The Conference “Women Recollecting Memories”

THE CONFERENCE "WOMEN RECOLLECTING MEMORIES"
FEMINIST RESISTANCE TO WAR AND NATIONALISMS IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 
was held in Zagreb, May 9 – 11, 2003, on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Center for Women War Victims (1992 – 2002)
 
The Center for Women War Victims, founded in November 1992, was one of the first larger autonomous women’s organizations created in Croatia during the wars in former Yugoslavia. the Center offered assistance and support to women refugees, women war victims, and, later, to women returnees, in a systematic fashion and on feminist foundations, building on the experiences of Yugoslav feminist initiatives and women’s efforts against violence against women. A large number of women working in the Center were refugees themselves, some literally, others metaphorically, so the Center offered both security and a safe haven to women refugees and to women activists from Croatia, who at the time thought differently than a larger part of their environment impregnated in war and nationalism.

Other women’s organizations, and a lasting network of women and women’s groups stemmed from the Center’s work and experience. Many women, whose first encounters with political activism happened in the Center, remained activists in women’s groups, or started to apply the acquired knowledge and experience to other areas of their lives.

On the occasion of the 10th anniversary (November 2002), in May 2003, the Center organized a three-day gathering of women from the region. The first two days had a workshop format, and were closed to the public. On the third day, open to public, in the form of panel discussions, women from former Yugoslavia and abroad participated in the several panel discussions. The goal of the Conference “Women Recollecting Memories” was to gather activists from the region, to remember the resistance to war and nationalisms put on by women in former Yugoslavia and to integrate women’s recollection into public memory.

Workshops and conference topics:

1. Women’s Perspective on the Wars in Former Yugoslavia
2. Women’s Peace Policies: cooperation and networking (women crossing borders and boundaries)
3. Feminist foundations to working with women war victims: self-help, counselling, therapy, organizing...
4. The importance of noting and documenting women’s recollections

The purpose of the project Politics of Remembering and Forgetting: Gender Dimension of Recollection is recording and evaluating specifics of women’s recollections, and the role of women’s groups in war and peace building. The initiators of the project believe that if women were excluded from public memory, they would also be excluded from current social and political processes. One cannot achieve permanent peace, recovery of the society and reconciliation, both in Croatia and in other countries created through a bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia, without participation of women, if for no other reason, than because they are the bearers of the memory of continuous peace building efforts in the region.

The work on women’s recollections from the 10th anniversary of the CWWV perspective started and developed during 2002 and 2003. The process was initiated by women still working in the Centre or close to it. On the occasion of the anniversary, the new, edited version of “Zbornik” (the Collected Papers) from 1994 was re – edited. The new edition of “Zbornik” Women Recollecting Memories was printed in Croatian and English. It contains articles and documentation of the feminist groups activities in the period from early ’90 to 2002, recording the work of the CWWV and its cooperation with similar women’s groups in the region. We strongly believe that the book contains many extremely important and precious testimonies and experiences of feminist resistance that are so valuable for substantiating the women's collective memory. The second women’s activism and resistance to nationalisms, misogyny and war during the 1990s part of the project was the Conference “Women Recollecting Memories”. The third part of the project is this web site Politics of Memory: Gender Dimension that will, besides presenting the Conference and the book, continue to collect women’s experiences and memories of the past period from former Yugoslavia, women’s activism and resistance to nationalisms, misogyny and war during the 1990s, and connect them to the similar experiences of women around the world.

The project Working on Women’s Recollection was made possible by the following organizations and institutions: Kvinna till Kvinna, Sweden, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, Zagreb, Office for Non-Governmental Organization of the Croatian Government, City of Zagreb’s Commission for Culture, Network of East West Women, Mama Cash and individual women donors.

English translation by Nives Miošić Lisjak