‘It was like fighting a war with our own people’: anti-war activism in Serbia during the 1990s

Abstract

This article discusses anti-war and anti-nationalism activism that took place in Serbia and, particularly, in Belgrade during the 1990s. It analyzes anti-war activism as aiming to combat collective states of denial. Based on fieldwork research conducted in 2004–05, and particularly on an analysis of interviews conducted with anti-war activists in Belgrade, this text closely analyzes the nuanced voices and approaches to activism against war among Serbia's civil society in the 1990s. The article highlights the difference between anti-war and anti-regime activism, as well as the generation gap when considering the wars of the 1990s and their legacy. Finally, this text emphasizes the role of Women in Black as the leading anti-war group in Serbia, and examines their feminist street activism which introduced new practices of protest and political engagement in Belgrade's public sphere.

Keywords:

• anti-war activism
• Serbia
• Women in Black
• denial

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dana Johnson for her help in editing this text and for her helpful comments.

Notes

As part of my research, I also spoke to and interviewed anti-war activists from other towns in Serbia, in particular, the anti-war groups in Pančevo.

For example, I understand work of Israeli activists against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people as first and foremost to be about combating apathy and denial within Jewish Israeli society (Fridman, “Breaking States of Denial”).

Milošević benefited from the composition of the Serbian opposition as the biggest opposition parties were even more nationalistic than Milošević and his party. The opposition was divided into a smaller liberal anti-war bloc and a larger nationalist pro-war bloc with some forces (such as Vuk Drašković) wavering between the two. A number of studies are available on the topic of the opposition parties in the 1990s (Gordy Chapter 2; Thomas).

The process of the breakup of Yugoslavia and the rise of ethnonationalism coincided with the creation of civil society across the former Yugoslavia and in Serbia in particular. A discussion of the failure of civil society and citizenship in Yugoslavia is in the background of the creation of civil society in the Yugoslav successor states in the 1990s (Allcock).

This is based on Ana Dević's distinction (Dević 120–22). For an additional discussion of the 1991–92 students' demonstrations, see Erder; Spasić and Pavićević.

The term Druga Srbija was already in use from the early 1990s (Čolović and Aljoša).

Gordy's third chapter includes a long and profound discussion about the destruction of information alternatives. He analyzes both the messages and the strategies of the regime-controlled media and the marginalization of the independent media, with a particular focus on Belgrade in the years 1994 and 1995 (Gordy 61–101).

Torov refers in particular to a series of lengthy reports entitled “The Killing of Sarajevo” and “Sarajevo's Collapse” (265).

During this period, various international organizations and foundations operated in Yugoslavia and in Serbia. The most consistent and persistent was the Fund for Open Society, which from 1991 until 1996 operated as the Soros Fund Yugoslavia. The Fund supported the foundation of civil society. After the 1997 civic protests, other large donors also became actively involved in Serbia. Many from Serbia who criticize the NGO scene, even today, blame these groups for collaboration with the West (and its money) or for being war profiteers. Still, the activity of international organizations and donors was at its height at the time of the 2000 election campaign (Ćurgus Kazimir 34–35).

Other groups, whose members I spoke with or interviewed were: MOST, Belgrade Circle, The Center for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD), Belgrade Women Studies Center, Alternative Academic Network, Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, The Lawyers Committee For Human Rights (YUCOM).

After the changes of regime in October 2000, they still appear in the street as part of Serbia's civil society opposing nationalism and, in particular, reminding the public of the events of the recent wars of the 1990s. After 2000, they gathered in Belgrade's main square to mark dates such as 8 March, Women's International day, 6 April, the beginning of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 11 July, in memory of the victims of Srebrenica and other conflicts.

The Center for Anti-war Action (CAA) was founded in July 1991 in Belgrade as the first peace organization in Serbia. It was founded as a non-governmental, non-profit organization promoting the peaceful resolution of conflicts and regional cooperation, human rights, civil society and democratic institutions. During its first two years, the center organized a number of anti-war manifestations and protests, and provided legal aid to people who refused to take part in armed conflict. Early on, the CAA organized the Belgrade anti-war marathon, a series of open forums and demonstrations held between October 1991 and February 1992. Two of the leading anti-war manifestations organized by the CAA and joined by others were: nightly vigils with candles in solidarity with all the war victims from October 1991 until February 1992 (which was covered by Borba daily in pictures and words); and the big rock concert “Dont Count on Us” on 22 April 1992 (in cooperation with B92), which provided an opportunity for young people to express their anti-war feelings through music. On 31 May 1992, after the bombing of Sarajevo began, several anti-war groups organized a march of Belgrade citizens who carried a 1,300-meter-long, black ribbon. The column stretched from the Albania building on Terazije Square to Slavija Square. It symbolized protest, solidarity and mourning for the victims of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to estimates, there were several tens of thousands of people who participated in the march. The last big anti-war demonstration during that period, jointly organized by several alternative groups, was the “Yellow Badge” protest against ethnic cleansing in July 1992. Other than street demonstrations, CAA also helped to organize the Peace Caravan, which visited Sarajevo when it was under siege in December 1992 (Ćurgus Kazimir 383–85).

In my study I particularly focused on the memory of Srebrenica and the ongoing debates and activism within Serbian civil society. While the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has recognized the Srebrenica massacre as genocide, official Serbia has since denied the actual events and contested the alleged number of the victims. In March 2010, the Serbian parliament adopted a declaration condemning the crimes committed in Srebrenica, however refraining from the use of the term genocide. On official denial in Serbia, see Jelena Obradović-Wochnik.