1. Case-study No. & Title:
163. Info-Klub Vukovar (NGO): building a communal and open local public forum for the Serbian and Croatian communities in Vukovar, Croatia 1999- (newsroom, Internet access, citizens fora).

Keywords:

2. Author information
2.1 Author’s Name:
Tania Gosselin

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Central European University
Political Science Department
Nador u. 9
051 Budapest
Hungary

Tel.: +36 1 262 3556 (home)
Fax: +36 1 327 3087 (political science dept.)

2.3 Date recorded:
31/10/00

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
This practice is about providing a place where people can meet, and by the same token not only realise that they have concerns or problems in common but that regardless of nationality or ethnicity they can also work together on solving these problems or becoming better informed about local issues or services. This ‘meeting place’ takes two forms: one is physical, i.e. Info-Klub is a place where people can drop in at any time during the day to read newspapers and magazines, surf the Net or use word processing software. There is also a play-station intended for teenagers. Second, Info-Klub regularly organises thematic evenings or citizens fora where all are invited to discuss local public issues and concerns.

3.2 Location:
Vukovar (Eastern Slavonia), Croatia.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: Serbs and Croats (in Vukovar itself, Croats are in a minority, but Serbs are a national minority in Croatia) in the city of Vukovar.

3.4 Major Actors Involved:

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors:
In Vukovar itself, Info-Klub does not receive financial support from the local government. In some other cities or near-by villages in which Info-Klub has an active branch, local authorities provide support in various forms (six of these local divisions, for example, enjoy the use of city offices and/or ad hoc funding for projects or activities, etc.).

The Danish government is supporting Info-Klub Vukovar and said it would go on doing so for the next three years. Other divisions of Info-Klub, as in Lovas, Bilje, Darda, Kn. Vinogradi and Sodolovci, receive funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.

3.6 Timeframe:
The idea of providing a physical location as well as activities that would encourage the development of a mixed public sphere for citizens of the two ethnic communities inhabiting Vukovar was conceived by Mirella Alagic, Borjanka Metikos and Borislav Radic in 1997.

The very first Info-Klub opened in 1998 in Bilje as a local forum where people could come read newspapers and magazines, mingle and assist one another with current local needs and problems. Info-Klub Vukovar opened its doors in March 1999. The first thematic evenings focused on the then upcoming presidential elections. Since April 2000, Info-Klub has developed from being a project of the NGO PDGI into an independent organisation. The activities of the Klub are expected to continue for many years to come – at least for the next three years, as funding as been so far secured for that period of time (see previous paragraph 3.5).

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy:
The current practice results from the initiative of a local, or rather a regional one as PGDI has contracted a partnership with the Association for Peace and Human Rights Baranja. Info-Klub, as (initially) the project of PGDI, now comprises 11 branches, of which 7 are currently active (four are temporarily closes, 2 of which, if reopened, will be operating a different location).

The NGO’s initiative has not been criticized by the local government of Vukovar, but has not been encouraged either. Both Ms Metikos, co-ordinator of Info-Klub Vukovar, and one of its activists, Srdjan Sijakovic, say that the relationship between Inko-Klub and the local authorities is not good.

4. Good Practice Description:
This report focuses on a project initiated and operated by a local NGO of Vukovar called Projekt Gradjanske Demodratske Inicijative (PGDI) The activities of the Info-Klub project aim at providing citizens with information about local public issues and at facilitating contacts and communication between the Serbian and Croatian communities in a city that has been nearly completely destroyed by the war. (In 1991 the Yugoslav National Army besieged the city of then 45,000 inhabitants for three months; in 1995, the Croat state retook control of Eastern Slavonia with the Erdut Agreement). Vukovar now counts roughly 12,000 inhabitants. According to the 1991 census, 37.4 per cent of them declared themselves to be Serbs,¹ the next census, planned for 2001, should establish the current proportions of the two nationalities. The numbers reported to the author during the research for this report varied from an equal 50/50 distribution to 80 per cent Serbs – 20 per cent Croats).

Reconstruction has barely begun in Vukovar. Segregation is everywhere – there is a Serbian cafe on one side of the street, and a Croatian one the other. Groceries, discos, restaurants – most if not all places are ethnically divided. The notion of providing a place as well as activities that would foster the development of a much needed common public sphere for the citizens of both ethnic communities was conceived by three individuals in 1997: Mirella Alagic, Borjanka Metikos and Borislav Radic. The first Info-Klub of all opened in 1998 in Bilje as a local where people could come read to read newspapers and magazines, mingle and assist one another with current local needs and problems. After a year, Info-Klub contracted a partnership with another NGO, the Association of Peace and Human Rights ‘Baranja’, and the organisers decided to expand their activities by opening Info-Klub branches in other towns of the region. Info-Klub Vukovar opened its doors in March 1999. In April 2000, it became a fully-fledged organisation (while remaining part of the Info-Klub network).

Vukovar’s Info-Klub employs one supervisor, one coordinator as well as two activists who receive a salary on a regular basis. Twenty to 30 people drop by the club every day, either to read the newspapers that are carefully collected and stacked on shelves, to have access to the Internet with one of two available computers or do some word processing with the other. Many teenagers gather around the play-station console to play football. The ‘newsroom’ is connected to a small kitchen that leads to another room, used for various purposes and occasions. At the time of one visit by this researcher, a group of women holding a meeting were using the premises.

Aside from providing a physical place where citizens can obtain information and meet regardless of nationality (according to the coordinator, most of those who visit the Klub are young rather than older people), Info-Klub organises thematic evenings, or civic fora intended to address all of Vukovar citizens. As Borkanja Metikos, supervisor of Info-Klub Vukovar, puts it, ‘everybody is concerned by the quality of public services. Everybody is concerned when there is bad or no garbage collection. Everybody needs to choose a school for their children. We are focusing on the issues and problems that are common to the two communities’. In 1998 and early 1999, Info-Klub (the initial Bilje branch), set up nine public panels, where they invited various politicians, mainly from the national political scene. In Vukovar, people were invited to meet and discuss with representatives of the local authorities. One evening was devoted to information regarding what the police can do and cannot do in their dealings with citizens. As the local elections are coming up, citizens will be offered information session(s) on voting procedures where the emphasis will be put on the importance of voting and the influence that public participation can have on the conduct of local political affairs. ‘It is hard [to organise and make this type of civic education work]. People are afraid. Many of them are not aware that in [a] group, they are stronger than as individuals’, says Borjanka Metikos.

Since its opening in April 1999, Info-Klub Vukovar has invited citizens to participate in thematic evenings dealing with ‘sensitive topics’ such as the possibility of a civil service rather a military only option (for the moment, Croatian citizens of Serbian nationality are exempted from the obligation to do their military service but there are fears that the moratorium might be lifted in the future). The idea of contributing to the implementation of a civil service option was met with enthusiasm by the participants – mostly young men who have not completed their service yet – and it was emphasised that the option should be offered to all Croatian citizens and not only to those of Serbian nationality. The perspective of military service is, according to the minutes of this meeting, one of the reasons why many young Serbs have already emigrated from Croatia. Other evenings were organised around the themes of ‘Human Rights and Democracy’; 'School and Democracy' and 'The Youth of Vukovar'.

In other cities and villages where an Info-Klub branch is operating, a degree of cooperation with the local government has been achieved. However, it is not the case in Vukovar. One of the prime goal of Info-Klub is to establish a ‘firm association’ with members of the local government, and to be recognized by the latter as a ‘partner in organizing civic activities, gathering citizens, assisting with contacts’ and working towards the general improvement of quality of life in the city. Borjanka Metikos and one of the Info-Klub Vukovar activists, Srdjan Sijakovic, say their relationship with Vukovar's local authorities is not good. What prevents a good relation developing is the extensive ethnic segregation that characterises Vukovar, from its local government down to schools. Since the 1997 local elections, Vukovar’s local government (see the official site local government’s site at http://www.vukovar.hr/en/index.htm) is led by representatives of the HDZ (nationalist Croatian party of the late president Franjo Tudjman). Members of the opposition are representatives of the equally radical nationalists Serbian Democratic Party. While the local government does not overtly oppose local activities encouraging reconciliation and co-operation, it is not encouraging them either. As far as Info-Klub is concerned, ‘they just act as if we did not exist. We cannot expect any support from them, we cannot even meet them’, declares Mr. Sijakovic. Local leaders on both sides are often considered to have a stake in maintaining of the actual state of affairs, and even in furthering segregation (e.g. two separate schools or, as it is the case actually in Vukovar, a school that functions on two teaching shifts –Croatian children attend classes in the morning, Serbian children in the afternoon/early evening - allows for one Croat and one Serb to be directors, while one, mixed school would require only one director and one administration).

In order to keep citizens as well-informed as possible about its activities, Info-Klub Vukovar publishes a monthly bulletin. Because the club has two printers that are both in bad condition, it is not possible to produce more than 30 to 40 copies of the bulletin every month. Copies of the bulletin are available at the club's premises – one copy is also sent to the town’s library. However, in spite of the limited printing capacity, activist Srdjan Sijakovic says he received reports that copies of the bulletin have been circulating in a few cafes. Info-Klub receives feeback from readers and ’99 per cent of the comments are positive’, adds Ms. Sijakovic.

Support from the Danish government should allow Info-Klub Vukovar to maintain and even develop its activities for the next three years, according to its co-ordinator Borjanka Metikos. While being mostly involved with local political (i.e. public sphere-related issues), Info-Klub Vukovar as well as other Info-Klubs are also dealing with social matters. For example, in Dalj, Info-Klub played a key role in encouraging citizens to ask the local government for help so that a family whose house had fallen into disrepair could obtain temporary lodging. The action was a success and funds were even collected for the renovation of the home. The Darda branch of Info-Klub helped citizens to write a letter to the appropriate authorities when the decision was taken to remove the only police station and ambulance services in Darda. Citizens, concerned about criminality and lack of security, were also collecting signatures for a petition to be sent to the authorities if the initial letter remains unanswered.

Info-Klub also deals with children – for example organizing them into workshop groups where they engage in activities encouraging and promoting imagination and creativity. They are also activities where they are made aware of the UN Declaration of Children’s Rights, in a way that is adapted to their age. In schools, Serbian and Croatian children are not in contact. Info-Klub offers them the opportunity to be together. One of the upcoming (at the time of writing) activities of Info-Klub was the visit of a group of children from the Netherlands to Vukovar. The organisers are hoping to be able to organize this activity on a reciprocal basis in the future.

Info-Klubs, depending on the particular needs of the localities, try to work as community centers. At least, that is the orientation that Ms. Metikos would like to give them to take in the future, finance permitting, in addition to the information and public sphere functions that are to remain central to their vocation.