The Complexities of Manipulated Hatreds: Sending Pride and Love after the Hate Attack in Belgrade by Lepa Mladjenovic

In the previous entry, I posted a letter by my friend Lepa about what happened in the streets of Belgrade on 10/10/10. I have since received this letter, clarifying what happened and trying to prevent confustions about who were the victims. I also need to tell you that the night before the march, angry nationalists invaded the offices of Belgrade's Women in Black. Again Lepa's voice: yes it was all as you wrote there--two nazi-kids ready to kill entered [the Women in Black office] and yes imjured three activists who were in the Women in Black flat, preparing for the Pride event. The other sad part was that one activist, middle aged brave woman, went to the urgency department of the hospital and they did not have fine enought thread to sew her eye lid. She was hit in the eye and bleeding. Six hours later she was treated and is infe now.


Dear beautiful Women in Black feminist lesbians!
What wonderful fantastic women--ah I love your words of care full of tenderness that in our feminist politics have such deep meaning! Nowhere else. Thank you.

After ten years of fascist regime from 1991-2000, a whole new class of fascists are produced. They came out the first time on the streets to fight lesbians and gays in 2001 in our "Massacre" Parade in Belgrade. After that a whole series of events made them come out in the public and destroy the city and its citizens.

The summing up follows:
The state of Serbia now is made up of pro-democratic parties, less then more, but still those who are trying to make this state enter the EU in ten years time from now. The opposition parties are extreme nationalists and they, together with the Serbian Orthodox church, are ordering the young me to beat all who are different--who are contaminating the 'blood and soil of Serbia.' That means Women in black and all those who want war criminals in prison, those who are supporting an independent Kosovo, the Roma people, and then us, of course, lesbians and gay men, queers and trans people.


But in fact, the destruction seen a couple of days agi is primary addressed against the state as much as against us. The nationalists do not want Serbia in Europe because that means leaving Kosovo to be independent, that means Roma people and LGBT people will have full rights and that means killers from the war--their heroes--will be in prison.

This is crucial to understand: the state this time decided to protect activists and citizens in the Pride Parade because the state knows this is one of the conditions to enter the EU. But the opposition does not want this. So they ordered 5,000 men to come out, as well as arrive from small towns in Serbia and destroy everything in the center of the city, including the two headquarters of the parties in government, the Ombudsman office, one Roma house and injure badly about 100 policemen. Not one of the activist was injured during the Parad, except those three the night before in the flat of Women in Black.

The opposition, extreme nationalists, believe in using violence in order to get to their aim, ultimately to overthrow the government and the state as it is now. We have already seen in 2003 that the pro European state secretary Zoran Djindjic was killed on the street. That time the process of the the development of the state was blocked.

This makes us now permanent anri-fascist activists.
This also means that violence against women is on the rise because these street destroyers, every time they come together in violence they get the feeling that they are more powerful then the state. They get very small fines or no fines at all. Imagine what it means when they get back home. You all know it much too well. This means we have a whole battalion of thousands of men who glory in their power and control, they will only do what they want and violence is their means of reaching their aims. This means this class of men are disconnected from their feelings, from community networking, ready to kill if need be.

It is not nice to live knowing they are around us. But so it is.
In many countries in the world as well.

Lesbian activists in Belgrade's march

And so from the football thugs to the Tea Party to devote Israeli settlers to Hezbella fanatics, from the anti immigration Leagues of Europe that shake hands across the ocean with American bloggers of hate, the word is out, destroy the Other, those who endanger the glorious union of the Nation and our God and Free Markets. We must hold each other tightly, queers all, and with non-violent determination, step by step, crack their walls of hate.