GENDER DIMENSION OF PUBLIC MEMORY
Day three: Presentations and panel discussions
(Zagreb, Old Town Hall, Ulica sv. Ćirila i Metoda 5/I, May 11 2003)
On the importance of Women’s Memories
Maja Profaca
Unlike the first two days of the conference “Women Recollecting Memories” which had the format of workshops and which were intended for women’s groups’ activists from the region, day three was open to the wider public, and the participation of women from other countries. In the introductory speech, Slavica Kušić, the coordinator of CWWW, informed the audience on the post war activities of the Centre, including the current ones: The Project of Women’s Economic Empowerment and Self-Employment, initiated in 2000. As of 2003, opening of centres in Sisak, Karlovac, and Osijek with their own programs, founding an SOS telephone line for women trafficking victims, “Rosa” house as the shelter for trafficked women, and educational programs and publishing activities.
Vesna Kesić spoke about the concept of the Conference (Gender Dimension of Memory – Gender Dimension of Conflict and Reconciliation). Her speech on the importance of rethinking the gender dimension of memory in relation to the gender dimension of conflicts in former Yugoslavia went back to the early history of the Centre, year 1992, when the war was raging in Bosnia-Herzegovina and fragile truce was established in Croatia. It was a time when the idea of an organization that would assist and support women victims of war regardless of their ethnic identity and differences came to life. Apart from different forms of humanitarian aid and counselling in refugee camps, the goal of the Centre was to change the social status of women in general. Apart from peace efforts and meetings with groups of similar views and efforts in a region at war at a time, Vesna Kesić holds enforcing a discourse of women’s human rights, instead of patriarchal stereotypes and rhetoric only strengthened by war, as one of the biggest successes of the Centre and women’s organizations. Although activists of the Centre and kindred regional organizations continually led antiwar campaigns and participated in peace initiatives, they are now facing a problem of collective oblivion, both in terms of influence and contribution made by women and women’s organizations to peace building processes, and in terms of collective oblivion about women’s sufferings during the war.
Therefore, the conference “Women Recollecting Memories” represents part of the resistance to this oblivion and an attempt to reinstall women’s memories in the official memory, with a goal to prevent the return of old, authoritarian and patriarchal power relations, i.e. a symbolic order in which women would yet again become marginalized and pushed back into their traditional roles.
The third day of the conference was also an opportunity to present the second bilingual edition of the Collected Papers “Women Recollecting Memories” (editors: Vesna Kesić, Vesna Janković and Biljana Bijelić), a successful compilation of documents and texts relating to the Centre’s activities, as yet another attempt to intervene in the collective memory and official history.
Finally, in her summary of the first two days of the conference, Aida Bagić emphasized the leading idea of the whole project: the need to work on one's own memories in order for women to recognize the importance of their experiences and memories for those yet to come. It is therefore important to mention the names of at least some of the groups and organizations that took part in the Conference: Centre for Women War Victims, Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb, Women’s Human Rights Group, B.a.B.e, Women in Black from Belgrade¸ «Homo» Pula, Centre for Education and Counselling Women (CESI) from Zagreb, Lesbian Group Kontra, «Delfin» from Pakrac, Seka House from Brač, Medika-Zenica, Women for Women, Sarajevo, Women’s Group Split, Centre for Civic Initiatives Poreč, Autonomous Women’s Centre Against Sexual Violence, Belgrade, Association for Women’s Initiative (AŽIN), Serbia and Montenegro, Centre for Young Women, Belgrade, Centre for Peace Studies, Zagreb, Centre for Women’s Studies Zagreb, Feministička 94, Belgrade, Motrat Qiriazi, Prishtina, Urban in, Novi Pazar, NEO AFŽ, Zagreb, Women’s Counselling (Ženska svetovalnica), Ljubljana, Women’s Room, Zagreb, Women’s Centre, Ljubljana, and others. From outside the region we had representatives of: Kvinna till Kvinna, Stockholm, Admira, Utrecht, Niigata Volunteer Centre, Japan, Porter Institute, Tel Aviv, STAR, Zagreb, (USA/Croatia), NDI, Zagreb, Caritas Erzdioezese, Vienna, Casa delle donne, Merano.
Expose by Reana Senjković: Gender Images of War
(Institute for Ethnology and Folklore)
It was not easy for the authors of this expose to lay down conceptual frameworks necessary for the gender images of war to be conceived and comprehended, since each destiny is, in its own way, peculiar and exceptional, therefore, hard to place in a strict framework. Nevertheless, the authors were able to show the dichotomy of gender roles of official and “unofficial” discourses. At a general level, even in theory, one can hear that war itself makes men “real” men and women “real” women. According to the authors, this is specific for western culture, which traditionally ties women to peace and men to war, while in the war it assigns them complementary roles.
However, the author thinks that this division should be comprehended as stereotypes whose function is to create gender roles, while they themselves do not completely bear witness to reality. On the other hand, they become the tools of stereotypization of a number of realms in the area of “male” (as strong, fighting, persistent) and “female” (weak, peaceful, devoted). If those are used as instruments, they can become the reason and incentive for war. Besides, these stereotypes were used for marketing purposes in this region as well, presenting a very narrow range of socially desirable male and female roles. Therefore, such distortion and stereotypization of reality was in fact violence against those women and men who chose different roles (for example, the memories of a woman soldier from the Homeland war in Croatia who, subconsciously, started identifying herself with the “male” role, to the point of denying her female identity. The “feminine” was rudely stereotyped as unimportant, less valuable, sensual and irrational, as is the case in the examples of the “Pakrac Diary” by Veljko Barbieri).
Expose by Orly Lubin: Women in the Palestinian - Israeli Conflicts - Creating New Memories
(University Tel Aviv & Jeruzalem )
Our guest Orly Lubin, Head of Department for Poetry and Comparative Literature and Women’s Studies at Tel Aviv University, and President of the National Council of Jewish Women in Israel, gave an expose on creating new memories and gender dimension of the newly created memory in the case of Jewish women in Israel.
She started her expose emphasizing the need for documents such as the Collected Papers “Women Recollecting Memories” in order to preserve the good and avoid the repetition of old rhetoric. Orly Lubin stressed the basic hypothesis of her expose: the need to unveil the repressive collective memory, the violence that suppresses and hides certain historic facts. Using several examples, Orly Lubin was able to show how women’s testimonials are formed with the need of the community. Since each testimonial is structured according to the needs of the listener, this is the way it is formed in a patriarchal culture too, in order to be of use to the patriarchal collective.
Therefore, Orly Lubin finds the new rhetoric of women’s memories important as rhetoric of different memories, i.e. different rhetoric. Such new rhetoric would unveil the patriarchal symbols and stereotypes that are created by suppression, as a form of violence against collective memory. Finally, Israeli “Women in Black” faced and are still facing major problems in Israel, as do many other peace activists in general, those who attempted to redefine some generally accepted concepts.
The discussion that followed focused on issues about the relationship between the narrative and old structures. Orly Lubin thinks that even the conception of this process and alternative discourses bears importance, since the more we analyze the structure of memories the more we can change things. Another issue remains though. Are we falling in the equally dangerous stereotypes when talking about “female” deconstruction of militarism?
Panel “Women’s Recollections of War”
Panellists: Tea Škokić, Duška Andrić-Ružičić, Mojca Urek, Lepa Mlađenović, Igbala Rogova
Moderator: Biljana Bijelić
The exposes by Tea Škokić and Mojca Urek formed the theoretic part of the panel “Women’s Recollections of War”.
Tea Škokić (Remembrance as a Place of Self-understanding) dealt with the issue of collective and individual identities and the role which recollection or knowledge of our past has in our self-definition, therefore influencing our future. For Tea Škokić, the historical context becomes part of the identity discourse. Nevertheless, it is important to be aware of the role that interaction with others plays in forming our own memories, as well as the fact that recollection and self-definition are always related to the community, the social group one belongs to. From that, stems the importance of memories of the “women’s community”, as something that will assist women in reconstructing themselves, in self-defining and maintaining the continuity of their own existence.
It was important to state that the collective identities if this region were mostly negative because the war situation stereotyped them by limiting personal freedoms. Precisely personal freedom, the right to think differently and alternative approach to the issues of conflict are the efforts of 10 years work by peace activists. This conference is also an attempt to preserve them from oblivion.
By analyzing the importance of reconstructing memories, which was the intention of the conference, the panellist Mojca Urek (Why do We Tell Stories: Using Stories in Psychosocial Work) spoke about the importance of narration, i.e. the personal story in counselling. According to Mojca Urek, the story is important because, above all, it gives meaning to personal experience. Not the least less important aspect is that the story is told because there is the need to be listened to. However, the stories are limited: by cultural context, our understanding, traumas. As time passes by, the number of left-out experiences thus increases. It is therefore important in counselling to make clients aware of those experiences as well, to integrate them in the story, which is particularly important in crises. In other words, Mojca Urek sees counselling as an attempt to bridge the discontinuity of the story, heal its ruptures and thus, help the person to heal.
The panellist Lepa Mlađenović, recollecting her own experience of the war stressed the importance of meeting with “the other (woman)”, the importance of listening to stories from the other side, above all because of the awareness of different locations that co-define us, whether we like it or not. That is why it was important to hear the other (woman), not to annul her beliefs, but to understand the way she hears and understands herself. For panellist Lepa Mlađenović this was a true act of anti-fascism in wartime, because precisely by listening to the other it was possible to free oneself from one’s own “location”, at the same time understanding the other, even if you disagree.
Panellist Duška Andrić–Ružičić spoke about the work carried out by “Medika-Zenica” whose primary goal was to help women raped in the war. The first evident problem in their public work was precisely the issue of story telling: in what way and whether at all to tell someone’s story? How to face personal or someone else’s experience, without turning the recollection into newly experienced trauma? In other words, the panellist Duška Andrić-Ružičić wanted to emphasize the problem of anyone’s right to make the victims of violence relive their trauma for the purpose of collective memory, for instance. Unfortunately, as the panellist herself concluded, such historical footprints are necessary in order to remember that the crimes were committed. No to be forgotten.
The last panellist Igabala Rogova singled out from her personal memories above all fear, but also women’s solidarity, protests, working with refugees. Many hideous, but also many fond, positive memories of the spirit of resistance to war and violence.
Finally, Orly Lubin emphasized the importance of responsibility, which being together, even being together in trauma, befogs. This triggered an interesting discussion about the right to be together if it helps victims of violence. Another important issue was the issue of theoretic approach to often painful, personal experiences and the need for a certain type of co-authorship of the theory and the subject of the story that theory attempts to discuss, but often does not care about it as much as it should.
Panel: Recollections of Women’s Organizing Activities
Panellists: Nadežda Radović, Slavica Stojanović, Vesna Barilar, Eva Zillen, Mojca Dobnikar (Memories of Women’s Organizing)
Moderator: Vesna Teršelić
According to the recollections of panellist Nadežda Radović, working with feminists before the war amounted to deconstructing certain concepts and stereotypes, which were again strengthened through population policies immediately before the war. At the time, there was a need to react to every form of chauvinism, to each misogynous public statement. The key step was getting out to the streets: “Women in Black” and protests demanded both determination and above all courage. Many women were ready to take the risk. There was an unspoken solidarity of a large number of educated women who acquired certain rights, which they were unwilling to give up. In the eyes of nationalists, they were traitors and “streetwalkers”, and the fact that they were often not taken seriously saved them from stronger violent actions or even murder during the Milošević regime. Communication with women from other areas was most important, in order to become aware of one’s own prejudices and nationalistic stereotypes, which were often taken over unconsciously.
As the downside of her humanitarian work, apart from burning out, which left its own consequences, Nadežda Radović stated the emphasis on humanitarian work itself as opposed to other forms of public engagement. Thus, patriarchal prejudices, not only about the role of women but of implied women’s voluntarism were only being asserted.
Panellist: Eva Zillen (We Need to Make Sure that Ten Years Work are not Forgotten) from the Swedish association “Kvinna till Kvinna” described her first arrival to the region in 1993, her visit to the Centre for Women War Victims and the first encounter of women peace activists coming from a peaceful country, with war situation. She described peace-building activism during a war. Meeting refugees and visiting refugee camps was horrifying, but Swedish activists soon got to know the other side of working with victims of war violence. This was the sense of respect toward the victim, appreciation of the other person. Imagination in approaching problems and their solving was characteristic of women’s peace and humanitarian activism in the region. In short, for Eva Zillen, women’s organizations played an important role during the war and after, because they raised certain issues which otherwise would not have been raised.
Panellist: Slavica Stojanović (Women between Đinđić and Sugar) had arrived from, as she put it, “one hysterical country” in which“ you first assassinate the prime minister, and then create a scandal over reselling sugar”. For Slavica Stojanović this is just another aspect of war, its lawlessness and plundering. Unfortunately, as Slavica said, one can already hear statements about the redundancy of pacifist organizations. From her own recollections of the war, Slavica emphasized two events: her activation in groups which already had anti chauvinist, anti war and anti all forms of discrimination policies, and the arrival of self-organized Swiss women in 1992, which was for her a “real wake up call”. Another important experience was the temporary disappearance of her colleagues from Kosovo, as her first important experience of “empathy with the invisible”. Finally, the recollections of activism do not bear a sentimental value to Slavica Stojanović, as much as they are knowledge with enough experience for very serious politics.
At the end of this panel and the conference itself, Vesna Barilar spoke about the project “Women in Civic Initiatives” and the challenges and doubts she and her colleagues faced during the war. Vesna Barilar’s feminist engagement started when she was a Women’s Studies student. Women’s studies were important to her as they redefined some “unquestionable” social patterns and challenged one otherwise very solid corps of knowledge. The project “Women in Civic Initiatives” was envisioned as an experiment in terms of both ideas and approaches. It resulted in a book entitled “Activists – how to make the theory literate”. Besides listing differences in attitudes and disagreement on certain thematic foundations purposely left unanswered, the book showed an exquisite awareness and theoretical preparedness of women who were almost the sole organized subject in this region that resisted the ideologies of hatred and violence from the very beginning.
The discussion that followed after the last expose returned to the issue of recording and interpretation of memories, once again posing the question of appropriate methodology in the first place. Because of this, at the end, we can emphasize the idea of moderator Vesna Teršelič, who apart from encouraging further research concluded that as sensitive as it is to write or record recollections it is equally important to publicize them.