Professors Jovanović and Dragičević Šešić: Only the Compliant Will Play, Sing, and Direct
Opera singer and professor Katarina Jovanović, along with FDU professor Milena Dragičević Šešić, has launched a series of forums in Serbian cities about the pressures and blackmail faced by employees in cultural institutions.
TL;DR
- Katarina Jovanović and Milena Dragičević Šešić are organizing forums on pressures within Serbian cultural institutions.
- They claim the current government intends to destroy universities and the cultural space, promoting only 'compliant' individuals.
- Jovanović points to attempts to instrumentalize student parliaments for political gain, citing the Medical Faculty as an example.
- Dragičević Šešić notes that the initiative 'Report a Case of Political Repression in Culture' is collecting testimonies, with many fearing anonymity.
- Artists, particularly those in smaller towns, are facing repression, including denial of work and opportunities.
- The professors refute the idea that employees receiving state salaries are forbidden from criticizing the government, stating that state funds come from citizen taxes.
- They emphasize the long-term damage of denying artists the ability to create, effectively 'killing' them as human beings and hindering cultural development.