As the public voice of the Belgrade Circle NGO, the editors of this journal will attempt to draw clear distinctions and borders between themselves and the anachronistic and unmatured Serbia which is tired of its years, of its past, of its heritage. Our starting point will not be the old and spent Yugoslavia, even it commands respect; it will be the idea of a new Europe which does not yet exist, but which we could all build together.

We have no intention of assuming the role of nostalgic guardians of the Old Continent, of nurturing a sentimental memory of the European past. On the contrary, we wish to cooperatively participate in the symbolic process of the creation of a new European spirit, one which will not apply only in the too narrow geopolitical field, from within that administrative entity known as the European Union. We are aware that it is only through the spirit of a new, different and distinct Europe that we can become part of the international community, and participate in the "planetary conversation of peoples". Should it turn out that the spirit of this new Europe eludes us, that we cannot succeed in interiorizing it, we shall not hesitate to herald it persistently.

Because it had been the first who from the beginning of the dissolution of Yugoslavia had fought against militarism, populism, xenophobia, nationalism and war, Belgrade Circle NGO had gained an international moral, political and intellectual reputation. It is thus small surprise that at the time of absolute isolation (sanctions), the Belgrade Circle Journal had been the only one to represent SR Yugoslavia in the international cultural scene with its participation in the 9^th Meeting of European Cultural Journals in Vienna in 1995 and the 10^th Meeting of European Cultural Magazines in Copenhagen in 1996. The Yugoslav intellectual community gathered around the project of the Belgrade Circle Journal had obtained the support of the most renowned world theoreticians who had visited us as a sign of international solidarity. In the period of 1992 to 1997 our guests were: Jacques Derrida, Richard Rorty, Donald Davidson, Cristopher Norris, Terry Eagleton, Anthony Giddens, Hans-Magnus Enzensberger, Adam Michnik, etc. We take this opportunity to thank them most sincerely once again.

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