Pink Floyd's The Wall saved Sarajevo

(Without these girls, I would not be okay here)


I feel tired. I feel really tired. Today we went over our schedule for the next month. In the beginning of this program, all the way back in September (seems like yesterday and a year ago all at once) I felt overwhelmed by the little amount of time I would have for my research. Now looking at the time, which starts a week from tomorrow, I feel almost panicked. How the hell am I going to be satisfied with this? Our ISP starts Wednesday November 14. Our first draft is due December 4 (just under 3 weeks), and our Final is due on December 11. Wow.

But this is what I am looking at (roughly) but my final proposal is due on Monday.

Title: Our Children, Our Future: Emerging Youth Activism in post-Milosevic Serbia
Main Question and Focus: How has the younger generation influenced current activist movements and why do youth decide to devote their time to activism? How has the activist movement emerged out of Post-Milosevic times? What are people fighting for in Belgrade?
Other questions:
- How does the youth population (ages 18-28) remember the wars preceding the fall of Yugoslavia, how and why has their perceptions changed, and how does it reflect their environments growing up?
- How has geographic location affected the way Serbian youth today visualize, remember, and deal with the past?

So basically, I plan on talking to a bunch of younger people working in NGOs in and around Belgrade. Here is a list of some of the NGOs I'm definitely talking with:
- Youth Initiative for Human Rights (in Belgrade and Nis/Novi Sad)
- Women in Black, Belgrade
- B92 (One of the only sources of alternative media during Milosevic's time)
- Culture for Peace Center
- Group 484

I also am going to talk to non-activists. Very important aspect to it all.

This is how I percieve what will happen: I am going to make a lot of cool connections, make new friends, have amazing conversations, and explore Belgrade. I really loved Belgrade when I was there, so I am totally ready to stick my feet all the way into it's juiciness. I love getting to know new places.

Esentially, in the few interviews I've given so far, I have found a few themes: 1.) During the wars in the 90s, rural Serbia (the majority of Serbia) had contact only with Nationalistic media outlets. These were all controlled by Milosevic. These locations are traditionally conservative as well, and traditionally tradition (I am funny). I am super intrigued as to why young people migrated to Belgrade (or Nish or Novi Sad, the other two major cities) and how their perceptions of that time have changed/haven't changed. If they are involved in activism, why did they choose that path? 2.) That activism isn't what it once was because now, well, now it isn't dangerous. And 3.) Young people moving to Belgrade have very different perceptions of what happened during the 90s and what Serbs did and did not do.

It's something I can relate to. I am a young activist from the States. I don't trust the media, I don't trust history a lot of the time either. I just don't knwo where the information is coming from. I don't understand how some people percieve certain situations so differently than I do, and I point my finger at their environment. In a place so full of corruption, death, and transition after transition, I can't even imagine how my generation in Serbia has grown up.

So wht do you think? Is it getting somewhere? I hope so, I only have a week to polish it. I am contacting people now.

Also, if you have any literature you think might contribute to my research, please email it to me!

Love,
Erica