-by Miloš Vučićević

Six peaks, six mountains and six circles, as she calls them, then points her finger in the direction of the Papratiste. She says: Do you see that red pigment? They used to mine ore there even before the Romans; they understood the meaning of these colors poured into a bright silver and red soil. In the fall, when the leaves turn yellow, they actually illuminate metallic or a reddish sheen that is much more evident than the soil from the other sites. And when you climb Kablar (the highest mountain in the area), you will see circles (explaining, in this case, the peaks as they stack on top of each other, as if someone had put them cyclically on a map of the terrain). Each peak has a special meaning, and each territory has a special way of living and constellations with nature and the environment in which these people live. Many monasteries—many stories untold. Then you have people with supernatural talents, individual alternative knowledge, villages with magnificent stories and customs. All within the circle of these six mountains that you see here from Papratiste to the end of the peak's sight.

During anti-government protests in 2019, the slogan was “Our enemy is not invisible”. Shortly before that, “1 of the 5 million”, followed by “Stop Red shirts”, which was a response to an oppositional leader, beaten on the streets the night before the protests erupted. Later on, slogans shifted from present, existential and political towards more ecological and futuristic—issues which are again existential and political—addressing expansionism and the progressive capitalistic utopia we live in, its exploitative and extractive way that leads to mass extinction and eschatological threats like climate crisis, rapid deviation of land, mass culture, dry outs etc. In the year 2021, yet another writing was sprayed on the walls in Belgrade: “We don't give Jadar”. This was before the big protests that continued from smaller towns and territorial areas and culminated in larger cities, which later had their own issues, such as polluted air and forests felling, fighting for cleaner surroundings, clean water, more parks & greenery. By the end of 2021, thousands of people gathered every week to support the blockade in main streets all across Serbia. The protests had noticeably clearer goals, and they rose cyclically until the moment when the highway was blocked in Belgrade in February, which led the president to sign an act where the exploitation of multinational companies was postponed until further notice. Of course, until the next elections came at the end of April.

Descending lower into the valley, we also met Aleksandar. He gladly showed us a photo of his grandfather in the royal guard of the former kingdom of SHS (Serbs, Croats and Slovenians), riding a horse with a sabre in his hand, and proudly explained to us how they used to plan an exposure with the movement of the horse and the flash from the camera to capture the moment. His wife Snezana explained that he made this open-air spring cafe-bar voluntarily just for fun so that he could sit with his friends, cool the beer, take a glass of rakia and sit around the stone table, which was actually a wheel from an old mill. Sitting like that, I asked about the spring. Marija explained to me that it is in the tradition of their family to protect (keep) those springs and the only family in the area with so many springs under their watch, five of them, she said. Taking care of the water in a unique way, giving this inexhaustible gift of the earth, he preserves the community and also gives a lot of it to her back. For the one who comes to the spring after the scorching sun at noon, the gates will always be open for them. A person could find a bottle of brandy in the water stream because Aleksandar leaves them below so that they can drink water and rakia to rest the pain of the heat day. He keeps his water open in the house, she also added. He never allows it to stop. In this way, he is not the waterkeeper, but he used it only as a source, so all the valves and all the pipes in the house are never closed; in that way, everything flows “with him”, nothing is held back as people used to do.

A new green revolution started in the spring of 2022 with the new old slogan “ Stop to Lithium '' and “Stop to Rio Tinto ” only two months before a new presidential election in Serbia. An ongoing green movement was already active around regions in East Serbia. People were still fighting against private companies Zidjin, Rio Sava, Balcan research & mining co, who managed to put some rivers in pipes so they could make electricity. Some river sources were under the national and first level of protection by the state. This, of course, did not deter companies from bribing politicians or local authorities who are in power to continue exploiting these types of activities. In these regions, people had already started to occupy construction machines. Even regarding that, workers and company executors were always protected by the state police.

During the time we spent with activist leader Dragan Simovic we could hear exactly about the ways these companies still find their way to research and make sure that they will continue with later exploitation. Dragan explained that in Dobrinja, it is possible to work simultaneously, focusing on the action in the terrain by the companies that bribe locals and buy their properties and by educating locals that there is another way, an alternative way of sharing knowledge, taking into consideration nature and the whole ecosystem. Their goals are, if possible, to work strongly within the local community, keeping further plans open for discussion, lowering the pressure that these people encounter every day with tremendous effort and impact in their life, and the struggle of maintaining their households by helping each other when necessary, upon that defending these territories from hungry hands of rich companies.

Wandering uphill towards Kablar, I realized how water and soil are important for these people. If big companies come here to exploit, they will not only pollute this part here but entire fields downstream along the towns of Čačak, Kraljevo and all the way to the Black Sea. I couldn't bear this feeling of disappointment. It's not just about territory, this place, the knowledge they possess, tradition or heritage; it's just for the fact that they know every part of their surroundings. They know every name of every animal. When they hear the bell of a cow down the valley, they know exactly by the sound which cow is approaching. They give names to the streams, to the trees, to parts of their habitat and they are indeed truly part of the ecosystem in a relationship with nature. Their customs and traditions are closely related to their way of life and bound by the struggle of living for generations of people before them.

The area that would be covered by the mining of Lithium ore extends over an area of over 15 square kilometres. It would include villages, Lower, Middle and Upper Dobrinja. Ježevica, Kalenići and many other places. The area that this multinational company would own in the full expansion of their exploitation would move from Loznica towards Pozega and further to the east. Almost all of Western Serbia currently has investigative monitoring for Lithium, Boron, Silver and Gold ores. Mining Lithium alone requires an enormous amount of water, and at the same time, the extraction is using reverse osmosis. According to currently developed technologies, about 500,000 litres of water are needed to extract one ton of lithium. Such needs for water in local areas also affect farmers, who, in this way, are deprived of a valuable resource for raising livestock and irrigating crops. Additionally, the toxic cocktail of chemicals used to extract lithium from the ground is also capable of infiltrating nearby rivers, streams and water supplies.

While the day was winding down and we, already tired from the journey and under the impression of various stories of local people we met during the day, we arrived in front of Dragan's house, where we were welcomed by his mother and grandmother, who were preparing lunch for the tired guests. Sitting at the table in his home where his mother was preparing a late lunch, I used the time to talk to him about his plans for the future. He told us: You know, before, I didn't even know what activism was or even what it meant and all of a sudden, I just became an activist.

Miloš Vučićević, artist and videographer. One of the founders of Gallery Reflektor – Užice, Serbia and its Videopark Contemporary Art Festival director, as well as one of the co-founders of the BAL conference. He researches through different media, such as video, performance, and installation, where his artistic approach is predominantly connected with political and social paradigms that exist in society.

MIGRATORY ANTHROPOCENE. Reflections #2