Public Lecture - Antiwar Resistance During the 1990s in Belgrade
Although it would be an overstatement to say that there is no memory of resistance to the war(s) during the 1990s, it certainly holds true when it comes to public and official memory in Serbia. The memory of the various anti-war campaigns and initiatives launched during that period today practically survives only at the level of its participants’ personal memory (though not always) or that of the narrow activist groups as part of their activist history. Part of the answer to the question of how it is possible that Milošević's war regime survived for so long despite its disastrous effects can also be found in his ability to destroy alternatives whereby war played a vital role.
This guided tour will be dedicated to the memory of one such alternative: the history of war resistance in Belgrade during the 1990s, its potentials and limitations, the ways in which it corresponded to the broader socio-historical context and the discussion of what the places of remembrance of this resistance that do not exist today in Serbia’s public and political memory are telling us.
Locations
STUDENTS’ CULTURAL CENTRE
The guided tour’s starting point as a reminder of the impact of the student protest of '68, the environmental and the feminist movement on the development of the anti-war groups and initiatives (the Centre for Anti-War Action, Women in Black, the Belgrade Circle, the Civilian Resistance Movement, GAMA, the Humanitarian Law Centre and others) in Belgrade during the 1990s. The SCC was the place where, among other things, the first standing protests organised by the Women in Black against war and ethnic cleansing took place, as well as the Belgrade Circle sessions from April until the end of June 1992.
THE YUGOSLAV DRAMA THEATRE
A reminder of 30 May 1992, when this was the site where several hundred actors protested against the war and expressed sympathy for its victims. At the invitation of the YDT and the Serbian Dramatic Artists’ Association, on 3 February 1993, on the occasion of the beating up of actor Irfan Mensur the previous night, most of the theatres in Belgrade and Serbia cancelled performances for one day, seeking to “alert the public opinion about the danger of further fascist outbursts of this sort”. We also recalled the “Black Armband for Sarajevo” campaign in which a 1300-metre long black armband was unravelled from the Albanija Palace to Slavija square in a protest involving 100,000 people under the slogan “We are with You”.
SERBIA'S PRESIDENTIAL PALACE
The majority of anti-war campaigns and protests took place between the Presidential Palace, the Federal Assembly building and Pionirski Park ("Stop the Hatred to Stop the War", "The Yellow Ribbon"). Among other things, in front of the Presidential Palace, for five months, from 8 October 1991 until 8 February 1992, the "Candles for all those Killed in the War" candle-lighting campaign took place under the following slogans: "Solidarity with all Rebels Against the War" and "For all those Killed in the War". A book of condolences was opened in which all those who came in the evening to pay their respects in front of the candles lit in Pionirski Park could write their message on the suicide of reservist Miroslav Milenković (which was later published entitled "A Tomb for Miroslav Milenkovic").
REPUBLIC SQUARE
On 22 April 1992, Republic Square hosted an anti-war rock concert, "SOS for Peace: Don't Count on Us," featuring the following bands: Rimtutituki, Boye, Obojeni Program, Rambo Amadeus and attended by some 55,000 people. Before the concert, the Rimtutituki band (comprising members of EKV, Električni Orgazam and Partibrejkers) made rounds of the city in a truck, playing a song they recorded with the support of B92 Youth Radio “Now Listen Here”. One of the best anti-war songs, "The Man with the Moon in His Eyes," by Đorđe Balašević, which was dedicated to Vukovar was written at the time (published in 1993).
PIONIRSKI PARK
The end of the tour was dedicated to discussing draft resistance and evasion, as well as the reservists’ riots involving tens of thousands of people. One of the striking acts of protest against the war is the conduct of Valjevo reservist Vladimir Živković, who, on 22 September 1991 drove a tank from the Vukovar front back to Belgrade where he parked it in front of the Federal Assembly building. We will also touch on another taboo topic in Serbia – enforced conscriptions (especially the conscription of the refugees from Krajina in 1995).
The guided tour video
