April 5
Bridging Diversity: Symposium
Location: Grude, Bosnia and Herzegovina
In the second phase of “Bridging Diversity: Bosnia and Herzegovina” ICDO organized a symposium and economical development workshops in Grude, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
OBJECTIVE: Engage youth from three ethnicities in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the dialogue with international experts and stakeholders
KEY STAKEHOLDERS: Youth from all three ethnicities (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian), government officials, representatives from international organizations, students, educators and policymakers.
Professor Dr. Mückler highlighted the potential of cultural diversity when seeing it as an enrichment and not as a threat to society.
“Cultural diversity is essential to humanity,” Mückler claims. To foster cultural diversity, “we need platforms to talk to each other – such as this symposium organized by ICDO –, even better: we need to eat and to drink with each other, as we did today, to benefit from cultural diversity.”
Academic Zepic defined six main obstacles of bridging the gap in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s divided society and presented a constructive outline on how to overcome those.
Dr. Löwstedt emphasized the positive impact of cultural diversity:
“The more cultural diversity, the better for society. It increases cultural wealth by adding to it.”
Media can play both a positive and a negative role for cultural diversity: Media enhances communication, but at the moment, media is not culturally diverse and functions often as vehicles for cultural imperialism. We must be critical of cultural imperialism, bias, and fake news and we must raise our voices protest because “it is not only up to the media but also to us to make a difference“.
ACTIVITY 1
On April 5, 2019, ICDO hosted a panel discussion in Grude, Bosnia and Herzegovina, titled: ‘Securing the Future of Society by Safeguarding Cultural Diversity’.
Symposium Participants:
- Božo Žepić – Academic, President of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Art (HAZU), professor of Law University in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Dr.phil. Hermann Mückler – the Austrian anthropologist and political scientist, specialized on the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on Oceania, especially Fiji, Melanesia, and Polynesia, President of PAN Organization
- Dr. Anthony Löwstedt – Professor of Webster University Vienna and Media Expert
- Mario Mikulić – Deputy Minister of Ministry of Education, Sciences, Sport and Culture of Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Mladen Leko – Director of High School A. B. Šimića in Grude, Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Ljubo Grizelj – Mayor of Grude Municipality in Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Veselko Čerkez – Head of the Office of the Prime Minister in Bosnia & Herzegovina
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ACTIVITY 2
ICDO organized economical development workshops to foster innovation and creativity among the youth of all three ethnicities.
The students had the possibility to learn more about changes that can improve the domestic position of cultural diversity through legal and other means.
ICDO organized workshops in Violeta and Grafotisak factories in order to see the scope of work and how local companies managed to work on a global level. Thanks to their expertise they work all over the world and retaining local talent.
The goal of the workshops was to familiarize participants with the possibilities in their own country in order to have a better idea bout their future development.