Report by Ms. Paula Helena Santos, the Municipality of Évora, Portugal
The Municipality of Évora, Lead City of the Mayors for Peace Portuguese Chapter, in collaboration with Évora_27, European Capital of Culture Team, organised a Youth Meeting of the Portuguese Member Cities of Mayors for Peace on March 28. With the goal of promoting the culture of peace among young people with a focus on values of tolerance, sustainability and cooperation, we invited 30 youths to Évora from the following 12 Member Cities which agreed to send youth delegates: Cascais, Setúbal, Mourão, Santa Maria da Feira, Guarda, Grândola, Almada, Lagos, Porto, Fafe, Serpa, Seixal and Évora.
After the meeting started with a welcoming address by Councilor Alexandre Varela, the workshop “Cobblestone Path” invited the youths to reflect on peace and activate their thoughts collectively through group exercises and brainstorming led by Facilitator and Director Vera Alvelos. At the end of the workshop, the peace thinkers wrote a collective Manifesto for Peace based on Eugénio de Andrade’s poem, Urgentemente (Urgently in English), stressing the urgent importance of peace and vagar—slow living philosophy and a way of living and being cultivated in Évora and the Alentejo Province.
Photos: courtesy of the Municipality of Évora
The workshop “Cobblestone Path” is a first step in involving youths in a major thematic conference, “What about Peace?,” to be held in 2025 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings as part of the conference programme of Évora 2027, European Capital of Culture.
