Italian weekly newsmagazine Internazionale will host its 11th annual festival, "Internazionale in Ferrara", from September 29 to October 1, featuring guests including former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, activist and writer Angela Davis, and U.S.
Representative John Lewis, who participated in the 1963 March on Washington with Martin Luther King, Jr.
Other guests among the 270 scheduled to participate at the festival, from 40 countries including journalists from 40 publications, include former Italian Premier Romano Prodi, former French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, and writers such as Erri De Luca, Strega prize winner Paolo Cognetti, and Syrian Khaled Khalifa, who has been working in peaceful opposition to the Assad regime since 2011.
The festival will offer 130 events on a wide range of topics, including migrants and the future of the European Union.
"Over the past year, since the election of Trump to the developments linked to migrants, chaos seems to reign in a world that appears increasingly gloomy," said Chiara Nielsen, deputy editor-in-chief of Internazionale.
"Our objective is to analyse certain critical issues from the right perspective and try to talk about ways out," she said.
Head of the European Commission's Representation in Italy, Beatrice Covassi, who is collaborating with the festival, said events featuring migration, culture, and a focus on fake news will see Europe in a leading role.
"There's space for a political opportunity for recovery but we're at a difficult watershed," she said.
"I'm convinced, there's a very big risk in this country of detachment and lack of participation in view of the elections".
Topics at the festival will include a discussion on Eritrea, which is becoming one of the most isolated countries in the world.
Turkish journalist Can Dundar, winner of the Anna Politkovskaya Award for investigative journalism who was previously imprisoned and is now in exile, will speak on the more than 150 journalists incarcerated in the past year in Turkey.
Photographer Oscar B. Castillo will talk about the current crisis in Venezuela.
The festival will also host 16 workshops, including one with copy editors from major news agencies.
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