On the fourth and fifth day of the regional summer school, participants had lectures on intercultural dialogue (educational level and regional level), youth policy and mobility, religion and fake news.
Sinisa Bjekovic from the Ombudsman of Montenegro addressed the young people at the first lecture – “Enhancing intercultural dialogue through education”. At this lecture, young people had the opportunity to hear why intercultural dialogue is important, what are the cases that the Ombudsman of Montenegro encounters every day and how to enhance dialogue. The messages of this lecture were that the Western Balkans region should work more on dialogue, because without dialogue we have no future (dialogue is our obligation), that there should be social cohesion in society – equality for all and that there is no intercultural dialogue without inclusion. One of the examples that Sinisa cited is related to the ethnic distance in Pljevlja. At the second lecture, Suzana Grubjesic spoke about the importance of youth mobility, dialogue, volunteerism, fake news and critical thinking of young people. Suzana mentioned that the exchange of volunteers in the areas of the region should be improved. At the third lecture, Nenad Koprivica spoke about youth policy and mobility. How young people influence policy-making, and how they now have many more opportunities for mobility, exchange of knowledge and experience, which they need to use to create a better future for the region.
After the teaching part, the young people visited the Islamic-Cultural Center, the Catholic Cathedral and the Orthodox Church, which introduced them to the recognizability of the city of Bar, which is its openness and coexistence of all confessions, for centuries in one place.
At the first lecture, on the fifth day of school, the participants had a lecture on intercultural competencies. The main messages of this lecture were that the region of the Western Balkans and the areas that make it up have many similarities (common past, common language), that we need to exchange ideas, knowledge and experiences to connect with people of other cultures and to understand each other. Also, Professor Sejamini pointed out that the region as a whole has great economic potential, and that if we join forces, we can do a lot in that field. At the second lecture, Prof. Franjo Topic spoke about ecumenism and dialogue as the greatest ideas of the last 100 years. He reminded of the history of ecumenism from the 19th century to the present day. The professor pointed out that dialogue between religions is also important.
The last lecture at the Regional Summer School was dedicated to fake news, a phenomenon that is spreading more and more on the one hand, and difficulties in recognizing them on the other. Milan Jovanović, held a lecture on this topic, and introduced young people how to recognize fake news and how they can protect themselves.
