New Politics of Solidarity through Cultural and Knowledge Production
A collaborative program between Qendra Multimedia (Prishtina), CZKD (Belgrade) and Center "Grad" (Tuzla)Twenty years after the collapse of Yugoslavia, the political class of the newborn states has continued to promote social values inherent to the violent nationalistic ideology. This code of oppression has marginalized the influence of individuals and groups who believe in culture of otherness and are committed to values of equality and solidarity. One of many ways in counteracting this ideology of isolation and hostilities would be to reaffirm the above values that could be tracked back to the libertarian tradition of the shared past.
To deal with the past is very delicate endeavor today. One of the reasons is the abuse of the painful past for political purposes. Those born in the eighties and the nineties of the last century, as well as the very young one have been taught to see neighbors as enemies, other cultures as a threat to their own identity. The matter is how to create new codes that would open their minds and feelings; raise their interest for the shared cultural heritage and modernization that occurred in time of Yugoslavia; strengthen their ability to tackle with challenges of transition to democracy and global market economy. Young people and their parents have a right to know in order to be able to choose and take responsibility for their life of today and in the future.
People in Belgrade or Tuzla have rare or no opportunity to hear intellectuals or artists from Prishtina talking and performing on issues that concern shared past and today’s day life. Young people in the Balkans deserve to learn more about each other and to work together to create a broader cultural space for their books, exhibitions and performances. Artists, cultural workers, educators and activists are hostages of nationalistic codes and information. The endeavor is to give rise to ideas and institutions based on solidarity and differences without negations.
The Project is framed by three topics:
1. Affirming the anti-fascist struggle and modernism from WWII to date: towards new spaces of equality and solidarity;
2. The memory of unity and brotherhood through oral history: towards artistic imaginaries of new solidarity;
3. Continuities and discontinuities of solidarity reflected by artists: forms of solidarity embedded in social ownership, annihilated by violent transition and re-examined under corporate rules.
DWP Fields:
Dealing With the Past
Memory Work
Public Debates
DWP Actors:
Qendra Multimedia
Dates:
2011 — 2011
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