Wake up Europe? Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992, Ukraine 2022: Young people and their contribution to international solidarity in the times of war

In April 1992, exactly 30 years ago, the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina began. It lasted for three and a half years, cost the lives of 100,000 people and made refugees of half the population. Today, there is war again in the middle of Europe, and already more than 3 million people from Ukraine have fled the violence imposed on them to other countries in Europe.

How do civil societies react when violence is perpetrated in and against other countries and their inhabitants? Between 1992 and 1995, there was a lot of passivity across Europe, but also numerous and manifold civil society solidarity initiatives with Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens, also by young people. The current war against Ukraine has also led to a great wave of solidarity among citizens in Germany, France and other countries in Europe. However, at the same time, there is often a feeling of helplessness: what can I do concretely as an individual?

In this workshop, we will first visit the exhibition "Wake up Europe! Support and solidarity mobilizations for Bosnia-Herzegovina and its citizens during the 1992-.1995 war" of the History Museum of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which will be on display in Berlin from 6 April, and thus, learn more about this little-known dimension of the Bosnian war and especially about solidarity initiatives of civil society actors in Germany and France. Building on this, we will talk in an interactive way about the current situation in Ukraine and discuss to what extent one can learn from the solidarity mobilisations in the 1990s and from Franco-German experiences for today.

Connected to this are the following questions: What do we understand more precisely by international solidarity? What challenges are associated with it? What meaningful contribution can I make as a young person when other people are affected by war and violence?

Date and location:
The workshop will take place in Berlin on 7 April from 10.00 to 15.00. It will start at the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Schumannstraße 8, 10117 Berlin), where the exhibition "Wake Up Europe" is located, and then continue at the Franco-German Youth Office (Molkenmarkt 1).

Participants:
20 young people aged between 18 and 29.

Deadline:
Applications should be sent until 3 April (midnight). The selection results will be communicated to the applicants on 4 April.

Moderators:
The workshop will be moderated by Nicolas Moll, Memory Lab / crossborder factory, and Frank Morawietz, crossborder factory, and facilitated by Samir Beharić, The Balkan Forum, and Ievgeniia Bodnya, Global Shapers Kyiv Hub.

COVID measures:
Due to the ongoing Corona-pandemic participants need to present vaccination certificate (with booster) or a valid negative test result (not older than 24 h) at the beginning of the workshop.

For inquiries, please write to info@crossborder-factory.eu

This workshop is organized by the crossborder factory, Institut européen - European Institute (CIFE), and The Balkan Forum, with the support of the Franco-German Youth Office.

Illustration „Wake up Europe“: Posters (re)designed by Trio (Sarajevo) in 1993 and in 2022.