BrightMed discusses borders and technology

The BrightMed International Seminar yesterday saw discussions on the impact on borders and technology.

The event that is part of the Gibraltar World Music Festival activities invited ‘Sages’ to speak about their take on the subject of borders and the future.

The GWMF activities included the Castle Street Party on ‘Calle Comedia’ where local musicians took to the street to perform to crowds of people. The event saw performances by the Gibraltar Academy of Music and Performing Arts, the Gibraltar International Dance Academy, Loreto Convent School Choir and Prior Park music class.

The International Seminar held yesterday at the Ince’s Hall saw five Sages involved in the discussion, with each debating what borders mean to them.

Journalist Jane Cornwell, founder of non-profit association Alfred Tolle, Executive Director of the British American Security Information Council Paul Ingram, Head of Global Risk and Resilience at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy Dr Jean-Marc Rickli and Founder of Peacebeam Jane Murray were this year’s Sages.

Mrs Cornwell posed the question of the “obvious” border issues on the Rock.

Mr Ingram thought societies should be set without borders without an ‘us’ and ‘them’ scenario.

“My method is to ‘blow up the church’ to get people to sit round in a circle and to understand that we are all in this with the same objective which is to build safety and security,” Mr Ingram said.

“The objective is to have a country that is not causing the problem but is part of the solution. That means taking away borders.”

Dr Rickli added that the world is in an “interesting time” with access to technology where people can connect with each other easily.

“On one hand there is this movement of globalisation and on the other the backlash,” Dr Rickli said.

He described that major lines of conflicts between countries are now magnified by technology and the world is moving into a new era.

Pic by Johnny Bugeja