In Sarajevo, we spent our time listening to lectures and going on walking tours with a group titled “CRVENA.” Translating to “red” in Bosnian, CRVENA calls themselves, according to their Instagram bio, a “feminist left collective from Sarajevo,” with no other description. This, I think, is entirely fitting. We began our first day by learning about the Women’s Anti-Fascist Front of Yugoslavia. We then went on a walking tour to see monuments for the Front, which were actually placed by the members of CRVENA themselves. Calling these artistic interventions “hacks,” which greatly amused me as a computer science major, we were shown an incredible effort to preserve the narratives of influential Yugoslav women, whose histories had been forgotten, or never even recognized. This erasure of feminine life, of course, is not specific to Yugoslav history, but can be seen globally.
The next two days, we had the privilege of listening to more lectures from members of CRVENA, particularly from two sisters, Danjela and Andrea, who started the collective itself. They spoke not only of the Women’s Anti-Fascist Front of Yugoslavia, but of their own personal experiences growing up in a socialist state and how they use and encourage feminist art throughout Sarajevo. Hearing such powerful, unapologetic testimonies was incredibly refreshing. After spending the last seven-ish weeks learning about the former rulers of Romania, all men of course, I hadn’t realized how much we had really been failing the Bechdel Test in our studies. Simultaneously, I took this time to reflect on my own life and how I participate as a feminist, which is something that has definitely taken a spot on the backburner since entering what we call the “liberal bubble” of Carleton College.
Andrea, in one of the lectures, had mentioned a difference between feminism in Eastern Europe and the western world. She talked about how the Balkans have experienced terror and genocide much more recently, than, for example, the United States. The Bosnian Genocide in the late 1990s forced women to practice feminist acts out of necessity for survival, whereas we, or I at least, live a much more priveleged life in the west, getting to participate in feminism as I please, while still being given opportunities to live a safe and fulfilling life if I choose not to be a feminist. This reflection awoke a side of me that, I think, has been at rest since coming to Carleton.
I realized that the comforting, liberal bubble of Carleton has allowed me to become less intentional about how I practice feminism in my daily life, because we live on a campus where, of course, everyone is a feminist. Why wouldn’t they be? In reality, though, and as was evident throughout our travels in the Balkans, and even just living in Bucharest, the battle of the sexes rages on. Bosnia, like the United States and most of the globe, is experiencing a rise of far-right, anti-women politics. Danjela spoke of how much work there is to be done, and she’s right. If I continue to do nothing as a feminist besides call myself one, this hateful rhetoric towards women will thrive.
This also brings up an interesting conversation I got to have with my classmates about what it even means to call yourself a feminist. There were many viewpoints. Some said they don’t regard themselves as feminists because they don’t feel they have done enough for the movement, others said they aren’t feminists because they feel that the title has been corrupted by far-right anti-trans rhetoric. This discussion was incredible, and something that I never expected to come from such woke Carleton students. With consideration, I decided that of course I consider myself a feminist, and perhaps with an even stronger belief than before.
Learning from the activists at CRVENA was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I have been incredibly inspired by. Expect Zoe’s Feminist Manifesto to come out soon.