ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - Actors from Croatia and Serbia gathered in Zagreb on Thursday for a panel discussion on responsibility and guilt for the war and conflicts in the region in the past decade. Today's meeting was the first public
discussion of artists from the two countries since the end of the war. The basis of the discussion was a performance staged last night in Zagreb by Belgrade's Centre for Cultural Decontamination, entitled 'About Germany', which addresses the situation in Yugoslavia through a story about responsibility in the Nazi Germany. Not even after 60 years has Germany taken a clear stand about collective responsibility and the question is which generation will give the answer to that question here, in this region, said Serbian writer David Albahari, who has been living in Canada for several years. The head of the Centre for Cultural Decontamination, Borka Pavicevic, said the
ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - Actors from Croatia and Serbia gathered in
Zagreb on Thursday for a panel discussion on responsibility and
guilt for the war and conflicts in the region in the past decade.
Today's meeting was the first public discussion of artists from the
two countries since the end of the war.
The basis of the discussion was a performance staged last night in
Zagreb by Belgrade's Centre for Cultural Decontamination, entitled
'About Germany', which addresses the situation in Yugoslavia
through a story about responsibility in the Nazi Germany.
Not even after 60 years has Germany taken a clear stand about
collective responsibility and the question is which generation
will give the answer to that question here, in this region, said
Serbian writer David Albahari, who has been living in Canada for
several years.
The head of the Centre for Cultural Decontamination, Borka
Pavicevic, said the question of responsibility could not be put as
an anthropological one - whether a man was good or evil - because
there were communities and systems which bring out one or the other
in man.
She believes that those who did not kill were guilty too because
they enabled the killing by "sitting in their armchairs."
A Belgrade journalist and columnist for Croatia's 'Feral Tribune'
weekly, Petar Lukovic, said the events which occurred in the area
were caused by people's stupidity and the fact that they believed
everything they were told and were easy to manipulate.
Speaking about campaigns that have been launched in Serbia since
1990, Lukovic said it was encouraging that the latest campaign "of
Serbia against the whole world and planet" was not very successful,
which was proved by the election results.
Croatian writer Slobodan Snajder said that in Croatia "the same
people have for ten years been telling the same tale that Serbia
kept mum about crimes it committed against others." However, the
Centre for Cultural Decontamination proves those claims are not
true, he added.
Regardless of the future normalisation of relations, which he said
would be in the form which would not make him happy, Snajder
believes it is the people like those from the Centre who will answer
the questions which have always existed between the quarrelling
peoples and cultures.
Croatian actor Igor Galo said democratic changes could not happen
until Croatia took a clear stand toward fascism and anti-fascism.
(hina) jn rml