The performance In Commemoration of Deserters was held in Republic Square on October 18, 2006. The performance was a celebration of 15 years of nonviolent resistance. Women in Black Network activists from Leskovac, Vlasotince, Kruševac, Novi Sad, Vrbas, Tutin, Novi Pazar, and Zajecar participated in the performance. Elizabeta and Margerita, Women in Black activists from Turin, Italy, and ten Danish Women in Black activists also participated in the performance.
Description of the Performance: Ten activists took turns putting on a military greatcoat which had been ‘demilitarized,’ by sticking peace stickers on it and painting various peace symbols and different slogans of women’s peace politics on it. (These slogans included No Army Protects Peace, We Will not be Fooled by Our Own, We are United with Deserters from Every Country, I Don’t Want War, I Don’t Want Violence, We are Building a Society without Soldiers, and 15 Years of Nonviolent Resistance). The activist wearing the greatcoat climbed a step ladder and read into a megaphone announcements of Women in Black against violent mobilization, against the mobilization of refugees, appeals in support of all refugees and rebels against war, reservists and soldiers’ reasons for refusing to go to war, a list of deserters’ rebellions from 1991 to 1999 as well as the document Women Ask. When one woman finished reading a text, she climbed down the ladder, took off the greatcoat and handed it to another woman. Then, she stood beside the ladder and unfolded and held up a rainbow peace flag.
The following slogans could be seen at the protest: Solidarity with All Rebels Against War; For Everyone Killed in War; Our Heroes are Deserters - Your Heroes are Killers; Deserting is an Alternative to War; We Will not be Fooled by our Own; Between Killing and Being Killed there is a Third Way; Always Disobedient to War, Patriarchy, Nationalism, and Militarism; Always Disloyal to The Nation, The Fathers of the Nation, and the Head of the Household; Always Disobedient to Militarists, Patriots, Fighters, and Heroes. Activists stood holding banners on which the following slogans were written: Women’s Solidarity against War, Let’s Banish War from History, We Remember, Not in Our Name; Not with Our Money, I am an Objector, and Women in Black against War. Additionally, we placed prominently six flags in the six colors of the rainbow, each printed with a design of a broken gun on the ground in the square.
After the performance, there was an organized discussion between Women in Black from Serbia and Denmark. Activists from Serbia spoke about problems in their cities and how they can be helped, as well as problems in society, the church, the politics of international solidarity, and the lack of confrontation with the past in Serbia. A representative of The Global Fund for Women, and Marta Drury of the Hearts and Hands Foundation - both from California - and Women in Black activists from Turin, Italy also participated in this meeting.
Milos for Women in Black
