Tuesday, 6 May 2025, 7.30 pm, diffrakt | centre for theoretical periphery
Conversation and film screening with
ZBOR (Združeni Balkanski Otpor i Rad)
The lithium deposits in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are supposed to help the ‘green’ transition get off the ground in the EU, and at least since Olaf Scholz’s visit to Belgrade last fall, this has become a big topic in Germany. The ZBOR initiative from the Balkans explicitly opposes the unjust ‘green’ transition and related mining initiatives, because – if implemented – it will cause great environmental damage, have serious social consequences and contribute to turning the Balkans into a mining colony.
The struggles against socially and ecologically devastating mining are particularly intense outside the centers of the capital, such as in Majdanpek, a geographically isolated town inhabited by a marginalized group. There, Eluned Zoë Aiano and Alesandra Tatić shot the documentary “Flotacija” (2023, 77 mins), which reconstructs the larger narrative of extractivism from within by looking closely at the everyday struggles of the inhabitants. The ZBOR initiative, of which the directors are part, will be in Berlin on May 6 to screen the film, discuss it and network with people on the ground.
ZBOR is a word with many layers of meaning for people in the countries of former Yugoslavia. First of all, it means assembly or gathering, and that is how it is known in the villages of the region. However, the Initiative for Climate Justice and Just Transition ZBOR (Združeni Balkanski Otpor i Rad) specifically recalls the meaning(s) from the days of the anti-fascist revolutionary liberation movement of Yugoslavia and its self-organizing mechanisms, as well as from the socialist years, when ZBOR was the basic institution of direct democracy and self-management. ZBOR was a living, everyday democratic practice in every factory, organization, apartment block, school and workplace. ZBOR is a place and time where anything can happen. Today, the word is often reduced to the meaning of ‘chorus’, but the ZBOR initiative also embraces this contemporary use – because one of its main goals is to gather the voices of the many for our shared world and time.
Check out some basic info about Flotacija and a background text by Eluned Zoë Aiano about the mining town of Majdanpek, where “Flotacija” was filmed. Read about the founding of ZBOR at a 2023 BG workshop and about the conception of ZBOR’s current film campaign at a 2024 BG workshop.
This event takes place in cooperation with Ambasada, BG | berlinergazette.de, Harun Farocki Institut, and ZBOR and with the kind support of Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Belgrade and Berlin.
