On the occasion of 21 anniversary of the genocide in Srebrenica, Women in Black organized a protest, wearing black and standing in silence - We will never forget the genocide in Srebrenica, at the Republic Square in Belgrade on July 10th 2016.
At the protest following banners were raised:
- We will never forget the genocide in Srebrenica
- Responsibility
- Solidarity
- We remember
- Remembrance
On that occasion stage action "Srebrenica 8372" was performed.
Ten Women in Black came out one by one with the red letters and crated word Srebrenica. Then the four women came out carrying a numbers 8, 3, 7 and 2, creating number 8372, number of victims.
At the end of all our activists stood on the steps of the monument to Prince Mihailo, forming a living monument.
It is a symbolic installation / living memorial, continuation of „building“ a monument to victims of the Srebrenica genocide. It is an act of non-violent revolt against the denial of genocide in Srebrenica, both at the level of the state and society since they rejected our perennial persistent request to approve the construction of a permanent monument to the victims of genocide in Srebrenica in Belgrade. (Stumbling block - a symbolic memorial made by Women in Black on July 7th 2015 in the Srebrenica Street in Belgrade was destroyed in less than 24 hours). With this act, we continue our commitment to that Srebrenica become part of the collective memory, which would take significant step towards that Belgrade and Serbia gain status of post-genocide city and state.
This act symbolically placing in the collective memory what is subject of negation - the genocide in Srebrenica. Taking out into the public arena number of victims - 8372 - shows the extent of the genocide crimes, recognizing the courts established fact which byy the majority of the public in Serbia is persistently distort / falsified / reduced. It is also a call to finally grant the factual truth, and above all, the dignity of the victims of genocide. The red color is also an expression of the life and death...
This protest was attended by some 100 activists of Women in Black Network Serbia and the Autonomous Women's Centre, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Reconstruction Women's Fund, etc. The protest was covered by the media but was not without incident. In fact, one man commented: "Traitors", while another said: "Bratunac is true, a Srebrenica is a lie."
The next day, thirty activists visited the Potocari Memorial Centre, where they attended burial of remains of 127 victims of the Srebrenica genocide.
During the entire trip through Serbia, Women in Black have been accompanied by heavy police protection, which cause big problem in return. From the border to Belgrade, the police car was going in front of the bus, driving very slow, not letting the bus driver to drive at the speed prescribed. Since we were planning to participate in commemorative event - marking the genocide in Srebrenica, which was held in front of the Serbian Parliament, organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights which begin at 8p.m., we were were late and enter Belgrade at 10p.m. when the event was ended. It was evident that it was a deliberate obstruction.
This is the way police in Serbia exhaust and humiliate our activists and insulting our dignity as human beings, aggravating our political engagement. This kind of "protection", this militarization of our actions primarily serves as a strategy of exhaustion, discouragement, deterrence of future activities, intimidation ... In short, to silence critical voices against the regime, particularly in relation to accountability for war and war crimes.
Links:
Žene u crnom izvele performans o Srebrenici - B92
Performans "Žena u crnom" povodom godišnjice genocida u Srebrenici - Blic
Žene u crnom performansom obilježile godišnjicu Srebrenice - N1
Žene u crnom ćutanjem na Trgu republike u Beogradu obeležile 21. godinu genocida u Srebrenici - AA
Перформанс за бошњачке, изложба за српске жртве у Сребреници - RTS
Performans u Beogradu za žrtve genocida u Srebrenici - Danas
Srbija i Crna Gora: Hronika prećutanog genocida - Slobodna Evropa
Srbija i Crna Gora: Hronika prećutanog genocida - Aljazeera
