Fight against segregation in education: Snježana Kordić recognized as Person of the Year

(Patria) - Linguist Snježana Kordić, a staunch opponent of segregation in education and "two schools under one roof," a proponent of the polycentric language theory and a fighter against nationalism, has received the recognition for Person of the Year 2018, awarded by the Center for Critical Thinking and the portal Tačno.net.

In 2017, Snježana Kordić actively participated in the drafting of the Declaration on Common Language, and throughout 2018, she spent the entire year defending its content and signatories from insults and threats from nationalist purveyors of hate, as stated in the justification.

Kordić, fully aware of the consequences for her life, refused to accept a paradigm shift and become a servant to nationalism.

As a consequence, Snježana Kordić, despite being a qualified scholar and author of several books written in three world languages, as well as dozens of scientific and professional papers, reviews, and essays, is unemployed at the university and without any regular income, as well as without health insurance in Croatia.

During 2018, she promoted the Declaration on Common Language in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Japan.

"Through her persistent struggle, Kordić has truly worked to 'change the world,' fulfilling the role of an intellectual as an active and engaged individual with the obligation to shape social phenomena towards emancipation and progressive change. Snježana Kordić did not shy away from polemics, nor did she ever allow her argumentation to fall below a high academic and scientific level, believing that no ideological distortion can refute scientific truths. We believe that linguist Kordić has significantly contributed and shown the direction in which the entire academic community should act. Seeing through the ideological matrix, especially when that matrix is supported by state ideological apparatuses, deconstructing ideological narratives, and addressing responsibility are constant features of linguist Kordić's work. Her work has been recognized and highly evaluated in many scientific centers around the world, thus rekindling interest in the common language, despite everything, among numerous researchers," state the Center for Critical Thinking.