Stories from and

Bureaucracy and Motherhood in Serbia

  10 February 2013

Marija Janković's photo of her 3-month-old baby sleeping peacefully next to the 52 medical and administrative documents has received 942 ‘likes’ and 826 ‘shares’ on the Facebook page of Status Magazin [sr], a Belgrade monthly, and was awarded the first prize in a photo contest run by the publication. It...

Protesting Cyrillic, “Collectivising Guilt” in Croatia

  8 February 2013

Balkan Anarchist weighs in on the protests against the use of the Cyrillic script in Vukovar‘s public spaces: […] I believe that we, decent and honest Serbs, should be ashamed of what was done in the name of Serbdom during the '90s and condemn it all unequivocally! And I also...

“The Un-European Union”

  29 January 2013

GV Author Filip Stojanovski, on his blog Razvigor, has translated into English a mock story [sr] by Njuz.net, “the Serbian equivalent to The Onion,” about the UK striving to join “the Un-European Union”: The Council of Ministers of the countries of the Un-European Union stated today in Skopje that a...

Reflections on the Croatian Generals’ Acquittal

  20 December 2012

Alan Jaksic of Balkan Anarchist posts a follow-up to his initial comments on the Nov. 16 reversal of the convictions of the Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač: […] So do I still consider last month’s acquittal at the Hague a “disgraceful acquittal”, an “outrage” and an “insult to...

Presenting the Balkan Minorities

  13 December 2012

Fifteen young journalists from six different countries have produced a series of personal stories about representatives of the minorities (in a broad sense) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, and Macedonia. The stories are available in English, German, and French on the Face the Balkans website.

Regional Bloggers Attend Blogomanija Conference in Serbia

  9 December 2012

Dozens of bloggers [sr] from Serbia, as well as from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia, attended Blogomanija [sr], a regional blogging conference that was held in Serbia on Dec. 7-9. Among other things, they discussed [sr] the impact of blogs and social networks on social and political...

Croatian Senior Generals Acquitted of War Crimes

  17 November 2012

Eric Gordy of East Ethnia comments on this Friday's UN appeal court's judgment acquitting Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač of war crimes: […] Some people are delighted with the judgment and other people are outraged, with divisions following predictable political lines. The appeals chamber itself is no less...

Serbia: Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2012

  14 October 2012

Wikimedia CEE Meeting 2012 took place in Belgrade on October 13–14, 2012, and is the first Wikimedia CEE Meeting for Central and Eastern Europe. The primary goal of the event is to intensify cooperation among the Wiki communities, Wikimedia chapters, and other interested groups from Central and Eastern Europe. The...

Serbia: Gastarbeiters’ Houses

  17 September 2012

Nothing Against Serbia posts photos of the migrant workers’ houses in Eastern Serbia and explains the “Gastarbajterske Kuće” phenomenon: […] the effort to make money in the West (under arduous circumstances) has to be showed off back home as a reward for the hassle! […] The houses itself are made...

Syria: Reflections from the Balkans

  16 September 2012

Macedonian non-profit outlet Diversity Media published an article/podcast [mk, sq] about the Balkan states’ reactions to the situation in Syria, featuring a statement by GV Author Ruslan Trad (among others, including the Macedonian politician Stojan Andov [en, mk], who served as the Yugoslav Ambassador to Iraq in 1987-1991).

The Netherlands: Balkan Snapshots Festival 2012

  14 September 2012

Balkan Buro, a Dutch non-profit “dedicated to providing a platform for artistic and cultural encounters between Western and Southeastern Europe,” announces the Balkan Snapshots Festival 2012, which will take place in Amsterdam on Sept. 21-23: “three nights of music, creativity, movies and inspiring debates!”

Kosovo: “Cinematic Darkness Knows No Nation”

  11 September 2012

At Kosovo 2.0 blog, Belgrade-based journalist Dušan Komarčević writes – here and here – about his July 2012 trip to Prizren, Kosovo, to attend the DOKUFEST International Documentary and Short Film Festival: […] The cinemas were filled with movie lovers from Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia,...

Russia: “The True Blasphemy” – Slavoj Žižek on Pussy Riot

RuNet Echo  13 August 2012

Russian collective “Chto Delat? // What is to be done?” published an essay by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, who considers Pussy Riot “conceptual artists in the noblest sense of the word: artists who embody an Idea,” and fight against the cynicism of power-mongers who strive to return Russia to the...

Serbia: “The ‘Accidental’ Belgrade Pride”

  2 July 2012

Amila Bosnae interviews Boban Stojanović, one of the organizers of the “accidental” gay pride parade in Belgrade – which went without incidents: “There were just over 50 of us. You see, this wasn’t a real Pride, but a small street action. We’re happy with it because as activists, we always...

The Balkans: “The ICTY’s U-turn over genocide in Bosnia”

  2 July 2012

Marko Attila Hoare of Greater Surbiton comments on the ICTY’s decision to acquit Radovan Karadzic of one count of genocide in Bosnia, noting that “[t]he contradiction between the Trial Chamber’s rulings over Milosevic in 2004 and Karadzic in 2012 indicates that it is not operating on the basis of consistent...

SEE: Social Media Use Study

  17 June 2012

Growth in social media activities has slowed down, indicates the research of Wave6 [sr; en], which surveyed active Internet users in 62 countries: Macedonia and Croatia are more involved in the social media than Serbia, where watching video clips is the most popular activity (91%). For the first time, there...

Serbia: “Internet (R)evolution”

  16 June 2012

Center for Internet Development in Serbia reports [sr] that Serbs use the Internet mostly for current news (63%) and educational purposes. The research was conducted in April 2012, with a sample of 1,239 respondents: 80% of them considered communication and info-exchange with government institutions via Internet very relevant, while 68%...