Staša Zajović: Antiwar Activism after Yugoslavia

St a š a Z ajov ić Antiwar Activism after Yugoslavia author Staša Zajović title “U svoje ime” [In One’s Own Name] originally published Žene i politika mira: prilozi ženskoj kulturi otpora [Women and the Politics of Peace: Contributions to a Culture of Women’s Resistance], ed. Biljana Kašić (Zagreb: Centar za ženske studije / Center for Women’s Studies, 1997), 31–34. Reprinted in: Ženska strana rata [Women’s Side of the War], eds. Lina Vušković and Zorica Trifunović (Belgrade: Žene u crnom / Women in Black, 2007), 11–13. language Serbian about the author Stanislava Staša Zajović (b. 1953, Nikšić) is a Yugoslav, Serbian, and transnational feminist and peace activist. Zajović moved from Montenegro to Belgrade to study Romance languages and graduated from the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Philology in 1977. From 1985, she was a member of the feminist group Woman and Society (Žena i društvo) which operated as Belgrade’s activist counterpart to Zagreb’s more academically-oriented collective of the same name. A steady presence in the Belgrade feminist scene, Zajović was a co-founder of a range of feminist initiatives in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the Helpline for Women and Children Victims of Violence (SOS telefon za žene i decu žrtve nasilja), the Belgrade Women’s Lobby (Beogradski ženski lobi), the Women’s Parliament (Ženski parlament), the Civil Resistance Movement (Civilni pokret otpora), the Center for Antiwar Action (Centar za antiratnu akciju), and—most famously—Women in Black (Žene u crnom) in 1991. With the latter organization, which she has coordinated for more than three decades, Zajović has co-organized and participated in around 2500 street performances, vigils, peace marches, protests, and demonstrations against war, militarism, nationalism, and patriarchy. During the Yugoslav wars, the group was particularly engaged in helping refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as supporting conscientious objectors in Serbia. Zajović is one of the organizers of the Women’s Peace Network–Network of Women’s Solidarity, which gathered feminist activists from around the globe. She has also been active in the Coalition for a Secular State (Koalicija za sekularnu državu) which opposes strong clericalization currents in today’s Serbia. Under her coordination, Women in Black brought together ten women’s groups from the post-Yugoslav space with the view of establishing the socalled Women’s Court (Ženski sud). This initiative offered an innovative, feminist model of transitional justice by providing a regional platform for the testimonials of 160 • Staša Zajović women who survived war-related violence during the 1990s. Along with numerous commemorative events taking place around the region, Zajović has been a (co)organizer of a series of educational programs, including peace workshops, regional seminars, and transitional justice trainings. She is the author of articles and essays about antimilitarism, feminist peace politics, women’s politics, and reproductive rights that have appeared in regional and international media outlets. Zajović has also (co)edited more than ten editions of the Women in Black yearly anthology Žene za mir (Women for Peace), published in both Serbo-Croatian and English. Because of her uncompromising stance regarding the necessity to prosecute suspected war criminals, Zajović has over the years been exposed to both verbal and physical attacks by hooligans and nationalist politicians. Although rather unpopular in her own country, she has, in her capacity of Women in Black coordinator, received several international awards for her long-term activist engagement. These include the UN Millennium Peace Prize (2001), the Charlotte Bunch Award for Women’s Human Rights (2013), honorary citizenships of Granada and Tutin, and others. She was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize campaign in 2005. most important works · ed., Ženska mirovna politika [Women’s Peace Politics] (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2002); ed., Globalizacija: problemi, dileme, odgovori [Globalization: Problems, Dilemmas, Answers] (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2003); ed., Žene, zdravlje, razoružanje [Women, Health, Disarmament] (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2003); with Adriana Zaharijević, eds., Drugačija moć je moguća [Another Power is Possible] (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2004); ed., Žene, mir, bezbednost [Women, Peace, Security] (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2005); Tranziciona pravda – feministički pristup, in English: Transitional Justice – A Feminist Approach (both: Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2007); ed., Žene, mir, bezbednost: Rezolucija 1325 – 10 godina (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2010), in English: Women, Peace, Security: Resolution 1325 – 10 years (Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2011); with Tamara Spaić, eds., Hajke, psovke i ostalo: dosije o napadima na Žene u crnom, in English: Persecutions, Curses and the Rest: Dossier on Attacks against Women in Black (both: Belgrade: Žene u crnom, 2022). B o ja n B i l i ć context The Yugoslav wars, most frequently approached through the nationalism paradigm, witnessed intense regional and transnational civic mobilizations which were heterogeneous in form and ideological commitments. One of the most acute reactions to the imminence of military conflict was a protest of mothers whose sons were serving in the Yugoslav People’s Army as the protracted political and economic crisis escalated to the point of violence in 1991. This engagement shared affinities with the initiatives that had already taken place in Sri Lanka and in South America (e.g., El Salvador, Argentina) where mothers came together to oppose dictatorial regimes and Antiwar Activism after Yugoslavia • 161 bring their criminal representatives to justice. Many women from around Yugoslavia gathered in Belgrade to demand their sons be released from the Army, but did not manage to produce a request that would go beyond their ethnic affiliations. Although they were supported by Belgrade feminist activists, coming up with a united front of action against ever-stronger militarization proved impossible as nationalist authorities strived to instrumentalize the movement and weaken it from within. One of the earliest instances of more politically articulated antiwar sentiment in Serbia was the establishment of the Center for Antiwar Action, which took place in Belgrade in December 1991. The Center was founded by a group of intellectuals (e.g., Stojan Cerović, Vesna Pešić, Nebojša Popov, Dejan Janča, Sonja Liht [Licht], Tanja Petovar, and Lina Vušković, among others), some of whom were at that point already engaged in a range of (non-governmental) organizations including, among others, the Association for the Yugoslav Democratic Initiative (Udruženje za jugoslovensku/jugoslavensku demokratsku inicijativu), the European Movement in Yugoslavia (Evropski pokret u Jugoslaviji), the Women’s Party (Ženska stranka), the Women’s Parliament (Ženski parlament), the Helsinki Committee in Yugoslavia (Helsinški odbor u Jugoslaviji), and the Forum for Ethnic Relations (Forum za etničke odnose). Initially operating in a private flat, the Center for Antiwar Action organized numerous protests and performances in an effort to resist belligerent Serbian leaders and encourage the wider population to take a more active part in antiwar contentions. The Center was also dedicated to humanitarian law endeavors as well as to projectbased activities around non-violent conflict resolution and human rights protection. Ever since the beginning of its operation, the Center was characterized by an ideological diversity which reflected a wider sense of confusion that accompanied the outbreak of the Yugoslav wars and the discussion about their causes. Mostly belonging to the Belgrade middle class milieu with substantial symbolic and social capital, the activists of the Center could not come up with a unanimous narrative about Serbia’s military predominance within the complex architecture of Yugoslavia’s disintegration. In the atmosphere of personal and political cleavages, the Center witnessed a series of fragmentations through which Belgrade activists performed a “division of labor” and established their own non-governmental organizations. The Belgrade-based Women in Black (Žene u crnom) is probably the most wellknown activist group to emerge in this process. Not only did this collective take an unwavering antinationalist and antimilitarist stance that from the very beginning highlighted the primary responsibility of Serbia (led by Slobodan Milošević) for the violence of the 1990s—as is made obvious in Zajović’s text—but they also left the Center because of their dissatisfaction with the way in which patriarchal hierarchies were reproduced in its activities. Building upon Yugoslav socialist feminist networks, which started developing in a more autonomous fashion from the late 1970s, the activists insisted upon a “de-naturalization” of the women’s propensity to care and 162 • Staša Zajović comfort. They took issue with the principle that peace activism was hardly anything more than an expression of women’s traditional role to support men. According to them, such a patriarchal approach to women’s engagement constituted a perpetuation of the private-public dichotomy which failed to acknowledge women’s efforts and obscured their political character. The group was therefore born out of the desire to show that antiwar activism was not a “motherly duty,” but a matter of political choice. Inspired by their Israeli and—more closely—Italian predecessors (the latter staged a vigil in Sarajevo immediately before the war), Belgrade’s Women in Black are the most steadfast voice of feminist antiwar resistance in the Serbian context.1 Over the last thirty years, from their first protest in front of the Student Cultural Center (Studentski kulturni centar)—the hub of Belgrade alternative organizing throughout the 1970s and 1980s—to the Republic Square and Knez Mihailova Street (Belgrade’s main city square and pedestrian street), to more recent performances around the region, Women in Black have developed their feminist politics that is encapsulated in the text chosen to represent them in this anthology. The crucial dimension of their political project has to do with their determination to take distance from—to write oneself out of—the (supposedly) homogeneous ethnic corpus that lies at the heart of patriarcho-military enterprises. The objective is to reappropriate one’s own name and rescue it from a nationalist monolith that generates violence, severs transnational ties, and erases the Yugoslav socialist and antifascist past.2 In this regard, speaking in one’s name is a sign of disobedience to national authorities that makes it possible to maintain (regional) prewar friendships and engage in acts of mourning and cooperation that go way beyond ethnic divisions. The chosen text was written by Zajović for a feminist conference that took place in Zagreb, Croatia—from the perspective of an author “on the other side of the front line”—in October 1996.3 The following year it appeared in the annual publication Women for Peace (published by the Women in Black) and was also included in the edited volume Žene i politika mira (Women and the Politics of Peace), published by the Center for Women’s Studies in Zagreb, and edited by Biljana Kašić, who is mentioned throughout the text. Ten years later, the text was reprinted in the book Ženska strana rata (Women’s Side of War), published by the Women in Black, which brought 1 2 3 Both the Israeli and the Italian group as well as the worldwide network of Women in Black activists have a clear feminist orientation insisting upon the idea that male domestic violence and armed conflicts are interrelated phenomena. On Yugoslav Women’s Antifascist Front (Antifašistički front žena, AFŽ), see Ina Jun-Broda, Maca Gržetić, and Lydia Sklevicky in this volume. Zajović’s troubling positionality in the context of the war-provoked separation between Belgrade and Zagreb feminist friends might be reflected by two different translations of her text’s title: “In her own name” (from Zagreb’s perspective) and “In my own name” (from Belgrade’s perspective). With her engagement, Zajović endeavors to substitute the ethnically charged “Us and Them” with another division, namely the one between Us (antiwar activists, women, feminists, friends) and Them (“brutes, scoundrels, warriors, patriot-killers”). Antiwar Activism after Yugoslavia • 163 together numerous accounts of the still poorly known women’s transnational peace mobilizations that surrounded the Yugoslav wars. Their publishing effort shows how Women in Black and many other activist organizations also operate as epistemic communities which accumulate and disseminate knowledge alternative to mainstream national(ist) narratives. Even though this production, documenting fragile instances of feminist activism, has been intense over the last few decades, it usually cannot count on large circulations or commercial distribution and therefore needs international solidarity channels—like this anthology—to amplify its important message. selected bibliography and further reading Athanasiou, Athena. Agonistic Mourning: Political Dissidence and the Women in Black. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017. Bilić, Bojan. We Were Gasping for Air: (Post-)Yugoslav Anti-War Activism and Its Legacy. Baden Baden: Nomos, 2012. Bilić, Bojan, and Vesna Janković, eds. Resisting the Evil: (Post-)Yugoslav Anti-War Contention. Baden Baden: Nomos, 2012. Lóránd, Zsófia. The Feminist Challenge to the Socialist State in Yugoslavia. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Miškovska Kajevska, Ana. Feminist Activism at War: Belgrade and Zagreb Feminists in the 1990s. New York; London: Routledge, 2017. B o ja n B i l i ć *** StašaZajović In One’s Own Name (Cassandra’s Predicament)4 Throughout the past few years, we have learned to perform in various metropolises:Rome,Madrid,Berlin,NewYork…Wehavelearnedto“makestatements”for the so-called mass-media; we have learned how to spread a network of counterinformationamongalternativemediainItaly,Germany,Spain;wehavelearnedto give“talks”infrontofinternationalfora,buttheyhavehardlyeverheardus,they have just listened to us to ease their conscience. Buthere,infrontofyou,Icanneithersimply“perform”norjust“makeastatement,” nor give a speech. As was agreed, at this women’s plenary session, I should 4 Editor’s note: Only the first (1997) version of the text contains this subtitle. Cassandra’s predicament probably refers to the metaphor, originating from Greek mythology, of a person whose valid warning or concerns are disbelieved by others. Many women in the text are, intentionally, only mentioned with first names. In some cases, it was important to identify the reference; in others, we leave it open. 164 • Staša Zajović “report”aboutwhatwehavebeendoinginglacial,icySerbiaduringthesepastfew years. I wanted to, yet I cannot. Besides, I thought, we have followed each other’s workthroughoutthesefiveyears.ButIdon’tknowhowmuchwewereabletofollow each other’s internal journeys. Despite my strong desire, despite my deepest respect for this place and for our topic, here in front of you I cannot just read a text that would be expected in an occasion like this one. Here in front of you I would like to give a statement of tenderness and love. But I was not sure how to do this without seeking advice from my friends and companions that travelled with me through long, slow nights in glacial, icy Serbia. EspeciallyMarina(Tsvetaeva)andAna(Akhmatova)5 and Cassandra. Let me tell youwhatSonječka,“cryinghottears,”saidtoMarinainthewinterof1918/19in icyRussia:“Iknowthatinothertowns…onlyyou,Marina,arenotinothertowns, but they are …”6BecauseNela,Biljana,Neva,Đurđa,myprewarfriendsarenotin other towns. Because Mirjana is not in other towns. (I wanted to see her and her toseethatwe,“womenfromtheaggressorcountry,”havenotchanged.Iwanted to,yetIcannot.BecauseMirjanaisnolongerinZagrebnorelsewhere.)Norare Rada,Sanda,Slavica,Tanja…my“war-time”friends.TheyliveinZagreb.And I love those other towns because in them are other people I love.7 “Buttheyare…”—thebrutes,scoundrels,warriors,patriot-killers,theyareeverywhere, and most of all in Belgrade. Not because Belgrade is a large city, but because the great evil originated from Belgrade, because it is from Belgrade that the war started. A Bodily Thought That, which I am able to tell you, has passed through my body. This thought is corporeal. Not only because by exhibiting my body in Belgrade’s main square, togetherwithfriends,forfiveyears,wehavebeenmakingourresistancetothe Serbian regime and the war visible. But because I am a witness to the truth of 5 6 7 Editor’s note: Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941) and Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) were Russian poets and writers. On their relationship, see Amanda Haight, “Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetayeva,” Slavonic & East European Review 50, no. 121 (1972): 589–93; Ekaterina Artemyuk, “The Life and Literary Work of Russian Women Writers of the Early 20th Century: Their Artistic Merit, Cultural Contribution, and Meaning for the Present,” in Defiant Trajectories: Mapping out Slavic Women Writers Routes, eds. Katja Mihurko Poniž, Biljana Dojčinović, and Maša Grdešić (Ljubljana: Women Writers Route; Forum of Slavic Cultures, 2021), 46–57. Editor’s note: Sonječka (Sonechka) is probably the actress Sophia Holliday, with whom Marina Tsvetaeva had a romantic relationship between 1919–20. See Diana Lewis Burgin, “Mother Nature versus the Amazons: Marina Tsvetaeva and Female Same-Sex Love,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 6, no. 1 (1995): 75. Editor’s note: Important feminist and peace activists from the time, among others, were Nela Pamuković, Biljana Kašić, Neva Tölle, Đurđa Miklaužić, Đurđa Knežević, Rada Borić. Antiwar Activism after Yugoslavia • 165 Virginia Woolf—“women think through the experiences of their own bodies”8— or because Penelope, through the mouth of Adriana Cavarero, left us a pledge: “Whilephilosophersdivide,tear,Penelopedoesnotdothat,shejustweaves,knits whatthephilosophershaveunraveled,separated(spiritfrombody).”9 The Cult of Encounters When I go to Zagreb again, I will see them all. Again. This is what I said long ago to Anna [Akhmatova], my emotional friend, my spiritual refuge, ever since the glacial era returned to these lands. And Anna [Akhmatova] rarely saw Marina [Tsvetaeva],butshesentherwords:“Isee,Ihear,Ifeelyou…”AndItoowashearingandfeelingyou.AllaroundSpainIwascarryingBiljana’s[Kašić]“sensory” poem, addressed to the feminist groups from Belgrade: When we think of each other Miles away from together [Remembering our dreams and goals The wholeness Despite lines and sides senseless war] We are not alone Imagine outside of the lines.10 And I translated the poem into Spanish. And my friends, antimilitarists, Concha, Yolanda,andAlmudenacarrytheWomeninBlackexhibitionaroundSpainwith Biljana’s poem which I translated; my gentle friend Michele, a poet from Madrid, “polishedupthestyle.”IcarriedNela’snetworkoftendernessandsisterlydevotion withinmyself.IcalleduponĐurđa’sdefiantrefusalofthelogicofclassification— “TherearenoSerbianwomen,Croatianwomen,thereisonlyStašafromBelgrade, BiljanafromPančevo,thatis,womenexistbywayofwhotheyare,notbywayof theirnationalbelonging.”—wheneverIwasrudelyandaggressivelyasked:“And 8 Editor’s note: This is probably referring to the quote: “[The adventure of] telling the truth about my own experiences as a body, I do not think I solved. I doubt that any woman has solved it yet.” See “Professions for Women,” in Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth, and Other Essays (London: Hogarth Press, 1947), 153. 9 Editor’s note: See “Penelope,” in Adriana Cavarero, In Spite of Plato: A Feminist Rewriting of Ancient Philosophy (Routledge, 1995), 11–30. 10 Editor’s note: Biljana Kašić originally wrote the poem in English. Here, we add the missing lines. Published in Feminističke sveske [Feminist Notebooks], 1 (1994), the journal of the Autonomous Women’s Center, Belgrade. 166 • Staša Zajović whoareyou:aSerboraCroator…?”IamwhatIchoosetobe.Iammyownindividual creation, as [Iosif] Brodsky would say. Let Us Not be Deceived by Our Own AndwhileIamwritingthis,surelyduringthenightbetweenOctober22and23, 1996,westilldonotknowwhethertheywillgrantusavisa.It’satacticofexhaustion.They[theofficials]assumethatwewill“getfedup.”They“setthelines,andwe walkoutsideofthelines.”Weknowthemwell.ItwasonmyownbodythatIfirstfelt whatCassandratoldus:“Don’tletyourselfbedeceivedbyyourown”towhichshe added“norbyothers,”whichwetransformedtogetherintoapoliticalprinciple— disobedienceto“one’sown”governmentsandstatesisaformofwomen’ssolidarity. UsandThem—thereisanabyssthatseparatesmefromthem,a“difference” whichcreatesaknotinmystomach.AndIcan’tfulfillthepromisetoAnaA.that “Iwon’ttakerevengenorbebitter.”Andyou,Ana,alsoaskedyourselfwhenthe “starsofdeath”stoodoveryouall,and,“whenwillthepunishmentcome?”And Iaskmyself“whenwillthepunishmentcome”fortheadministratorsofdeath,who, “underbloodyboots,underblackwheels[ofblackpolicewagons—Ed.],”11 live in the samecountryasIdo.Andtonight,Iaskmyself“whenwillthepunishmentcome?” maybeforselfishreasons—IwanttoseeallofyouinZagreb.And“thepersonalis political.”And“thepersonalisinternational.” In a Foreign Language, the Pain is Also Lessened… I have not written to you all as often as I felt I should have and wanted to. Mostly I wrote and received letters in a foreign language. (Are the languages of the spacious house of the Mediterranean, to which I spiritually and emotionally belong, alsoforeign?) ItwasinaforeignlanguagethatItestifiedaboutmyinnerturmoil,similarto thatofCassandra:“Iwanttoabeawitness,eveniftherewerenootherlivingperson who would ask me to testify.” In a foreign language, the desperation seemed to me less horrifying. In a foreign language, I shared my pain with others, for often themiseryandpainofthosearoundmewerefargreaterandmorejustifiedthan mine. Often, I was ashamed to complain. In a foreign language, Anna [Akhmatova] “rippedblackshamefrommyheart.”12 But in my own language, shouting on the streets“Belgrade,wakeup!Belgrade,shameonyou!”likethattimewithBiljana 11 Editor’s note: The quotes are taken from the poem Requiem 1935–1940. See Akhmatova, Selected Poems, 92. 12 Editor’s note: A paraphrase of Akhmatova’s lyrics: “I’ll wash the blood from your hands, and rip black shame from your heart, and give you a new name to cover the pain of defeat and humiliation.” See Sinyavsky, “The Unshackled Voice,” 18. Antiwar Activism after Yugoslavia • 167 Jovanović13inJune1992,whenweclimbedashakytruckandtrickedthepolice, yes, that was my public cry, that was my political choice. I know, responsibility, notguilt.AndmaybeIaccuseinnocentpeoplebecause“everythinggotconfused in this country, one does not know who is a beast and who is a human.”14 The glacialeracontinuesbecausemany“frozenfriendships”formearestillnotdefrosted, because I walk down the street or I take a bus in Belgrade and wonder: Has this onebeeninVukovar?HasthisonerapedinBosnia?Doesthisoneterrorizeand killaroundKosovo?DidthisoneshootatSarajevofromPale?”15 Michele wrote poems in her language to comfort me, and his own language, mydearfriendAlex(Langer)16sharedmy/ourhope.Butthenthedespairofothers sparked an insurmountable feeling of powerlessness in Alex. His suicide was indeed“hischoiceofdefinitivesolitude.”FormonthsAlex’schoicetormentedme. And I wrote about it in his language. In our language, the language of our mothers, I wish to share with all of you attheForumthetenderness,andthepainandthehope.Ialsowishustocontinue weaving the networks of disobedience to all the militarists: the fathers of nations, the keepers of traditions, morals and nationhoods, the guardians of states and borders. Let us be disobedient also to the women militarists, of all colors and nationalities. Friendshipandtendernesswillsaveusfromthem. Delivered at the conference in Zagreb, October 24, 1996 Tr a n s l a t e d b y S t a n i s l a v a L a z a r e v i ć a n d b y Re n é e F r a n i ć , r e v i s e d b y Jo v a n a M i h a j l o v i ć Tr b o v c 17 13 Editor’s note: Biljana Jovanović (1953–1996) was a writer, peace activist and feminist from Serbia. 14 Editor’s note: A paraphrase of Akhmatova’s lyrics: “Everything is confused forever, and I can no longer tell beast from man…” from the poem Requiem 1935–1940. See Akhmatova, Selected Poems, 97. 15 Editor’s note: All these questions refer to the well-known crimes (mostly against civilians) committed by the Serbian forces. On the prosecution of these crimes and their impact on the post-Yugoslav societies see Carsten Stahn et al., eds., Legacies of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: A Multidisciplinary Approach (Oxford–New York: Oxford University Press, 2020). 16 Editor’s note: Alexander Langer (1946–1995) was an Italian journalist, peace activist, leftist politician, and translator. After writing his last article protesting Europe’s inertia in stopping the war in Bosnia “L’Europa muore o rinasce a Sarajevo” (Europe either dies or is reborn in Sarajevo), he died of suicide. 17 This is an edited combination of two different translations, one done by Stanislava Lazarević for the publication of Women in Black (Belgrade, 2007) and another one by Renée Franić for the Center for Women’s Studies (Zagreb, 1997). Comparing both versions in Serbian and both translations, it seems that the translations were based on a transcript of a speech which contained more sentences, in various places, than the version originally written in Serbian—the version given here is the extended one.