In June the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest hosted a series of panel discussions organized by the Government of Romania in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute. The theme in focus was: “A cultural identity perspective- insight of the Danube region” and the final aim of the discussion panels was the creation of a Blue Book on the Danubian cultural identity. Besides the panels, the event contained also an exhibition of contemporary Romanian art “Danube River as Connector”, curated by Oana Ionel.
In her capacities of the first vice-president of the Writers’ League Timisoara Banat Branch, LSFTB and that of general secretary of Danube Networkers for Europe, DANET, in her panel contribution Ana Zlibut underlined the importance of mutual understanding and further cooperation in the Danube region. She emphasized that within the international context and given a great cultural diversity of the Danube countries tolerance is not enough. Knowing and understanding each other while being aware of the countries’ cultural diversity are needed. She also highlighted the need to alleviate stereotypes as to reach mutual understanding and respect as well as the will to find the ways to overcome language barriers in the Danube region. The projects “Bread connects”,“Open Doors for Danube Countries for All”, “Danube Bridge Breakfast” and other recent activities of DANET and LSFTB were presented as examples of good practice in this area. Ana Zlibut enriched her contribution by a quote by the King Ferdinand of Romania: “There aren’t the walls which make a school, but the spirit which is inside it”, thus accentuating the importance for the Danube region to cultivate common Danube spirit. “Borders are meaningless, what matters is us- the people” she added. (Source: Ana Zlibut,LSTB, Romania)