Argentina—“Culture and Values for the Reencounter” was the theme of the Conversation organized by the International Association of Academicians for Peace (IAAP) and UPF-Argentina, on August 12, 2021, in observance of International Day of Indigenous Peoples (1). This event was declared of Municipal and Cultural Interest by the Deliberative Council of the Municipality of Río Grande (Decree No. 066/2021), in the southernmost Argentine province: Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands, and was held by virtual platform and transmitted on the UPF-Argentina channel on YouTube (2).
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTGutPWRJRQ
The speakers at this event were: Amalia Gudiño, First National Deputy of Tierra del Fuego (MC) from the Selk’nam people; Mirtha Salamanca and Margarita Maldonado, from the Selk’nam community of Tierra del Fuego; and Víctor Vargas, First Counselor of the Yagan Paiakoala Indigenous Community, also from Tierra del Fuego. The moderator was Ambassador for Peace accountant Fernando Carbajal, university professor and active member of international entrepreneurship networks in the province of Santa Cruz; and the presenter was Leda Ivana Soto, singer-songwriter and journalist for Radio Nacional de Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego.
The opening and welcome was given by Miguel Werner, president of UPF-Argentina, followed by remarks from Professor Julio Nardini, a member of the UPF-Argentina Peace Council and a representative of the IAAP of Argentina, a global initiative of UPF.
The program, which also had the collaboration of the Casa de Africa en Argentina through its president Irene Ortiz, featured an international message from Jean Louis Bingna, Bantu Prince of Cameroon (3); the video “On the Centenary of Rio Grande,” a city and municipality in the province of Tierra del Fuego, (4); and the poem “Original Messengers,” by Ambassadors for Peace María Irene Giurlani and Silvia Bojart, with the musical background “Latidos de la Tierra,” by Miguel Ángel Basso (5). The program closed was with an indigenous artistic number, “El fueguino,” from the album “Cantata Fueguina,” by Walter Buscemi (6).
The Conversation held in observance of the International Day of Indigenous Peoples, a date established by the UN in 1994 within the framework of the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous Populations (1995-2004), was part of one of the IAAP’s objectives in Argentina: “To generate critical and constructive thinking in the central mission of seeking truth, goodness and beauty for the benefit of the common good of the peoples and world peace, with a new awakening of conscience in the current historical evolution, based on the premises of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values.”
This program sought to value the culture and knowledge of the original peoples, starting with Tierra del Fuego, recognizing their ethnic and cultural pre-existence, their worldview and bringing to light their good practices. It should be noted that there are more than 476 million indigenous people of different cultures living in 90 countries around the world, representing 6.2% of the world’s population, one of the most vulnerable and sometimes adversely affected sectors in the world. Indigenous peoples possess a great diversity of cultures, traditions, languages and knowledge systems, together with a special relationship with their natural environment and development concepts based on their worldviews.
Quotes:
1) Data International Day of Indigenous Peoples:
www.un.org/es/observances/indigenous-day
2) Conversation “Culture and values for the reunion” IAAP / UPF-Argentina 12/8/2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTGutPWRJRQ
3) International message from the Bantu Prince of Cameroon:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2PjwwCp0Ew
4) Video “On the centennial of Río Grande”:
5) Poem “Original Messengers”:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0L8D-vOyPI
6) “El Fueguino,” by Walter Buscemi:
