Quo vadis, Serbia?

How did the defenders of Serbia’s shameful past get the right to paint murals of war criminals?How did we get to the point of considering activists as rioters and arresting them? In commemoration of the International Day against Fascism on November 9, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Serbia announced that it would paint …

TROLL OF THE MONTH: A private group on Facebook who shared inappropriate photos of underage Roma girls

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate on the internet based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region. Our October Troll of the Month is …

MATTEL’S GENDER-NEUTRAL DOLLS CREATE STIR IN THE SERBIAN MEDIA

In late 2019, Mattel, a USA toy company, launched “world’s first gender-neutral doll”. Recently, the Creatable World doll became available in Serbia and some of the most influential media in the country reported on it. Some also created a platform to discuss the changes gender inclusive toys will bring to our society. The Serbian media …

BEING TRANS IN SERBIA: THE MEDIA’S SILENCE

Serbia seems to have built a wall of silence around the trans community. This approach is flawed in many aspects, especially as some from the trans community report it can have detrimental consequences. “Gender is one aspect of our identity and it is defined as one’s innermost concept of self as a man or a …

REPORTING DIVERSITY Training of Trainers – Call for Participants

WHEN: 11-13 November 2021 WHERE: Belgrade, Serbia Reporting Diversity Network 2.0 is inviting CSOs; grass-root activists; human rights defenders; journalists; editors; to attend the Reporting Diversity training of trainers. The training will take place in Belgrade, between 11-13 November and will gather 30 participants from across the Western Balkans.The organisers will ensure all necessary epidemiological …

BATTLE OVER HEADLINES: The Kosovar and Serbian media are on different planets

Another “war” between Kosovo and Serbia has ended. This one was over license plates and brought the north of Kosovo back into the spotlight beyond Prishtina and Belgrade. The scenario of this “war” was similar to others in the north. Kosovo used its most serious police force, the Kosovo Police Special Unit, while Kosovo Serbs again …

HATE SPEECH IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: September Monthly Highlights

Throughout the month of September, the RDN monitoring team has detected a range of hateful narratives and discourse. During this month there has been a rise in hate speech including ethnic discrimination and xenophobia towards various ethnic communities as well as instances of homophobia and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric across all six Western Balkan states. Ethnic discrimination …

TROLL OF THE MONTH: TV PINK

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate on the internet based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region. Our September Troll of the Month is …

MONTENEGRO ETHNIC DIVISIONS MIRRORED IN DIVISIVE MEDIA DISCOURSES

Hearing my two Montenegrin colleagues recently describe what they felt on September 5th – one describing mostly peaceful protest with cooperative police in Cetinje and the other one a terrifying panic over her impression that there is a violent chaos taking place as following the media and social networks from home – to me sounded …