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Bread and Roses in Zagreb
by Nina Czegledy
We choose the name Bread and Roses because we want to express our connection with the history of the international women's movement and we want both bread and roses to become our reality" stated the information magazine of the Women's Infoteka in Zagreb.
Since the war in former Yugoslavia started we have been experiencing international women's solidarity in many different ways. We have, however, often lacked the time and space to deal with our own issues in our own language. Bread and Roses provides a space for women to raise their voices to address the domestic public. Women write about their own experience, as survivors, activists, writers, artists, in a way which changes the order of priorities usually set by a male dominated media. Bread and Roses looks into the future; without this opportunity to develop women's vision we may loose our place in it.
On a hot August morning in 1994 in the bright offices of the Women's Infoteka, I was told that "this is the first time a women's documentary center has been established in Croatia." I had arrived in Zagreb the previous day to participate in the Mediascape International Video Conference and hardly recognized the city. In barely two years many of the downtown buildings had been renovated, expensive new boutiques lined the streets and the numerous outdoor cafes were packed with tourists and well - to - do locals. Apart from a contingency of UN soldiers at the railway station, the war seemed distant. Zagreb's thousands of refugees -- whether in the nearby camps or scattered around the city -- were out of sight.
I was introduced to Durda Knezevic, Mica Mladineo, and Tanja Calic of Infoteka by my friend, Sanja Ivekovic. A video artist with an international reputation and a gifted graphic designer, Sanja, had been active in the organization and had also been responsible for the design of Infoteka's publications including the quarterly Bread and Roses. On that summer morning, sheltered from the blistering heat by the high - ceilinged space of the recently renovated office, we discussed the Croatian women's movement and Infoteka's aims and achievements.
In Zagreb feminism first emerged in the mid sixties. The movement faded, however, after...