Helsinki Monitor 1994. Volume 5 [antikvár]

EDITORIALCommunication instead of WarDialogue to Solve Social ConflictsThis Special Issue of the Helsinki Monitor contains essays written by Belgrade and Zagreb intellectuals. It is an initiative by the Netherlands Helsinki Com-mittee and the Press Now Foundation, which supports independent média in the former Yugoslavia. The idea to compile this issue with contributions írom Belgrade and Zagreb is an attempt to detect somé of the most significant phenomena today on a crucial cultural, political and historical axis within the territory of the former Yugoslavia.Years before the present war, hate speech and disinformation ruined the normál relationship between these two populations and created an atmosphere of emotional accusations, distrust, calls for revenge and fear.In addition, since the outbreak of the war in the former Yugoslavia that had its first tragic consequences in the Serbo-Croatian clashes, the regimes in the so-called new Yugoslavia and the Republic of Croatia have from strategic viewpoints intentionally broken off (tele-)communications and main roads, railways and air traffic between the two nations. The right to a free flow of informaüon has been and is still being denied to the populations from both regions: since then, in spite of many promises to reopen various connections, they have lived enclosed in 'black boxes', so near and yet so far from each other.Communication, however, is a necessary presumption for understanding which leads towards tolerance and global, social and environmental peace. The interruption to communication will hereafter further increase alienation as well as the intensity of the logical collisions between forcefully separated rather than different entities.Numerous political and cultural initiatives, as well as various anti-war actions, have been established in all regions of the former Yugoslavia with the main objective being to critically analyze the extreme nationalistic regimes. In this publication two significant groups present their views about the present situation in Croatia and Serbia.In the first place the Belgrade Circle; an association of intellectuals from Belgrade with more than 450 members dispersed all over the world. This loose framework unites intellectuals who stem from the former Yugoslavia and who strive towards a pluriform, tolerant and democratic society.In the second place Erasmus Guild. This independent, non-governmental institution has assembled a circle of people in Croatia who try to develop a civic culture and democratic strategies for political and social change. Their projects encompass inter alia, the magaziné Erasmus and a round-table programme.