On Solidarity

video [2013]

The video work On Solidarity is the result of research conducted in Belgrade and Zagreb during 2011 and 2012, as well as earlier production phases that included a radio drama, a public discussion, and an exhibition in Belgrade. Its central aim is to revive a largely forgotten part of the history of revolutionary student struggles in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and to highlight the connections among students—their struggles, communication, and forms of solidarity—which often extended beyond the boundaries of the student movement itself.

The audio-visual installation is based on the juxtaposition of various archival materials collected in Belgrade and Zagreb (statements and leaflets produced by students in the 1930s, media reports from plenums and protests, police records, newspaper articles, photographs, etc.) with contemporary footage documenting different workers’, students’, and urban struggles. This combination of visual and audio material testifies both to the harsh repression faced by social movements in the 1930s and to the courage of contemporary interventions against today’s supposed “absence of alternatives.” At the same time, the work underscores the necessity of building a broader social movement capable of strengthening individual demands and particular positions..

The video work (13’52”) is available here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzYQzrltenI
O solidarnosti (2013)

Student protests and blockades based on the principles of the plenum—a directly democratic student assembly—such as those held at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 2011 or at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb in 2009, have become increasingly common at universities in Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Rijeka, Novi Sad, and other cities across the region. The key aims of these protests concern securing publicly funded education accessible to all, defending university autonomy, and strengthening student self-organization.

Although this fact is scarcely known to the wider public, struggles grounded in principles of direct democracy were a prevalent form of organization within the progressive—indeed, revolutionary—student movements at the University of Belgrade and the University of Zagreb between the two World Wars, especially during the 1930s. The capitalist order of the time, the economic crisis, and the general rise of fascism are just some of the parallels that can be observed between the social, political, and economic circumstances faced by students then and those confronting students today. The historical importance of these earlier student struggles is further demonstrated by data showing that roughly half of all students at the University of Belgrade were involved in progressive student movements.

Concept: Vida Knežević and Marko Miletić

Editing and Video Design: Andreja Mirić

Narration (interpretation of archival material): Vilim Matula, Maja Katić, Petar Cvirn, Nikša Marjanović, Dejan Bulajić, Dejana Jočović, Luka Mijatović, Slobodan Đukić

Sound Engineers: Zoran Sajko (HR3), Ognjen Škrborić (Radio Belgrade)

Sound Design: Milan Filipović (Radio Belgrade)

The audio material was originally recorded as a radio drama within UrbanFestival 2012, produced in collaboration with HR3, Slika od zvuka programme, editor-in-chief Evelina Turković, 2012.

Archival Materials Used:

  • Archives of Serbia
  • National Library of Serbia
  • Croatian State Archives
  • Omladinski pokret 1919–1969, ed. Slavoljub Cvetković, Mladost, 1969

Video Materials and Footage Used:

  • Student protests in Belgrade (2006; 2011), various authors
  • Ne damo Varšavsku Initiative, filmed by Srđan Kovačević and Jasenko Rasol (Zagreb, 2010)
  • Workers’ protests at Trudbenik and Zastava Elektro, collected by Ivan Zlatić (2011)
  • Srđ je naš Initiative, filmed by Mario Miljak (Dubrovnik, 2013)
  • Workers’ protests at Jugoremedija, collected by Ivan Zlatić (2004; 2005)
  • Blokada, film by Igor Bezinović (2012)
  • Glutin, Vladimir Bjeličić (unedited video material, 2010–2011)
  • Neposredna demokracija zahtjeva neposredni prostor, Igor Bezinović and Hrvoslava Brkušić (2012)
  • Uglyville. A Contention of Anti-Romaism in Europe, film by Ivana Marjanović and Eduard Freudmann (2010)

Photographs Used:

  • Marko Miletić
  • Nikola Dimitrijević Dema
  • Ivica Osmanovski, photo series Industrial Landscape, Bor (2010)

Thanks to:

Stipe Ćurković, Ivana Hanaček, Marko Kostanić, Srđan Kovačević, Ana Kutleša, Matija Medenica, Miloš Miletić, Žarka Radoja, Evelina Turković, Vesna Vuković

Support:

  • [BLOK]
  • Akademie Schloss Solitude
  • Radio Belgrade
  • Croatian Radio 3