Our Mediterranean Campaign: Review and ‘Roadmap’

On 9 August 2021, four civil society organisations from the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean launched ‘Our Mediterranean’, a cross-border advocacy campaign calling for the construction of a common destiny among the peoples of the region. Civitas Institute (Gaza), Mashallah News (Lebanon/France), Maydan Association (Italy) and Réseau Euromed France (France) worked together under the umbrella of Med Dialogue for Rights and Equality (an EU programme supporting civil society in the region), to raise awareness about common values in the Mediterranean, the culture of solidarity and coexistence, and the need to build a ‘free and united community of destiny’. For the promoters of the campaign, the peoples of the region share a ‘Mediterranean identity’ that is plural, multifaceted, and open to encounter and exchange.

In working towards a common future in the Mediterranean, the campaign aims to counter the narrative of division by showcasing the richness and diversity of our common Mediterranean roots, ensuring that shared issues are brought to the regional and institutional agenda, and, finally, cultivating the idea of a peaceful and just union in socio-political and economic relations between Mediterranean peoples and beyond.

A wide range of activities – including written and audiovisual stories, research, exchanges of expertise, online and in-presence multi-stakeholder debates, and artistic productions – involved nine different participating countries (France, Gaza-Palestine, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco-Tunisia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands), contributing to raising awareness about the common destiny of the Mediterranean. The campaign also provided the basis for the drafting of a ‘Roadmap’ of measures, initiatives and policies to consolidate a shared vision between North and South in the Mediterranean and prepare the conditions for its realisation. The ‘Roadmap’ is addressed to civil society organisations, citizens and decision-makers, and brings together the results and proposals of the ‘Our Mediterranean’ campaign in three languages (English, Arabic and French).

To support the construction of a common Mediterranean destiny within an agreed institutional framework between the two shores, the brochure includes: a summary of discussions held on Mediterranean identity (results of Mediterranean Talks, round tables and meetings), a survey among civil society actors on common challenges in the Mediterranean (Med Vision barometer), a series of stories on shared heritage, infographics, policy and the full version of the ‘Roadmap’s’ policy recommendations and measures.

The campaign concluded with the presentation of its work at the Vision Med North-South Meeting (Brussels, November 2021), and at the Forum des Mondes Méditerranéens (Marseille, February 2022).