filia.die frauenstiftung

Belgrade, 8 March 2008

“The celebrations for the 100th International Women’s Day, prepared by Women in Black, were banned by the police. Following the Declaration of Independence of Kosovo in February 2008, the wave of authorised violence in Serbia created a kind of public self-censoring effect.
The activists and their allies protested strongly against this. The silence was broken. We took up position in the crisis. But the women’s groups were never still”, writes Mirjana Mirosavljevic from Reconstruction Women’s Fund (RWF) in Belgrade.
RWF supports the feminist scene in Serbia, opens arenas for alternative thinking, combines feminist perspectives with pacifism. The banned demonstration could then be held a week later – with support and solidarity from over 50 non-governmental organisations. The demonstrators carried posters marked “Free Women” or “Citizens, not vassals”. Urgent promotion of the Serbian Women’s Foundation with funds from filia made it possible to produce the placards.
www.rwfund.org

Belgrade, 8 March 2009

Feminists took to the road in Serbia in 2009 too. “The special reason for the demonstration? – Parliament had struck discussion on the Anti-discrimination Act from the agenda. The Orthodox church has great influence in our country and brought pressure to bear on the government not to accept the law because it bans discrimination of LGBT persons.
And so feminist groups and human rights groups organised the protest march. There were about 200 activists there and the same number of police who were to protect us against possible attacks from right-wing groups. Everything went off without incident and without violence”, writes Tijana Popivoda from the Autonomous Women’s Center (AWC) in Belgrade and sends impressive photos of the demonstration. filia promotes the activities of AWC.
The Serbian Anti-discrimination Act was adopted after all in April 2009, though with a very small majority. Acceptance of the Anti-discrimination Act is a prerequisite for further rapprochement of Serbia to the European Union.
www.womenngo.org.rs

Tbilisi, 8 March 2009

8 March is to become a public holiday with a political background again, not a day of official propaganda as ordered in the times of the Soviet Regime, or subsequently dressed up as “Mothers’ Day” or “Valentine’s Day”. The Women’s Fund in Georgia therefore called upon local women’s groups to join in a competition. The campaign, called “100 success stories”, was to present the women and their deeds loudly, brightly and creatively to the public.
“The International Women’s Day reminds us of the crucial role assumed by women worldwide in advancing political, economic and human rights issues. We must commemorate this publicly, celebrate the successes and focus on current challenges posed by unequal treatment. We wanted to mobilise women and provide them with resources needed for resistance so that their communities can be seen through a feminist lens”, writes Nana Pantsulaia, Managing Director of the Women’s Foundation.
The competition mobilised over 30 organisations. Many new ideas for Women’s Day were received from a wide variety of women’s groups from all parts of Georgia. It was possible to provide promotion for seven of them.
For example the NGO “Scientist Women for Scientist Women” in Tbilisi paid respect to the work and success of four female philosophers in a brochure that was distributed and dispatched.
The “Studio Mobil” in Tbilisi designed four radio broadcasts on the significance of Women’s Day and the work of women’s groups acting for social change.
The group “Imedi” organised a discussion forum on equal rights in Zugdidi. Zugdidi is the capital city of the Mingrelia region in the West of Georgia near the border to Abkhazia.
About 50 feminist activists then celebrated the 100-year jubilee of International Women’s Day in Tbilisi on 8 March 2009 and 100 representative success stories of women. The posters bore the slogan, “You too can achieve something!”. filia supported the activities and the promotion programme of the Women’s Fund in Georgia.
www.womenfundgeorgia.org

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