Porous Borders: TEDxLeicester Salon
“Porous Borders” will be a unique experience made possible thanks to the collaboration of seven TEDx organizers from different European countries gathered to talk about refugees in a “relay race format”: different cities, different speakers, different perspectives for fresh inspiration and new ideas on this complex theme. TEDxCesena, TEDxRoma, TEDxGenova, TEDxReggioEmilia, TEDxMünchen, TEDxGranVia (of Madrid), TEDxLeicester and TEDxLyon are part of this journey.
TEDxLeicesterSalon: Porous Borders
Leicester | 15th September 2018
Since the beginning of time, humanity has always been “in motion”. Some people move searching for new horizons, others to escape conflicts, poverty, hunger, persecution or climate change, and many do so for combinations of all these reasons.
Nowadays we are facing one of the greatest human flows in history. According to the United Nations reports, wars and economic crisis push 33,000 people daily to move from their countries looking for peace and fundamental rights. Women, men and children die every day on the long journey to salvation in an attempt to cross seas, borders, physical, political and cultural barriers.
Faced with this situation, the TEDx Community feels a need to contribute to the international discussion on this urgent issue which has both local and global consequences. For the first time ever, seven Team Organizers of TEDx events from different cities across Europe have decided to tackle this topic together in a single format, all from different geographies and perspectives.
The project, based on the Relay Race Format, consists a series of TEDx Salon events organized throughout Europe which, all on the same day, will connect and communicate through a live streaming platform, to share a range of speakers’ humanitarian eye-witness accounts.
Italy, Germany, England and Spain, via 7 local events (TEDxRoma, TEDxGenova, TEDxReggioEmilia, TEDxCesena, TEDxMünchen, TEDxGranVia (Madrid), and TEDxLeicester) will discuss the central theme of refugees. Called “Porous Borders”, a concept that goes far beyond the meaning of a border as simply a line drawn and controlled by nations, but rather to take on a new dimension: that of porosity, fluidity and complexity.
What is a border? Is it something that protects or on old way of thinking that divides us? Would changing our understanding of what a border is be a risk? Or could it be an opportunity?
On this day we invite speakers and our communities to explore the theme from different points of view, offering a neutral dimension to discuss a global and complex topic in a transversal and innovative way.
Follow us across social media platforms too for information about Porous Borders and other TEDxLeicester events:
