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| Fiona Jeliqi on stage and a Serbian protester |
This festival presents to the public the cultural and social scene of Kosovo.
The festival has been held since 2014 and is organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights. The festival will last until October 24.
Right-wing organizations have protested against the holding of this festival. Several hundred people, led by the chairwoman of the right-wing Serbian party "Zavetnici", Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski, gathered around 18:00 when it was time to announce the opening of the festival.
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| Fiona Jeliqi on stage and a Serbian protester |
However, the police cordon stood between the protesters and the venue where the festival is being held. The festival is being held at the Center for Cultural Decontamination.
Protesters waved the flags of Serbia and the Zavetnici party, held banners with pictures of monasteries in Kosovo, and chanted slogans about Kosovo and insulting comments to festival participants.
A small incident occurred during the opening of the festival, when a person was accompanied by police, after interrupting the opening ceremony for a short time, shouting: "Take me back to Kosovo."
The Serbian Radical Party (SRS), led by Hague convict Vojislav Seselj, warned on its website on October 21 that "no serious state would allow the 'Mirëdita, dobar dan!'' Festival to be held." because it is about propaganda against the state as well as the promotion of the false state of Kosovo ”.
"The latest hostile action in a row is the so-called Mirëdita, dobar dan festival, a festival which ostensibly promotes the culture of Kosovo and thus accepts the false state of Kosovo", it is said in the communiqué of the Serbian Radical Party, where it is also added that "It is unbearable for people who were born Serbs to promote the culture of Kosovo's in the middle of Belgrade and in that way recognize the false state of Kosovo."
Ovakvo nasilje nije prava slika Beograda!
— Mirëdita, dobar dan festival (@MDDfestival) October 22, 2020
Beograd je otvoren grad, a festival "Mirëdita, dobar dan!" šalje poruku mira, druženja i tolerancije. pic.twitter.com/kV0RDEETpl
As warned, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this festival will be held respecting the measures.
Jeliqi: The festival aims at reconciliation
At the opening of the festival, Fiona Jeliqi from the Youth Initiative for Human Rights said that young people have the burden of reconciliation, of the deeds of previous generations. According to her, this festival is just a way for everyone as a society to unite or offer themselves for this purpose.
"We want to be the ones who will send the message of world peace in order to sit at the same table with young people from Kosovo and exchange opinions and culture. The mission of the festival has always been to unite people from Belgrade and Pristina and at a time when borders are closed and there is a social distance, we are still the place for artists and journalists to unite", said Jeliq during the opening of the Festival.
It was announced that the three-day festival will discuss the negotiation process between Belgrade and Pristina, Kosovo's membership in UNESCO, as well as cooperation between the youth of Albanian and Serbian society.
The purpose of the festival, as announced, is to start the changes through the meetings of the Kosovar and Serbian cultural and social communities and to create a tradition of cooperation, which will contribute to the sustainable normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
At this festival, artists and performers representing Kosovo's modern cultural scene will be introduced to the Belgrade public.
The theatrical play "I am a woman myself" by Kushtrim Koliqi, makes the official opening of this festival.
On the second day, in the repertoire of the festival are the debates "Kosovo-heritage of memory" and an exhibition with the same name, while on the third day there will be a debate on transitional justice in Kosovo, there will be performances by Tristan Halilaj, who will read excerpts from his book "Richard Gere has been here", a Summary of the stories, which is in the original has been published in Serbian, as well as the screening of the film "Aga's House".
"The inspiration for this cultural event is Bekim Fehmiu, a Kosovo Albanian actor, who has been known as an actor in Belgrade, the former Yugoslavia and the world and who represents the symbol of unity and schism, as well as the possibility of connecting the two cultural spaces in a unique whole," writes OneKomb.org