Will Rights or Riots Triumph in Belgrade?
After the human rights sham(e) of the Serbian government’s eleventh hour decision to ban Belgrade Pride 2011, there is concern that the country could be on the brink of flouting international conventions again this year. If the authorities do buckle under pressure from agitators and right-wing groups, it could bring the government into conflict with the Council of Europe over the fundamental right of assembly. Serbia’s own Constitutional Court might take issue with it, too.
When the government cited security issues for the last minute cancellation of last year’s event (although nobody has been charged with any associated crime) it was humiliated for being unable to protect people on the streets of its own capital. It was also seen to be riding roughshod over the country’s constitution and received widespread international condemnation for its inability to defend human rights.
Transatlantic Screenings For Serbian Documentary With A Message Of Peace
When two fighting men crossed paths over the skies of Yugoslavia nobody could have guessed that it would set in motion a series of events that have seen two families becoming firm friends. By orchestrating emotional meetings between a Serbian baker and a former US airman and capturing them on film, Serbian documentary maker Željko Mirković has produced a film that is grounded in a message of reconciliation.
The Second Meeting, which will have pre-premiere screenings in Belgrade (21 September) and New York (October), is a film about the touching reunion and shared memories of a US F117A stealth pilot Dale Zelko and the Yugoslav missile colonel Zoltan Dani who shot him down over Yugoslavia on March 27, 1999. The plane crashed and everyone had a chance to see for themselves, and live. Thankfully, the pilot ejected and was successfully evacuated eight hours later.
Lakeside Days and Waterways in Serbia
Serbians love the water. No matter where they live or how far they travel, Serbians like little more than enjoying life by the waterside. Many head to the coast in Montenegro, Croatia or Greece while, for those in Belgrade, summer in the city is all about having fun by the river.
Day and night, the country’s waterways host bathers, party-goers and people who just want to enjoy life along the river. Novi Sad and Belgrade both host rowing and other watersports, while Belgrade even hosts Serbia’s first blue flag beach at Ada Ciganlija.
Further out of town, people head to rivers and lakes to cool off in the hot Serbian summer. In the vast northern region of Vojvodina, packing up the barbecue and heading to wooded areas alongside the network of lakes and rivers that stretch out across its flat landscape is a popular evening or weekend pastime, as I experienced on a recent visit to the area.
Macedonia Honours Toše Proeski and Mother Teresa
Idolised Balkan singer Toše Proeski has taken his place alongside the great and the good from Macedonia’s history.
Many in the region have long placed Toše on a pedestal but now he has been represented in a line up of Macedonia’s most prominent artists and cultural icons as part of a flashy makeover that is underway in Skopje.
Last year, two colossal statues of Alexander the Great and his father Philip II of Macedon were set in floodlit fountains in the city centre.
Now the city’s bosses have erected 29 statues along a new bridge in the city, and a 30-metre tall statue of Mother Teresa will soon join the gaudy new Skopje skyline. The city is keen to be recognised as the birthplace of the Nobel Peace Prize winning nun who famously said: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”
