The second edition of Dénia Festival of the Humanities It has been a complete success. And it is not debatable, despite the fact that today every piece of evidence is disputed. The philosopher said it this morning Victor Gomez Pin on the Center Social scenario in reference to climate change: "Subjectivity has no place in science, because the one who legislates is the object." And this is pure mathematics. Neither in the sessions on Thursday, nor in those on Friday, nor in those on Saturday have there been more than a couple of free places among the public.
And here is all the objectivity that can be provided by summarizing what has been a celebration of thought and debate. During three days, a large number of issues have been discussed that great experts in each subject have attempted to address, telling their experiences, supporting or refuting each other. What the public has attended as spectators without believing that everything that was happening was taking place in Dénia.
During the closing conference on Saturday, the last of the festival, Gómez Pin himself made use of the question time reserved for spectators to contribute his ideas to the debate that was taking place on stage between Francesc Colomer y Arcadi Navarro. He could have already ended his participation in the festival by having left the stage, however he continued among the audience to participate as one more, making the rest of us attend a magical moment in which several thinkers collided in the most improvised way. possible. And we were part of it, for just a few euros and after a few minutes' walk from home.
It is truly fortunate that a festival like this exists in Dénia, and there is nothing wrong with feeling lucky for it. The general director of Books, Comics and Reading, María José Gálvez, was fascinated on Thursday with the city's bravery in having undertaken an event of this category, since any other festival would have been much simpler and a priori gratifying. However, a humanities festival is complex, but excessively necessary, even if it is very difficult to sell among neighbors.
The festival is born with a huge invisible barrier that must be addressed to make it disappear. It remains to be clearly defined who it is aimed at. Víctor Gómez Pin can be among the public along with any neighbor of the Marina Alta, but will both receive the information that is being transmitted in the same way? Who are they addressing? And this is very diffuse, because it depended on the conferences. There have been some truly demanding ones, which seemed aimed at experts in certain subjects. But, nevertheless, they invited the public from the street to enter.
The world of the festival and the real
On Friday afternoon, agreements were reached that received unanimous applause from the stalls while at the same time admitting that these common ideas then had to be faced outside, "to the real world", assuming that an independent ecosystem had been created. in it Social Center, in this case, where everyone shared a way of thinking and being. That is to say, it was already assumed that there were people from the outside and those from the inside, which sounds too exclusive being a festival that seeks for us all to stop and reflect, not just those who appear on the poster. And they must get that real world become part of what is experienced within the Social Center or L'Androna, because the task of reflecting to, for example, avoid future wars belongs to everyone. If not, others will act crazy while the rest of us continue thinking.
At the opening, a scene was experienced that has been one of the most talked about of the festival and that marked the majority of discussions. While Zulfü Livaneli was on the L'Androna stage, a baby could be heard in the audience. Livaneli, almost finishing his speech, said that in the entire room the most important person was the baby, because if they were gathered theorizing and reflecting it was about his future. But no matter how many seats are filled, if people from the "real world" are not involved in this reflection, there is no possible future, only a slightly more aged present.
Does Dénia have a duty to democratize the humanities?
The work now is to get more people to access the festival. Yes in the D * na haute cuisine, the most exclusive branch of gastronomy, was brought closer to everyone; they have the responsibility to do the same with the humanities. It is based on many disadvantages, such as the very limited scenarios that Dénia has to make it grow, but it would not hurt to think of a third space with more accessible topics and speakers that serve as a springboard to avoid the vertigo that one can face when want to follow some of the more complex conferences.
The writers Jordy Amat y Martha Sanz, during a moment of the round table on what literature can teach about the future, they made a differentiation between literature to make people cultured, intelligent and critical, and literature of lower value, undemanding, to entertain. But it was not considered that to access that literature that we usually refer to with the reductionism of "dense", the habit must be educated with simpler readings. That is the springboard that perhaps also needs to be addressed with a broader program to reach people who may be overwhelmed and think that this festival is not for them. Soledad Gallego I was afraid that Google would decide what topics I should read, but maybe people of the real world They are equally frightened by what seems too complex, perhaps, for them.
Great strides are being made to grow the festival. Vicent GrimaltIn fact, they announced at the closing that they had reached an agreement with the Valencian universities so that attendance at future editions would mean microcredits for students. And it's great news. But we must not forget that people on the street have to be participants in the festival, because in the end it is not so complex, it is not so exclusive and it is so important for everyone. You have to make it arrive to the real world so you can see how lucky we undoubtedly are that this is happening now in our house.
There are many scientists who question climate change, some Nobel Prize winners. There is a political interest in financing the IPCC reports by figures who are members of the Davos forum, the large investment funds Black Rock, Vanguard... Bill Gates etc... Those who pull the strings of our puppet politicians who are at their service and who They sell the benefits of the 2030 agenda. All this is on the same wavelength. The beneficiaries are these characters; the harmed all of us
I very much agree with you, but it's a good start. I need the people of Denia to mix more with the festival and the people of the festival to mix more with Denia. And even a relationship is made between the great debates and local problems, since everything goes together. This lays a good foundation, so these are just ideas. We need to take the debate to having fun at the market, or to an institute. That every year a speaker has a debate in each institute, for example. And I'm missing activities in Valencian.
But it's a very good idea that you should keep going.
The real world
I agree with you Antonio, the real world and its current people is what is important, the rest is the chimeras of futuristic chatterboxes of great empty debates far removed from our daily reality.
To entertain is very good, but what do we have left of this?
Good proposal Antonio, but to be able to take the debate to the Street it is necessary for people to have a base and minimal cultural and social knowledge, the majority do not even reach that minimum. Just enough to get drunk and gorge on food at Parties subsidized by the State Department of "Culture."
A city that does not take care of its most humble residents is a city without a soul. Neither the young nor the not so young can buy a home. We are unfocused, enthralled by the fog of Montgó, the aroma of red shrimp and the thoughts of messianic leaders who are leading Denia to social exclusion and posturing.
Totally agree. Soon citizens will have to go live under the bridges, while renting to predatory tourism.