New Anti-rumour Activities

FORUM 16 this year organized new activities under the anti-rumour campaign “Glasno sokache – Budno chikmache”*.

During September and early October, a series of workshops were organized with the activists for change, ie the campaign team formed through a public call by FORUM 16.

On October 25 and 26, a volunteer action was conducted involving young and elderly people to jointly improve the neglected location in our community and promote an atmosphere of inclusion, tolerance and understanding. The working action took place in a public area between the streets of Kicevo and Crvena Voda (near Skopje Brewery). This year we had support from: PE Komunalec, PE Niskogradba, Skopje Brewery, Stanton Construction, YMCA, Hybrid Minds, “Data Pesnopoj” and the school “Kole Kaninski”.

An interactive workshop was held on October 27 with students from the elementary school “Kole Kaninski” for selection of positive slogans related to Bitola, environment, youth and other common values.

The campaign “Glasno sokache – Budno chikmache” was first time organized in 2018, and is an original approach of FORUM 16 with non-formal working methods to educate the target group about their role as anti-rumour activists. Their role is to combat rumours that are creating prejudice and stereotypes in society, as well as discrimination.

The team of the campaign had a difficult task this year to combat with the rumours that “the smart people left Bitola and only the stupid ones remained”.

*The project name reflects the influence of the Turkish language on the way ideas are expressed in multicultural Bitola. The terms Glasno (Loud) Sokache (diminutive of the Turkish “sokak” -a narrow street or alley) and Budno (Awake) Chikmache (diminutive of the Turkish “chikmak” -a dead-end street) convey the idea of bringing life and activity, “waking up” the smaller places, the nooks and crannies of the city that are easy to overlook but which also reflect its historic charm and friendliness.