President Stevo Pendarovski addressed the online event of awarding the World Award of Humanism for 2021 to the prominent philosopher from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Academician Abdullah Sharcevic, via video message.
The World Award of Humanism is a recognition awarded by the Ohrid Academy of Humanism to prominent personalities in the field of culture, art, literature and social life. This year the award is given for the 15th time.
Please find below the integral text of the address of President Pendarovski.
Distinguished members of the Ohrid Academy of Humanism,
Respected Academician Abdullah Sharchevic,
Dear friends,
Thank you for the opportunity and the honor to address you on the occasion of the awarding of the World Award of Humanism, which this year is awarded for the 15th time by the Ohrid Academy of Humanism. This year’s award, exactly on the great Christian holiday Epiphany, has a special symbolism and significance for us. That symbolism is further strengthened by the fact that today marks 30 years since the founding of the Ohrid Academy of Humanism.
Through its three decades of existence, with a clearly stated goal, spreading human values across world meridians, the Ohrid Academy, in a contemporary context, in fact, continues the work of St. Clement of Ohrid and his widely heard Ohrid Literary School.
It is beyond any doubt that among the many activities of the Academy, the awarding of the World Award of Humanism has a particularly important place. Established in 2007, the award is given each year to world-renowned artists, intellectuals, prominent names, but, above all, to dedicated humanists. To the long list of impressive names of laureates, this year the name of the academician from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the respected Abdullah Sharcevic is added, undoubtedly one of the most important philosophers in our region, recognized and known far beyond his borders.
A special and important curiosity for us is the fact that Academician Sharcevic started his scientific career at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, in the second half of the fifties of the last century. I hope that even after receiving this prestigious recognition, the personal and professional contacts that Professor Sharcevic has made a long time ago with the Republic of North Macedonia will only gain momentum.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Academician Georgi Stardelov, who, unfortunately, left us only a few days ago, moving to the eternity of human memory, leaving an indelible mark in Macedonian culture and social thought, wrote about this year’s winner of the World Award of Humanism: “his philosophical work gives us a bold and truly comprehensive diagnosis of our time and in it: of our civilization, of our cultural history, of our society in which we exist; a comprehensive analysis of what is happening to man today in the 21st century, in the century of his alienation from all human and humane”.
With the pandemic that endangered our lives and our health, changed our daily lives and literally changed the face of all mankind, unfortunately, it only increased human alienation, making us vulnerable, lonely and closed in on ourselves. Namely, in such times we need humanity, solidarity and mutual respect. To defeat Covid-19 and return to normal everyday life, but also to affirm and re-actualize spirituality and culture. In short, to restore humanity.
Dear friends,
I hope that soon we will all be able to gather in ancient Ohrid and communicate directly, as before.
I congratulate the Ohrid Academy of Humanism on its jubilee, I congratulate Academician Abdullah Sharcevic on the award and I wish him to visit our country as soon as possible, more precisely, his and our common country.
At the end of my short address, let me wish you all good health and joy in 2021.
Dear friends,
Thank you for your attention.
