As we have done in the past, we are providing you with a short report on the activities of Women in Black in the reporting period.
We would like to thank you in advance, in solidarity.
Street actions: In this reporting period we have organized thirteen actions (13):
- Commemorations/marking signifi cant dates of crimes committed in our namee
- Feminist, antifascist, anti-war, anti-racist, anti-militaristic street actions.
Commemorations/marking important dates of crimes committed in our name as well as other crimes over civilians during wars on the territory of ex Yugoslavia
Belgrade/Topcider, 5th of October: We will never forget crime in Topcider: Twenty activists of Serbian Women in Black Network, two activists of the Women's Alliance Srebrenica from Tuzla, as well as Meira Dautovic from Bihac (Bosnia and Herzegovina) attended the commemoration in front of the Karas barracks in Topcider, Belgrade, on the occasion of anniversary of the crime-murder of guards Dragan Jakovljevic and Drazen Milovanovic (2004). They were killed on 5th of October, 2004 under unexplained circumstances, and there is a reasonable doubt that they were killed because they had seen Hague fugitive Ratko Mladic. Women in Black and the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies/CEAS have published a statement on the occasion of the eighth death anniversary of the of the two guards, expressing solidarity with the parents and the families of the victims, supporting their search for the truth regarding the death of the two young men.
Lovas/Croatia, 18th of October: We will never forget the crimes in Lovas: eight activists (8) of Women in Black attended the commemoration in three spots in the village where, during the Serbian aggression on Croatia, 70 civilians were killed.
Sjeverin/Serbia, 22nd of October: We will never forget the crimes in Sjeverin: eight activists (8) of Women in Black attended the commemoration on the bridge in the place of Mioce, where Serb armed forces abducted 17 passengers with Muslim names from the bus Priboj-Rudo, in 1992.
Tuzla/Bosnia and Herzegovina, 11th of November: We are looking for our missing persons. (8) Eight activists of Women in Black Serbian Network participated in the Peace March together with organizers of the Women's Alliance Association Srebrenica from Tuzla.
Vukovar/Croatia, 18th of November: We will never forget crimes in Vukovar: Peace action on Republic Square in Belgrade, in commemoration of the anniversary of crimes in Vukovar in 1991. Approximately thirty (30) activists attended.
Feminist, antifascist, anti-war, anti-racist, anti-militaristic street actions: actions in chronological order
Belgrade, 18th of September, 'Stop war in Syria': due to increasing war violence in Syria, Women in Black organized in Belgrade Republic Square a peace action against the dictatorship of Bashar al Asad, all the other armed forces as well as against the announced military intervention. By this peace action, solidarity with civilians of Syria was expressed as well as with all non-violent and peaceful movements of Syria and the whole Middle East. Forty activists were involved in the action.
Leskovac, 21st of September 'Stop war in Syria': Women for peace from Leskovac in cooperation with Women in Black Belgrade organized a peace action on the Main Square. Fifteen activists were involved in the action.
Belgrade, 2nd of October 'On what a sexual rapist advises Serbian authorities?' - Stross Khan out of Serbia: Feminist performance against the appointment of Dominique Stross Khan (International Monetary Fund ex-director) as economic counsellor of Serbian authorities. He has been accused several times already of sexual violence, rape and prostitution. Forty activists were involved in the action in Republic Square.
Belgrade, 9th of November 'Antifascism is our choice': The action of collecting signatures due to 9th of November, International Day against fascism and anti-Semitism. Women in Black in cooperation with the Helsinki Committee on human rights and the Alliance of Serbian antifascists organized the above mentioned action at Terazije, the site where antifascists in the Second World War were being executed. We have collected a couple of hundred of citizens’ signatures. During the action, we drew attention to the current fascist tendencies and misdeeds in Serbia toward various vulnerable groups: anti-Semitism, concentration camps for Croatian and Bosnian prisoners in Serbian territory (during the 1990’s, for which nobody has been prosecuted yet), criminal privatization, fascism against women and LGBT persons, discrimination of Roma population in Serbia. A few dozen persons participated.
Leskovac, 9th of November-the action of collecting signatures for the Antifascist Manifest: Women for Peace in cooperation with Women in Black, Belgrade have organized the same action like in Belgrade. More then 15 activists took part in this action.
Belgrade, 6th december "Stop femicide": Feminist action, during which they read out testimonies of women victims and women survivors of sexual crimes all over the world (Congo, India, Syria, Columbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina...) as well as names of 41 women-victims of femicide in Serbia during 2013. More then 60 activists took part in the protest, from Women in Black Network and from the victim community of Bosnia and Herzegovina-ten women (Djulici and Zvornik) and twenty women from the Roma Women Network from Banat.
Belgrade, 10th of December, 'Solidarity with asylum seekers': On the occasion of the International Human Rights Day, an international-antiracial-feminist action was organized, because of the deplorable situation of asylum seekers in Serbia, frequent brutal and racist excesses of local population toward asylum seekers, and discrimination of asylum seekers infl icted by the state. The action was organized by Women in Black and Roma Women Network from Banat. More then fi fty (50) activists took part.
Facing the past/ Transitional justice - feminist approach
This is the most important activity of Women in Black. It consists of numerous segments: street actions, workshops, lectures, creation of various forms of transitional justice from feminist prospective, cooperation with similar organizations through joint actions (campaigns, consultative meetings)...
Report on our activities in pdf format.
