Seminar on Civil Courage

Kovacica, 16–19 August 2014

Seminar on Civil Courage was held in Kovacica from 16 – 19 August 2014. Twenty students from Surdulica, Vranje, Velika Plana, Subotica, Kula, Beograd, Kragujevac, Krusevac, Kanjiza, Vrsac, Kikinda and Vrnjacka Banja participated in the seminar.

Topics of the seminar were diverse and included lectures about civil courage and civil disobedience in theory and practice, dealing with the past, moral and responsible citizen, civil courage through history and examples of civil courage in the media. Politicologist Pavel Domonji gave a lecture about theory of civil courage and Executive Director of Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Izabela Kisic, spoke about civil courage/disobedience in the media. Sociologist Srdjan Barisic explained the concept of moral and responsible citizen to the participants and gave relevant examples.

Throughout the whole seminar students participated in the Forum Theater with Demir Mekic, whereby they analyzed relevant topics through various creative workshops. Participants also had the opportunity to watch the film “Circles” and to discuss it with Seska Stanojlovic, Vice President of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.

Mladen Jovanovic from Kragujevac said the following about the seminar: “I like the fact that all lecturers were very knowledgeable persons. This seminar was a great experience for me and I am particularly happy to have met so many young people who I will stay in touch with for the rest of my life.” Dragan Djunda from Vranje said that he is satisfied with the choice of topics, many of which are not discussed in the society. He added: “Other participants of the seminar were also great, as well as the organization of the seminar.”

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia organized Seminar on Civil Courage in partnership with NGO Gariwo from Sarajevo, as part of the project “Be the Change – Make a Difference”, which is supported by the Kingdom of Norway.

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