DEBATE PROGRAM – SPACES OF FREEDOM: UNLEARNING HISTORY – SHOWCASING FEMALE LITERARY CREATIVITY FROM THE WESTERN BALKANS AT INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL BERLIN

06 Aug DEBATE PROGRAM – SPACES OF FREEDOM: UNLEARNING HISTORY – SHOWCASING FEMALE LITERARY CREATIVITY FROM THE WESTERN BALKANS AT INTERNATIONAL LITERATURE FESTIVAL BERLIN

Saturday 7 September, Back stage at Haus der Berliner Festspiele, 6 pm

TALK1. REVOLUTION AND DEMOCRACY ARE FEMININE…

Moderated by: Milena Berić

With: Rumena Bužarovska, Diana Çuli, Mima Simić and Adelina Tërshani

Conversations will be realised in English language.

Revolution and Democracy are in Female Gender…

Tickets: https://tickets.kbb.eu/kbb.webshop/webticket/bestseatselect?eventId=14618&el=true

In most of the European languages words Revolution and Democracy have a female gender yet official histories and political theories attach such events – social and political transformations to male figures, male voices, male values and yet male tones. 

The Arab Spring, for example, was not the first time Arab women took on leadership roles in populist uprisings. As far back as the 1919 Egyptian revolution against the British occupation, women in the Middle East have played pivotal roles in both political movements and mass protests. Indeed, women constituted a significant proportion of street protesters during the 1960s Algerian revolution, the Iranian revolution of 1979, and in Palestine during the First Intifada. Despite their involvement in past revolutions, whether against native dictators or foreign occupiers, women have yet to attain the degree of political representation. Their social and political positions remain largely unaffected notwithstanding their sacrifices.

Feminist activists in Yugoslavia played an important role in the social and political transformation of an entire society. Yugoslav Women’s Alliance was founded in September 1919 and the Women’s Antifascist Front of Yugoslavia in 1942, which enforced the new equality between women and men legalized by the state. During the break-up of Yugoslavia, feminist activists were notable for their efforts to bring peace and solidarity to the region. Women’s anti-war activism in Serbia played a central role in Serbia’s alternative political space. It was one of the most traumatic periods anyone could experience. The solidarity and organic cooperation between feminist activists in Kosovo and Serbia which prevailed during the conflict amounted to a political refusal to follow oppressive state orders and served as an “alternative scene” and an aspiring frame for activism. Without women’s participation in social and political institutions, nations are unable to develop healthy and sustainable democracies. As a result, democracy repeatedly eludes many nations today.

Today, World is facing challenges that it has never been facing before. These challenges are screaming for new techniques and innovative approaches to resolving apocalyptical transformations that we are facing. These require the highest levels of empathy, love, solidarity and soft skills from high-end politicians to everyday people.

Will women change the world?

TALK 2. …AND SO ARE CULTURE AND PARTICIPATION

Moderated by: Frauke Seebass

With: Lejla Kalamujić, Barbi Marković, Barbara Delać, Ivana Sajko

Conversations will be realised in English languag.

…and so are Culture and Participation

Just like “Democracy” and “Revolution”, the grammatical gender of the words “Culture” and “Participation” are female in most of the European languages as well, thus unwittingly highlighting the importance of including diverse perspectives in domains traditionally dominated by male voices and readings.

Peace agreements have a significantly higher success rate if women are included at all stages of the talks, and it is in turn women – and men resisting masculine stereotypisation – who find their societal roles diminished in the face of violent conflicts and autocratisation. Peaceful societies require spaces for everyone to engage with issues concerning their lives, and vibrant environments for civil society to contest dominant narratives. Building democratic resilience is more important than ever, given the decline in democracy worldwide and the challenges faced by democracies from outside and within. A fundamentally changed information space amplifies malign influences from forces aiming to sow mistrust, readily aided by profit-driven algorithms dominating social media platforms and lacking necessary oversight and education.

Due to their unfinished democratic transitions, societies in the Western Balkans face numerous challenges and needs which in turn directly affect the development of democracy, creating a vicious cycle. Fundamental rights of citizens, such as human dignity, personal integrity, freedom of thought, religion, expression, information, and non-discrimination are deliberately restricted to allow for autocratic practices. Active participation can serve as an antidote to the fatigue of overwhelming exposure. Getting involved, joining forces and empowering others is the very engine driving democracy, and can be a powerful experience that changes one’s perception of citizenship forever. It is therefore especially important to encourage young people to take on an active role in democratic structures where they exist, and work towards change where they are suppressed.

Culture can have a strong effect on democratic security at several different levels. Academic literature identifies at least six social effects of participation in culture that are central elements of cultural citizenship, which contributes to the right of citizens to shape society:  Enhancing understanding and capacity for action; creating and retaining identity; modifying values and preferences for collective choice; building social cohesion; contributing to community development; and fostering civic participation. Culture is also a fundamental element of the European Union’s broader democratic, social, and economic mission. Cultural heritage of the WB countries further enriches cultural diversity of the common European heritage, and civil society actors engaged in culture play an important role in protecting and preserving this heritage, fostering dialogue and tolerance, and upgrading culture and creative industries in the forefront of socio-economic development.

Cultural production can thus strengthen participatory democracies and the European unification process. Where spaces for engagement are shrinking and actively marginalized by those in power, cultural spaces and encounters often provide the last refuge from the fear and hatred dominating public discourse. No autocracy in history has managed to suppress entirely artistic expressions of resistance or the bonds created through shared cultural practices among alleged enemies. These connections become starting points for artists and cultural activists to challenge dominant narratives and perceptions, and despite censorship and defamation affecting especially female activists, they fiercely defend the last spaces for participation and cooperation. Their brave resistance is honoured in this talk, as it serves as an inspiration to pro-democratic forces everywhere.

Talks on feminine (cultural) activism in the Western Balkans are realized in cooperation between KROKODIL Association from Belgrade and Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb), Berlin.