MeToo movement sparked in Balkans after Serb actress opens up on taboo topic of sexual assault

The movement was triggered after Serbian actress Milena Radovic made allegations against a former teacher

Credit: Sergei Karpukhin/TASS via Getty Images

The MeToo movement has swept across former Yugoslavia after a Serbian actress went public with allegations of abuse against a former drama teacher, breaking a taboo in a region scarred by sexual violence during the bloody wars of the 1990s.

The campaign, referred to as “Nisi Sama” or “You Are Not Alone,” was sparked by Milena Radulovic, a 26-year-old actress. She first spoke out on January 17 against an acting coach after hearing allegations of abuse similar to what she claims she endured.

She joined forces with a group of other actresses to report him to the police and go public with their experiences. “We realised it was part of a systemic problem,” she told the Serbian daily Blic.

Since then, thousands of women have spoken up across Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia.

Activists from Sarajevo launched an email hotline for women to report their experiences, some of which are published on the “I Didn’t Ask For It” Facebook page, and have been reported to the police.

“This is certainly the most massive outpouring of solidarity we have ever seen. While campaigns existed before, fewer people supported causes like this and no previous campaign was so persistently covered in the media,” says Paula Petricevic, a feminist and peace activist from Kotor, Montenegro.

“Women were silent in the region because they feel guilty, a guilt that is a tribute to the patriarchy that condemns them for not fleeing faster,” Ms Petricevic said.

 Matt Field, the British Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, supported the campaign on social media. He tweeted: “I want to offer my support to all those who have suffered abuse, to all those who have spoken out for themselves or others, and with that showed extraordinary bravery. You are not alone.”

 The countries were formed after the bloody wars following the disintegration of the socialist federation of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

The violence, sexual assault and rape experienced by civilian women during the conflicts continues to be a highly sensitive topic, even though it was considered significant enough to be prosecuted as a weapon of war at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

Those who speak out about rape face huge stigma and the number of women raped in Bosnia and Kosovo during the wars is still unknown.

“Women experienced unthinkable levels of pressure throughout the war,” says Bosnian war reporter Arijana Saracevic, who faced threats and intimidation because of her reporting on the trauma inflicted upon women.

“From day one people tried to silence me – I would get calls from anonymous people telling me they knew where one of my sons went to kindergarten and what the other was wearing on a specific day,” she explains.

Saracevic claims that while a strong sense of solidarity for all civilian victims existed right after the war, the issue of rape and assault was not highlighted specifically and the support for the women was lacking.

“I filmed women who were refugees from eastern Bosnia as they fled the frontline of the war who spoke to me about their assaults,” she says.

 The “You’re Not Alone” campaign has changed things, she says. “In the past 15 days, women have strengthened their resolve. They will not be silent or ashamed anymore. Nothing will be the same again.”