Regional meeting Women in Black-Belgrade

Source: Zene u crnom, by email 16 sept 22

Regional meeting Women in Black-Belgrade

Meeting of the Network of Women in Black – September 23-25, 2022

Radmilovac near Belgrade

https://www.radmilovac.com/

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Program Draft

Friday, 23^rd September

12:00 – 13:00 – Organized arrival at Radmilovac – meeting place in WiB premises

Activists gather in WiB premises, then we go together to Radmilovac; those who wish to go there directly (especially those coming by car) go straight to Radmilovac (7km from Belgrade).

14:00-16:00: Accommodation, lunch

15:30 – 15:45 - Tribute to women and men who are no longer with us

16:00 – 16:15 - Presentation of participants, agreement on work

Ljupka Kovačević, Anima, Kotor, Staša Zajović, WiB Belgrade

16:15 – 17:30 - In pictures and words - about the activities of the Women in Black Network of Serbia, in the previous period (since the meetings of the Network - March 2022)

Part I: Activities of WiB Belgrade and joint activities of the Network:

• Confronting the past - street actions, visiting crime scenes, trials before the Special Court in Belgrade (Miloš Urošević, Ljupka Kovačević, Milka Rosić, Svetlana Šarić, Ramiz Berbić…)

• Feminist ethics of care and responsibility - exchanges, visits, solidarity mothers for peace (Violeta Đikanović, Suvada Selimović)

• Solidarity is our strength – solidarity actions during the trial in Belgrade of M. Aleksić for rape and sexual abuse (Miloš Urošević); trials in Ivanjica (due to the death of workers Milomir Milivojević and Milojko Ignjatović on July 14, 2017, in the ’Milan Blagojević-Namenska’ factory), trials for setting fire to the house of journalist M. Jovanović; trials for the burning of the US embassy (Nastasja Radović); support and aid actions for refugees (Violeta Đikanović, Sabina Talović); solidarity with the environmental movement; solidarity support for Ukrainian refugees and anti-war activists from Russia

(Staša Z.)

• Women’s Peace Activism - educational program (Suvada Selimović, Staša Zajović)

17:30 – 18:30 – Break

Part II 18:30 – 19:30 - In this segment, activists of the Network briefly present an activity from the previous period that was extremely important in their environment, in the region, in the world...

• Youth and facing the past - participation of activists in the peace march for Srebrenica; engaged art in the fight against violence against women and girls - presented by: Marija Sebić and Selena Vitomirović, Children’s Center, Zaječar

• Women’s labor rights in the new Serbian capitalism - report from the field: presented by Milica Lupšor, Roza group, Zrenjanin

• Elections in Slovenia - women in the forefront - activists from Ljubljana

• Civic resistance to turbo-folk - activists from Leskovac, Vlasotinac...

• Etc.

Moderator: Ljiljana Spasić, Civic Action, Pančevo

19:45 – 21:00 – Dinner

21:00 – 22:15 - “Unconditional peace” - screening of a documentary film (30 min) - memory of the anti-war resistance; 30 years of the “Spiritual Republic of ZICER”, Trešnjevac, May 1992 - May 2022, organized by WiB; production of the film: Group for Conceptual Politics/GCP, Novi Sad and presentation of the publication “Trešnjevac - May 1992 - May 2022 - Civil disobedience, female courage, solidarity”- presented by: Branka Ćurčić, GCP and Staša Zajović, WiB

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Saturday, 24^th September

Confronting the past/transitional justice – a feminist approach

First session, 9:30 – 10:30 “Transgenerational trauma: what traumas are we leaving behind?”

Speakers: Jasna Zečević, VIVE žene, Tuzla, Bosnia and Hercegovina

Vladimir Joić, psychologist, NENA – Group for Peace and Women’s Rights, Leskovac, Serbia

10:30 – 10:45 – Break

Second session, 10:45 – 12:00 - Overcoming trauma - female heroism - fight for justice, dignity, freedom...

Screening of the documentary film “The Beehive (Zgjoi)” (84 minutes, production year 2021);

directed by: Blerta Basholi/Blerta Basholi, Kosovo

Synopsis: The film is based on the true story of a woman named Fahrije Hoti from the village of Mala Kruša (Kosovo), whose husband was killed in 1999, and who started producing honey and ajvar after the war. Fahrije was a witness at the Women’s Court - a feminist approach to justice. The film was a Kosovar candidate for the Oscar.

Presented by: Nora Ahmetaj, feminist and human rights activist, Priština, Kosovo

Third session, 12:15 – 13:15 - The position of women and women’s rights in the Middle East

Speaker: Reem, Saudi Arabia, Germany

13:15 – 15:00 – Lunch, rest, socializing ...

15:00 – 18:30 – Yet another war in Europe – Ukraine…

First session, 15:00 - 16:30 - When does the war begin - one can know, but when does the pre-war begin? (’Cassandra’ - Christa Wolff, German writer) - About the responsibility of the main actors of international politics (EU, USA, UN...), for the imperial campaigns and expansionism of the Russian Federation (Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, annexation of Crimea, Donbass, Ukraine …); about the responsibility of the region (why is Putin so popular in Serbia?), etc.

Soldiers who do not exist (32 min) - screening of a Polish documentary film about the participation of Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine (2014). Testimonies of the families of the murdered Russian soldiers, who died in Ukraine, buried at night, because the Russian authorities did not allow them to do so during the day. Translation: Katarzyna Kovalewska; subtitle: Group for video activism WiB

The following persons participate in the discussion:

Nermin Vučelj, Novi Pazar, associate professor of Romance Studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Niš

Sonja Biserko, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Belgrade

Snežana Jakovljević, women’s association ’Pesčanik’, Kruševac

Srđan Hercigonja, senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy

Snežana Obrenović, Kraljevo, activist of the WiB Network

Moderator: Staša Zajović

16:30 – 16:45 – Break

Second session, 16:45 – 17:45 – View of the war in Ukraine from an activist point of view (Are peace talks to stop the war in Ukraine(im)possible? Who should participate in them? What are the main obstacles? “Military strategy to peace?”: whether sending huge amounts of weapons in Ukraine can force actors, primarily the Russian Federation, to compromise...)

With the participation of:

Branka Ćurčić, Group for Conceptual Politics, Novi Sad

Ljupka Kovačević, Anima, Kotor

Vladimir Jevtić, Bajina bašta, WiB Network activist

Tamara Spaić, journalist, WiB activist

Moderator: Nastasja Radović, journalist, WiB activist

Third session, 17:45 – 18:15 – Peace and/or justice? (Is it more important to end the war or punish Russia for aggression?) - dynamic exercise ’Where do we stand now?’

Moderators: Milka Rosić, NENA - group for peace and women’s rights, Leskovac and Svetlana Šarić, SOS phone for women and children, victims of violence, Vlasotince

18:15 – 18:30 – Break

Fourth session, 18:30 – 19:45 – Ideological-political disputes and moral dilemmas related to the war in Ukraine - What disputes and dilemmas are present within the peace movement at the European and regional level? Is there and why is there no organized, global anti-war resistance movement today? What are the dilemmas, doubts, disagreements within the pacifist/antimilitarist/feminist/anarchist movement?

With the participation of:

Zoran Gajić, Group for Conceptual Politics, Novi Sad

Boris Pavelić, journalist, Zagreb

Mirko Medenica, WiB, Beograd

Nela Pamuković, Center for Women Victims of War, Zagreb

Moderator: Stefan Milosavljević, political scientist, WiB activist, Belgrade/Hale, Germany

19:45 – 21:00 – Dinner

21:00 – 21:30 – Persecutions, swear words and the rest...stage action

Coordinated by: Fahrudin Kladničanin, Academic Initiative Forum 10, Novi Pazar/Belgrade

Feminist party...

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Sunday, 25^th September

9:30 – 10:15 - To Zami: A New Reading of My Name - A 1982 biomythography of African-American feminist and writer Audrey Lorde (1934-1992), in which the author combines history, myth, and biography.

Presented by: Đurđa Trajković (RWF), Ana Imširović Đorđević (RWF), Ervina Dabižinović (Anima), Snežana Jakovljević, Peščanik, Kruševac and Miloš Urošević (WiB).

10:15 – 11:00 - Discussion corner: “Where to and how to proceed”

• Rise of the left in Latin America – Staša Zajović and Đurđa Trajković

• The regime finances criminal organizations and perpetrators of domestic violence from the state budget - Violeta Đikanović and Svetlana Šarić

•Other

11:00 – 12:30 - About the activities of the Network in the coming period, evaluation

Moderated by: Miloš Urošević, Staša Zajović and Ljupka Kovačević

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Women in Black, 29^th July, 2022

Contact person: Ljiljana Radovanović – 063 883 56 55