Aleksandra Simoni: Countering nationalist narratives in the Western Balkan region

Aleksandra Simoni from Budva, Montenegro.

A short interview with the Balkan Forum. Her views on countering nationalist narratives in the Western Balkan region: “…I would definitely suggest to young people and older people too, is to separate nationalism and patriotism, because for the most part this narrative is related to those two things among younger and older ones – to do something good for their homeland, for their neighbors, for their friends, when in fact we are all connected and we are all neighbors in the region.

If you already want to be a patriot, you can focus on three things: to vote, to buy domestic products and pay taxes, to throw garbage in the bin and other things that most of those same patriots do not respect.

What I would definitely emphasize is that we need to focus on those things that we all have in common, and that is our values – that we all have a better and higher quality life, and I don’t know why we would spread such negative ideas, negative narratives and negative feelings.