This year’s iteration of the Belgrade Security Forum will be held throughout the month of October 2020, as a series of online events. Therefore, the 10th month of 2020 will be dedicated to the 10th edition of BSF.
We mark the first decade of our joint endeavor by saying “No Trust – No Peace”; one message we hope will resonate in times to come. More than 20 online panels, sessions, discussions and special events will be organized as a part of celebratory 10th Belgrade Security Forum.
This year, BSF is going online. Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way of living for many around the globe. Consequences of the current pandemic have already been affecting all of us and will affect for considerable future. For the past 9 iterations, BSF was successful in bringing together representatives from governments, civil society and international organizations, becoming one of the most important networking places in the region. We would like to answer to the rising challenge with another gathering, this time online in order to assure safety and health measures for our speakers and participants.
In this time of rising uncertainty, dialogue and debate will be a necessary tool in finding the solutions for moving forward
In the pandemic, democracy was among the first to be hit. The objective need to implement social distancing autocrats in many countries saw as an open invitation to infringe on the rights and freedoms of citizens. As we stayed at home, worried or what is to come, populists and extremists of all affiliations raised their voices, offering conspiracy theories instead of science.
The title under which 10th BSF will take place thus resembled a forecast. Never we asked for democratic leadership so much, and questioned the state of that leadership then during this pandemic.
Our lives are dependent on technology more than ever. End while we are depending on it, voices that are questioning the further developments and usages of it have been lauder than ever. While taking stock, we will examine the trust in technology and how is it affecting the global developments.
In international relations, lack of trust and solidarity was manifested as a crisis of multilateralism, although it was clear that no state could fight the outbreak alone. While single most important task became “flattening the curve”, the geopolitical game continued in the background.
With the rise of the pandemic, life did not stop. Open issues with which we entered 2020 are still there.
We learned or are still learning just how resilient our societies are to the challenges that are not new, but as equally important if not more. Questions of populism, far-right nationalism have been burdening the global society and therefore will be addressed during 10th Belgrade Security Forum.
Trust, solidarity, European perspective, place in the global order, peace are the topics that are more important than ever in the Western Balkans; Belgrade-Pristina dialogue; growing tensions and, unfortunately, noticeable lack of cooperation in the region to combat the effects of the pandemic. COVID-19 has made visible some new ones, which we have foreseen in the past years – the relationship between technology and privacy; anti-EU narrative; solidarity, that is, caring for migrants and those who on the margins of our society yet were “forgotten” amidst the response.
Belgrade Security Forum will gather the decision makers, policy makers, representatives of international institutions, national governments, academia, international experts, media, think tank representatives. They will be asked to defend democracy with us, by participating in the discussions that will be held; support the freedom of opinion; show that we care about this region of ours; express solidarity and faith in the European future of the Western Balkans.
