Postcards from Belgrade

Click on photograph to see the full postcard

IT WAS ONE of the longest—and most imaginative—continuing campaigns in the history of nonviolent action. From mid-November 1996 through mid-February 1997, the people of Belgrade and other cities and towns across Serbia found new and creative ways to protest the nullification by Socialist Party chief Slobodan Milosevic of opposition victories in November’s municipal elections (NVA, Jan.-Feb.). Yet, as many noted, the Serbia actions could not be fit into neat categories. Though a number of the demonstrators were peace activists like the Women in Black, others were die-hard nationalists, making no apologies for—and even endorsing—the wars that left much of former Yugoslavia ravaged. Pacifist Dorie Wilsnack, who spent three months working with a Belgrade-based international peace project just as the protests were going on, asked, "How can a society that has the capacity for so much hatred also have the capacity for so much nonviolence?" A few of the myriad forms the protests took are listed here, as described in a January report by the Balkan Peace Teams (NVA, Jan.-Feb.). The photos are actual postcards printed in Serbia and sold at the protests (though no one in Serbia would dare mail them). Puppets Two large satirical puppets were created to march in the Belgrade protests. One depicting Milosevic’s wife, Mira Markovic, in feudal armor, was designed by Belgrade University art students. The other is of Milosevic in prison clothes. It attracted wide popular attention and its creator was picked up by the police one night and badly beaten. He remains under medical care. The Green Man Protesters wait on the sidewalk until the "green man" light appears at the crosswalks. Then everyone runs into the crosswalks for a few frenzied minutes of dancing and cheering. When the light turns red again, they quickly return to the sidewalks. Noisemaking People use everything: whistles, horns, bells, sirens, pots and pans. When the marchers stop traffic, many motorists honk their horns, not out of frustration over the traffic jam, but in support of the demonstrators. Photo Ops Protesters pose in front of the police cordons for dramatic photos, sometimes asking police to pose with them. Marching in Circles Protesters march in circles on the pedestrian malls. Or they march in small circles right in front of the police cordons. Whistles These are the most common noisemakers in the protests, often used in a call-and-response cadence. They are also used by individuals to make a quick "statement" while walking down the street. A whistle hanging around the neck is a sign of identification, much like a protest button. Jamming the Phone Lines People make nonstop telephone calls to state institutions to completely clog up the telephone lines and make the government’s work impossible. A list of state telephone numbers was placed in the independent daily newspaper, assigning different sets of numbers to people living in certain neighborhoods. The Balkan Peace Teams are a joint project of War Resisters International and a dozen other groups. For copies of the BPT report quoted here, or of Working for Peace in the Balkans: A Guide to U.S. Organizations, contact Dorie Wilsnack at the American Friends Service Committee, 15 Rutherford Pl., New York, NY 10003; (212)598-0950.

[War Resisters League Website] [Nonviolent Activist Index]
March-April 1997: [Gulf Coverup Radicalizes Vets] [A Simple, Basic Right] [What is a Good Enough Life?] [Postcards from Belgrade] [Activist News] [War Facts]

The Nonviolent Activist is published bi-monthly by:
WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE
339 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10012. (212) 228-0450, fax (212) 228-6193, e-mail:wrl@warresisters.org.

EDITOR: Judith Mahoney Pasternak. PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE: Virginia Baron, David McReynolds, John M. Miller (production), Lisa Miller, Judith Mahoney Pasternak (editor), Mary Jane Sullivan. NVA ADVISORY BOARD: Robert Cooney, Kate Donnelly, Larry Gara, Carol Jahnkow, Andy Mager, Matt Meyer, Craig Simpson. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Free to members, individual non-members of WRL $15 per year; institutions $25 per year; overseas airmail add $15 per year. Send check or money order to WRL. MANUSCRIPTS: Inquiries welcome via postal or e-mail. Paper manuscripts will not be returned unless accompanied by a SASE; poetry by assignment only. Letters to the editor, inquiries, advertising rates, etc. to the address above.