My proud activist blues in Sweden

I am a feminist activist since 1997 and a lesbian activist since 2000. I was 23 years old when I discovered that “there is another world spinning…inside of this one” (Laurie Anderson – Freefall). This world allowed me to live the most realistic and powerful life as a young women. In 1997 every day life in Serbia already divided young people in many ways. A big nationalistic and militaristic spoon was feeding young generations at that time and my biggest wish was to escape from this kind of surrounding. During these 12 years Sweden was also on the list of my escape destinations. A dream I can tell. If I did not wait these 12 years probably my visit wouldn’t have been so proud and activist…..mostly blues without back vocals for sure.

But I decided to stay where I am and contribute to the women’s movement and activism. Since 2004 we have Novi Sad Lesbian Organization (NLO) and my activism became much dedicated to fight for lesbian human rights. Kvinna Till Kvinna (KTK) supports NLO programs and activities since 2007. NLO is the only LGBT organization in province of Vojvodina and we need much help with funds and other things. There is also much of centralization in the NGO sector. Sometimes is much harder to be visible inside of the women’s movement than in the local community as a lesbian organization. KTK showed respect and trust in NLO on many levels. We exchanged so many sentences and got to know about each other trough so many words we spoke. With their help NLO became more strong, visible and proud. What is more important – NLO members became more proud of their organization.

As a coordinator of NLO I was honored to contribute for KTK seminars based on Women Human Rights Defenders and Activism. Honestly, after 12 years of my activism, I was for the first time in my life called a women’s human rights defender and was invited to speak about it. I felt stronger, prouder and important. I also used this chance to fell REALLY free. But this is a story on its own, and I will tell you more about this feeling of freedom and pride later on.