Christina Wassholm

This is a book written by a Swede who has intricate relations with people on the political left in Serbia; she writes of daily life in Belgrade and how the LGBT part of the population is treated and has been for the past decades, and of their struggles.

As Belgrade, the rest of Serbia and the former republic known as Yugoslavia is rising from the cinder that remains of the long internal and external wars, dictators and so-called ethnic cleansings, the desire to come back to life and to join the European Community is stronger than ever. Sadly, some prejudiced views of the LGBT community are hard to squash, and the government doesn't really do anything to help out here.

Wassholm follows different types of people, all activists in some sense of the word, from well-known figures to persons who have discovered their sexuality and are trying to live in an environment that can be very dangerous and at the same time strangely looks like it's becoming more open. Or so it seems.

The activists fight and fight against what seems like perennial oppression both from the government and the government-favoured right-wing and fascists.

Then there's the enflamed discussion regarding the independence of Kosovo to consider, not to mention the massacre in Srebrenica.

I think this is a very interesting, in-depth look into the lives of a few activists who are trying to live in a growing Serbia where the government is fairly corrupt, you can easily get beat down in the streets for proclaiming your sexuality and there's a lot of partying going on.… (plus d'informations)