As part of the "Peace Begins with a Smile" project, which was supported by the Regional Youth Support Office (RYCO), a series of online workshops began on March 19, bringing together young people from three Western Balkan countries.
The project was implemented by the "Aco Ruskovski" High School from Berovo in North Macedonia, in partnership with the First Gymnasium from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Gostivar Gymnasium from the town of the same name in Southern Macedonia and the "Sergije Stanić" School for Secondary and Higher Vocational Education from Podgorica. Montenegro.
The project consists of three two-day interactive workshops conducted on the following topics: Hate speech based on gender inequality, Hate speech based on ethnic intolerance and Raising awareness about peer violence and hate speech on the Internet (social networks).
The essence of these interactive workshops is the cooperation of young people in the area of the Western Balkans, the exchange of experiences and ideas, the development of skills to counter the aforementioned narratives. The workshops show that the students know this topic well, but also recognize and use ways to recognize, avoid, and condemn hate speech. Also, this is an opportunity for young people from the region to get to know each other and to improve the society in which they live through an open and guided dialogue.
Due to epidemiological measures, the project was organized through the "Zoom" application. The first workshop "Hate speech based on gender inequality" led by Dr. Tajana Srčeva from Skopje, was held on March 19 and 20, and the second "Hate speech based on ethnic intolerance" led by Žana Živadinović, social activist, also from Skopje, 22 .and March 23. The final workshop "Raising awareness of peer violence on the Internet" will be held on March 27 and 28, 2021.
In this regional project, based on Mother Teresa's strong message that "Peace begins with a smile", Montenegro is represented by students of the third and fourth grades of the "Sergije Stanić" school: Nikola Radunović, Kristina Simović, Aleksa Stanković, Lejla Ćatović, Milić Laković, Anastasija Lekić, Jovan Ivanović, Maša Iković, Marko Jovančević, Iva Ilinčić and professors Leposava Furtula, MSc, Radovan Peković and Jelena Raičković, MSc.
Bonus video:
