Between March 19 and 21, Pressenza participated in the 3rd Juntanza Festival for Communication from Our America, hosted by CIESPAL in Quito, Ecuador — a regional forum for reflection and exchange on community, grassroots, and alternative communication, understood as a political, cultural, and social practice in service of the full right to communicate.
The roundtable discussion titled “Nuclear Weapons, Existential Threats, and Journalism: Looking to the Future” was hosted by Nelsy Lizarazo Castro and Carlos Crespo Burgos from Pressenza Ecuador, with the following guests:
- Carlos Umaña — Physician and nuclear disarmament activist; campaigner with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN); former Co-President of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW); member of ICAN’s International Steering Group; and President and Co-founder of the Costa Rican affiliate of IPPNW.
- Norbert G. Suchanek — Journalist, author, photographer, and documentary filmmaker; co-founder of the International Uranium Film Festival, which since 2010 has organized more than 60 festivals across seven countries, bringing nuclear and uranium-related issues to public audiences worldwide.
- David Andersson — Editor with Pressenza and humanist based in New York City, focusing on global justice, collective consciousness, and nonviolent transformation.
- Pía Figueroa — Founder of Pressenza, lifelong humanist, and author of several monographs and books.
- Javier Tolcachier — Researcher at the World Centre of Humanist Studies.
The presentation was followed by a Q&A with strong participation from university students, who raised deep and searching questions about the present moment and the consequences for the future. Carlos Umaña captured the stakes well: either humanity has a future without nuclear weapons, or nuclear weapons bring about the extinction of our species.
Full video of the discussion:
