Women who marked the year 2023 in Serbia

The year behind us was undoubtedly the most difficult and tragic in the history of peacetime Serbia, and the centuries-old national motto…

…that “we are at our best when we are at our worst” was finally annulled, as unfounded.

While the majority continued to observe their reality silently and from a “safe” distance, a few women took care of the future of the entire nation and made a historic step with their human and professional integrity.

Madam Prosecutor

The event which, after many years of collective apathy and indifference, started the awakening of the anesthetized society, but also the chain reaction of civil rebellion that has not subsided to this day, was recorded at the end of February. At that time, news about the arrest of several persons suspected of extracting money from a public company (EPS) spread across the country.

A significant part of the public was surprised to learn that the public prosecutor’s organization did not completely capitulate to the regime and interest groups close to it.

A cold shower, however, followed the very next day.

” The prosecutor who worked on the EPS case has been dismissed”, read the new news, which was soon “reinforced” with the latest information: “The second prosecutor who worked on the EPS case has also been dismissed”. Press releases from the High Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade were released almost simultaneously to the “demagnetized” public, with insulting explanations about how and why the acting prosecutors were replaced in such an important case, a day after they ordered and carried out the arrests.

Just when it seemed to them that everything was ready for a new deluge of collective apathetic indifference, from the complete eclipse of the shackled Serbian judiciary, a thunderous voice echoed: “That’s a lie!” Enough with the lies!” The tone soon took shape, and the public got the impression in “Utisk” that they were witnessing an unprecedented precedent and a step forward by brave professionals who refused to remain silent and participate in the organized destruction of the state and society. Thus, the prosecutors Bojana Savović and Jasmina Paunović became a symbol of resistance, evidence that there are still professionals in the prosecutor’s office who serve the law and the public interest.

The revenge of regime personnel in the judiciary, especially their direct manager Nenad Stefanović, was inevitable, but also powerless before the force of the public, which resolutely stood up for the protection of brave female prosecutors, and supported them with weeks of protests.

Soon, their colleague Milena Božović, who has been suffering constant persecution since Stefanović’s arrival as head of VJT, came forward in public. All three loudly revealed to the public what is happening in the most important prosecutor’s office in the country, who is stopping proceedings and representing party interests… Savović and Božović publicly signed “ProGlas” on the eve of the elections, and, to the delight of the citizens, together with the initiators, were speakers at the tribunes that were held throughout Serbia.

For almost a full year, they have suffered daily mobbing, aware that they are under the watchful eye of the regime’s emissaries, who tried in every way to compromise them in public, with the indispensable help of the tabloids. Unfortunately for them – unsuccessfully.

Persistent female politicians

Marinika Tepić and Jelena Milošević, MPs from the “Serbia Against Settlements” list from the SSP, started a hunger strike, a day after the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vučić, declared an irregular victory in the elections. Despite numerous attempts to dissuade them from striking, Tepić refused to take food for 13 days and her condition began to seriously deteriorate. No one from the government showed even the slightest empathy towards Tepić, who was not spared even malicious comments, which came from regime analysts on national frequencies.

“Instead of publicly mourning Marinika Tepić in advance, which, even if it was with the best intentions, humiliates her and her struggle, we can influence her fate by constantly letting everyone know what Marinika is doing to herself for the sake of Serbia, and then let’s, full and sleepy, every day, go out into the streets of our cities and fight for freedom”, said writer Marko Vidojković in the author’s text to all those who have not yet grasped the meaning, but also the gravity of Marinika’s move.

Danijela Grujić also joined the hunger strike at one point, she is the president of the City Committee of the Party of Freedom and Justice in Novi Sad and in the last convocation of the National Assembly, she was a deputy of the United parliamentary group.

Grujić was not on the list of “Serbia against violence” in the last elections, because she planned to return to teaching philosophy at school.

“Each of us in the existing circumstances, in this incredible theft, which we will only become aware of, must make the maximum effort to resist because if this passes, everything in this country can pass,” she said.

The May tragedies in “Vladislav Ribnikar” Elementary School and in the villages around Mladenovac also disturbed those citizens who believed in the sustainability of “microworlds” until these terrible events.

The so-called critical mass, for the first time after the October 5th changes, gathered again for weeks on the streets of Belgrade. Civil “awakening” then finally took place. The backbone of the gatherings became the fight against violence, systemically rooted in collective everyday life. Numerous public figures, actors, athletes, musicians… walked in endless columns of mourners.

No matter how massive the gatherings were, the image of one woman who was never absent was not promoted by citizens or television cameras. It was the character of the dowager of Serbian theater, who has been a member of every family and home in Serbia for decades – Svetlana Bojković.

Although she was socially engaged all her life, her contribution to the current fight against general social destruction is immeasurable. At an age when she should be peacefully enjoying everything she has achieved and accomplished, the adored Ceca chose to be on the streets with her fellow citizens.

Either to encourage them to get rid of fear and not give up the fight for their freedom, or to remind them that neither their country, the air, nor Serbia are for sale.

Her colleague Anita Mančić is also one of the most engaged actresses. She loudly shouted “No!” because of the continuous destruction of Belgrade, and a few days ago she led the protest “March for the Fair”.

Magnificent professors

Former rector of Belgrade University Prof. Dr. Ivanka Popović, as well as Prof. Dr. Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović from the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy, are representatives of the academic community that initiated “ProGlas”.

Although the majority of their colleagues chose to observe current events from the sidelines, Popović and Džamonja Ignjatović engaged in an open struggle for the re-establishment of the value system and the restoration of dignity to educational institutions, professors, teachers, and students.

Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović was also the coordinator of the group engaged to provide psychological help after the May tragedies, and after she clearly said that she would not allow herself to be governed by daily politics, she was declared undesirable, both in expert circles and in the government team.

Zrenjanin high school sociology professor Senka Jankov was also targeted by the regime, she was suspended from her job because she called on students to support the May protests “Serbia against violence”.

Policewoman by appointment

Katarina Petrović from Valjevo came into the public spotlight after she was arrested and charged with abuse of office because she provided opposition politician Marinika Tepić with information about a traffic accident caused by the godfather of the President of Serbia, Nikola Petrović.

In the report she submitted, it was clearly stated that Petrović caused the accident on Dedinja while he was drunk and drugged.

Because of this, she ended up in custody, and then she was suspended from her job, while the prosecutor’s office in Valjevo initiated proceedings against her.
A journalist with a loop

Ivana Milosavljević, a student and the youngest member of the editorial staff of CINS, exposed the “SNS call center” which disposes of huge sums of money of unknown origin, as well as an organized criminal group engaged in buying votes, as part of progressive electoral engineering.

The research of Milosavljević, who infiltrated the “call center” and was ready to risk her safety for the sake of the truth, met with the enthusiasm of both the profession and fellow journalists, as well as a significant part of the public.

(Danas.rs)