Syndicate: Peace School XII

[Vesna Manojlovic <becha@classroom.opennet.org>]

(hi all! i won't be on-line with you some 10 days:
going to give workshop in "peace school - on human rights":
computer science, dtp and internet, unplugged version. 
we will make web-page, & i will write reports: if we anyhow manage to get
connected i will send them, otherwise i will send u url when i come back.
if you have some questions, or hints: interesting urls, txts, addresses.. 
on human rights, feel free to mail them to me: BECHA@classroom.opennet.org)


			12th PEACE SCHOOL
	the first generation of human rights as shown through the media

			         BIJELA 
			(Montenegro, Yugoslavia)
			26.02. - 05.03.1998

HISTORY:  

Peace Schools began in 1993 in Mrkopalj (Croatia). This kind of gatherings
has already been performed 11 times (the 11th is due in January, in
Sarajevo). The idea was to make an organized, expert, free activity work
with young people, with the basic idea of understanding differences, and
developing peace culture through creative work. The principle of working
is creative workshops, with a common thematic basis.

This years' Peace School will be held in Bijela this winter.

IDEA:
This years' Peace School will unify:
- the peace process in former Yugoslavia;
- nonviolent communication in conflict resolution;
- creative workshops;
- the influence of media;
- human rights and 
- the development of civic society.

The topic will be approached through nonviolent communication and creative
work, and the participants will be young people from 18 to 23 years old,
from all the republics of former Yugoslavia. The goal is explaining the
idea of human rights through media (taped theater performance, newspaper,
Internet, radio). 

ORGANIZERS:
Group "484" and the XXL Creative Youth Group, from Belgrade.

PARTICIPANTS:
The participants will come from: 
Zagreb, Split, Pakrac, Osijek, Rijeka, Pula, Vukovar, Darda, Tuzla,
Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Mostar, Skoplje, Ljubljana, Maribor, Podgorica,
Pristina, Novi Sad, Sombor, Nis, Krusevac, Subotica and Belgrade. There
will be 140 participants and 30 facilitators. 


AIMS:
- Spreading the "peace network" throughout the whole former Yugoslavia;
- overcoming the national barriers;
- learning more about nonviolent communication;
- learning about the first generation of human rights (with special 
   attention paid to minority rights);
- learning about the measures that can be taken in order to respect 
   human rights;
- learning about the ways those measures can be taken;
- active contribution to the development of civic society;
- creative expression;

- making the basis for other Peace Schools in 1998 and
- making a link with Europe.

WORKSHOPS:

All the facilitators are experts in their fields, and in workshop leading.
The areas that will be covered through workshops are: radio, journalism,
computer science, drama, scenery, acting, costume design, sound,
directing, photo and video. Besides this, all the participants will attend
courses of nonviolent communication. 

WHY THIS CAMP:

A lot of things have been done on the peace process in former Yugoslavia
by non-government organizations, both local and foreign. A strong link of
cooperation has been made between these NGOs. The need for their work is
obvious, because there are many unr esolved problems on our territories. 

 In people's minds and attitudes strong nationalism still sometimes (or
somewhere) exists, and it is also present in young people's minds,
especially because of the lack of communication with other sides over the
last six years. The most efficient way of fighting against nationalism and
discrimination is simple: bringing people together, especially young
people.

In all the countries of former Yugoslavia, even the first generation of
human rights is not respected. The understanding and respecting human
rights is the basis for freedom, justice and peace. Even though our
country has signed the UN convention on human rights, and our constitution
recognizes them, most of them aren't respected in everyday life. The
problem is that people don't know their rights. The awareness of young
people about the conditions in which their countries are, is getting
stronger, and th ey want to make something for a better tomorrow. 

A special problem are the rights of national minorities: Albanian in
Serbia, Macedonia and Croatia, Serbian in Croatia, Croatian in Serbia,
Hungarian in Vojvodina, and Gypsies everywhere. Special attention will be
paid to this topic. 

WE ARE:

Group "484" from Belgrade is a local NGO established during the war in
Croatia. We take care of 484 refugee families from Croatia, and are
working on their integration in the new environment. The working program
of the group consists of the legal humanitarian support and InfoNet
(coordination with NGOs from Croatia). Since ' 96, the group is connecting
with other similar organizations. We participated in three camps this
year: Tarna Mera, with a group from Berlin, Mohacz, and Mrkopalj Peace
School. 

XXL Creative Youth Group, was created in 1995, and is a project of the
Balkan NGO Center and the Belgrade Circle. We deal with the peace process
in former Yugoslavia, psycho-social work with children and human rights.
The members of our group are high-school and university students. We
participated in and organized several international camps (in Slovakia,
The Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Croatia and Yugoslavia), organized
seminars and debates, and organized and performed a theater play in
Vukovar , together with a theater from Zagreb. We also worked with
children in refugee camps in Serbia. 

CONTACTS:

Ana Todorovic
tel: 433 103
office: 643 409 (Belgrade Circle)
E-mail: ana.t@eunet.yu

Spomenka Zarkovic
tel: 318 0023
office: 344 2577 (group "484" office)

Jelena Vujic
tel: 508 810
office: 643 409 (Belgrade Circle)
E-mail: dju@eunet.yu