Antifascism is a constant value of Women in Black. We unite with the democratic movement in this country and throughout the world to oppose all forms of fascism. After the Second World War, antifascism became an important democratic value shared by all freedom-loving men and women and celebrated on May 9, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Day of Europe.
Historically, fascism has appeared in various forms, including Italian fascism, German national socialism (and its local imitations, such as Ljoticev Zbor in Serbia), Spanish Francoism, and the Croatian Ustaša. In the countries of the former Yugoslavia, all of the quisling movements and regimes during the Second World War were fascist to a greater or lesser extent. This fascism was illustrated by their genocidal acts (The Ustaša’s Jasenovac camp was the biggest death camp in Europe, excepting the German camps. In 1941, Belgrade became the first European city from which the entire Jewish population was removed, primarily due to the efforts of domestic collaborators). The wars of the 1990s were largely a continuation of these local forms of fascism, which were resurrected after their defeat in 1945. However, we do not dare to disregard the role of the Milošević regime, which invoked the antifascist tradition, but whose true character was national socialist.
Today, fascism appears in various forms. It includes efforts to rewrite history (such as holocaust denial), different totalitarian ideologies, and neo-fascism, neo-Nazism, ethno-nationalism and similar movements. In Serbia, fascist tendencies are manifested in many ways. One part of this fascism is involved in the organized denial or relativization of the criminal past, both in the more recent period of the 1990s and the period of the Second World War (for example, the legal equalization of Partizans and Chetniks). Other parts of the neo-Nazi and neo-fascist groups’ activities include publicly voicing the crudest forms of hate and the establishment of more serious and extremist of organic movements (such as fascist totalitarianism). The fall of the dictatorial Serbian regime on October 5, 2000 did not alter the ideological system or the cultural paradigm that produces war; hatred of ‘the other’ and those of different ethnicities, religions, sexualities and opinions continues. Therefore, Women in Black continues to intensively work against all forms of fascisization of our society.
In addition to opposing hate speech and the denial of the criminal past, Women in Black permanently denounces local forms of fascism.
The antifascist engagement of Women in Black takes the form of:
STREET ACTIONS: PROTESTS, PERFORMANCES, PUBLIC APPEALS, AND CAMPAIGNS
CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, SEMINARS, ESSAYS, AND REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
