"The discussion organized by the British Council was primarily about the differences in approach - to act on the discontinuity in the way of thinking and on established forms of language, or to act directly in the political sphere. To act as a citizen writer, or as a citizen writer"
It is hard to believe that a conversation on the topic - Public and personal responsibility of the writer - as organized by the Belgrade office of the British Council last weekend, will clean up the residue of hate speech. On the other hand, it is not easy to examine the issues of responsibility without those who spoke about the "high percentage of waste among the Serbs", because only those writers can explain why they said that for the sake of a "peaceful future" one must not "twist one's own interest", and why they were inciting that "internal borders should be changed before they become external and international".
Vladislav Bajac, Sreten Ugričić, Zoran Paunović, Ivana Dimić and Ljiljana Pavićević, who participated in this conversation as Yugoslav representatives, can easily agree on the amount of evil produced by those wake-up words, so that such conversations in the circle of potential like-minded people can easily turn into endless head nodding. Therefore, it is not a bad idea to knock on some more doors, because writers from Great Britain, as well as guests from Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who came to Belgrade could hear something unusual and strange.
Of course, it is difficult to talk to those whose ears do not hear and eyes do not see, or do not hear things that they cannot hear and do not see what they do not want to see, but precisely because of their endemic characteristics, they are the right interlocutors on the topic of responsibility . This does not mean that discussions about these not very pleasant topics should necessarily include rare bearers of bizarre ideas who live in the Balkans. After all, writers coming from Europe are looking for those with whom they can communicate without interfering with local rituals.
Therefore, the words of the British writer Sarah Dunant about the "extraordinary moment" shared by this group of writers during the conversation are not just the phrases of a well-mannered guest, nor is the recent remark of John Caird, director of the Royal National Theater in London, about "The National Theater as one of the most beautiful theater buildings that he ever saw" is not a shell of empty meaning, because in other languages speech is not devoid of meaning.
"I think we learned a lot about each other, but also discovered some mistrust and concern." Even though we spoke in English, I don't think we always called the same things the same words," observed Sarah Dunant after the first day of work, trying to make some kind of summary for those who did not have the opportunity to attend the closed part of the conversation in which British writers Gillian participated. Slovo, Andrew O'Hagan and journalist Jeremy Harding, as well as guests from the region Cajus Dobrescu, Peter Zilahi, Daša Drndić and Zoran Mutić, together with authors from the country. "Although part of my job is, among other things, to mediate similar discussions, at one point I thought: God, we no longer have control over this conversation, but immediately afterwards it occurred to me that this is perhaps the best manifestation of this extraordinary moment that we share." "
"Although conversations between people who barely get to know each other can seem pointless - we sat down, talked, everyone said what they had to say and then we parted ways - I think it's not insignificant at all, because various ideas can be heard that can be useful for each of us," Ivana Dimić, one of the participants in the two-day meeting, told "Vreme". "It's a specific exchange between people of different cultures who bring something that we might never encounter, which is ultimately interesting and informative."
Even putting aside the content of these conversations, his tone revived for a moment the forgotten sense of comfort that this kind of communication can bring to all those who in recent years have fled the crowd to their own little, personal oases. This is confirmed in a drastic way by all those who flocked to participate in the noise and fury of the crowd. During a break in one of the sessions, as a counterpoint to this conversation, distant rumblings of commemorating the anniversary of the war without a name, a masquerade on the themes of the underworld, came from Republic Square. Drune, in which the main actors, distorted beyond recognition, are no longer even aware of their own grotesqueness.
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Vučić is not defending the state, but himself from the state. With a drum on his back and a guitar in his hands, this man-orchestra performs two or three of the same songs without hearing, with falsifications and falling out of rhythm. His government and politics are like that. In short - dangerous for the environment
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