Several dozen right-wingers have been blocking the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad since Thursday, March 28. The blockade represents a continuation of the campaign against university professor, writer, and journalist Dinko Gruhonjić. A few hundred students and citizens gathered in front of the Faculty building on Friday to express support for Gruhonjić.
The initiative board of teachers of the Faculty of Philosophy invited colleagues to gather on Friday, March 29, at noon in front of the Faculty of Philosophy building, local 021 media reported. The gathering was organised in reaction to the blockade of the faculty that started Thursday, as well as the manhunt that has been going on for weeks against the professor of the same faculty, Dinko Gruhonjić.
A group of organized right-wingers blocked the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad on Thursday, March 28, demanding that associate professor Dinko Gruhonjić be fired. As the October 23 Anti-Fascist Front states, most participants in this blockade “never set foot on the Faculty”.
Gruhonjic has been under pressure by the far right for weeks. The manhunt started when an edited video from last year’s antifascist Rebedu festival (held in Dubrovnik) spread on social networks. Some media tried to use this video to prove that Gruhonjić is proud to share a name with the commander of the Jasenovac camp – Dinko Šakić.
However, as the Serbian anti-false news Raskrikavanje portal shows, Gruhonjic’s statement was taken out of context, which becomes clear when the entire video of the forum is played.
The professor from Novi Sad told Raskrivanje that this is not the first time that “nationalists have pulled him out of the hat” and twisted his words and that he has been suffering pressure and attacks for decades. “Why they chose this moment for an attack is a question for them. It seems to me that they are targeting the rare people who have the courage to speak about militant nationalism in Serbia,” Gruhonjić told Raskrikanje.
“My name is Dinko Gruhonjić. I was born in Banja Luka on September 15, 1970, in a so-called mixed marriage: my father was a man and my mother was a woman. For those who find amusement in ‘climbing’ my family tree: my father’s name was Ahmed, my mother’s name was Nadezhda. My sister’s name is Zlatica, like Tito’s granddaughter.
I am a child of brotherhood and unity, my only homeland was and remained Yugoslavia, and I am a Yugoslav, Bosnian and Vojvodina. I have never stopped believing in the brotherhood and unity of our peoples and nationalities,” Gruhonjić told Danas.
The attack on Faculty of philosophy in Novi Sad was strongly condemned by the Zajedno party Youth Board in Novi Sad. They draw attention to the fact that among the alleged students there were members of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. The Novi Sad Zajedno party Youth Board announce the filing of criminal charges against the organizers of the right-wing meeting, reports N1.
“The so-called students who broke into the Faculty of Philosophy today (…) probably never saw books and university indexes in their lives. Some of them wore T-shirts with the image Legija (a war criminal), the war criminal Ratko Mladić; members of the ruling party and their thugs were also present. Hardly any students took part in this,” Srđan Đurić, president of the Zajedno party Youth Board, stated for N1.
PEN International deeply concerned
‘PEN International condemns the mounting death threats against writer and academic Dinko Gruhonjić and urges the Serbian authorities to do everything in their power to hold the perpetrators to account. The situation for freedom of expression in Serbia is at a critical point. The dangerous cycle of impunity for crimes against writers and journalists – which emboldens perpetrators and encourages further threats and attacks – must end once and for all”, stated the association yesterday via press release.
I.K., A.G.A.
