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Knocking on the SEE Gate

Knocking on the SEE Gate
Paul Scheffer Visit to Serbia and Kosovo

Project partners: SPARK (Amsterdam)

    In post-conflict era the Netherlands is very often used as a role model for Western Balkan societies in the transition, towards establishing and consolidating multiculturalism and tolerance. But this perception of
“multicultural heaven” is very stereotypic and deprived of all nuances and constant political and social challenges.

    Political thinker and author from The Netherlands, Mr. Paul Scheffer, will pay 5-days visit to Serbia and Kosovo, and in set of public open discussion sessions he will, together with one local co-lecturer, share his observations on the political and wider social situation in The Netherlands and the Dutch and European experience of multiculturalism.

    During these interactive lectures focus will be on establishing cultural dialogue between The Netherlands, Serbia and Kosovo through notifying similarities, dissimilarities and diversities of experiences, challenges and obstacles of these 3 societies in multiculturalism. By sharing all these information and perspectives it would be possible to compare the Balkans’ and the Netherlands’ or Balkan and Dutch experience on this matter.

Supported by:

REPORT

We are pleased to present you the report following from the ‘Knocking on the SEE Gate’ project, a joint venture of NGO Fractal from Belgrade and Academic Training Association from Amsterdam.

In the March 2007. Mr. Paul Scheffer, well-known political thinker and European affair specialist from the Netherlands, visited Serbia and Kosovo as to share his observations about the political and wider social situation in Europe, in a series of public lectures and discussions organized in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Mitrovica and Pristina. Mr. Paul Scheffer was one of the first to question the perception of “multicultural heaven” in the Netherlands, as very stereotypic and deprived of all nuances and constant political and social challenges. His critical observations on some fundamental questions about liberal democracy in Europe and the European Integration are relevant for Western Europe but for societies in Western Balkan region as well. As the name of this visit implies, ‘Knocking on the South-East Gate of Europe’, it is only one element in the permanent communication which is essential in order to exchange, to compare and take part in the current debate about very essences of the Europe. Our main idea was to have two speakers in these public events, Mr. Paul Scheffer together with one local representative, since processes and topics that were discussed are current ones and it will largely depend on us whether we are going to be spectators or protagonists of these processes. Within the ‘Knocking on the SEE Gate’ project, the group of four students, two from Pristina and two from Belgrade, joined Mr. Paul Scheffer in his tour throughout Serbia and Kosovo. During lectures and meetings, in each city, they conducted a survey, assessment of level of freedom of expression. Beside the questionnaire designed for the audience, students also observed and wrote remarks on lecture and discussion dynamic, interaction between speakers and audience, number and sorts of questions in the discussion. In this report you will find excerpt from lectures and discussions held in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Mitrovica and Pristina, and ‘Freedom of Speech’ survey report together with students’ impressions and notes.

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