Being part of the Basic Training in Peacebuilding is always a privilege and a rewarding experience, regardless of whether you are a participant or take on the role of trainer. Once your emotions settle and you get some rest, there is always a feeling of contentment, countless stories to (re)tell, some new faces you put names to and hope that there will be more such opportunities. Motivated participants open to working on themselves and with each other, the breathtaking beauty of the Kruševo environment in North Macedonia only add to the sentiment and evoke feelings of nostalgia. But, let’s start from the beginning.
The Basic Training in Peacebuilding, its 45th edition, was held in Kruševo, in the south of North Macedonia from 6 to 16 October 2023. Since our last Basic Training here, North Macedonia had changed its name, as well as many names of streets, roads and airports, resolving an open issue with one neighbouring country only to have one open with another, just as the ruling party in government was replaced by another… Much has changed since 2017, but what remains steadfast is the outstanding kindness of ordinary people, happy to meet “fellow countrymen” and ready to help. And that is always heart-warming and conducive to training.
A group eager for exchange
We received a total of 81 applications for the training, far more from women (52) than men. Most of the applicants were from BiH (33), followed by Montenegro (16), Serbia (14), Croatia (11), North Macedonia (5), and only 2 from Kosovo. We ultimately had a total of 18 participants, because two people had to cancel at the last minute, leaving those on the waiting list with too little time to organise to come all the way to Kruševo. Of the total number of participants, 11 were women and 7 men, and in terms of their countries of origin, most came from Croatia (5) and Serbia (5), followed by BiH (4), North Macedonia (2), and one participant each from Montenegro and Kosovo. The average age was 28 and ranged from 21 to 56.
The decreased number of applications is due to complex demographic and socio-economic developments leading to a steep population decline (especially of young people), while those who stay are increasingly opting for STEM fields, leaving many universities with almost no students in the social sciences and humanities. Having prepared for a smaller number of applications, we focused on refreshing the training invitation and running a campaign using testimonials from previous participants to reach those with the greatest need for the training and who would benefit most from the training itself and the exchange of knowledge and experience. This proved to be a successful strategy, as we saw from the improved quality of applications and work during the training itself. The different ages of the participants, the different places they came from and the approximate balance of men and women enabled us to put together a group that was challenging and inspiring to work with.
The Basic Training in Peacebuilding itself, though always founded on mutual exchange of experience and knowledge and equally focused on personal as much as social transformation, has undergone many adaptations since its beginnings in 1997. These were all geared at responding to changes in our societies and the changing needs of the participants, and this is something we encountered this time around as well. A sizeable portion of the participants at this most recent training were born after the last war in the region, the one in Macedonia in 2001. New generations live the consequences of war as something given and “normalised”, and to a large extent it is only with newer generations that we see how conservative our societies have become, primarily in the sense of being focused on our individual selves, dealing only with our own individual matters. The lack of knowledge about others presents an objective difficulty and makes exchange (about the contexts we come from, but also between generations) all the more important and needed.
It turned out that the group was eager for such an exchange, so from the very beginning, from the first workshop, we dug deep. This was a rare occasion where we were constantly short of time, a training when all the coffee and meal breaks were used to continue discussions, openly, usually from a personal perspective, but with visible readiness not only to speak honestly, but also to hear what others had to say. The safe space created collectively by the group enabled us to share some very personal experiences and testimonies, and such exchanges always have incredible potential for further work when we go from the personal to the social level to deal with difficult topics such as prejudice, identity/identities, discrimination or dealing with the past. The readiness shown from the very beginning to present our experiences and express our opinions, not retreating into the safe zone of “political correctness”, was accompanied by constant care for each other, pushing the borders of what we could share.
Training is experience
From the first part of the training and dealing with topics such as communication, teamwork, violence, identity/identities, discrimination, through the central part where we tackled dealing with the past, we were able to do complex exercises with this group and open the most complex topics: what would be an honest attitude towards the past, what should change in our environments to move us towards that honest attitude towards the past, what are the legacies of war we still see today, what do we personally mourn or regret in the context of the wars and their legacies… As one of the participants said, training is an experience you have to go through and it is difficult to retell even the topics, not to mention the atmosphere… The intensity and dedication in the first part of the training caused a slight drop in energy at the very end, so the only regret that remains is the question of whether we could have done more in the two final days of the training when we dealt with concrete examples of what peacebuilding means in the context of our societies some 30 years after the war(s).
If “our” wars seem remote to new generations, with the time gap only increasing, the wars raging today are by no means remote. Rapid globalisation and digitalisation mean that we can follow events in real time in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh… Some of the participants had friends and acquaintances in some of these countries and followed this new escalation of violence with dread, as they quietly became aware that all these other wars are also “ours”. The fact that participants kept referring to current events opened some new perspectives, but also some new questions. The key perspective is an awareness that we are part of a global community, that whatever our professional path, we have an obligation to respond to injustice and build a society free from violence, prejudice, discrimination…
We are grateful to the staff of Hotel Montana in Kruševo, they more than made up for the slightly chilly rooms with their hospitality and helpfulness. In addition to us from the Centre for Nonviolent Action Sarajevo-Belgrade (Ivana Franović, Radomir Radević and Nedžad Novalić), the training team was reinforced by our “constant temporary” associate Luan Imeri from the Centre for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution in Skopje. His experience, interpersonal skills and infallible sense for justice, as well as his suggestions to try something he came up with in our work (this time, it was, among other things, an inspiring exercise of “Zajdi, zajdi…” dealing with discrimination) always make us feel enriched and lucky to have him. We are also grateful to all the participants who devoted ten days of their time, which in this world of business and deadlines is no small feat.
There is a running joke that the Kruševo Republic set up by the Ilinden Uprising in 1903, which has become a key determinant of contemporary Macedonian identity, lasted for 10 days because that was how long it took the Ottoman army to find Kruševo. Our training, our republic of tears and laughter, also lasted ten days, though we had enough ideas to stay longer. At the end, we were not discovered or scattered by any powers that be. Instead, we left, as someone said, somehow changed. For the better, I’m sure.
The photo gallery can be viewed HERE