Federico Mayor Zaragoza
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Federico Mayor Zaragoza | |
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Born | Federico Mayor Zaragoza 27 January 1934 |
Alma mater | Complutense University of Madrid |
Federico Mayor Zaragoza (born 27 January 1934 in
Biography
Federico Mayor Zaragoza was born in
Spanish political career
Federico Mayor Zaragoza was undersecretary of Education and Science in the
UN career
In 1978 Federico Mayor Zaragoza became deputy director-general of UNESCO. In 1987 he was elected director-general of UNESCO and re-elected for a second mandate in 1993. After deciding not to run for a third term, in 1999 he returned to Spain to create the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, of which he is chairman.
UNESCO
During his 12 years as head of UNESCO (1987–1999) Mayor Zaragoza gave new life to the organization's mission to "build a bastion of peace in the minds of all people", putting the institution at the service of peace, tolerance, human rights and peaceful coexistence, working within the scope of its powers and remaining faithful to its original goals. Under his guidance, UNESCO created the Culture of Peace Programme, whose objectives revolve around four main themes: education for peace; human rights and democracy; the fight against isolation and poverty; the defense of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue; and conflict prevention and the consolidation of peace.
On 10 November 1998, the
Later life
In 2000, Federico Mayor Zaragoza founded the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, serving as its president.[3]
In 2002, Mayor Zaragoza was appointed to chair the European Research Council Expert Group (ERCEG) set up in December 2002, during the Danish EU presidency, on the initiative of Helge Sander, the Danish Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation. Its creation was a follow-up to the conclusions on the status of the European Research Area (ERA) reached by the Council of Ministers meeting on competitiveness, held in Brussels on 26 November 2002, and the recommendations on the basic principles of a possible European Research Council (ERC) agreed in October 2002 at a conference in Copenhagen organized by the Danish Research Councils. The European Union has identified the need to strengthen the competitiveness of Europe and to become a knowledge-based economy.
In 2002, Federico Mayor Zaragoza co-founded with
In 2005, Federico Mayor Zaragoza was appointed co-president for the UN High Level Group for the
In 2007, Federico Mayor Zaragoza co-founded with
Federico Mayor Zaragoza is a member of the
In 2011, Federico Mayor Zaragoza was appointed President of the International Commission against the Death Penalty.
In 2013 Federico Mayor Zaragoza joined the Nizami Ganjavi International Center Board along with Ismail Serageldin, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Tarja Halonen, Suleyman Demirel, Roza Otunbayeva, Ambassador Walter Fust. It is a cultural, non-profit, non-political organization dedicated to the memory of Persian poet, Nizami Ganjavi, the study and dissemination of his works, the promotion of the principles embodied in his writings, the advancement of culture and creative expression, and the promotion of learning, dialogue, tolerance and understanding between cultures and people.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza and Ambassador Karim Errouaki were keynote speakers at the first annual Peace Education Conference,[8] held virtually in September 2021.
Foundation for a Culture of Peace
It was founded in March 2000 and ascribed to the protectorate for foundations of the Community of Madrid's regional Department of Education. The Foundation's objective is to contribute to building and consolidating a Culture of Peace through reflection, research, education and on-the-spot action. Its activities focus mainly on linking and mobilizing networks of institutions, organizations and individuals who have proven their commitment to the values of the Culture of Peace.
Through the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Mayor continues the task he began as director-general of UNESCO: that of promoting the transition from a culture of violence and force, to a culture of peace and tolerance. Each year the Foundation offers an annual Culture of Peace course in collaboration with the
Federico Mayor Zaragoza calls for a new world order to extricate humanity from our present dilemma. A new ethical and moral order whose cultural, scientific and social dimensions balance economic and technology development. For our real goal in life is to improve the quality of life of each and everyone of us. This involves new forms of cooperation as the world is now one village.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza endorses the stand taken by UNESCO with regard to peace, disarmament, human rights and education. In the domain of information he suggests a new approach, warning against any monopoly control of communications, and denouncing the dangers of one sided information.
Federico Mayor Zaragoza argued that man is in a state of transformation; from Homo faber he is on the path to Homo sapiens. Knowledge liberates, and scientists have a crucial role to play. The new order proposed requires a proper use of knowledge- for knowledge, like all else, only exists through humanity and for humanity. It should thus be the focus of our reflections. All power to the imagination!
Since 2011, the Foundation for a Culture of Peace hosts the Global Program Women's Knowledge International devoted to: 1) develop an educational project of global reach to contribute to the production and dissemination of women's and feminist knowledge, 2) foster the growth of a socio-political conscience on gender equity among likeminded people and a wide range of actors, 3)build cultures of peace through women's produced knowledge.
Activities and research
Activities
The activity of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace is mainly based on the entailment and mobilization of networks of institutions, organizations and individuals that stand out by their commitment with the values for the culture of peace. The concrete actions of the foundation are mainly centered in the divulging and educative areas.[9]
Research
Federico Mayor Zaragoza published his book The World Ahead in 2000. The specific aim of the book, which he has drawn up in collaboration with Jerome Binde and with the assistance of Jean-Yves Le Saux, Ragnar Gudmundsson, and the team of UNESCO's Analysis and Forecasting Office, is to prepare people more thoroughly for the coming decades so that they may respond in good time to the challenges of the future. Federico Mayor argued that, as observed by Ilya Prigogine,
We cannot predict the future because the future will never be as before. We can prepare for it because, far from being inscribed in a book of destiny, the future is uncertainty, bifurcation, unpredictable creation. It is in our hands, because the future is freedom- for the most part, it will be exactly what we make of it. We can prepare for the future, but are we prepared for the twenty-first century.[citation needed]
More recently, Mayor Zaragoza was working with
Committee of experts
In 2003–2004 Mayor Zaragoza sat on an ad hoc committee of experts, for which he was spokesman, set up to advise the Spanish government regarding the return of the polemical "Salamanca Papers" to the autonomous government of Catalonia. Comprising, among others, Columbia University Professor of History Edward Malefakis, and Juan Pablo Fusi, the committee declared in 2004, by a majority of 14 of its 17 members, that it was "just and legitimate" that the documents be returned to the autonomous government.[11] The documents were finally transferred in 2005.
Publications
Mayor Zaragoza has published over 100 articles in scientific journals, especially from his time as a professor of biochemistry, when he wrote, for example, about metabolism in plants[12] and numerous articles in popular journals. In addition to numerous scientific publications, Mayor Zaragoza has published numerous books and over seven books of poetry – A contraviento (1985), Aguafuertes (1991), El fuego y la esperanza (1996), Terral (1997), Voz de Vida, Voz Debida (2007), Alzare mi Voz (2007) and En Pie de Paz (2008). Mayor Zaragoza has also published more than seventy publications on education strategies, development, human resources and science and technology.
Books
- Tomorrow Is Always Too Late, Stamford Publishing, 1992.
- Memory of the Future, UNESCO Publishing, 1995
- La Paix Demain?, UNESCO Publishing, 1995.
- Science and Power, UNESCO Publishing, 1995
- The New Page, UNESCO Publishing, 1995.
- UNESCO: Un Idéal en Action, UNESCO Publishing, 1996.
- The World Ahead: Our Future in the Making, Zed Books,2000.
- Los Nudos Gordianos, Galaxia Gutenberg,1999.
- La Palabra y la Espada, AEFLA, 2002
- La Fuerza de la Palabra, Adhara, 2005
- Un Dialogo Iberico en el marco europeo y mundial (with Mário Soares), Galxia Gutenberg, 2006.
- Enfermedades Metabólicas (ed.) (2006)
- Tiempo de Acción, 2008
- Tiempo de Accion, Universidad de Granada, Editorial Anfora Nova, 2008
- The Crime of Silence, 2011
- Reinventing Globalization After the Crash (with Edward J. Nell and Karim Errouaki), forthcoming in 2012.
- Economics and Management in Dialogue: Reinventing Management (Organizational Strategies through the Transformational Growth Lens), with Edward J. Nell and Karim Errouaki, forthcoming.
Interviews
- During an interview for Global Education Magazine (30 January 2013), Mayor Zaragoza stated: "In a moment in which we already can and already have freedom of speech, we have to get involved and committed. We have to be aware that we are still in time to change a culture of imposition, fear, a culture economically based on specula, on productive relocation, on war; we have the chance of changing it into a culture of dialogue, conciliation, alliance, into a culture of peace".[13]
Notes
- International Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World. This followed resolutions about the International Year for the Culture of Peaceand the International Day of Peace.
- UN Secretary General.
References
- ^ See the website of Peace Academy at "Bienvenue | Académie de la Paix - Peace Academy". Archived from the original on 2011-08-30. Retrieved 2013-05-19.
- ^ Barcelona, UAB-Universitat Autònoma de. "The UAB inaugurates its academic year at the Monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallès". UAB Barcelona. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
- ^ Website of the foundation
- ^ Errouaki
- ^ Fondation Chirac's honour committee
- ^ The jury for the Conflict Prevention Prize awarded by the Fondation Chirac
- ^ International Commission against the Death Penalty
- ^ "Peace Education Day | Virtual Conference". Peace Education Day. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ^ For further details see the website of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace at http://www.fund-culturadepaz.org/ and also the blog of Federico Mayor Zaragoza at http://www.federicomayor.blogspot.com/.
- ^ Errouaki, Karim (2003). Globalization and Transformational Growth: Rethinking the Foundations of Economic Development. UM, HEC-Montreal, 2003. Paper presented at the Global Progressive Forum, the European Parliament, Brussels, 2003.
- ^ "El Comité de Expertos considera 'justo y legítimo' devolver el Archivo de Salamanca a Cataluña" El Mundo December 24, 2004 (in Spanish) Retrieved 2009-08-27
- S2CID 4180935.
- ^ "Scholar Day of Peace and Non-violence, Interview with Federico Mayor Zaragoza". 30 January 2013. Global Education Magazine. ISSN 2255-033X.