They declare themselves as the protectors of the traditional family, and with that argument they stopped the adoption of the new Law on Protection against Domestic Violence, and under their influence the Criminal Code of the RS will also be changed. The President of Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik publicly supported them, and the ministers “stay out of their way”.
They are both in the government and in the opposition, and everyone interprets the traditional family in their own way: For whom the leaders of patriarchal associations in the RS are “playing”?
Read this text from the Srpskainfo portal, authored by Milkica Milojević.
The influence of the informal coalition, which gathers around twenty self-proclaimed “patriotic” associations and foundations, is growing rapidly. Although it is a fairly diverse society, they unanimously opposed the introduction of the terms “femicide”, “gender” and “gender identity” into the legislation of the RS and the “toxic influence of the West”.
Some of these associations are also against the vaccination of girls and women against the HPV virus, which causes cervical cancer, and stories about restricting the right to abortion are getting louder.
In Europe, and especially in countries where the Catholic Church has a great influence, such conservative-patriarchal associations are linked almost exclusively to extreme right-wing parties. The situation is similar in Serbia.
And for whom the conservatives are “playing”, or as some of the public called them “witch hunters”, in the Republic of Srpska? What is a “traditional family” for them, for which they fight so wholeheartedly?
And did they even know what they were doing, when they put their signatures on the famous open letter, in which they requested withdrawal of the new Law on Protection against Domestic Violence and Violence against Women from the procedure?
The very concept of a “traditional Serb family” is quite debatable.
Let’s say, precisely because of this patriarchal tradition, even in the days of the SFRY, when elementary education was compulsory for all children, parents in the villages of Manjača, about twenty kilometers from Banja Luka, did not allow girls to go to school after the 4th grade until the 1980s.
Why do girls need school and property?
Only my sister and me in our generation finished elementary and then high school. Girls of our age were getting married at 15 or 16, and if she did not get married until 18, they would declare her an old girl. Our mother was declared “crazy” in the village because she sends female children to school – Borka (65), Banja Luka woman, told to Srpskainfo.
Part of that tradition is the custom, which is still present, for daughters to give up their inheritance in favor of their brothers and for a woman to remain silent and suffer if her husband beats her, because the most important thing is that “the marriage does not break”.
In the villages around Nevesenje, a case from the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia is still recounted, when the daughter of a wealthy family lost her parents at an early age. When she decided to claim her inheritance and marry a man of her own choosing, her uncle and his sons hanged her in a barn to preserve the family property. Then they announced that the girl had hanged herself, because “she was insane”.
Although they knew what happened, because a shepherd saw everything, the villagers did not want to interfere in “family matters”.
This kind of murder would be called femicide today.
That the patriarchal legacy is still alive today is evidenced by the experiences of women’s non-government organizations, to which even doctors, professors and journalists who are women have turned to because of domestic violence.
And in one of the earlier convocations of the National Assembly of the RS, female MPs who sat and passed laws were not allowed to travel and stay in hotels without the “permission” of their husbands.
Leaders of certain “patriotic associations” in Srpska claim that the mentioned cases are not part of Serb tradition and that highlighting such examples is “the result of Western propaganda” directed against Serbs.
Adviser to Nenad Stevandić
Jovan Radovanović, president of the Banja Luka Association of Families with 4 or More Children, is among those who wholeheartedly advocate for the traditional family and oppose “innovations from the West”.
– Honestly, I do not remember at all that I signed the request for the withdrawal of the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence and Violence against Women. I probably am, because I really stand for a traditional, patriarchal family, where you know who is in charge and where children listen to and respect their parents – says Radovanović.
He adds that he is against violence and discrimination, but also against LGBT parades and gay marriages.
– Of course, daughters should be educated and inherit property equally with sons, that is assumed. It used to not be like that, but times are changing, so the traditional family is also changing – says Radovanović.
Jovan Radovanović was recently appointed as an advisor to the President of the National Assembly of the RS, Nenad Stevandić, who is also the leader of the United Srpska. He is on the list of candidates of this party for councilor in the Assembly of the city of Banja Luka.
– I am on the list, but I am not a member of the United Srpska. I am a non-partisan person – says Radovanović.
When asked if he will donate a part of the consultant’s salary to a party, because it is a “tradition” in the US, Radovanović replies that he has not received the salary yet.
“I did not call Selak and Vukanović, they came by themselves”
Among the “patriotic associations” that “overthrew” the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence is the Association of Citizens “Jadovno 1941”. What is this association, which deals with nurturing the memory of the victims of Ustaša’s crimes, doing in the “anti-gender” coalition?
– Honestly, I did not even read that open letter. We cooperate with the Association Srbsko sobranje “Baštionik”, they signed it, so we did too – the president of the Association “Jadovno 1941”, dentist Dr. Dušan Bastašić, is being honest.
He says that he comes from a patriarchal family, that he advocates for the preservation of tradition, but that he has nothing against “everyone living the way they choose”.
– I have nothing against any sexual orientation or gender identity, I am not against LGBT either so I do not see what the problem is. Of course I am against violence and discrimination – says Dr. Bastašić.
He underlines that the association he leads “does not deal with gender issues at all”.
Bastašić is rumored to be a supporter of the SNSD, but he claims that this is not true, although, as he states, “Dodik was his patient”.
– I am not in any party, I do not even allow the members of the association “Jadovno” to be divided by party or any other affiliation. We do not have “undertakers”, “delije”, “četnici” and others – says Bastašić and adds that “the association cooperates only with representatives of institutions”.
– I never invite party representatives to our gatherings, but they do not need to be invited, they come themselves. So this year, on the Day of Remembrance of the victims of the camps Gospić, Jadovno and Pag, Goran Selak and Nebojša Vukanović appeared, and there was also the assistant minister, who is from the SNSD – says Bastašić.
Members of SDS and the husband of Mira Lolić Močević
Bastašić may not be “party committed”, but the leaders of the fraternal Serbsko sobranje “Baštionik” are. This association is led by Predrag Adamović, and his wife Vesna Adamović was the president of Women’s Club of SDS for many years.
Another leader in the SDS is the “defender of the traditional family”, Dejan Elez, founder of the Association “St. Vasilije Ostroški” from Sokolac.
He is delegate of SDS in the current convocation of the Municipal Assembly of Sokolac and the holder of the SDS candidate list in this city.
Among the 21 organizations that overthrew the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence is the Foundation “Peace of God”, led by Zdravko Močević.
As an analyst, Močević occasionally appears in the media close to the government, and he is also the founder of the organization “Serbian Russian Bridge”.
In Banja Luka, he is better known as the husband of Mira Lolić Močević, the longtime editor-in-chief of RTRS. Those who know better say that he even presents himself as such, which does not quite fit into the model of a patriarchal Serb family.
The Močevićs are allegedly close to the SNSD, although Zdravko Močević was in the Serbian Radical Party many years ago, which later “merged” into the PDP, and he allegedly announced the establishment of the Russian Party in the RS.
In the column is the Circle of Serbian Sisters as well
The request to withdraw from the procedure the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence and Violence against Women was also signed by Bosiljka Herbez, the president of the Circle of Serbian Sisters of Banja Luka although she also claims that she does not remember it.
– I think that Peđa from “Baštionik” told us that in this way we were protecting the traditional family. We are for a traditional family, not for this wild west that we can see everywhere, where everyone has rights and no one has obligations, where children do not respect their elders, because their parents did not raise them – says Bosiljka Herbez.
When asked if violence in the family is part of the patriarchal tradition, she says that “a lot happened in the past, but only what is good and positive should be preserved.”
– What is wrong should not even be mentioned – says Bosiljka Herbez.
What is not mentioned is the long-term closeness of the Circle of Serbian Sisters to the SDS.
– That used to be the case, today we stay away from party politics – claims Herbezova.
Ivana Marić: 100 years behind Europe
Political analyst Ivana Marić says that the trend of re-traditionalization and re-patriarchalization of society is not only characteristic of Republic of Srpska, but of the entire region.
– In our country, the current attitudes about LGBT people, abortion or domestic violence are the same as they were in Europe 100 years ago. While in Europe, especially in mature democracies such as Germany, the political spectrum is moving towards the center, in our country politics continues to slide radically to the right. It is no longer known whether it is because the politicians adapt to the electorate, or whether the voters accept what is offered to them as the only possible one – Marić says.
She adds that the solution is simple: you just have to accept that all people are equal and that everyone has the right to choose, as long as that choice does not endanger the rights of others.
– We will have to accept that, if we want to join the European Union, there is no other option for us – concludes Ivana Marić.
Source: Srpskainfo, author Milkica Milojević
Photo: Pixabay
