Panels, speakers, and timetables. Look at the updated programme of the two conference days
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso international conference
Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
From the promise of re-unification of the Continent to new national fragmentations.
Hopes, nowadays' disenchantment, international cooperation, and twenty years of change in the Balkans and the Caucasus.
Where 1989 has not come to an end yet.
FINAL PROGRAMME
Friday 13th novembre 2009
THE LONG-LASTING '89
THE BALKANS AND THE CAUCASUS BETWEEN EXPECTATIONS AND DISENCHANTMENT AFTER THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
Twenty years have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that marked the reunification of Europe, symbolised the promise for lasting peace in the continent, and relaunched the process of European enlargement.
The conference «The long-lasting '89» aims at discussing the post-communist transitions in the Balkans and the Caucasus, the expectations stirred by the end of the Cold War, the following disappointments, the ongoing processes of change, and the opportunities for relaunching a common European political project.
The first day will be devoted to reflecting on the long transitions in the two regions, national fragmentations, the return of war into Europe, and the process of European integration. The second day will explore the relationships of solidarity and cooperation between communities and territories formerly divided by the Iron Curtain.
8:45 - Participants registration
9:15 - Welcoming speeches
LORENZO DELLAI, President of the Autonomous Province of Trento and Deputy President of the Autonomous Region Trentino - South Tirol
ALBERTO ROBOL, President of the Peace Bell Foundation of Rovereto
9:45 - Introduction
FRANCESCA VANONI, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso
10:15 - Video 1
GENERATION '89
A video-reportage filmed by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso in Romania in June 2009, with protagonists born at the great historical turning point of 1989. Their look on the past, their idea of future.
10:30 - Panel 1
EMANCIPATION, DEFEAT, REAL CHANGE?
In the Balkans and the Caucasus, the promises of emancipation expressed by 1989 were only partially fulfilled and, as is known, post-communist transitions have often taken dramatic turns. Twenty years later, despite significant transformations, bitter feelings of failure and defeat remain, as well as the idea that everything changed in order for everything to remain the same. The panel will discuss expectations and disappointments in both regions.
Chair:
MELITA RICHTER MALABOTTA, University of Trieste (Italy)
Speakers:
FATOS LUBONJA, Writer - Tirana (Albania)
VESNA BOJICIC-DŽELILOVIC, London School of Economics and Political Science - London (UK)
GRIGORY SERGEEVICH SHVEDOV, Caucasian Knot - Moscow (Russia)
12:45 - Buffet Lunch
14:15 - Panel 2
MINORITIES OF EUROPE
The transitions of the nineties were marked by secessionist purposes and violence against minorities.
The panel will focus on ethnic and state fragmentations in the Balkans and the Caucasus as well as the political achievements related to EU integration and the new opportunities for cross-border relationships.
Chair:
ROBERTO TONIATTI, University of Trento (Italy)
Speakers:
GIAN MATTEO APUZZO, International Institute Jacques Maritain - Trieste (Italy)
SERGIU CONSTANTIN, EUR.AC European Academy - Bolzano (Italy)
FRANCESCO MARTINO, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso - Sofia (Bulgaria)
15:45 - Video 2
EU-PHORIA
December 21th, 2007. Sentry boxes are no longer of use: Slovenia joins the Schengen area. On the old border between Gorizia and Nova Gorica, celebrations go on and small sins of cross-border smuggling are confessed. An excerpt from the documentary by Kinoatelje on emotions and remembrances of past life on the Italian-Slovenian border.
16:00 - Coffee break
16:30 - Round Table
WHERE DID THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION STOP?
The session will bring together scholars and policy makers to examine the past and future role of international actors, such as the European Union, in fostering the democratisation processes in the two areas.
Chair:
MICHELE NARDELLI, President of the Forum Trentino for Peace and Human Rights
Speakers:
JOVAN TEOKAREVIC, BeCEI Belgrade Centre for European Integration - Belgrade (Serbia)
GHIA NODIA, Ilia Chavchavadze State University - Tbilisi (Georgia)
TANJA FAJON, Member of the European Parliament (video message)
VICTOR DRAGOMIROV BOJKOV, DG Enlargement, European Commission - Brussels (Belgium)
GIORGIO TONINI, Senator of the Italian Parliament - Rome (Italy)
18:15 - Final speech
BORIS PAHOR, Writer - Trieste (Italy)
Saturday 14th novembre 2009
THE LONG-LASTING '89
TESTING CITIZENSHIP: COMMUNITY RELATIONS BETWEEN ITALY AND THE BALKANS
In the context of wars and political fragmentation of the Balkans, many transnational relations based on solidarity were established and still link civil societies once divided by the Iron Curtain.
The influx of refugees into western countries, together with thousands projects of humanitarian aid and people's diplomacy, created social micro-connections between the two shores of the Adriatic sea. Over the years, some of these initiatives have evolved and become lasting relationships linking local authorities and civil societies in Italy and the Balkans.
The second conference day will address the nature of these encounters, trying to define their characteristics, their journey from asymmetrical, donor-beneficiary to peer-to-peer relationships, their legacy in the communities' collective imaginaries, and the way they intertwine with phenomena as economic migration and the controversial reactions within the communities of arrival.
8:45 - Participants registration
9:15 - Welcoming speeches
MARCO DEPAOLI, President of the Regional Council of the Autonomous Region Trentino - South Tirol
LIA BELTRAMI GIOVANAZZI, Councillor for international solidarity and integration of the Autonomous Province of Trento
9:30 - Video
THREE HUNDRED MILION SECONDS
Documentary by Darko Sokovic on the ten-year presence of Tavolo Trentino con il Kossovo in Pejë-Pec
10:00 - Panel 1
1999-2009: FROM AID TO PARTNERSHIP? THE KOSOVO CASE
Ten years ago, after the military intervention in Serbia and Kosovo a significant flow of humanitarian aid started from Western Europe - and not only. Over time, part of this mobilisation resulted in a network of stable relationships between territories. On the basis of an empirical study of the presence of Tavolo Trentino con il Kossovo in Pejë-Pec, the panel will reason on the nature and impact of these relationships.
Chair:
RENATO LIBANORA, University of Florence (Italy)
Speakers:
SILVIA NEJROTTI, Researcher - Turin (Italy)
DARKO SOKOVIC, Film director - Belgrade (Serbia)
STEFANO BRAVIN, Project "In Partnership Italy/Kosovo" (Italy)
11:00 - Panel 2
BEYOND THE CURTAIN: NETWORKS FOR EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Solidarity and peace networks have created contacts between people, associations, and institutions in former Yugoslav and EU countries, starting to heal the Curtain's historical wound and trying to anticipate a future integration/unification of the continent. Models, difficulties, and doubts in the experience of trans-adriatic networks.
Chair:
ANTONELLA VALMORBIDA, Association of the Local Democracy Agencies - Strasbourg (France)
Speakers:
GIULIO MARCON, Association Lunaria - Rome (Italy)
FABIO MOLON, Caritas Bozen-Brixen - Bolzano (Italy)
GIORGIO ANDRIAN, Unesco-Bresce - Venice (Italy)
12:15 - Debate and final speeches
MAURO CEREGHINI, Tavolo Trentino con il Kossovo - Trento (Italy)
13:00 - Cocktail
INFO:
Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso
Piazza San Marco 7 - Rovereto (TN)
telephone: 0039 0464 424230
fax: 0039 0464 424299
e-mail: eventi@osservatoriobalcani.org
web: www.osservatoriobalcani.org
