This morning, Jovan Divjak, winner of the ICIP Peace in Progress Award 2013, participated in a colloquium at the Saló de Cròniques (Hall of Chronicles) at Barcelona City Hall. The event was moderated by the journalist Eduard Sanjuán, and participants included ICIP president Rafael Grasa, first deputy mayor of the Barcelona City Council, Joaquim Forn, and the promoter of District 11 – City to City, Manel Vila.
Jovan Divjak made a point of remembering all the people who defended the city of Sarajevo during the siege, and he defended the role of women in the conflict: “They carried all the weight.” He also expressed his gratitude for the actions of “many Catalans who helped the city.”
ICIP president Rafael Grasa explained the Balkan conflict of the 1990s. He denied that it was a war unlike others “if you apply the necessary instruments and a deep and radical observation.” Grasa described Divjak as a person without a mask: “authentic through and through.”
Manel Vila, promoter of the District 11 – City to City Foundation, stated, regarding Bosnia, that a conflict does not end when a peace agreement is signed. He also pointed out the importance of good humor and maintaining high morale, during the siege.
The first deputy mayor of Barcelona, Joaquim Forn, praised the figure of Divjak because he “demonstrates that reconciliation is possible and shows how an entire people have been able to look ahead.”
The event ended with the symbolic gesture of setting free several carrier pigeons with red ribbons. The pigeons left Camporrels for Sarajevo on a route organized by the Crisalida Foundation.
19.01.2014
