{"id":5146,"date":"2026-10-11T12:51:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T10:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/?p=5146"},"modified":"2026-10-11T12:51:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T10:51:51","slug":"participants-of-the-2026-peace-school-and-numerous-citizens-take-part-in-the-third-memory-walk-on-the-pathways-of-gorski-kotar-peacebuilders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/participants-of-the-2026-peace-school-and-numerous-citizens-take-part-in-the-third-memory-walk-on-the-pathways-of-gorski-kotar-peacebuilders\/","title":{"rendered":"Participants of the 2026 Peace School and Numerous Citizens Take Part in the Third Memory Walk On the Pathways of Gorski Kotar Peacebuilders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The third edition of the memory walk dedicated to the peacebuilders of Gorski Kotar was held in Mrkopalj and Tuk on 19 September 2026, organized by the Initiative On the Pathways of Gorski Kotar Peacebuilders<\/em>, of which the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Rijeka is also a member. Held in observance of the International Day of Peace, the walk brings together participants to remember key moments of resistance to wartime violence in the Gorski Kotar region during the 1990s and to pay tribute to members of the local community who worked to preserve peace in their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s walk commemorated the 35th anniversary of the removal of the barricades in the Bjelolasica area. Around 70 people took part, including 30 teachers, educators and other education professionals from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, who attended the Peace School programme in Fu\u017eine from 17 to 20 September. Both the commemorative walk and the 2026 Peace School were supported by the Robert Bosch Stiftung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The memory walk began at the Cultural Centre in Mrkopalj, where participants were addressed by Josip Brozovi\u0107, Mayor of the Municipality of Mrkopalj, and Dr Valentina Otma\u010di\u0107, Deputy Head of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Rijeka. The group then proceeded to the house where Franjo Star\u010devi\u0107, the renowned peacebuilder from Mrkopalj, once lived. There, Nada Glad, his close associate and the author of a book about him, shared her reflections with the participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the next stop, by Franjo Star\u010devi\u0107\u2019s grave in the Mrkopalj cemetery, the walkers were welcomed by pedagogue Renata Lisac, who shared her memories of Franjo. Two former facilitators in the 1990s Peace School, Igor Crnkovi\u0107 and Marin Lukanovi\u0107, also shared their recollections. Crnkovi\u0107 emphasized that their experiences at the Peace School and their collaboration with Franjo Star\u010devi\u0107 had shaped them as people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also heard a brief address from Milan Kosanovi\u0107, the father of an ethnic Serb girl from Jasenak who had attended the Peace School in 1994. As he placed a candle on Franjo Star\u010devi\u0107\u2019s grave, he said: \u201cThank you, Franjo, because if it hadn\u2019t been for you, perhaps none of us would be alive today.\u201d Accompanied by Bob Dylan\u2019s song Blowin\u2019 in the Wind<\/em>, the group then continued towards Tuk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the \u201cBijele Stijene\u201d mountain lodge in Tuk, where an important meeting of municipal leaders from across Gorski Kotar took place in 1992, resulting in an agreement to pursue active peace, participants heard the recollections of Milan Mamula, who was the lead of the Jasenak local community at the time. It was he who welcomed Franjo Star\u010devi\u0107 on the \u201cother side\u201d of Bjelolasica when Franjo decided to cross the barricades and seek peace through dialogue with his neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This September, participants once again returned home from the Pathways of Gorski Kotar Peacebuilders inspired by the realization that peace can be preserved even under the most difficult circumstances. This is a highly needed message of hope in today\u2019s deeply uncertain times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The third edition of the memory walk dedicated to the peacebuilders of Gorski Kotar was held in Mrkopalj and Tuk on 19 September 2026, organized by the Initiative On the Pathways of Gorski Kotar Peacebuilders, of which the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Rijeka is also a member. Held in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ub_ctt_via":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66,69,68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","category-advocacy-networking-community","category-education"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/SpomenSetnja2026-4-1.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Mario \u017duli\u010dek","author_link":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/author\/mario-zulicek\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5146"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5147,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5146\/revisions\/5147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csmk.uniri.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}