by Jessica Reed
“Never before has this planet needed an adventurous Europe as much as it needs it now” – Zygmunt Bauman
The festival begins today with an opening lecture by sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman , who will argue that Europe must recover its planetary ambition and sense of responsibility. If you plan on attending and have some thoughts to send our way, please post in comments or e-mail me as jessica.reed@opendemocracy.net.
This week will also mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which gave birth to the European Economic Community and the Atomic Energy Community (we blogged about the anniversary’s controversial logo competition here). The London Festival of Europe is one of the main celebrations taking place in the Union right now, but a lot is happening everywhere: if you are unfortunate enough to not be in the British capital this week, check out this list of European and worldwide celebrations on the Europa website. Who knows – maybe you will want to attend European poetry events in Cardiff, see some theatre and dance in Brussels, take part in the European cultural night in Belfast, or even go to an European exhibition in China?
openDemocracy will post blog entries, pictures and poDcast updates from the festival for the next ten days – so be sure to come back often and share your European thoughts and hopes with us!
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