In her welcoming address, Ana Raffai, one of the organisers and project partner of schwelle, expressed her hope that the conference would help us all to find within ourselves and together the will and courage to pursue peace and strengthen our spirituality for non-violent resistance. The conference focused on exchange and joint reflection on the presentations. The warmth and understanding with which each contribution was appreciated made a lasting impression. Facial expressions and comments showed in many moments that even 30 years after the end of the Yugoslav War, the wounds are still present. In this context, the hugs and cordiality between former war opponents were very touching.
The presentations covered a wide range of topics. Beginning with an analysis of the problem of growing militarism in connection with increasing social oppression, the current populist politics that oppose a pluralistic and just society were then presented.
The conference placed great emphasis on interfaith dialogue. Theological foundations for strengthening spirituality, will and courage for non-violent resistance were presented from both Christian and Muslim perspectives.
The conference focused on the central question of forgiveness and forgetting from a theological, philosophical and psychological perspective.
It concluded with a theoretical presentation of concepts of non-violent resistance and the logic of peace, followed by positive examples from the region, including the non-violent protests by Serbian students and several examples from Bosnia.
The exchange with Serbian students from the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade was moving. They gave impressive accounts of their consistently non-violent protests. They had to learn to deal with reprisals ranging from threats of professional bans by the patriarch to expulsion from the student residence and violent disruptive actions aimed at undermining the non-violence of their actions. In conclusion, the students made it clear how much strength they had gained from their joint actions and that they did not regret the lost academic year.
The joint proclamation issued at the end of the conference demonstrates the commitment of the participants: "We call on each other, but also on our political and religious leaders, to take responsibility for the world we leave to future generations, to support young people when they stand up against violence and injustice, to protect the weak and vulnerable, to get to know others and to live according to our conscience. We do this not only with words, but also by setting an example!"
schwelle Project Partner RAND
