Impressions

Exchange of ideas and attitudes in front of a multicultural audiance

Report by Lazar Sestovic (Beograd)

The Conference brought together participants from various backgrounds, and interdisciplinary fields of interests. The reconstruction of the compatibility of the multicultural audience was optimal. I was happy with the opportunity to be introduced with the Conference topics (Origins and Escalation, Before the War, Kosovo from War to International Administrations, One year International Administration of Kosovo, Alternative Perspectives on the War in Kosovo: Religion, Gender, Media, and NGO's).

From my point of view, the idea behind the Conference is trimerous: (a) to establish conditions of renewed dialogue and tolerance with respects to culture, religion and ethnicity; (b) to demonstrate the possibility of cooperation; (c) to support people working for peace. I personally felt that participation at the Conference exposed me to the most interesting form of cross-cultural exchange of attitudes, values and meanings. In this stimulating encounter of different opinions and attitudes, we were encouraged to embark on much-needed dialogues. The Conference improved intellectual interchange through sharing ideas and experiences.

The Conference provoked expressive models for different opinion exposure and made it work during workshops. By encouraging participants to express their experiences, the work in teams handled existent variety of opinions and greatly succeeded in confirming the new motivation for exposing a lot of dilemmas. Also some new idea appeared and at the same time the exchange of attitudes was guaranteed.

Inspiring schedules for practical applications of such important ideas that were questioned in Budapest make me feel good. I appreciate the organisational experience and individual skill of Florian Bieber and Frank Burgdörfer.