Political Culture and Dialogue

A Monument to Concealment

Although the topic of public monuments has not ceased to be the subject of various disputes in the last thirty years, it became even more current in Serbia recently when the construction of a megalomaniac bronze figure of Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja was decided and started in front of the former railway station in Belgrade.

By Branislav Dimitrijević

Spaces of Commoning

Taking up the challenge of understanding the urban commons in the context of the unique collective experience of Yugoslav real socialism, which attempted to implement an experimental system of self-management on the level of the entire society, represents an attempt to also recognize how this specific context reflects the concept of the new commons: what are the practices and forms of commons that have emerged in resistance to neoliberal capitalism on the periphery, but also - how do these commons communicate with the Yugoslav heritage.

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SREBRENICA GENOCIDE: 25 Years of Denial

How the State of Emergency impacted the Independent Cultural and Artistic Scene in Serbia: A Report

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The art and culture scene in Serbia is an important part of the cultural sector, which is predominantly precariously organized. That is why it is crucial to acknowledge the situation the scene found itself in and to understand the reasons of its particular actions, which are aimed at fighting for more safe and stable working and living environments.

By Vida Knežević

SREBRENICA GENOCIDE DENIAL REPORT 2020

Rarely, if ever, has a genocide been as normalized as the genocide against the Bosniaks. It is a process which began simultaneously with the genocide itself—not only with the expansive cover-up campaign of its perpetrators, but with the rhetorical onslaught of minimization undertaken by the international community.

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25 Years Since the Srebrenica Genocide Don’t deny! Remember!

They talk about that time, about the summer of 1995, when they were children, when they had to pack their toys hastily in order to get themselves into safety from the Serbian troops. The attacks, the fears – the world seemed to stand still for them then. They talk about how it felt at that time when the then so-called UN safe area no longer provided any protection. How it felt when the hopes to get protection from the internationals from the hatred of the advancing Serbs, dissolved into thin air. At that time, when the international community folded in face of the violence overrunning the whole of Bosnia since 1992 and ultimately culminating in Srebrenica. At some point, as reported by one of the survivors, she understood that she did not have a father anymore.

Perspectives Southeast Europe

The Birth of Citizenry in Serbia: Anti-Jewish Legislation and the Townspeople of Kragujevac, 1845-1847

The problem of civic, legal and political emancipation of Jews in 19th century European societies is one of the critical processes in modern European history. What was the status of Jews in 19th-century Principality of Serbia, and how does it compare to other countries in the broader European perspective? This brochure attempts to provide a concise answer to this question, emphasizing the singular position and role that the citizens of a town in Serbia played in the process of Jewish emancipation at one point in history.

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Albanian-Serbian Besa Agreements in 1906-1907: A Model of Serbian-Albanian Coexistence in Kosovo

The richness of the multilayered historical reality, the authentic multicultural context of everyday life and the specific regional peculiarities of Albanian-Serbian relations in Kosovo have been unjustly simplified for decades by being reduced to episodes of intense interethnic violence. Even a casual conversation with people from both ethnic communities in Kamenica, Gnjilane, Šilovo and Ranilug reveals a more complex picture of mutual relations. From the perspective of ordinary people, the memory of coexistence and a common life together, mutual respect and tolerance in socialist Yugoslavia and in the aftermath of the 1999 war in Kosovo prevails over the notions about ethnic distrust and ethnically motivated violence.

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Perspectives - Kosovo 1999-2019: A Hostage Crisis

Twenty years on from the Kosovo War, the collective memory of both parties in the conflict remains burdened by myths and incontestable truths about what actually took place. The process of reconciliation and building longstanding peace is being undermined, primarily, by political elites in both countries, whose populist policies amplify the prejudices between Kosovar Albanians and Serbs. In this issue of Perspectives we aim to highlight the fact that Kosovo is not just a toponym, but a country burdened by its recent violent history, where common people are struggling to rebuild the broken societies that the conflict has left behind.

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