| Group Leader: David & Genevieve Lawrence Email: discussion@u3ajavea.com Meeting Venue: Centro Social, next to the Centro de Salud, Plaza de la Constitución, 1st floor, end of corridor Meeting Day and Time: Last Friday of the Month, 16:00 to 18:00 Accepts new members: Yes |
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The Discussion Group is a very informal gathering of people who meet to discuss a topic which is usually chosen by those attending the previous month’s discussion. Anyone can suggest a topic and if the majority agree then that is what we will discuss at the next meeting. This gives everyone some 4 weeks to do whatever research they wish on the topic before the meeting.
The discussions are carried out in a friendly and respectful manner and everyone is given time to state their views. No-one needs to speak if they prefer not to. You can just sit and listen to the thoughts and ideas of others, but you will be surprised how often you do have an opinion you want to voice. Whilst we may not ‘put the world to rights’ the exchange of ideas and information is often really stimulating for your mind.
We usually average around 12-15 members at each meeting and welcome people to join our group. If you have an opinion and want to share it, we want to hear it.
If you wish to join or require any information on this group, please contact the Group Leader on the email address above.
Discussion group, March 2019
Previous discussion topics have been:
Should the West pay reparations for past events e.g. slavery, wars etc?
The last Discussion Group meeting this year was last Friday, November 29th. The discussion was divided into two parts – one about reparations for slavery and another part about reparations and compensation for past wars. The subject of reparations for slavery has a long history, but to date no reparations have been paid by Western countries to those countries that were subjected to slavery, mainly African and the Caribbean. One …
Should the West pay reparations for past events e.g. slavery, wars etc?
The next Discussion Group meeting will be on Friday, November 29th, 2024, between 4 pm and 6 pm, in the office on the 1st floor of the Centre Social, Constitution Plaza, Javea. The question of reparations for past events is not new. The past few centuries have been marked by the trade in slavery and the removal of important artefacts from countries they belong to during colonialism. We will discuss …
Is the decline of the West inevitable and how will it affect us?
As usual, on the last Friday of the month, the 25th of October, we met in the room on the first floor of Javea Social Center. This meeting was one of our largest gatherings this year, and quite a few new people joined us. The subject is broad and if the decline of the West is inevitable it definitely will have a multifaceted impact on future generations, similar to climate …
Is the decline of the West inevitable?
The next Discussion Group meeting will be held on Friday, October 25th, between 4 pm and 6 pm in the meeting room on the 1st floor of the Social Centre, Plaza Constitution, Javea. Since the dawn of the Age of Discovery in the Fifteenth Century, further accelerated by the Industrial Revolution, the pre-eminent global powers have all been based in the Western Hemisphere, with the baton of leadership passing from …
Anti-tourism – Is there an excessive tourism problem in Spain?
On the 4th of October, the Discussion group had its first meeting after the summer break. We have quite a few new members, and our discussion group photo has been updated. The subject is relevant to all of us living permanently in Spain or non-residents coming from the UK for an allowed period per year. We read and know from news channels about anti-tourism protests spreading in the most visited …
Discussion Group – Is there an excessive tourism problem in Spain?
The first Discussion Group meeting after the summer break will be on the 4th of October – the first Friday of October 2024. The next meeting will be held as usual on the last Friday of the month so we will have two meetings in October. The second one will be organized on the 25th of October. The discussion topic for this Friday is actually for all of us living …
What are the benefits and consequences of questioning / challenging authority?
The last time before the summer break we will meet on the 28th of June. The next discussion group question is really broad, don’t you think that even the title itself involves a lot of questions? First of all, we will need to define what we will be talking about, taking into account that questioning and challenging might be two different things. -Who is questioning/challenging: individuals, groups, non-government organizations, etc.? …
What is ‘art’ and why do individual cultures place so much value on its continuing evolution?
Last Friday of the month, 31st May the Discussion group members talked about art and its impact on individual cultures. We started with comments and views on what is art and how to define it. It seems quite obvious what it is until you start asking questions about art and craft and try to formulate a definition which separates one from the other. We concluded that almost any object and …
Social Media Newsfeeds: Is it News or Opinion; Rumour or Gossip?
On 26th April, the last Friday of the month, the Discussion Group had its monthly meeting. It was a good and interesting discussion worth posting for U3A Javea members The discussion leader, usually the one who suggested the topic, sent the group members some relevant links for reading before the meeting. Increasingly, people around the world are getting their news through social media. Social media apps such as Facebook, X, …
Israeli-Hamas conflict: are we witnessing genocide?
Because of the holidays, the Discussion group meeting was held on the 22nd of March at the same place and time but a week earlier than usual. Despite the change of date, the meeting was attended very actively. The preliminary information was very short “We are not going to ‘solve’ the Palestinian war, or anything else, but talking about it is important, a division political act if you will. How …
Israeli-Hamas conflict: are we witnessing genocide?
We will have our monthly discussion meeting on Friday 22nd of March, not the usual last Friday of the month because of the coming fiestas. This time we will talk about the situation in Gaza and Israel’s war with Hamas, a hot topic at the present. Talk is not a discussion, it is an informal exchange of thoughts, conversations and contemplations without a specific agenda or plan. So our next …
Democracy – what is it?
In the last discussion meeting held on the 23rd of February, we started with the questions on what type of format for our discussion group is preferred by the members. The majority wanted it to have an agenda and some structure but not very formal, preferring an exchange of opinions, with a possibility to learn something new whilst at the same time being led by a strong moderator. In general, …
How do we foresee the elections in Europe, the UK and the USA impacting our lives?
The first discussion group meeting in 2024 took place as usual on the last Friday of the month, the 26th of January. We chose a topic which will be “hot” all year round. 2024 is not just an election year. It’s perhaps the election year. Globally, more voters than ever in history will head to the polls as at least 64 countries (plus the European Union)—representing a combined population of …
If protectionism is not a good solution to migration then what is?
On the last Friday of November, the Discussion Group had its last meeting of the 2023 year. The topic is hot and relevant and our meeting was well attended. We talked about what is protectionism and how it works. A short definition – protectionism is a term used to describe the set of policies restricting or controlling the movement of people, goods, or services across national borders. Contemporary examples of …
Good and bad statistics and GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
On the last Friday of the month, the 27th of October, we had our monthly meeting and discussed interesting facts related to statistics, why they are essential, how to spot bad statistics, what we know about GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and how it is calculated. We started talking about statistics with a focus on the health sector. Our generation often has conversations about health, therefore statistical data about the impact …
The most impressive and interesting event or experience we had during the summer.
The discussion group started our new season as always, on the last Friday of the month, 29 September. We talked about something important that happened last summer, what we learned from it, and what conclusions, if any we made. A few of us left Spain and had a story to tell about other countries and visited interesting exhibitions about modern art and science symbiosis, which is designed to develop a …
Should we be worried about falling fertility rates?
As usual last Friday of the month we had the Discussion Group meeting and this time talked about What are the pros and cons of a falling fertility rate? The fertility rate is the average number of live births per woman in the population. In order to maintain the current population size, the fertility rate needs to be 2.1 children per woman. If it is bigger, the population will grow …
ChatGPT – should we be wary of it or embrace it?
During the March meeting, the Discussion group members talked about the new Artificial Intellect application which since November of the last year has become the biggest news in the world of Information Technology. I asked Chat GPT – Generative Pre-trained Transformer – to give me a short and interesting introduction to the post and here it is: ChatGPT is a cool technology that can simulate human-like conversation and provide intelligent …
Why are some states able to ignore International Law and suffer no punishment?
Last Friday of the month, the 24th of February, we had a second meeting this year. Our last discussion meeting of 2022 was about Russian refugees fleeing mobilization and if they should be allowed entry to shelter in European countries. That discussion touched on the subject of International Laws and their implementation regarding migrants from all countries. This time we wanted to elaborate more on International laws and discuss why …
If you could time travel to another age where, when and why?
Last Friday of the month, the 27th of January, 12 people came to the Discussion Group’s first meeting in 2023. We decided to start the new season with something light and enjoyable. Hence, the topic was selected and it looked like an easy go, no thorough research was needed. The travel could be for a short visit, a week or so, or maybe to stay there. You would have the …
Should Europe, which is united against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, shelter Russians fleeing mobilisation?
As usual, the Discussion Group had a meeting on the last Friday of the month, 25th November, which was the final discussion for this year. There were 12 members of the group discussing the subject today. The member of the Group who proposed the topic, according to the established practice, led the discussion. He started by giving an indication of the different sources of information he used for his research …
Does travel really broaden the mind or do we simply take our preconceptions with us?
Last Friday of the month, 25 of October, 14 members of the Discussion Group talked about travelling. Felicity led the topic which was not as simple and easy as it appeared. The general view normally is that travelling broadens the mind and helps us better understand people living in foreign countries. But during our discussion, it appeared that might not be the case. One of the first comments was that …
“What are fallacies? Can you spot them?”
Friday, 23d of September, the Discussion group had its first autumn meeting. As a one-off, it was held a week earlier and not as usual on the last Friday of the month. Members of the group discussed fallacies and how interesting and important is to notice them in the daily world of information surrounding us. But first of all a little bit about the definition of a fallacy. As with …
IMAGINATOR
Last Friday, 27 May, the Discussion Group meeting was held in a different format based on IMAGINATOR cards, which are designed on the open mindset concept. We had 12 people taking part in this game It uses a pack of cards with pictures of shapes/symbols etc and people simply said what they saw when looking at the picture using their imagination about whatever the shapes/symbols said to their mind. Then …
Have we learned the lessons of history
Last Friday of the month, 29th April we had another Discussion Group meeting, which was attended by 13 people. The topic was very broad and multi-faceted, touching on subjects of the clash of great powers, hegemony, the Monroe doctrine ( it is the US foreign policy that covers all Western Hemisphere as its direct area of influence), and the Versailles treaty, which according to many historians led to the Second …
The growth of off-limit topics at schools: No talking about racism, gender, or communism.
On the last Friday of the month, 25th March, the Discussion Group held a meeting at the Parador Hotel which was attended by 10 people. The discussion started with Jeff’s introduction to the topic. The following were the top three reasons cited for challenging materials: the material was considered to be ‘sexually explicit’, the material contained ‘offensive language’, the material was ‘unsuited to any age group’. Jeff mentioned such books …
2020/21
How dangerous is it to interfere in other countries elections?
Why are people so irresponsible about their health?
Big Business – is it harmful to the planet?
The silence of others – forgetting.
Nationalism & Populism.
Spain – political history
How not to be ignorant about the World.
Covid, vaccines and politics.
Gender – what’s it all about?
Afghanistan – what has the West learnt from the last 20 years?
2019
- The benefits of multiculturalism – are there any?
- Is free speech in jeopardy?
- Is it okay to pursue something honourable by dishonest means?
- Should prostitution be legal?
- Genetic modification – is it beneficial?
- Is Misogyny a hate crime?
- How dangerous is it to meddle in other countries elections?
- Religion and Spirituality – what are they and what is the difference?
- How can we resolve the migrant crisis which is escalating in many countries around the World?
- Are we at, approaching or beyond the tipping point of the Planet’s survival as it is related to ‘Global Warming’?
2018
- Is Western civilisation at an end?
- Is religion a valid philosophy?
- Is there a place for activism in today’s World?
- The geopolitics of the Gregorian Calendar.
- Plastic is destroying the Planet – what are the solutions?
- Have values changed in the modern world?
- The Spectacular rise of China – should we welcome it or should we be worried.?
- Is the digitalised world leading to a work compliant society?
- Are there sociological effects from having a cell phone?
- Gun laws in the USA – why do so many people feel the need to own a gun? Why is the NRA so powerful?
