We organized a basic training in peacebuilding in Macedonia, amongst other things, so that participants from Kosovo could join us. Those hopes were somewhat dashed, but we persisted in another one of our intentions: to bring the Macedonian context of conflict and peacebuilding process closer to the trainees who came from other parts of the region – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Croatia. This proved to be a good solution because it allowed us to set the processes of peacebuilding and dealing with the past into a wider background, determine their common points and trouble spots.
Several things were important and indicative in this process.
Many of our trainees had already attended various educational programmes in the area of human rights, which was not unusual since it’s one of the points upon which the emphasis is placed in the European Union accession process. Since all the countries in the region decided to follow the European path, such programmes aren’t lacking. Given that the awareness of the discriminatory potential for social prejudice has already existed, it makes it harder to discuss that we all have them (prejudices) and it’s just that some are more socially acceptable and others less so. They often depend on the current moment we live in – in our group, amongst those to whom unwanted labels were attached to, “smokers” were the worst off, even though many of us have that particular identity, too.
Furthermore, the sign of the times was also noticeable when it comes to gender, since there was an evident effort to establish a certain balance in discrimination against women and men, therefore more mail influence was demanded for what had once been an indisputable women’s right – abortion. That’s why it is exceptionally important that the issue of the impact of war on the status and perception of women in our societies, today, was opened up for discussion. I find the re-examination of the re-traditionalized practices and image of the mother-of- the-nation to be the most important emphasis of this discussion.
In the present times both social tensions and conflicts are seen as a struggle between different identities for their own recognition and space, therefore the initial reticence to discuss national identities might not be so unusual, after all. Some of the younger ones amongst us strived to explain that they could not see themselves “in that story,” that they were bored with (post) war identity of the area they lived in and that they did not want that kind of distinguishing mark.
If we compare it to some other identities that we have, national identity can indeed be cumbersome. That’s exactly why we insisted on the process of dealing with the past in a constructive way, for which the discussion on narratives inside of which our identities look for their foundations, was very helpful.
That’s why the Macedonian context was of crucial importance. Rest of the region is not too familiar with it for the media, political end regional precedence was taken over by the conflicts from the 90’s. We tried to bring it closer to our participants by showing them the documentary “Intermittent Line” – “I find it incredible. I can’t help but compare it to the Bosnian context. Some narratives are so similar and we hear them from people from different sides, the formulations of words are the same, same sentences, judgments, deliberations. I have experienced the film very emotionally, but I cannot help this being the first thing that comes to mind”.
We have tried to identify the mechanisms and processes that can lead to conflict and debate about the significance of those things that remain unspoken in our society, and the impact this may have on the peacebuilding processes. When it comes to national identities, we travelled a long and emotional journey in this training. Thanks to national identities, we also had the opportunity to experience some quite cathartic moments.
From the very beginning, our trainees demonstrated a great openness, desire and willingness for work and re-examination. We were in group of people of wide age range and various level of activist experience, that bonded intensively very early on, threw themselves headlong into the whole process, and spent a significant portion of the time unwilling to undermine that early established trust with reexamination. On the one hand, it allowed us to go deep into the process, argue vigorously and strive to set things up so that we could understand them. There was a safe space and well-articulated support inside of it. However, due to this we somewhat vacillated which was manifested as an unwillingness to confront opinions, until the later stages of the training. However, it is important that it did happen, and that there was a commitment to make the most of that situation. Therefore, in the very end we got reconciliation in practice! Or, as N. would put it: “I expected some experts, people with PhDs, and people tell you everything you’ve known already – forget it. Really, when someone give you a label to put an identity on someone else, that’s something entirely different. It is important I spend time with someone from Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo … We have some differences, but when you spend ten days here you see how irrelevant they are”.
Two people had to leave the training due to some unexpected personal issues, and since one of them was our only trainee from Kosovo, we felt the lack of that perspective.
We received 114 applications for the 37th Training in Peacebuilding. Most of them were from Serbia (36) and Macedonia (31), Bosnia and Herzegovina (25) followed, with Croatia (12) and Montenegro (7) and only two applications came from Kosovo. It was a bit disappointing, especially since the number of applications from Kosovo for the previous training was higher. The number of applications from other countries was in fact expected having in mind where the training took place. We are glad that we are receiving applications from Montenegro again, just as we did for Ulcinj, while there’s still not much luck with Herzegovina (with only two applications, this time). We hope that the situation will improve in the future, regarding this. That would be extremely important for both the context of dealing with the past of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Croatian context.
There was considerably more female than male applicants (73 women, compared to 41 men), which is why there was a slightly more of them in the training, although we always try to establish gender balance.
In the end, the group consisted of 5 participants from Macedonia, 5 from Serbia, 4 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3 from Croatia, 2 from Montenegro and one from Kosovo. They were people of different profiles – activists (both those who had been active within an organization and those who either acted independently or were interested in these topics), journalists, people employed in public institutions, in education …
The training team consisted of Katarina Milićević, Adnan Hasanbegović, and Davorka Turk from the CNA and our friend and colleague Boro Kitanoski from Prilep-based Peace Action. We have several connections with Peace Action and they are one of the organizations that are the closest to us, when it comes to the values we share, so we are delighted every time we are able to materialize these ties into a concrete cooperation.
Our trainees had high expectations from us and they were actively re-examining our role and how we were working. Thanks to that the process was totally transparent, intense, but very rewarding, with every next step deeply reflected upon. And, perhaps most importantly, we felt we were part of the group. The bursting energy fully reflected onto the team. It was the first training in peacebuilding in the role of the trainer for the author of this article, and the first time we all worked together. However, there was a safe space, which was also motivating and an inexhaustible source of inspiration and support.
Who knows, perhaps we were enchanted at the “Alpina Hotel” in Mavrovo? Those wonderful people and brilliant hosts explained to us upon arrival that the “Alpina Hotel” was a place “where problems sort themselves out.” As an activist, I cannot quite accept such an attitude, but it seems to me that we certainly had the support of dryadsJ
D.T.