The Festival of Economics as an antidote to fear

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Four continents are planned to be touched at the Festival, taking place from 29th May to 2nd June 2008. Africa, South America, Asia and Europe are going to be joined up through a worldwide network for solidarity created by women.

Economists, jurists, traders, politicians, writers and leader writers from everywhere are going to debate on work, politics, justice, education, solidarity, ethical and ethnic matters, civil service, corporate governance, social integration, rights, meritocracy and much more.  In short, this event is going to help us take part in the problems of our times.
 
The two previous editions seemed to have been thought up for multi-ethnic Italy, their main themes being 'Wealth and  poverty' and 'Human capital, social capital'. Have you missed them? Don't worry. There's a very good website where you can find contents, videos, debates, forums and reports.
 
Even though taking part in it is quite other. The 'alpine town' changes into Athens. Every corner becomes discussion, debate, knowledge and interaction.  Thousand of people crowd the activities and events.  And the dissent as well. Last year some people used the 'agorà' to  publicize their 'against-policies' but the Festival always accepts the challenge and answers with a  positive attitude through "pro" policies.  It is no accident that Trento is near the top of the list of the quality of life, beyond the many contradictions that characterize any territory.
 
These are just some of the names that are taking part in the discussions: Luisa Diogo, currently Prime Minister of Mozambique; Paul Krugman Lecturer in Economics and International Relations at the University of Princeton and leader writer for the "New York Times"; Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford; Benjamin Friedman, Lecturer in Political Economics at the University of Harvard; Egor Gaidar, Prime Minister of Russia in 1992 under Boris Yeltsin's government and John Lloyd, journalist and leader writer for the "Financial Times".
 
The cultural kermis is going to be completed by some important names in the  Italian economic scene: Mario Monti, Guido Rossi, Francesco Giavazzi, Luciano Gallino, Sergio Marchionne, Piercamillo Davigo. And more : thirty academics from different universities in Italy and as many women from four continents are going to gather.
 
An environmentally friendly festival. Free bicycles will be available and electric cars are going to carry the materials.
 
And most of the visitors will walk on cultural tracks. Everywhere there will be cases for trash separation and collection. Most of the documentation has been printed on recycled paper. Speakers will find municipal water in glasses and jugs made of glass on the conference tables. Plastic usage will be reduced to minimum; regional and seasonal foods will be served to the participants.
"Trento for Kioto", the shared plan promoted by the City Council to reduce CO2 emissions, is going to provide energy from solar photovoltaic panels to enlighten the central "Piazza del Duomo" (Cathedral Square). The "Barrier-free Festival" will print its program in Braille, and everybody will have the possibility to listen lectures on line from the site www.festivaleconomia.it .  Every speech will be translated into English using a cutting edge technology for automatic translation and it will be published on the site within 6 hours. If you can't attend the events personally you can participate virtually through the WebTV and if you can't find a place in the conference room you can look at the wall screens that have been installed in several squares.  A lot of supporting activities, such as infopoints, the Festival bookshop, the corner of humour, films and performances from the world are going to complete the "Festival experience":
 
In a word, an answer to the narrow-mindedness. A means to aggregate against the "atomisation" of the human experience and to help to replace "me" with "us". An antidote to fear. A way to experiment "another possible World".

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