MasterPeace The Netherlands organized the 6th Great Minds Meeting in Amsterdam this year on September 10th with more than 250 people in attendance. The theme of the whole event was “Freedom means to me …” which is a personal question, because for each person meaning of peace is different. From Colombia all the way to Nepal, the country where MasterPeace operates, everyone has a different view of what freedom is. MasterPeace clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Georgia, Ukraine, Denmark and Germany were present at the event.
The Great Minds Meeting was an event to act: act as in “take action” and act as in “artist create together”. MasterPeace believes that there are 7 billion talents in the world, which is focused on the great creative potential of each person. Masterpeace invites and challenges all people to use that creativity and willpower to “color” their environment and community a little more beautifully.
At the beginning of the event, the main representatives from the countries mentioned above had the opportunity to express their views on what freedom is for them.
“Freedom consists of that we have the right to do what we want. Bosnia and Herzegovina was a country of many nations and now because of the Dayton Peace Agreement, we have only three nationalities, and apart from these three, you cannot be anything else. There are large amounts of nationalism, corruption, and intolerance in our country. Freedom is restricted and young people have been brainwashed for 25 years by nationalist parties. Because of this situation, I think the road to Europe will be a long process. As a member of Masterpeace Club from Bosnia and Herzegovina, we work with young people from different backgrounds, giving them the opportunity to meet and overcome nationalism and intolerance. They paint “bonding walls”, meet many people at similar meetings and share positive stories. When you connect young people of different nations with different stories and give them something positive to work on and build on as future leaders, we believe that some real positive changes will occur on the path of BiH to the EU. “- said Youth Power Executive Director Armin Čerkez
After the introductory stories, the term freedom was divided into 7 parts: Equality, Democracy, Freedom of Speech, Reliable vs. Fake News, Cyber Security & Privacy, Migration & Integration, Identity & Respect. These sections were also divided into sessions that lasted one hour each. In the end, each group presented its work and tried to explain in more detail the term it was given.
At the very end, as a grand finale, the VanVelzen band, together with 40 participants, wrote the second verse of the song “Wildfire” and performed the final version of the song in front of everyone.
“What a wonderful day! Our goal was to raise awareness of the problems that play a role in our personal and business lives today. We dealt with serious things using all the creativity within each person. I thank all the participants and wish them success in their roles to act more diverse and vibrant for our society! – Masterpeace CEO Aart Bos said in the end.