Roundtable in Novi Sad
October 2, 2014
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
organized a roundtable on the topic “(In)tolerance in Vojvodina” in
the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. President of
the Committee on European Integration and International Cooperation
of the Assembly of Vojvodina Maja Sedlarevic and President of the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia Sonja Biserko greeted
the participants of the roundtable.
Journalist Boris Varga spoke about the link
between extremism and nationalism. He said that deep economic
crisis, deficit of the civil society and a general decline of social
values coincide with the rise of extremism. Nedim Sejdinovic of the
Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina analyzed the
current media situation, putting a special focus on hate speech in
the media. He said that the media should be significantly more
active in the deconstruction of stereotypes and resolving war
legacy. Miroslav Kevezdi of the Centre for Development of Civil
Society talked about politicization of religion, church and
extremism. He pointed out that a strong bond exists between
extremist organizations from Serbia and Russia.
Participants discussed the deconstruction of
stereotypes, state reaction to intolerant behavior, consequences of
the social situation on youth, etc.
Representatives of civil society organizations
from Vojvodina, journalists, professors and youth participated in
this roundtable. Participants were also presented with a network for
the regular monitoring of all manifestations of extremism, whose
purpose is to prevent them from spreading their influence in public
and to alarm institutions. CSO representatives and other interested
individuals who want to curb today’s extremist ideologies are
invited to join this network.
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