Monaco Run 10km and Pink Ribbon Walk this Sunday

Photo: Monaco Life
Photo: Monaco Life

This year, three events will be on the Monaco Run programme on Sunday, March 11. The main event is the Monte-Carlo 10km, starting at 9:30 am on the Albert 1er wharf at Port Hercules.

The second option is the Herculis EBS Relay, offering the same course as the 10k. The first runner will complete the first three kilometres and his or her partner the remaining seven.

The third distance is the festive 5 km Pink Ribbon Walk, with the aim of raising funds to fight breast cancer and also raise awareness.

pinkribbon

The previous edition saw more than 1,700 runners on the Port of Monaco, representing 39 nationalities. Participants included Sebastian Coe, President of the International Athletics Federation, and Paula Radcliffe, holder of the Marathon world record since 2003.

The goal of Monaco Run is to allow all runners to participate. Indeed, the three events make the event accessible to all, whatever their level. On Saturday, from 10 am to 7 pm, a Running Expo will be held on Port Hercules, where participants will be able to pick up their bib – and latecomers can still register until 7 pm (no registation will be possible on Sunday).

To register online: www.monacorun.mc

Help clean up the beach Sunday

Photo: Facebook TAF The Animal Fund‎
Photo: Facebook TAF The Animal Fund‎

The Animal Fund (TAF) is holding a 2-hour clean-up day on Sunday, March 11, on Menton Beach. All environmentally-conscious volunteers are welcome to take part, the organisers say.

A fun and active afternoon is promised, and all in a great cause. “The more people who join us, the more trash we can pick up,” TAF state.

The event starts at 2:30 pm at Menton beach, opposite the Casino. The day is organised in partnership with the Urban Sport Centre Menton.

Photo: Facebook TAF The Animal Fund‎
Photo: Facebook TAF The Animal Fund‎

TAF held several successful local beach clean-up initiatives last year, including the Plastic Pollution Campaign at Larvotto.

On Monday, March 26, the Monaco-based association presents “The Story of the Pink Dolphin”, an interesting and informative presentation of the Amazon and its pink dolphins by marine biology researcher and TAF ambassador Dr Alexandra Zeiner.

The evening, which replaces the monthly TAF meeting in March, will be held at Address restaurant (16 rue d Milo) at 7 pm.

Sign up for both these events at: info@theanimalfund.net

Princess speaks of family solidarity after loss of her mother

Photo:  F. Nebinger/Prince's Palace of Monaco
Photo: F. Nebinger/Prince’s Palace of Monaco

Princess Stephanie has spoken of the family’s heartbreak after the death of her mother, Princess Grace, in September 1982.

The Princess has made her comments in a book entitled “Albert II of Monaco, the Man and the Prince” (Albert II de Monaco, l’homme et le prince), which is being published to coincide with the Sovereign’s 60th birthday on March 14. Point de Vue, the French weekly magazine, has published excerpts of the book in advance of its publication.

Speaking of the aftermath of the tragic car accident that took her mother’s life, the Princess said: “We all supported each other as we could. For me things were special, I was hurt, I stayed a little disabled for several months,” referring to the injuries she sustained when the Princess’s car left the road on a hairpin bend above Monaco.

“Each of us tried to rebuild ourselves, and all three of us pulled together for our dad, whose suffering was indescribable. It was him whose pain was the greatest, he who felt the most emptiness … the most abandoned,” the Princess explained, before adding that Princess Caroline, Prince Albert and herself strongly believed that family solidarity in the face of the tragedy would be the greatest help to their father, Prince Rainier III.

Prince Rainier died at the age of 81 in 2005. His only son Albert then became Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Tony Blair presents Prince Albert with Medal of Tolerance

ECTR President Dr Moshe Kantor, Prince Albert and ECTR Chairman former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Photo: Twitter ECTR
ECTR President Dr Moshe Kantor, Prince Albert and ECTR Chairman former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. Photo: Twitter ECTR

The European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR) awarded its 2018 European Medal of Tolerance to Prince Albert on Tuesday, March 6, for his commitment to truth, tolerance and historical reconciliation.

ECTR President Dr Moshe Kantor and ECTR Chairman former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair presented the medal to Prince Albert at the ECTR’s first roundtable held in Monte Carlo, from March 5 to 7, to address the threat of radicalisation and issues surrounding the challenges to tolerance in European societies.

On presenting the honour, Dr Kantor said, “The European Medal of Tolerance is awarded to you because of exceptional personal leadership and inspiration to advance truth, tolerance and historical reconciliation. You have found the courage and political wisdom to openly address painful history and difficult memories.”

In 2015, Prince Albert acknowledged Monaco’s rounding up and deportation of 66 Jews in 1942.

Dr Kantor added, “Your Highness’ gesture of supporting historical truth and unveiling a monument commemorating deported Jews in World War II has been such a liberating act of contrition, all the more impressive because it concerned not only among your own people, but also because of your own family’s political responsibilities for the course of events.”

Photo: Twitter ECTR
Photo: Twitter ECTR

Upon receiving the award Prince Albert said, “The promotion of international tolerance, reconciliation and education for which we must work are, in my view, of paramount importance in order to build a balanced world showing solidarity.

“I am particularly touched by the recognition that you are honouring me with and I would like to thank you very much. As Head of State, I will ensure that my actions continue to be worthy of the trust you have shown me today.”

The ECTR is an opinion-making and advisory body on international tolerance promotion, reconciliation and education, and fosters understanding and tolerance, educates towards reconciliation, facilitates post-conflict social apprehensions, monitors racism, antisemitism and xenophobia and proposes pro-tolerance initiatives and legal solutions.

Among its prominent members are Tony Blair, ECTR Board Chairman, Jose María Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain, Göran Persson, former Prime Minister of Sweden, VairaVike-Freiberga, former President of Latvia and Rita Süssmuth, former Speaker of the German Bundestag. Founding member of the ECTR was the late Vaclav Havel, one of the principal leaders of the democratic transformation in Central Europe. (Source: ECTR)

Article first published March 6, 2018.

Young photographer takes International Women’s Day by storm

Iannacone_Flight and Fight

March 8 marks International Women’s Day – an annual event with more pertinence than ever.

In the wake of the ongoing media storm surrounding #MeToo, one young artist has created a unique platform for a number of rape survivors from around the world, launching this Thursday, March 8, at London’s OXO Tower Wharf – Bargehouse, Southbank.

The artist, Elisa L. Iannacone, has pulled together an ambitious museum-scale photo exhibition accompanied by a series of live events and a limited-edition book publication. The Spiral of Containment: Rape’s Aftermath, is set across five floors of a raw warehouse space and features photography shot across three continents, illuminating twenty-five individuals’ personal narratives in coping with sexual assault.

Iannacone, who herself makes an appearance in the series, was inspired to create the exhibit through her own experience of coping with trauma through art therapy. She recognises that distressing photojournalistic images of sexual violence often have the adverse effect of turning people away.

 

By creating work that is not simply representational, she intends to provide viewers with an affective understanding of the lived experience of sexual assault survivors, and to engender an empathic public response.

The conversation sparked by the Women’s March and “Me Too” moment of reckoning is an important step forward, and yet there are still 11 sexual assaults every hour (254 per day) in the UK.

Opening on International Women’s Day, the exhibition intends to incite dialogue around sexual violence, while celebrating the participants’ courage in coming forward to share their story through art.

The Spiral of Containment: Rape’s Aftermath, open daily from 11 am to 9 pm, runs from March 8-11.