Reform.

The heat here is never ending. We woke up sweaty as usual, took quick cold showers, and got ready and headed to our first meeting of the day.  We walked about fifteen minutes to a local NGO, Veritas. They were founded in 1993, to show the truth of wartime atrocities. They work with publishers in Chicago to spread the word. Veritas was the first NGO to work with the Hague Tribunal. Our speaker went on to discuss the ethnic cleansings that have taken place, and how Serbia is accusing Croatia, and then the Croatians turned around and filed a counter accusation, saying Serbians are responsible. Lastly, he talked about how politicians from both sides want to settle the suits outside of court, but his NGO as well as the International Court of Justice want these cases to go to court, so there is proper justification.

In the afternoon we met with a representative of the Democratic Party of Serbia, which is different from the Democratic Party, that is currently the majority party. They believe in slow proper reforms, that will more than likely fall in line with those sent down from the European Union. The Democratic Party of Serbia’s main priority is keeping Kosovo part of the country, and then worry about joining the EU.  They are considering remaining out of the EU and just trading with them, like Turkey, because of the situation in Turkey.  Serbia is a young democratic country; it is interesting to hear from representatives from each of the parties.

We then spent the afternoon blogging and catching up on work. Later at night we headed to Tasmajdan Park to sit and enjoy the fountains, as well as a late night snack. Sitting in the park was very relaxing, until a few security guards asked us to move off the grass, apparently in Serbia they don’t like people sitting on the grass. After the park, on a whim, Gabby and I decided to head back to Freestyler (one of the clubs on the water). This time it was a lot more crowed, but still fun.  Tomorrow we are headed to “Tito Land”.