Curriculum vitae:{mosimage}
Jug Bogdanova 18/5
11000 Belgrade
Serbia
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
DATE OF BIRTH: 1953 in Nikšić, Yugoslavia
EDUCATION
B.A. in Romance Languages from Philology Department, Belgrade University, 1977.
FOREIGN LANGUAGES:
Spanish – written and spoken – fluent
Italian – written and spoken – fluent
English – written and spoken – functional
ACTIVIST EXPERIENCE
1985-1992:
- Activist in the feminist group Zena i drustvo (Woman and Society) – Belgrade
- Co-founder of The SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence, Belgrade Women’s Lobby, Women’s Parliament—Belgrade, and the Civic Resistance Movement
- Activist with The Center for Anti-War Action – Belgrade
1991-Present
- Co-founder and coordinator of Women in Black, Belgrade
Street Actions
Women in Black in period 1991 – 2013 organized around 1500 street actions.
Staša Zajović has been the initiator, organizer, or active participant in all antiwar actions,
performances, peace marches and other Women in Black street actions since 1991, and as
numerous other street actions (protest, performances, marches) against war, war crimes,
sexism/nationalism/militarism, fundamentalism, in cooperation with like-minded
organizations.
Organizer and participant in numerous antimilitarist, peace, and feminist demonstrations,
campaigns, networks, coalitions, conferences, meetings and seminars.
Work with Refugees – from 1993 to 1996: intensive volunteer work for assistance to and selfempowerment of refugees in the Mala Krsna, Mikulja, Kovilovo, and Nova Pazova Refugee Camps, which led to solidarity support to refugees together with other Women in Black activists.
Women’s Peace Network – The International Network of Women’s Solidarity against War/International Women in Black Network: Initiator and organizer of ten meetings of the International Network, held in Serbia and Montenegro. Approximately 1,800 activists from the former Yugoslavia, from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa, USA, Canada, and Australia participated.
Network of Conscientious Objectors and Antimilitarism in Serbia: Since 1994, this network has held six meetings in support of deserters and conscientious objectors. I am also the coeditor of Prigovor (Objection) a journal of antimilitarism and conscientious objection.
- The Women in Black Network Serbia – The Women’s Peace Network: I initiated this activist network in 1997. The Women in Black Network combines theory with practice and activism with theoretical knowledge. The Network is based on the principles of feminism, pacifism, antimilitarism, and civil disobedience to nationalism and ethnic homogenization. The Network is comprised of activists groups and individuals from throughout Serbia.
- The Women in Black Network – Horizontal Networking: An educational program that has been continually unfolding since January 2008 till 2013 with the aim of spreading the WiB Network, strengthening cooperation among the already active groups within the Network, launching joint initiatives, and acquiring additional knowledge concerning certain issues in accordance with the needs expressed by the activists.
The Women’s Peace Coalition: Formed in May 2006, the Coalition is comprised of The Kosova Women’s Network and The Women in Black Network—Serbia. It is result of a decade of solidarity, support and cooperation between activists from autonomous women’s groups in Kosovo and Serbia. The WPC advocates for a just and lasting peace, the inclusion of women as equal partners in peace-building processes, the participation of women in peace processes and peace negotiations, and the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
The Women’s Court – a Feminist Approach to Justice: creating new models of justice from the
feminist perspective; the Women’s Court provides space for the voices of women to be
heard, and their testimonies about the experiences of injustice survived both during the war
and in peace, it provides space where women can testify about violence in the private and
public sphere and where they can testify about women’s organized resistance.
Late in 2010, seven members of the Steering Committee /SC from all the former SFRY
republics launched an initiative for the formation of the Women’s Court. So far, SC comprises
of 10 organizations from all the former Yugoslavia successor states. At the meeting held in the beginning of February 2013, the Steering Committee was transformed into the Organizational
Committee of the Women’s Court. It has been planned that the Women’s Court be held in
2014.
Since the very inception of WC, Women in Black has been the proponent of program
activities, and Staša Zajović is a member of the Women’s Court Steering Committee.
Other Regional Networks and Coalitions: Co-founder and active participant in the following networks and coalitions:
- G8: Comprised of eight nongovernmental organizations from Belgrade (Belgrade Circle, The Center for Cultural Decontamination, Civic Initiatives, The Humanitarian Law Center, The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and Women in Black). This Coalition was formed in early 2005 and advocates for accountability for war crimes and against the denial of the criminal past in Serbia. G8 has started a number of joint initiatives, the most noteworthy being the Declaration on Srebrenica in June 2005 and common activities against impunity.
- Campaign: “July, 11th, Day of Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica – Proclaim”: The
campaign began in February 2009 after the adoption of the Resolution on July, 11th – Day of
Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica by the European Parliament. The campaign is
directed at putting pressure on institutions so that July, 11th is proclaimed as the Day of
Remembrance of the Genocide in Srebrenica, as well as to Serbian citizens in order to raise
public consciousness, to encourage compassion and respect for, as well as solidarity with, the
victims of the Srebrenica genocide.
A protest requesting that July, 11th is proclaimed as the Day of Remembrance of the Genocide
in Srebrenica was organised from February 2009 in Belgrade, in front of the Presidency of
Serbia, on the 11th of each month, from February 2009 till July 2010.
- The Coalition for a Secular State: This Coalition was initiated in early 2006 by four nongovernmental organizations in Belgrade with the support of ten NGOs from other parts of Serbia. The Coalition organizes against the Law on Churches and Religious Communities and clericalization, and for the preservation of the secular character of the state. The Coalition organizes numerous actions (legislative, editorial, and street) in which I actively participate.
- The Women’s Regional Lobby for Peace, Security and Justice in Southeastern Europe: This group, which started in 2006, is comprised of women civil society and democratic political party activists from the Balkans (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). It advocates for peace, security, and stability in Southeastern Europe.
- The Feminist Coalition: Comprised of feminist groups from Belgrade (The Autonomous Women’s Center, The Center for Women’s Studies, The Incest Trauma Center, Voice of Difference, Women’s Reconstruction Fund and Women in Black).
- Solidarity Coalitions against fascism, homophobia, militarism, ravaging privatization: with members of the threatened and deprived minority communities (ethnically, racially and sexually), citizens whose human rights (labor, educational or cultural) have been infringed, human rights defenders, etc...
