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Project Summary

International seminar “Intercultural and Interreligiuos Dialogue” took place in Croatia during 5 working days with 36 participants from 6 European countries (Croatia, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, FYR Maceonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). Project objective was to provide opportunity for the exchange of experience and the competences of young people from different countries as well as of people who work with youth and to provide them new information and skills which will possibly enable them to act as multipliers in their communities. Furthermore, project seeked to upgrade participants’ skills in enabling young people they work with to locate, understand and create their own position towards the roots of racism, intolerance, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Project purpose was to enhance the participants’ knowledge of the informal and non-formal educational approaches and methodology in intercultural and interreligious learning; to strengthen respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; to provide and opportunity for networking and creating useful partnerships; to promote democracy, development, social justice, communal harmony and solidarity; to prevent and combat prejudice, racism and all other attitudes leading to social exclusion and to develop sense of tolerance and understanding of diversity. Also, one of the objects was to increase level of youth awareness of the European context in which they all live.

Intercultural and Interreligious dialogue

The richness of European society lies in its cultural diversity expres-sed also by the number of religious, ethnic and cultural groups and communities present across the continent. Whether national, religious, ethnic, social or cultural, minorities are an important asset for a future intercultural Europe. The immigra-tion flows resulting from globalization and increased
interdependence are likely to further increase this multiculturality.
While religious and cultural diver-sity has various meanings in diffe-rent social and cultural contexts, it affects us all through social belonging, identity, distribution of power and wealth.


However, diversity is not always accompanied by social cohesion and co-operation, precondition for equality in dignity and equality in access to rights and social opportunities. Situations of discrimination remain problematic to many societies, sometimes being expressed in violent forms, from hate speech to armed conflict. Young people, especially those from minority groups and those living in highly multicultural environments, can be found among the victims and among the perpetrators; they are, in any case, important vectors in promoting social change at this end.
It is often argued cultural difference and religious difference are the “real” problems or factors for discrimination, exclusion and hatred or whe-ther they are simply the new clothes for deeper and older forms of racism and domination. The ignorance that is often attributed to be at the root of diffe-rent forms of xenophobias would probably mean that religious discrimination is
less based on religion as such than on xenophobia and that religion adds to it. Similarly, social scientists and human rights activists have often denounced the inherent racist ideologies behind the over-emphasis of culture and cultu-ral difference as a justification for segregation
and, ultimately, exclusion.
The resurgence of spirituality and religion among young people in Europe is often portrayed as a characteristic of the 21st century, even though this perception is also countered by the decline of religious practice in most European countries. This would seem to confirm sestions that the reli-gious and spiritual factor are noticed and referred to in the context of
identity and citizenship building rather than the strict religious one.
Regardless of one’s opinion on these issues, one can not ignore that religion does play a major role in the shaping of mutual perceptions in to-day’s Europe and that these perceptions influence and are influenced by what is happening in the rest of the world – the consequences of the terrorism at-tacks since 11 September 2001 and the consequences of the “war on terror”
are probably the most striking examples. The rise of Islamophobia in most European societies is among the most grave consequence of this and an e-xample of the combination of religious, ethnic, cultural and political phobias, often identified with religion only (in this case Islam). The unfortunate e-xamples of this nature abound and they are not restricted to Islamophobia:
the resurgence of Antisemitism and the intolerance towards Christians in non-Christian societies would indicate that the phenomenon is widespread and cuts across different cultures, religions and civilizations.
Another consequence and indicator of the growing intolerance on these matters is the question of secularism, which is at the heart of many de-mocracies in Europe (especially of the separation between the role of the sta-te and “church”), which is either put into question or accused of being intole-rant towards religion. The consequences of this on young people are hard; but they affect in reality the whole of our societies, for they undermine the very values of human rights, democracy and tolerance upon which they should be based upon.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and reli-gion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.” This fundamental human right, proclaimed and protected by the Universal Decla-ration and by the European Convention on Human Rights provides, together
with the other human rights, the framework under which interreligious and intercultural dialogue can be held. Human rights, however, require the com-mitment of all, young people included to uphold them.
In this context, the role of intercultural dialogue appears as an essen-tial approach to counter and overcome mutual prejudices and the self-fulfilling prophecy of the “war of civilisations. If the purpose of intercultural dialogue is “to learn to live together peacefully and constructively in a multi-cultural world and to develop a sense of community and belonging”, it is cle-ar that it can only work if it involves everyone, young people included, and that it is not reduced to “culture” but encompasses all the social manifesta-tions and expressions of “culture” including religion.

International Groups Work

Peacemakers
We would like to present Peacemakers group and the work that we have done in these past couple of days. In this group were Selena (I-taly), Marco (Italy), Tihana (Croatia), Filip (Croatia), Azra (BIH), Ve-ronica (Czech Republic) and Iva (Croatia). We decided to make a small research about languages and religions that exist in Europe. We thought that we should make a small presentation of people and orga-nizations that are fighting for and promoting peace in the world as well. Of course that it was impossible to present all people and organi-zations that fought and are fighting for peace but we tried to mention some that are well known and some that were, according to the group members opinion, interesting to present. After really long and hard work, hours of sitting in front of computer, surfing trough Internet and cuting paper, we finally made posters. We gained a lot during this pro-cess; we learned a lot, but we had fun as well and got to know each other better.

Radio
There are six people in the group: Anna(Italy), Amir(BIH), Simo-na(Czech Republic), Alban(Macedonia), Ana(Croatia) and Ni-na(Croatia). The aim of our group was to come up with a 30min radio show about intercultural and interreligious youth dialogue. We colla-borated with Radio Biograd who were very helpful in giving us advice on how to tape and edit. We interviewed Ms.Elvi Piršl, Professor at the University of Pula, on Culture and Differences. Ms.Piršl gave a lecture about diverse themes such as stereotypes, identity, prejudice and interculturism. We also we able to interview Mr.Milan Mesić, Pro-fessor at the University of Zagreb, on Migration. Mr.Mesić talked a-bout the global phenomenon of migration from a sociological perspec-tive. We also interviewed both the organiser of the seminar Ms. Božica Sedlić and the other international work groups in order to make re-ports.

Movie
The Movie Group consisted of 6 members: Daniela Vrdoljak, Eron Beluli, Marija Jovanovska, Boban Docevski, David Tomić, and Ozren Martinović. We Also had a guest starr appearance of Amir Mu-jkić who was kind enough to play a vegetarian. Our asignment was to create a short, 10 minute video clip about Interculturalism.

Our story began with two strangers who met in front of their hotel rooms. At first sight, this was nothing unussual, but then the epic story began...a cha-se...a truly epic chase through the hotel, at the beach, through the mys-terious streets of Biograd, and all the way back to the hotel where the story finnaly ended. Our intention was to show the variety of cultures through some everyday things such as saying hello. We had a really great time and it was more of an ammusement for us then real work.

Graffiti
During this seminar, we tried to organize different kind of wor-kshops. One of these groups was artistic group wich has created some graffits. We've hade two fabric(8x1.2m). First was filled with hand-print in three different colores( yellow, green and blue) and second we used to make a rainbow. Some participants made paintings on big pa-pers. We used coulors to express our selves, our minds and feelings. We've seen great talents and that confirmed that in every person is an artist, but often we don't recognize it. Final produces of grafitti – art group were presented at one of the squares in Biograd. Citizens and the rest of the participants liked it. We felt very proud when we finished our job, because we knew we did that as best as we could.
Members of this group were Francesco Z. (Italy), Francesca (Italy), Nikola (Macedonia), Saško (Macedonia), Hana and Ivona( group leader, Croatia).

Newspaper
Our newspaper group was in charge for writing and discribing some of the most important things that happened during this youth e-xchange.
There were five members in this group: Jasmina (21,Bosnia and Her-zegovina) Florim –(16, Macedonia), Maja (21, Macedonia) and Fran-cesco (22, Italy). Izabela (15) and Marija (20) from Croatia were our group leaders.
Our first task was to write an introduction about our own country. We’ve also made a short summary about each presentation that was held during the seminar, wrote a report about trip to NP Kornati, we described the most interesting workshops and made interviews with our lecturers.
We worked very hard during these couple of days, but we also had a lot of fun. We hope you’ll enjoy reading our work.

Stories we wrote!

Little Red Riding Hood, workshop facilitated by I. Sedlić



Perspectives of a crime

Granny’s version
I’m LRRH’s granny and here’s my story about what really happened on that famous day 10 years ago. I woke up quite early and was feel-ing very excited because the handsome woodcutter had promised to take me on a romantic picnic in the woods. I was watching Oprah waiting for the woodcutter to come in his Porsche when the phone rang. It was my granddaughter who wanted to come and visit me in the afternoon and bring me some cookies. So I had a big problem! I really wanted to go out with my Romeo, but I also didn’t want to hurt my granddaughter’s feeling. So I called my friend Mr. Wolf and explain my dilemma to him. We were discussing on our mobile phones what to do when suddenly Mr. Wolf said that he could see LRRH in the for-est. She was already coming! As it was an emergency, I paid the wolf to come to my house and pretend to be me. He told that it would cost a lot due to the short notice. I ended up paying 200 € to rent the wolf. So the wolf jumped in his motorbike and come straightaway. The woodcutter and I escaped through the back window, and the rest you all know!


Woodkeeper’s version
I was walking through the forest and I was thinking about my beloved wife. Lately she’s constantly eating and drinking and I became worried about her health. As I was walking, I heard some voices and I hide behind the trees. I heard LLRH and the wolf talking about my divorce. They were in conspiracy to say bad things about me to the court. I saw that the wolf gave her 500€ and they started laughing and cele-brating. I realized everything, and I start crying and I ran into the mys-terious forest and I got lost. I tried to calm down and started walking towards the home. After all the suffer I came back home and the scene was obnoxious: that pervert of wolf was wearing my wife’s clothes and I raised my shotgun and shot the wolf. While I was suffer-ing I threaded the girl and my drunk wife to be silent about the murder. Unfortunately the wolf didn’t die, but he spent the rest of his life i prison.

Interview to the woodkeeper
Question:-... So, how did “that” day begin for you? Answer:- Well, I woke up by my stupid rooster... I mean not the he is stupid, but he is capricorn horoscope... His name is Bob... Q:- Ok Mr. keeper, what exactly did you do in the forest that day? A:- Aha, in the forest I decided to go to the side where the lake is, and I met my cousin Robin Hood and I asked him what is he going to cook for lunch... Q:- But Mr. Keeper, like we asked you did you saw LLRH or maybe the wolf? A:- Ok as you know, cold days were then and me and Robin Hood wanted to try new vodka that the grandmother made it, but... You know... One cup... Other cup ad we finished singing and dancing polka. Actually I thought that we heard some noise while we were peeing and Robin Hood said that he saw something red. But I said to him:” Don’t worry, it’s just Elmer playing with snowballs... Sometimes he loves to do that...” Q:- So you Mr. Keeper are saying that actually you didn’t saw any-thing unusual that day?! A:- Well.. yes, but, that vodka was really great so we can drink some-times together if you want!

Lectures we loved!

Contemporary World Migra

Lecture held by professor Milan Mesić,PhD, University of Zagreb, Faculty of humanities and social sciences, Department of Sociology

MIGRATION IN EUROPE

Europe, either in narrow sense – understood as Western Europe, EU, or in a broad sense – taken as a whole continent, had for centuries (un-til 2nd WW) been predominantly emigration area. Millions of Europe-ans had migrated (first as colonists and later as labor migrants) to the New World. There had been inter-European migration flows before 2nd WW but relatively insignificant. Immigrants were not protected by the law and were expected to leave the host country or to assimilate into its society. Contemporary European migration experiences are new in several important respects:
More and more European countries have become major immigration destinations.In opposite to earlier expectations many immigrants, and in particular their children, have settled permanently.
The immigrant groups and communities in Europe originate from all over the world, therefore are culturally (linguistically, religiously) very diverse. Their integration (especially of Islamic groups) into European societies has become one of the major issues of the Europe's integra-tion project.
Europe now matches North America in its significance as a region of immigration. Net immigration in Europe in 2003, according to Euro-stat, stood at 3.7 per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to 3.1 in the United States (OECD 2004).
Europe refers to members of the European Economic Area (EEA – all EU member states plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein)
The region now hosts a population of 56.1 million migrants, compared to 40.8 million in North America (IOM 2003). There is every indication that Europe’s importance as a region of de-stination will increase, as European countries recruit migrants to fill the labor and skills shortages that are predicted to rise in the coming decades.
Yet European governments and their electorates continue to display a profound ambivalence about immigration. Regardless differ-ences between them in almost all cases issues of labor migration, ir-regular migration, asylum and integration have become highly politi-cally contested. It is important to know: many European countries are becoming increasingly multi-ethnic. Populist mobilization on immigration the-mes has placed even liberal oriented governments under pressure to pursue restrictive approaches to further immigration. All European sta-tes are now net immigration countries. For more established host coun-tries such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom (UK), Benelux countries, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark, this has been the case since at least the 1960s.
Despite a decline in migration after recruitment stops in 1973-4, immigration flows have been continuous, for the most part taking the form of family reunion, refugee flows and labor migration. A sec-ond category of European countries became net receiving destinations in the 1980s (Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Finland). Thirdly, in a similar development – but two decades later – a number of CEECs have now become host countries. After 1989, former socialist coun-tries on the EU’s eastern borders became important transit countries for migrants attempting to enter more prosperous west European host countries. Economic growth and stability have recently turned new member states into the countries of destination. Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia all now have positive net mi-gration. Meanwhile, a number of commentators have observed new patterns of mobility. One important shift is the increase in short-term, circular migration, and second is the increase in irregular migration.



Culture and Differences
Lecture held by professor Elvi Piršl, PhD, University of Juraj Dobrila, Pula

The content of presentation has started in four main topics:
1. Culture
2. Identity and culture
3. Cultural diversity: multiculturalism– interculturalasm
4. Intercultural competence and sensivity,
and in which of them is given the most important characteristics and key terms (definition).
1. The fact is that the cross cultural contacts are becoming and everyday event and need to understand our own culture and other cul-tures has never been greater. Cultures has been defined as learned and shared values, beliefs, thinking patterns and behavior common to a particular group of people.
2. Every person has multiple dimensions of identities. In com-munications and daily interactions we defined who we are. Our identi-ties are developed in social interactions so cultural identities and ethni-cities are getting more relational, contextual and constantly evolving .They are complex, ambiguous and multifaceted.
3. Cultural diversity is the most often defined by two terms multiculturalism ,based on a descriptive approach and describing a qualitative or external side of plural societies, and multiculturalism ,based on a dynamic approach of plural societies.
A fundamental value that multiculturalism should promote as a respect for human dignity and equality of human rights as a democratic basis for social interactions.
4. In the context of multiculturalism it was mention the inter-cultural competence and sensitivity .Intercultural competence is an on-going process of the individual’s internal mental system and attitude in a way that he/she will gradually become more open and flexible in contact with unfamiliar cultures.
It out lines three elements:
1 . Knowledge (what to do and how to do it)
2. Skill (practice and application of knowledge in real life situations)
3. Motivations (willingness and confidence to apply the knowledge and skill in appropriate situations)
Intercultural identity implies: respect for cultural differences; adaptability; perspective - talking; open – mindedness; acknowledge-ment of other’s needs .People become interculturally competent through learning processes, while interculturally sensitivity involves the increasing ability to in tempt and evaluate behavior from different intercultural perspectives.

Macedonian Team Introduction

We are a bunch of young people, who are members of one NGO in Kumanovo,Macedonia, called „ Centre for Intercultural Dialogue“. We were invited to an youth exchange in Croatia, „ Intercultural and Inter-religious Youth Dialogue“ hosted by the organization „Europe House Slavonski Brod“. The group was constructed from 7 members: Mari-ja(22), Boban(19), Sasko(23), Nikola(17), Florim(16), Alban(16) ,Eron(16) and the group leader Maja(21). Our trip started from Kumanovo, which is 40 km away from tha capital of Macedonia, Skopje. 5 members of this group catch the bus earlier and 5 members later, be-cause there were no tickets for all of us in the same bus. We traveled to Zagreb and than from Zagreb to Biograd na Moru, although it was much more closer from Kumanovo-Dubrovnik-Biograd, but of course there was no bus to that destination the day we supposed to go . Be-cause of that we travelled about 18 hours. That was not a problem for us, the long time of travelling and sitting, we had another problem-the people in the bus. Some of them changed the bus with their kitchen and badroom. So there was sleeping on the floor and eating cooked food. Also we had another problem on the Croation border, they did not want to let our members to cross the border. But ok, at the end e-verthing went good and there were no problems for us anymore. Lucky we! Now we are here in Biograd na Moru, together with the other par-ticipants from the other countries with will to enjoy in this youth ex-change and enjoy the sea too.Yupi !!!



Something more about Macedonia...
Our presentaiton started after the Cezh presentation (the first part) on the second day of the youth exchange. The presentation was consisted of three parts. The first part was about our NGO, which was the main "guilty" for our coming here.Then we explained about Macedonia, it's geograpihacal position and the most important and interesting things that the others participants would like to hear and know about us. For example which is the capital (Skopje), our nacional treasures (Ohrid Lake), the tradition in our town etc. At the end, we assumed that it will be good to present the Ohrid framework agreement that is like a kind of "peace" pact between the majority and minority that lives in our country. We've also brought some food and drinks with us that are most recognizible for Macedonia and invited the others to enjoy our company as well :) .

Polish Team Introduction

We are Jacek, Hiacynta, Mateusz, Kamila, Marcin and A-gnieszka and we came from Poland! Yes, we had a long drive to Croatia but we enjoyed our trip very much. We are sure you would l ove to hear about all our anegdots we had on out way but we will share that with you during the seminar. We hope that we will present one small part of our country to all of you who will have this newspapaers in your hands. We are coming from one big nad great country called Poland. We are all stu-dents (expect our great leader, but that’s obvious!) and for some of us this is the first trip out of Poland but we can say that one of our members have already been to Croatia and he was telling us stories about Croatia during the drive through Hungary. We saw a lot of interesting things in all countries that we have drove through and we are so happy to finally be in Croatia!!!

A few things about Poland!
Poland, a country in north-central Europe. Most of the country is a plain with no natural boundaries except the Carpathian Mountains in the south and the Oder and Neisse rivers in the west. Other major rivers, which are important to commerce, are the Vistula, Warta, and Bug.
Poland's written history begins with the reign of Mieszko I, who accepted Christianity for himself and his kingdom in AD 966. The Republic of Poland in the early 1990s made great progress toward achieving a fully democratic government and a market economy. Poland's first free parliamentary elections were held in 1991. More than 100 parties participated, representing a full spectrum of political views.
Poland became an associate member of the EU and its defensive arm, the Western European Union, in 1994. In a June 2003 national referendum, the Polish people approved EU accession by an overwhelming margin, and Poland gained full membership in May 2004.
And at the end we are inviting you to visit Poland!

Croatian Team Introduction

When you're young like we are, there's nothing better then meeting young people from all over the world. Croatian team: Iva (22), Marija (20), Tihana (19), Nina (19), Danijela (16), Izabela (15), Filip (15), Ana (16), Ivona (16), David (19) had honour to be the host team during international seminar in Biograd. Together with our leaders ( Mirjana and Božica – the main organizator) we suceeded to create active, but interesting program which will help participants to open new and develop old chapters in their knowledge.
We' ve had to present ourselves , our organization and finally our country as best as we can. It wasn't easy but we've enjoyed every moment. Now we can surely say that we have one more experience which will help us in future and give a lot of nice memories to remem-ber.


Croatian Presentation

During this international seminar each team has presented their own country. Nature, sport results, environment and society, people who changed the world and everything that makes country recognized and respected out of its borders.
First night was dedicated to Croatia. At the beginning Mrs. Božica Sedlić said few words to participants and introduced us with our special guest Krunoslav Peršić, the member of city council in Biograd. Mr. Peršić has congratulated to all successful and perspective young people mentioning that the education is the way to bright future.
First presenter was Nina (19). She informed others about programs, projects and future plans for youth coordinated by main European house places in town Slavonski Brod.
As we always say – we want to become part of modern, educated and democratic Europe. It’s one of the reasons we fight against discrimination and stereotypes in our schools and society generally. Main facts about this theme presented one of Croatian leaders, Mirjana.
Finally, the last third of presentation showed the beauty and tradition of Croatia. Presenters (Filip and Izabela, 15) were wearing traditional folk costumes from region Slavonia. After presentation, Ana and Daniela (16) organized small quiz which showed us that our guests paid a lot of attention during the “Croatian night”.
Last thing was night supper. We offered traditional food from Slavonia (šunka, kulen, homemade cakes) and drink (rakija). We enjoyed hanging out and listening to traditional songs.

Bosnia and Hercegovina’s Team Introduction

We are group from Bosnia and Herzegowina and our group has four members: Azra, Damir,Amir, and Jasmina. Our arrival was organized by Informal charity organization Youth Hambarine, and our leader is Azra Novkinic.
Bosnia and Herzegowina is multinational country. We have three nationalities, Bosnian Muslims called “Bošnjaci”, Serbs and Croatians, which also means that we have three religions: Islam, Catholicism and Orthodoxies. Bosnia and Herzegovina is surrounded by three countries Croatia, Ser-bia and Montenegro. Many people don’t know that we have entrance on the sea. We have 26 miles of sea coast. Bosnia and Herzegovina has many famous names in mo-vies, for example Emir Kusturica who also worked with fa-mous song writer Goran Bregovic. This country has respec-tful rock groups like Divlje Jagode and guitar player Zele Lipovača. Bosnia and Hrzegovina organized the winter Ol-ympic Games at 1984. Our Pyramids are not famous like in Egypt, but it really exist in town called Visoko.

Their presentation
The project tells about intercultural and interreligious rela-tions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As you know there are three nations in our country. Project contains main facts about cooperation whit religious officials and their goals. We can find out how religious officials can help young people, because they are exposed to drugs and alcohol every day. Presentation also has the some information about our youth center Hamba-rine in Prijedor and a short introduction about Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is necessary because people are often don’t understand how our system works. Short video clips show the treasures of our country and famous places in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Our project was made by Amir and Damir. They worked on technical area and video presentation and Jasmina did transla-tion on English. This whole Idea was made by Azra our group leader.

Dnevnik.hr
Gol.hr
Zadovoljna.hr
OYO.hr
NovaTV.hr
DomaTV.hr
Mojamini.tv