#DemLeftSEE Meet(s) Sarajevo

The purpose of this meeting as previously was to open and foster dialogue between leftist activists and  members of left political parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in an attempt to create new avenues of discussing the future and renewal of social democracy.

As in Zagreb the event was opened up by a #DemLeftSEE core group session on the evening of the 25th of June, which discussed ideas on formalize #DemLeftSEE into a self-sustaining entity in the future. Issues such as fund-raising, institutionalization and legal ramifications of creating a trans-national organization were discussed among participants.

The session on the 26th included a dialogue between activists from all over Southeast Europe and members of Bosnia and Herzegovina's left-oriented political parties. The session was opened by an intervention of theater director and activist Dino Mustafić, provided a political and artistic input on values of the Left. This was followed by the introduction of the #DemLeftSEE platform by activists who contributed to it in the past two years in order to kick-off the discussions between activists and political party members.

Participants recognized the common issues faced by both the established political actors as well as civil society and agreed that the left needs a more value-based approach towards politics in the region while striving towards trust-building.