The strong wind and high temperatures did not prevent the civic activism

The cooperation of Civica Mobilitas and D-Festival continues also this year by mobilization for participation of many of its grantees which organized projections of documentary films, open discussions, workshops, interactive games, preparation of food, presentations, and exhibitions as part of the activities which attracted a great interest of the festival visitors. By a three-day gathering within the PloshtArt, 10 grantees of Civica Mobilitas, organized activities through which they informed about their achievements, while some of the others visited the festival and participated in the activities of their partners.

The teams of the institutional grantees, Foundation for Local Development and Democracy “Focus” – Veles and Center for Intercultural Dialogue – Kumanovo (CID) were the most numerous and most active during the whole festival. Besides them, also the institutional grantees Subversive Front and the Coalition “Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities” presented themselves by stands, and they also organized a debate “Without stereotypes and prejudices, and a discussion “Sexual and health rights of the marginalized communities”.

Focus presented itself by a stand and by interactive thematic games for better familiarization with their objectives and activities, such as for example the game “What does my town need?”, where each of the participants wrote down the main needs and weaknesses of his/her town on the map of Macedonia. Aleksandar Stojkovski from Focus stated, “It was a great pleasure for us to participate, this year, at the D-Festival which is one of the most unique summer festivals, offering a lot of fun and great time. As a young festival, also this year, it has met our expectations and we hope that this is going to remain a tradition for many years to come. This year, we were part of Civica Mobilitas as an institutional grantee, and the experience we acquired by networking with other civil society organizations and promoting our organization to the participants by exchange of ideas, views, and opinions is something that we will always remember.

CID organized many activities described to us by Nami Isaki, “Our activities are comprised of Multi-culti bus which was one оf the activities and it was bringing positive energy from different towns by making the puzzle of each town on the way to Dojran, and at the same time it provided the young people a free ride to the festival; also “Bubbles Corner” by which we stimulated people to smile and be happy and it attracted a great interest of the participants who were making bubbles, felt happy, and getting to know each other; “Video message” – the participants would take one balloon with a message, thus showing their feeling by the facial expression, and “Tell me your feeling” where the participants shared their feelings in the moment by drawing. We are very satisfied by the organization of D-Festival which enabled us to feel comfortable and to be part of one big family”.

The institutional grantees, the Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP organized a projection and discussion “My student dormitory”, while the Youth Cultural Center – Bitola organized a workshop, “Photo-voice”. The debate of МEF about civic activism through the prism of pank culture and music – Punk is (not) dead? opened the question if the punk as a way of thinking/activism was dead or it needed rebirth, or the punk was alive and it should be reaffirmed by the new trends. During the whole festival, Anima Mundi promoted the healthy way of eating and protection of the animals. Civil arrived in Dojran and participated in the music part of the festival by its “Caravan of Freedom”.

The action grantee, Diversity Media together with the partner Alsat-М, organized a debate within the project “Glokal” on the topic “Artists – drivers of civic activism”, which was the most visited event. The rescuers from the ”Disaster response team” and ”Water rescue team” were accommodated in the tent of Red Cross. They were there to take care of the safety of all participants at the festival. The Center for Integrated Development Ohrid (CIRO) presented the festival, “Alternative Summer Ohrid 2”, which is funded by Civica Mobilitas.

Civica Mobilitas presented itself both by its grantees and by its own corner where the team shared information about the possibility for cooperation with the program and grantees, as well as about the grants, but also the support for networking and linking among the organizations and with individuals – participants at the festival. The corner was also a place for cooperation with other civil society organizations, and some of them organized their activities exactly in that manner, while the Civica Mobilitas team actively participated in most of the debates and workshops.

For the sixth time, Dojran was living in the rhythm of D-Festival, a summer festival, held in the period from 15 to 17 July, in Old Dojran, where besides the music of over 60 performers on four stages, other contents, such as civic activism and art activities, were offered. This is a second participation of Civica Mobilitas at the festival.

Civica Mobilitas, together with its grantees: Anima Mundi; Center for Intercultural Dialogue (CID); Subversive Front; Foundation for Local Development and Democracy “Focus”; ES Planetum; KHAM; Red Cross of the City of Skopje; Center for Integrated Development Ohrid – CIRO; Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP Macedonia; Media Plus and Radio Network Channel 77; Left-wing Movement Solidarity; Youth Cultural Center – Bitola; Diversity Media;Youth Educational Forum, Civil, etc., took an active part in the creative art zone.