The Principal of the Universitat de València, Mavi Mestre, has been joined by the Mayor of Gandia, Diana Morant, and the President of the Provincial Council of València, Toni Gaspar, in a ceremony held on Modnay in the Corones Hall of the Ducal Palace of Gandia.
A symbolic ceremony with a reduced audience. This has been the opening ceremony of the 37th University of Summer of Gandia, which this year, for the first time in its history, is held 'online'. This event, along with two programmed concerts, is the only on-site activities at the Summer University, which has been forced to adapt to the current situation. In this inauguration, the local and academic authorities were accompanied by representatives of the city's government and politics, the town councils of the La Safor region and representatives of social agents and movements and of culture and festivities.
The health emergency of the COVID-19 has forced a change in the model of the UEG (Summer University of Gandia) and has also marked the speeches of the authorities present, agreeing to understand this crisis "as a change of course that leads us to a more sustainable world". In this sense, the Principal of the University, Mavi Mestre, has highlighted that the growth models of the capitalist economy based on a large consumption of natural resources are already exhausted: “The health crisis that we are still suffering from the COVID-19 has shown us that another way of living, and of consuming and producing, is possible. We are in the middle of the society of knowledge, and we have to put in value the capacity of generation and cooperation that we have as an advanced society”.
This capacity to adapt has been highlighted by Toni Gaspar, President of the Provincial Council of Valencia, who wanted to stress the importance of maintaining initiatives such as those of the Summer University of Gandia at this time: “More than ever, the university must be the navigator that guides uncertain and fearful societies along the right path. The UEG provides answers to citizens who are currently unsure”. The Mayor of Gandia, Diana Morant, has also referred to this need to respond, and has expressed her opposition to the use of the term "new normality". Morant said that it was an expression, “of which I only hold its new definition: from now on we must be innovative in our outlook and prepare to live in a world of disruption where we build intelligent, green, sustainable, egalitarian, socially cohesive and inclusive cities. And on that road Gandia must go”.
Opening Online Conference
The ecofeminist activist and reference in environmental activism Vandana Shiva was in charge of giving the inaugural conference entitled 'One Planet, One Health: Biodiversity, Health and the Sustainable Development Goals'. A conference given from India and that can be viewed on the website of the Summer University of Gandia. www.uv.es/ueg
At this conference, Shiva discussed how the destruction of biodiversity affects our way of life and prevents us from achieving a more sustainable world. Furthermore, the Indian philosopher states that women have to be at the forefront of this change of model: “Either women lead a path to the future based on caring and sharing, or, as more than 2,000 species enter into danger of extinction every day, humanity will also be endangered by greed, power, the blindness of monoculture and the cruelty of military thought”.
The conference given by Shiva was the starting point for the 2020 edition of the UEG. This year’s edition was entitled “Turnaround to Sustainability”. In the words of the director of the CIG-UV, Carme Melo, “will tackle sustainability in a cross-cutting and critical way, and will give great importance to gender issues”. An edition "that aims to carry out a critical and rigorous reflection on whether the SDGs are the ideal framework for dealing with the climate, health and social emergency that we are experiencing".
The programmed courses and conferences are all free and you only have to enrol on the website of this 37th edition www.uv.es/ueg
