*HELLO PEOPLE

J *HELLO PEOPLE!*J

Welcome to MM’s DECEMBER Newsletter!

Although you will be receiving this email well into the new year we would like once again (and let this be the very last time) to wish you all luck and good times in the NEXT MILLENIUM! Well that is if the world does not end. The MM team were planning to celebrate every different cultures’ new year but it looks like we might not get much work done between all the holidays!

We would also like to inform you of our new email address: mladi-mo@bih.net.ba

which will be in use from February, although mails from the cob.net.ba address will be forward for 2 weeks. But you can still contact YWELN directly on their own email address mmzena@cob.net.ba.

SITUATION IN MOSTAR AND BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA

On 10^th December it was finally announced that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had died. Doctors has been struggling to keep him alive on a life support machine for some time, many believe that he had ‘died’ over a week ago but politicians were keeping a news blackout to play for time. The windows of almost all shops in west Mostar displayed posters of the former President with black bands, flags were lowered and most cafes and restaurants closed for a very quiet weekend. Television and radio played non stop messages of mourning for Tudjman and advertised that a Book of Condolences was available in Mostar for people to sign. Apparently free buses were driving from Mostar to Zagreb for people to visit the coffin. State supported news agency Hina claimed that 250,000 people came to Zagreb for the funeral on the 13^th, although Reuters estimated the number at 100,000. The head of Hina resigned on 14^th in protest to the authorities failure to inform them of the President’s death which meant that they ran the story 40 minutes after state owned television.

The funeral has been highly politicised by both Bosnian Croat groups as well as Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) in Croatia. Ante Jelavic, the Croatian member of the joint BiH presidency, stated his regret that Alija Izetbegovic and Zivko Radisic, his Muslim and Serbian colleagues did not join him at Tudjman’s funeral. He claimed that this demonstrated their attitude that Croats are not their equals. The Croatian Democratic Community claimed that the low key attendance of international VIPs is also ‘evidence’ (RFE Newsline, 14^th Dec) of the unfair prejudice against Croatia.

There is great discussion over the influence Tudjman’s death will have on the upcoming municipal elections in Croatia on 3^rd January. Opposition spokesman Tihomir Ladisic is quoted by Reuters on 12^thDecember to have said that ‘one funeral is worth 1,000 election rallies’ and that there is a danger that HDZ may enjoy a ‘sympathy vote’. While the opposition coalition, Social Democrats and Social Liberals, are topping the polls an internal dispute has developed within HDZ over who will stand for president and prime minister. OSCE have already announced their disapproval of the list of HDZ parliamentary candidates from BiH, some of whom are hardline Croatian nationalists who have been previously removed from office for obstructing the peace process. Oslobodjenje quoted a HDZ spokesmen that the candidates were selected because they best represent the communities’ wishes. OSCE have however confirmed the plan for 15 polling stations in BiH, although Izetbegovic had wanted only 5.

On 16^th December Mostar was flooded, the wooden bridge which replaced the Stari Most was totally destroyed and many houses in Mostar and surrounding regions were badly damaged. After a couple of days of solid rain in Mostar and snow in many higher regions of BiH the dam further upriver was under great pressure and set to burst. At 11 am it was announced on the radio that the flood gates would be opened and a wave would be expected to hit Mostar at midday. The water level rose dramatically as an already swollen Neretva was almost doubled, carrying trees, building materials and other debri. It is unclear if any compensation will be paid to homeowners.

At the end of November OSCE announced with the international community representative Wolfgang Petrisch that 22 officials have been fired from their positions due to their obstruction of the implementation of the Dayton Peace agreement. These include the Major of Hercegovina Neretva Canton SW (Mostar west) and Head of Housing for the old town (Mostar east).

‚ ƒ FOTO PROJECTƒ ‚

On 3^rd of this month the exhibition ‘A Portrait of Mostar’ was opened to the public in Mirovni Project, Mostar. The exhibition began as 2 projects developed and implemented by the Photo group in co-operation with English photojournalist, Natasha-Marie Brown, during her stay with MM in August this year. The first was a study of Mostar at night in colour offering students the opportunity to experiment with exposure, ambient light, flashlight and different colour filters. The idea was also to take aesthetic photos of Mostar where the location was no specific, i.e. it was not immediately identified as ‘east’ or ‘west’ but the image appreciated as a colourful, often abstract, urban landscape.

The second project was an exercise both in verbal as well as photographic communication – to take 36 black and white portraits of strangers with one roll of film. The student was challenged to present him/ herself, the Photo group and project to a stranger, and then to create an individual portrait. At the same time the images were to be of average people in their daily environment, who were not defined by their location but their individuality. This photos were deliberately created as an alternate image of the still divided town of Mostar but a more positive presentation of life rather than the war tourism and propaganda of destroyed bridges and destitution that fill newspapers in the media – particularly international.

The opening event was very popular and a lot of people from all over Mostar came to see the work. The group received a very positive response as well as some enquiries to purchase some of the pictures. Uli and Dzemal had also promoted the work of the group and the opening of the exhibition on the cultural program of Radio 88 - a new and trendy independent radio recently launched in Mostar. They also distributed the Retrovizor magazine, a photography magazine organised and designed by the Photo Group for young amateur photographers. The magazine features the exhibition, including a review and some images of a ‘Portrait of Mostar’, so also acts as a brief catalogue for the event.

The last practical part of the photography courses with the YWELN was held on December 4^th, which means that all in all 14 young women from Mostar and surrounding have passed basic instructions in camera handling and different shooting techniques. The topics ranged from female portraits, still life to landscape photography. During December the young women also started to develop and print three of their favourite images each, with technical support from Uli and Dzemal (who is allowed to be involved as the single male only because he has long hair…).

‚ ƒ YOUNG WOMEN’S EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING NETWORKƒ ‚

The end of this month saw the completion of the Bosnian Women’s Initiative funding for the YWELN project. So while evaluations were being completed, reports writen and the final funds spent the Mostar workshops continued. Three creative writing and discussion workshops were held in MM. Although attendance was low due to the harsh windy weather participants still came from Čapljina and Blagaj. Outreach workshops will continue after new year.

On 3^rd of December (a good day by all accounts) the Norwegian Embassy granted the YWELN group 8,000 KM to continue their workshops in Mostar, Capljina (predominately croat area SW of Mostar), Blagaj (Bosniak majority area SE of Mostar), Gornji Vakuf/ Uskoplje (another town divided according to Croat/ Bosniak majorities) and Nevesinje, Republika Srpska (majority serb community with many displaced from Mostar). The grant will also provide for 3 seminars to be held involving young women from the above towns as well as other groups within the network from January – April of the coming year.

While the second YWELN Introductory Foto Course concluded on 18^th December (see Foto Group) a new course began for members of the YWELN - ‘Self Defence and Rape Prevention Awareness’. This training which began on 22^nd December will be 10 hours of training workshops led by a German officer of the IPTF (International Police Task Force) called Holgier Stisch. The work will focus on the problems and characteristics of sexual harraassment, personal interaction and defence as well as legal aspects of the problem. Holgier has been known to MM for some time now and has performed many similair trainings for young people, particularly women, in Germany.

‚ ƒ NINPO and FAR EASTERN PHILOSOPHIESƒ ‚

December was a busy month for the Ninpo Group, we spent the first week preparing for an outreach workshop at the Konjic Youth Center which took place on the 10^th. The workshop involved 10 highly motivated participants from Konjic. Hala led the first half of the workshop and introduced the Etiqette and overall goals of Ninpo and Far Eastern Philosophies. The group was extremely attentive but a bit shy. It was very interesting to see the differences between Mostar and Konjic, the Ninpo project has always stuggled to find motivated participants in Mostar and to travel an hour away and find 10 highly motivated participants was quite a nice surprise. We owe our thanks to Selma for organising and finding the participants who were a very diverse group of 7 women and 3 men of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The workshop was so sucessful the group in Konjic asked us to come back weekly and even offered to fundraise for it. We would also like to thank SHL - without their strong support this pilot event would not have happened.

Following the outreach workshop, the regular weekly workshops continued in Mostar untill the 20^th of December. Two students are growing in the art a great deal both in physical movments and in their philosophical understanding of the art. Hala and Frank have planned the content of the project as well as discussed ways of continuing the Outreach Program on a regular basis. Hala has been written into the proposal that was finished this month and sent to the Jephcott Charitable Trust (keep your figuers crossed), so if we get the grant Mladi Most will have a new assistant co-ordinator.

‚ ƒ MM IN GENERALƒ ‚

Funding plans continue to be made for the new year, particularly for after April when MM project will move location (still to be found in Mostar) and hopefully be launched into a new cycle of 12 month projects both within the YWELN and Foto Group. Jude will stay in UK an extra week to research funding using her father’s phone and internet (BIG thank you to the elder Hutchies). She will also visit the Beavers Arts group based in Newcastle (on Lime…) in England to discuss plans of cooperation with MM through the YWELN – we will keep you informed.

The Supervisory Board members have been mainly caught up in the end of year pressures and have not been able to meet. We hope that the new year will bring some kind of calm and enable the board to come together again. Thank you for your continued support and help – the computer courses for Arijana, Amna and Adisa and help with accounting! To celebrate the coming holiday period where MM would close for a short period we organised a small gathering of all MM participants, supporters and friends on 17^th – it was lovely to see everyone together!

As always do contact us if you have any questions or ideas - we'd like to hear from you! And don’t forget our new email address! With seasonal greetings –

Jude, Bartol, Uli, Džemal, Adisa, Amna, Arijana, and Frank (and puppy).

DON’T FORGET OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS – mladi-mo@bih.net.ba !!!!!