In order to involve WIB members who are not near Belgrade, WIB holds network meetings in different parts of Serbia. This past weekend, we traveled to the town Leskovac in Southern Serbia for a network meeting focusing on anti-militarism. The weekend was full of new experiences and insights for me, and I was really inspired by how passionately invested all the members were in learning more about relevant issues and in strengthening their network.

Most of the WIB members from Belgrade traveled in a minibus, but they were short a few spaces, so a few of us rode in a car. The car belonged to Katarina who works for a Swedish ngo that provides financial and other types of support to WIB in Serbia. Driving in Serbia is a trip. Car trouble, no signs and one way bridges with two way traffic made for a memorable ride, but the highlight for me was a construction worker who was drilling in the middle of a lane that was still in use- the cars just kind of swerved around him.

Thankfully, we made it in time to join the WIB street action that was taking place in Leskovac. The performances I described in an earlier post took place here. The group was extremely colorful and loud. After the “building block” performance, everyone marched around the town and stopped to carry out the caterpillar performance and a performance with an army parachute that had been decorated with peace and anti-militarism words and signs.

WIB in all their street action glory.

WIB in all their street action glory.

Each box represents a conflict in the world. Stacked on top of each other, they represent the hierarchy of the military.

Each box represents a conflict in the world. Stacked on top of each other, they represent the hierarchy of the military.

After the street action, we all stopped at the offices of Women In Peace, the partner organization of Women In Black in Leskovac. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here yet, but in Serbia, everyone smokes. EVERYONE. According to Stasa, the cancer rate in Serbia has increased by 300% in the last 15 years. She smokes too. I’m probably going to have second-hand smoke withdrawal when I get back to the U.S. Anyway, stopping at the office doubled as a smoking break. After that, we were on our way up a beautiful mountain to the hotel where the weekend activities took place.

I was pretty overwhelmed by all the new faces surrounding me, but everyone was unbelievably kind to Simran and I over the weekend (Simran is my partner Advocacy Project fellow). One woman even gave us some branches of wild strawberries during a workshop.

I hope the pictures and accompanying captions below will give you a better idea of the weekend. I plan on writing about more specific aspects of the weekend in future blogs.

Yovena, a WIB activist, holds out the "candy" she made for the street action. Each piece of candy is wrapped in a piece of paper with a question about the military on it. A lot of people stopped by and asked for one, so it was a successful way to get people's attention. Yovena is a super interesting person. I will write more about her and her tattoo later.

Yovena, a WIB activist, holds out the "candy" she made for the street action. Each piece of candy is wrapped in a piece of paper with a question about the military on it. A lot of people stopped by and asked for one, so it was a successful way to get people's attention. Yovena is a super interesting person. I will write more about her and her tattoo later.

An activity at the first workshop where everyone wrote down the first word that came to mind upon hearing the word "militarism" on a post it note.

An activity at the first workshop where everyone wrote down the first word that came to mind upon hearing the word "militarism" on a post it note.

A workshop activity where everyone took a piece of paper out of a bowl and decided whether the word on the paper would fit better under feminism, anti-militarism, or both.

A workshop activity where everyone took a piece of paper out of a bowl and decided whether the word on the paper would fit better under feminism, anti-militarism, or both.

For the final activity, everyone stood in a circle and threw balls of yarn at each other while shouting a word that they thought accurately described the weekend, creating a veritable web or network. Simran and I spent a few hours rolling the balls of yarn, so it was cool to see them used in such a creative way.

For the final activity, everyone stood in a circle and threw balls of yarn at each other while shouting a word that they thought accurately described the weekend, creating a veritable web or network. Simran and I spent a few hours rolling the balls of yarn, so it was cool to see them used in such a creative way.

Every month, Women In Black puts out a news bulletin summarizing recent events concerning women’s and human rights around the world. Understanding women’s and human rights issues (which are of course inextricably linked) around the world is key to WIB’s mission. It helps those involved better comprehend how they are connected to others around the world and creates a greater sense of solidarity. I helped Jennifer begin researching some stories for the June edition of the news bulletin today, so I thought I’d share what I found. It’s amazing that these things all happened over only three days- some are setbacks, others are accomplishments, but they all showcase the ever-evolving world of international women’s and human rights.

May 31, 2009- The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued a report documenting the experience of 88 women living in a Farchana refugee camp located across the Sudan border in Chad. Researchers found that one third of the refugees interviewed for the study reported incidents of rape, with half of the reported rapes occurring inside and around the refugee camp. The report concludes that the nations of Darfur and Chad, as well as the international community, must send the message that rape is an intolerable war crime and its perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice.

May 31, 2009- Abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered on his way to church by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder. Dr. Tiller was a physician from Wichita, Kansas and director of a clinic in Wichita, Women’s Health Care Services. His clinic was only one of three in the United States that performed abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy.

June 1st, 2009- According to Vital Voices, lawmaker and doctor Chris Baryomunsi introduced a measure for the criminalization of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Uganda’s Parliament this past May.  Support has been far-reaching for the proposed law as women’s rights activists, health professionals, and government members including Parliament’s deputy speaker and the State Minister for Gender and Cultural Affairs have united to endorse the bill.  If approved, the law would criminalize the practice of FGM and offenders would face a 10-15-year term of imprisonment. The measure is expected to win the two-thirds majority needed for its passage into law by this fall.

June 1^st, 2009- Phyllia Tinyiko Nwamitwa was confirmed as the rightful heir to the chieftaincy of the Valoyi in South Africa by the country’s Constitutional Court after a five year wait. The decision has been widely celebrated by women’s rights groups in South Africa and is viewed as a true breakthrough for the advancement of women as it defies patriarchal tribal traditions and legitimizes the leadership capability of South African women in relation to men. Having recently assumed her role as Chief, Nwamitwa has since mediated two court sessions and plans to lead the 70,000-member tribe by focusing on development and promoting women’s rights “through a job-and-life-skills training program,” intending to “empower women to believe that they are as capable of leadership as men.”

May 27, 2009- At the 62^nd convening of the World Health Organization, United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon proclaimed “no single issue that ties together the security, prosperity, and progress of our world than women’s health” and cited “damning statistics” complied by UN agencies that estimate 500,000 mothers die from complications during pregnancy and child birth each year. The Secretary General insisted that we can only, “move forward by thinking imaginatively…continu[ing] to connect our common challenges.” The Secretary General concluded by issuing a call to action declaring that “In the 21st century, no woman should have to give her life to give life.”

I made it to Serbia! It’s been crazy watching the news about the missing Air France flight that was headed to Paris since I took an Air France flight to Paris to get here. Luckily, I made it to Belgrade, and Jennifer, a BVS volunteer working with WIB, met me at the airport. Even though I was desperate for a nap, I knew that if I slept, I would never get over my jet lag, so I decided to push through and go to the office with Jennifer. On the way to the office, we passed by some buildings that had been bombed by NATO in 1999. The Serbian government has left these buildings intact, sending a pretty powerful message.

This building was bombed by NATO in 1999. Today, it looks exactly as it did then.

This building was bombed by NATO in 1999. Today, it looks exactly as it did then.

The office itself is adorned with WIB posters and pictures, creating a lively atmosphere. A few members were in a meeting, so I met those who weren’t and had my first Serbian coffee. A little while later, the meeting ended, and Stasa, the director of WIB in Belgrade, burst into the room. She immediately came over to me, grabbed my face, exclaimed “Iranian!”, and gave me a big hug. Needless to say, I already feel pretty comfortable here.

Stasa directed everyone into the “meeting” room for a planning session regarding the upcoming trip to Southern Serbia. We are traveling there this weekend to hold a series of workshops for the WIB network. Even though I don’t speak Serbian, it was clear to me that these women are pros at putting on this kind of thing. They brought in a bunch of shoeboxes and began to speak animatedly about the performance they were going to put on. Jennifer told me they were planning on stacking the boxes into a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of the military. The plan was developed and expanded upon before my eyes as they practiced removing boxes (each box is to symbolize a conflict in the world) until the pyramid collapsed, demonstrating how the hierarchy of the military can be broken down. Stasa then brought a huge bright pink cloth and had me and two other women stand in it. It turns out it was designed like one of those Chinese New Year dragons, but in this case, it’s supposed to represent a caterpillar with the message that “slowly but surely, peace can be achieved”. I’m really excited to see these performances executed this weekend.

After the planning meeting, Stasa decided that we all needed to eat, so a few of the women went to the market and whipped up a fresh and delicious meal consisting of eggs, a perfect salad, cheese and bread upon their return. Stasa asked me a lot of questions about my family and background during the meal, but talk quickly turned to WIB matters in Serbian. Jennifer and I left a little while after that, and I slept from 7:00 pm to 10:30 am, which I think is a personal record. Hopefully, that won’t become a regular thing.

To be completely honest, Serbia was not a country I thought about much before I found out I would be working with Women In Black in Belgrade this summer.  The Balkans have always daunted me as an area of study.  I was only a kid during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 90s, and the recent history of the region is so complex, so entangled, and so ever evolving that I have found it difficult to overcome my intimidation. Since learning that I would be working with Women In Black, I cleaned out the shelf on Serbia in the Houston Public Library (hopefully, I haven’t made any  Houstonian enemies who were also trying to research Serbia) and have been trying (pretty unsuccessfully) to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. Even though I’m trying as best as I can to prepare and educate myself for my time in Serbia, I know deep down that I will truly learn only from my experiences “on the ground” in the country.

A map so that you can visualize where I'll be. I'll be based out of Belgrade.

A map so that you can visualize where I'll be. I'll be based out of Belgrade.

I am beyond excited that my time with Women In Black will serve as my introduction to the region and that I will have the opportunity to explore Serbia’s recent history through the lens of a feminist activist organization. WIB has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and received the first Millennium Peace Prize from Unifem. With the motto, “always disobedient to patriarchy, war, nationalism, and militarism”, Women In Black is a group whose value system closely aligns with mine although I have not yet really figured out how to be “disobedient” in a manner that is both effective and fits with my sense of self. I’m sure WIB will teach me a thing or two. After having taken a Feminist Theory course this past semester in which I often struggled with visualizing how the theories we studied are relevant to women outside of academia, I am particularly excited to see how WIB has managed to strike what appears to be a perfect balance between a scholarly interest in feminism and effective activism.

Digging through the WIB website (watch this movie for a good overview of WIB’s work) and learning more about the Otpor student resistance movement (I highly recommend the movie Bringing Down a Dictator), I am beginning to understand the critical role that resistance groups have played in Serbia recently. It seems like talk of nationalism dominates most dialogues and analysis on Serbia, but groups such as WIB and Otpor represent the critical voice of individuals who refuse to stand for the status quo and are willing to fight (non-violently, of course) for what they believe their country and every human being deserves.

I hope that my journey will be as much yours as it is mine. I plan to share everything I observe and learn on this blog, so hopefully, you’ll feel like you are there with me. Please feel free to share your questions and thoughts in the comments section for any blog I post. My next blog will be from Serbia!