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On April 9, 2016 the Novi Pazar-based youth group
organized a mini-football tournament, promoting messages of tolerance
and positive cheering manners. Some of the messages that the youth sent
out during this event were “Cheer for sport” and “I don’t hate, I love”.
The tournament gathered students from secondary schools and universities
from Novi Pazar, as well as their teachers and other interested
citizens.
Members of the youth group performed the theatre play
“Pedagogical Decision-Making Show” in Novi Pazar on June 12, 2016. The
theatre performance was based on Bertolt Brecht’s educational play “He
Who Says Yes / He Who Says No”. The youth’s mentor throughout the
preparation process was director Zlatko Paković. It is a very important
play for the analysis of extremism and personal exercise of democratic
and free decision-making in circumstances when authoritarian structures
in power expect from individuals and groups to accept common behaviors
with no criticism or question. After the performance of the play, one
participant said that “the play allowed us to enter the world of adults
and see how they make decisions, but also to motivate adults to reassess
their own attitudes.”
Youth group members organized themselves in
anti-extremist teams on June 23, 2016. They “patrolled” in the center of
Novi Pazar, talking to the passers-by about the pressing issues in the
local communities, raising awareness about countering extremist
ideologies, distributing shirts, bags and flyers with messages of
tolerance and respect for human rights. The goal of this event was to
point to the importance of prevention of negative trends in the society
that are related to violence and extremism. One youth group member said
that “in this way we want to appeal to relevant authorities to take not
only repressive, but also preventive measures. Even though they are
doing some preventive activities, this is not enough. We also ask the
citizens not to resort to violence.”
Outreach events are organized with the support of the
US Embassy in Belgrade as a part of the program “Reach Out Sandzak II”.
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