Death of a fighter: Post-Yugoslav civil society bids farewell to dissident playwright <PERSON> · Global Voices
<PERSON> at the conference “Is there a chance for civil society in Macedonia?” held in Skopje on May 18, 2018. Photo by <PERSON>, CC BY-NC-SA.
Influential Serbian playwright and anti-war activist <PERSON> passed away at 72 on June 30, 2019, in Belgrade, after falling ill suddenly. Civil society activists and cultural workers from all over former Yugoslavia have commemorated her outstanding legacy.
<PERSON> was the founder and director of Centre for Cultural Decontamination (CZKD), a Belgrade artistic institution established in 1994 whose mission was to fight the climate of nationalism, xenophobia, hatred, and fear running rampant during the breakup of Yugoslavia that fueled the latest round of Balkan wars (1991-2001).
<PERSON> [1947-2019] R.I.P. – A very dear and courageous friend, in so many civic struggles from the very beginnings and founder and leader of the #Belgrade Center for Cultural Decontamination and so much else… A very sad day https://t.co/LWHEAizQQ8
— <PERSON> (@IVejvoda) June 30, 2019
<PERSON>'s activism started during the 1968 student demonstrations in Belgrade. At that time, she was studying at Belgrade's Academy of Theatre, Film, Radio, and Television.
Writer <PERSON> remembered her from that time as a “rebellious girl with pigtails”, and described her as “<PERSON> of Second Serbia” in the title of his eulogy, comparing her to the title character from <PERSON> anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children.
An obituary published by CZKD noted that during the 1970s and 1980s she had a prolific career as art director and playwright in a number of theaters across Yugoslavia, as well as at the celebrated Belgrade theaters Atelje 212 and the Belgrade Drama Theater. In 1993, she was fired from the Belgrade Drama Theater due to her opposition to the regime of <PERSON>.
For many years, <PERSON> wrote columns on the newspapers Susret, Vreme, and Danas, and have had books of essays published. She was awarded the Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture award in 2004, the “Ruts” award of the European Cultural Foundation in 2009, the “Osvajanje slobode” (Conquest of Freedom) award from the Maja Maršićević Tasić Foundation in 2005, and the Legion d’Honneur from the government of France in 2001.
The etymology of the female name <PERSON> is linked to the Serbian words for “fight” and “fighter,” a connection that wasn't lost on the many of the people who paid tribute to <PERSON> on social networks in the past week. The actor and activist <PERSON> tweeted:
<PERSON>. Gledajte je kroz razne prizme i mislite šta god hoćete: <PERSON> je bila istrajan i pošten borac. 260
Do kraja. I kad se ne bih slagao sa njom, uvek bih je poštovao. Jer sam radio s njom i za nju i kod nje, kao student i dalje.
Ona je stajala iza svakog čoveka. Uvek.
— <PERSON> (@WhistlerDick) July 2, 2019
<PERSON>. You can view her through various lenses and think of her what you will, but one thing remains: <PERSON> was a persistent and honest fighter. Until the end. And at the times when I disagreed with her, I always respected her. Because I worked with her and for her and at her place, as a student and beyond.
She stood behind every human being. Always.
A few Twitter users from Bosnia and Herzegovina noted that she was one of the few voices in Serbia who dared to speak out against the genocide in Srebrenica. They have tweeted some of her quotes, like the one below:
“Kad jednom počnete upotrebljavati eufemizme i laži, onda vi i u ostalim dijelovima života to isto činite. 260