We proudly emphasize that the Belgrade branch of Pro Peace, operating as Pro Peace Serbia, has now for the third time been recognized for its contribution to building sustainable peace in the region. With this award, Sekulić joins Pro Peace’s roster of exceptional and acclaimed authors: V. Ivančić, H. Polan, and N. Stjepanović – Killing Culture; and I. Čoko and S. Rašković Knin– Life in Limbo.
We recall the 2019 award statement, when the Book of the Year was awarded to Hrvoje Polan, Viktor Ivančić, and Nemanja Stjepanović for Killing Culture: From Crime to the Culture of Crime - a book that provokes discomfort, yet stands as an invaluable contribution and a signpost for further research and examination of the suppressed parts of one’s own history, essential for processes leading to confronting the past and, ultimately, to the much-needed reconciliation.
The Book of the Decade, Life in Limbo, speaks of the dystopian trajectories of a community where, overnight, a neighbor turns against a neighbor and “undesirable bloodlines” are counted. It was proclaimed the most valuable contribution to peacebuilding of the past decade as a book “guided by empathy which, while revealing displaced and devastated souls, opens up hope that we will be able and willing to engage with stories such as those of Knin or Vukovar, just as Slaven Rašković and Igor Čoko have done - and thereby create the preconditions for a better and fairer society.”
“I am proud of our team - our authors, activists, and the committed women behind all our achievements. We do not give up, even when experience becomes the enemy of optimism. Congratulations to Branko Sekulić on the award, and to all of us: Happy Human Rights Day! One world – one struggle,” said Nataša Govedarica, who has led the Belgrade branch of the German peace organization Pro Peace for 12 years, in a statement for the portal Autonomija. She added:
“We are aware that books do not change the world, but we are convinced that they change worldviews. Reaching the mind and soul of a single person creates the preconditions for transforming our society as a whole into one that upholds the values of peace, nonviolence, rights and justice, equality, and solidarity.”