MULTIETHNIC PROJECT „YOU AND I ARE WE“ IN VOJVODINA

Novi Sad – A multiethnic play „You and I are We“,  a project in which Albanian, Serbian and Roma secondary-school students from Bujanovac and Presevo take part ,  is going to have guest performances  in Zrenjanin, Kikinda, Sombor, Sid and Sremska Mitrovica in the period from February 25 until March 2, 2010.  The play resulted from an educational and artistic project of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, which made it possible for participants in the project to develop tolerance and better understanding of other cultures through playing games and associating with one another.  Young Albanians, Serbs and Roma speak in the “You and I are We” play about growing up in South Serbia in their mother tongue and in English. The project was designed to offer to the young secondary-school students, who had participated in workshops, not only the basic knowledge about the theatre, but also the experience of working and studying together with the children from the same age group that are from different ethnic groups. 

On the occasion of the guest performance of the „You and I are We“ play in Vojvodina,  Bojan Pajtic, PhD, Prime Minister of the Autonomous Province (AP) of Vojvodina and Minister Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujnovac and Medvedja, held a press-conference at the seat of the Vojvodina government.  At the press-conference, Prime Minister Pajtic firstly thanked the mayors of Kikinda, Sid and Sremska Mitrovica, as well as the deputy mayors of Zrenjanin and Sombor,  who attended the press-conference, for having wholeheartedly supported the project, in which the Vojvodina government had got involved, and said: "Vojvodina is a region in which six languages are officially used and where, according to the estimates of the international institutions responsible for the exercising of human rights, the coexistence of different ethnic groups is extremely good. In that sense, we had a great need to logistically support the Coordination Body, because the most recent armed conflicts in our territory occurred in South Serbia, in the region of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. Because the inflicted wounds haven’t yet fully healed, it is important to instill in generantions of young people that chauvinism, ethnic hatred and disagreement are the consequences of ignorance“.  

Prime Minister Pajtic pointed out that the Vojvodina government had a great pleasure in supporting the project, which will gain importance in Vojvodina with respect to futher drawing together and getting friendly of young people from South Serbia and children of the same age group from the province. Over the next five days, the children from South Serbia are going to be guests of the children from the province in Vojvodina’s districts of Srem, Backa and Banat.  Vojvodina’s Prime Minister pointed out that this was the beginning of an excellent cooperation, including the possibility of implementing and representing, in the comimg period, the project of  a multilingual and multicultural character of Vojvodina in South Serbia.  

„I that manner we would provide getting an insight into what has been done here and into how we managed to achieve a harmonious life of all ethnic communities that live in Vojvodina,“ said Prime Minister Pajtic.  

Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, ponted out that, over the past year, the Coordination Body had been putting a lot of effort into passing to the young of South Serbia everything that had been in place in Vojvodina for a long time, which concerns the way of living, the understanding of and the respect for other nations.  

„The main idea is that the young in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja mustn’t be the hostages of the past. They should  also build the future that holds more perspectives for them than the life they had in the previous decade.  The experiences from Vojvodina are precious to us and the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia plans to closely cooperate with the government of the AP of Vojvodina“, Minister Markovic said. 

Vojvodina’s mayors and deputy mayors, who took part in today’s press-conference at the seat of the government of the AP of Vojvodina, said that they were pleased to be hosts to these creative young people and added that they would acquaint them with the new environments in a representative fashion.  

Aleksandar Lazic, director of the play, and some actors and actresses, out of 14 secondary school students that make up the cast of the play, poited out that by working together on the play they had managed to  overcome ethnic divisions  that exist in everyday life.

The paly was extremely successful in both Bujanovac and Belgrade, where it was performed in December 2009. The play will be performed in the following cities in Vojvodina: Kikinda (February 25), Zrenjanin (February 26), Sremska Mitrovica (February 27), Sid (February 28) and Sombor (March 2). These young people are going to accept an invitation for a guest performance in Slovenia, too. The play is going to open the 39^th Vukov sabor in Trsic on May 19.