Approved at the UniGe BoD meeting on 24/09/2025

The current period, unfortunately, is distinguished by violent confrontations, bloody conflicts, and spirals of hatred and anger. The chronicles of recent years are dominated by the tragic news from the Middle East and Ukraine, but we must also remember the many conflicts that are being fought in the deafening silence of unawareness.

The darkest echoes these days come from that area of the world that is often referred to as the 'Holy Land' because it is the cradle of the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

As Lorenzo Caselli, professor emeritus of our Athenaeum, recalled a few days ago, they are religions that offer humanity "a common basis of values that can guide us in building a future of hope". In the reference texts of all three we find the precept to love one's neighbour and to respect him. This is the foundation of civilised living: if applied, the equity and inclusiveness of which so much is spoken would come naturally. But man all too often forgets this, and today we witness situations in which defenceless civilians, families, and children are forced to flee their homeland to avoid succumbing under the fire of war.

Our academic community, deeply affected in its collective consciousness by the tragic events, continues its daily activities as a concrete and conscious contribution to dialogue and to its educational and civic-social mission and, revitalising the sense of universality inherent in the term universitas, intends to strongly affirm the role of culture in building bridges between different peoples, generations, religions and languages. Diversity, in fact, is richness and only culture, respect and knowledge can help us to welcome and accept it.

As women and men who make the education of young people and research their mission, we can only hope that Pope Leo XIV's call for a 'disarmed and disarming peace' will be heeded. In his address to the participants at the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches, the Pontiff defined peace as the choice to "abandon those weapons that, if wielded, transform the ordinary experience of conflict, which arises from a divergence of visions, interests or opinions, into a war, many times fratricidal, in which the humanity of others is always denied, in which others are transformed into enemies, are considered villains to be hated and not people to be talked to".

At the heart of the education of young people is the need to consolidate the value of solidarity, interpreted in harmony with the concepts of dialogue and respect. The reaction to any attack must be dialogue, confrontation, sought with perseverance, with difficulty even, but violent deflagration must be avoided, right from the small everyday clashes.

For the above reasons, the Board of Directors of the University of Genoa:

• witnesses with great concern and dismay the increasing violence taking place on many international fronts, particularly in the Middle East and Ukraine
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• condemns the ongoing atrocities and all forms of prevarication that prevent constructive dialogue
• affirms its deep conviction of the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities
• expresses its closeness and solidarity with all peoples unjustly affected by wars
• strongly supports the universal value of culture, which must be strenuously defended so that it too does not fall victim to violence
• renounces the free expression and circulation of ideas
• promotes confrontation within civilised and respectful terms between all parties