EXIT: Strengthened by a History of Struggle, Activism and Headlines
As music fans prepare to kick of the summer festival season across Europe, W!LD RooSTeR thought it was prime time to look at some of the headline grabbers in the history of one of the most exciting events on the calendar: Serbia’s world-class EXIT Festival.
EXIT has grown into an annual four-day festival attracting 200,000 people to the Petrovaradin Fortress in the small Vojvodina town of Novi Sad. Each year, more than 6,000 visitors attend from the UK and those figures are still rising. Since 2007, more than half of all EXIT visitors have come from abroad, with the UK its primary overseas focus.
Serbian Basketball Champions Will Help Launch London’s Olympic Park Venue
Team GB will welcome six national men’s basketball teams at a dress rehearsal for next summer’s big event. With one year to go before the curtain goes up on the London 2012 Olympics, basketball fans from Serbia and Croatia will get a first-look at the facilities.
With the paint hardly dry on the spanking new Olympic Basketball Arena, tickets for the London International Basketball Invitational (16-21 August) go on sale on 26 May. In what promises to be more than a practice run, teams from Australia, China, Croatia, France, Great Britain and Serbia will compete in the first event at any London 2012 Olympic Park venue.
Banja Luka Hosts Olympic Swimming Hopefuls
 |
| Serbian Great, Milorad Čavić |
Olympic preparations for some of the world’s top swimmers will begin in earnest when they meet in Banja Luka for the Fourth International Swimming Championships. With little over one year to go until the Opening Ceremony at London 2012, all eyes will be on the water for this international meet.
Swimmers from 18 countries will descend on the capital of Republika Srpska to participate in the Banja Luka Open 2011 (28-29 May), including Serbia, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia, Bosnia, Greece, Estonia, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Israel, Bulgaria and Kenya.
While these swimmers are more than familiar with competing at major international championships. their sights are now set on big things around the corner. Many will be pinning their dreams on impressing national selectors and fast-tracking themselves closer to the London Olympics 2012.
Montenegro Gay Pride Cancelled, Claiming Lack of State Support
Homophobic attackers struck in Podgorica just hours before organisers of Montenegro’s first Gay Pride had to cancel the event claiming lack of state support. Podgorica Pride – scheduled for May 31 – has been indefinitely postponed due to the apparent lack of state commitment or support for the LGBT population in Montenegro, organisers said on Tuesday.
Hours earlier, members of the organising committee had been attacked after leaving a concert of around 600 members of the LGBT community, friends, supporters, many of whom came with their families and children. The concert by Croatian band Lollobrigida was organised by Juventas under the banner ‘Love is the Attitude’, as part of their third year of activities to support to mark International Day Against Homophobia. Violence had erupted earlier at the concert, when tear gas was thrown.
