story of the newspaper and of its extraordinary community of journalists trained with Integrity and courage and with a hunger for the truth.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR MEDIA
EL MUNDO
National Neewspaper, SPAIN

Journalism has become an essential need to us. It involves, among other things, effort and sacrifice. Sometimes sacrifice goes to the extreme and deserves our deepest appreciation. This Award to “El Mundo” is the expression of our acknowledgment to a newspaper which, through the recent sacrifice of Julio Fuentes, has demonstrated how difficult it is to satisfy a priority need of our world: to be informed, which means above all awareness in transparency.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD FOR MEDIA
CORRIERE DELLA SERA
National Newspaper, ITALY

Following the tradition of journalists like Albertini, the Corriere della Sera has been able to maintain a balanced stance among opposing passions and ideologies so as to represent the events in a more objective light which not only helps to better understand such events but also to make a constructive reflection on them. To achieve this aim, correspondents have travelled across the world, sometimes without coming back, and a great contribution has also been given by the editorial staff with its constant, patient, unanimous and anonymous work.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD "SILVER DOLPHIN"
to the memory of MARCELLO GIGANTE
Professor, expert in papyrus, ITALY

In the transformation period started after the second world war, Marcello Gigante, Iike Carducci in his time, gave voice to the relation between ancient culture and modern conscience, reconsidering the text of Herodotus and interpreting the historical lines of the classic world in the mark of the Nomos Basileus, the sovereignty of the law. Translator of Diogenes Laertius and Director of the collections “La Scuola di Platone” and “La scuola di Epicuro”, he deepened the study of ancient philosophy, in particular of Epicurus and Philodemus of Gadara, through the study of Herculaneum papyri. His essays on Leopardi, Settembrini, Quasimodo and on the classical culture of the period between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are focused on the relation between ancient and modern time. He was editor of “Parola del Passato”, director of the “Studi di Filologia Classica”, National President of the Italian Association of Classical Culture. His publications, more than 700, have always contained highly significant descriptions and views. Among his works, it is worth remembering: “Le Elleniche di Ossirinco”, “Nomos Basileus”, “Civiltà delle forme letterarie nell’antica Pompei”, “Classico e mediazione”. For this reason the Fondazione Mediterraneo attributed To the memory of Marcello Gigante the Mediterranean Award “Delfino d’Argento” 2002.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

MEDITERRANEAN AWARD "SILVER DOLPHIN"
to the memory of PAOLO BUFALINI
Senator of the Italian Republic, ITALY

History has known more than one personalities who, though without media renown, have played an extraordinary role in the political events that mark the life of a State. Paolo Bufalini belongs to this gallery: for the contribution given during the 30’s to the creation of one of the most important and active anti-fascist groups, the Roman one, also because he gathered young intellectuals who later on played an important role on the political and intellectual scene of the post-war period, for the contribution given to the Italian resistance in Yugoslavia; as animator, after the liberation, of the Autonomist Southern Movement, in Sicily and in the South, struggling for Agrarian Reform and modernization of the Country; as a strong and wise mind In the action for the renewal of P.C.I., the unity of the left party, the convergences among all democratic forces. He dealt with all these issues with a high vision of politics, always overcoming the class and party borders, like a Cavour-style statesman. This is the framework in which falls the exceptional work made by Bufalini in drafting a foreign policy of détente, of understanding of the other’s reasons, of friendship among the peoples of the Mediterranean; the activities aiming at guaranteeing religious peace and Improving relations between the Italian State and the Vatican, through the renewal of the Concordat. And he did so as a laic, persuaded that only a lay State and the respect of the religious conscience of the Individual and of the communities can defeat the fundamentalism that has blooded the word for centuries, until today. Bufalini was also a serious specialist in Greek and Latin and a careful and acute translator of Horace, thus telling us that the mingling of culture and politics is vital and necessary to make noble and effective public commitment, to improve one’s country and the mutual knowledge of peoples.

Awarding Ceremony
Naples, 4 January 2002

 

 

INTERANATIONAL AWARD LABORATORIO MEDITERRANEO
INT. HOTEL NUIT
Best short‑filmby Swiss director Elena Hazanov
 

A film offering several interpretations in its short running time. From the reversal of man‑woman role to the confrontation between two cultures, to the conflict between language and body. The narration has a light touch and a deep irony. For this reason the Fondazione Mediterraneo attributed to Elena Hazanov the International Award Laboratorio Mediterraneo 2002.

Awarding Ceremony
Trieste, 24 January 2002