Srđa Popović (activist)

For the lawyer and civil rights activist, see Srđa Popović (lawyer).
Srđa Popović
Срђа Поповић

Popović speaking at the roundtable discussion on regime change organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin on 16 January 2012.
Member of the National Assembly of Serbia
In office
January 2001 – March 2004
Environmental adviser of the Prime Minister of Serbia
In office
January 2001 – March 2003
Personal details
Born (1973-02-01) 1 February 1973
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Serbian
Political party Democratic (DS) (1992-2004)
Spouse(s) Maša Stanisavljević (m. 2012)
Residence Belgrade, Serbia
Alma mater University of Belgrade
Occupation Political activist
Leader of Otpor! (1998-2002)
Leader of CANVAS (2004-present)
Profession Biologist

Srđa Popović (born 1973) is a Serbian political activist. He was a leader of the student movement Otpor! that helped topple Serbian dictator Slobodan Milošević.[1] After briefly pursuing a political career in Serbia, in 2003 he established the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS), and has been its executive director since. CANVAS has worked with pro-democracy activists from more than 50 countries, promoting the use of non-violent resistance in achieving political and social goals.

Early life

Popović was born in Belgrade, where both of his parents worked in television.[2] His mother Vesna narrowly avoided being killed during the Nato bombing of Belgrade in 1999.[3] He played bass guitar in a goth rock band called BAAL, which was fronted by Andrej Aćin who later turned to film making. They released one album - 1993's Između božanstva i ništavila.

Political career

In parallel to music, Popović joined the Democratic Party's (DS) youth wing called Demokratska omladina. At the party conference in January 1994, he became the president of Demokratska omladina working under the also newly elected party leader Zoran Đinđić.

Although remaining a DS member, in 1998 with the establishment of Otpor!, Popović's activity in the party took a back seat to his engagement with the new movement.

Shortly after the overthrow of Milošević, Popović left Otpor! to return to his political career in Serbia, becoming a Democratic Party (DS) MP in the National Assembly as well as an environmental adviser to newly appointed prime minister Zoran Đinđić.[4]

Books

Popović is the co-author with Matthew Miller of Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Non-Violent Techniques to Galvanise Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World (2015)[5][6]

Activism

Otpor!

Main article: Otpor!

Popović was one of the founders and leaders of the Serbian nonviolent resistance group Otpor!, which was founded in Belgrade on 10 October 1998, by a small group of student protestors.[7] Shortly after 5 October 2000 revolution, he left Otpor! to pursue a political career in Serbia, becoming a Democratic Party (DS) MP in the Serbian assembly as well as an environmental adviser to prime minister Zoran Đinđić.[4]

CANVAS

In 2003, Popović and former Otpor! member Slobodan Đinović co-founded the Centre for Applied Non Violent Actions and Strategies, (CANVAS), an organization that advocates for the use of nonviolence resistance to promote human rights and democracy. Established in Belgrade, CANVAS has worked with pro-democracy activists from more than 50 countries,[8] including Iran, Zimbabwe, Burma, Venezuela, Ukraine, Georgia, Palestine, Western Sahara, West Papua, Eritrea, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Tonga and, recently, Tunisia and Egypt.[9][10]

In 2006, Popović and two other CANVAS members - Slobodan Đinović and Andrej Milivojević - authored a book called Nonviolent Struggle: 50 Crucial Points, a how-to guide for nonviolent struggle.[11]

In November 2011 Popović was one of the speakers at the TEDxKrakow conference. Between December 2011 and February 2013, the video of his speech at ted.com received almost 200,000 views.[12]

CANVAS has been listed as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.[13]

Other Activities

Green Fist

Simultaneous to his early 2000s political engagement, Popović, together with former colleagues from Otpor! Predrag Lečić and Andreja Stamenković, founded the environmental non-governmental organization named Green Fist. Conceptualized as an "ecological movement", it attempted to transfer some of Otpor's mass appeal into environmental issues by using similar imagery, but soon folded.[14]

Ecotopia

Popović heads the Ecotopia fund, the non-profit organization dealing with the environmental issues, financially backed by various Serbian governmental institutions as well as the private sector. In 2009, the fund organized a wide environmental campaign featuring well-known Serbian actors and media personalities with television spots and newspaper ads.[15][16]

Waging Nonviolence

In 2009, Popovic became a founding member of the board of advisers of Waging Nonviolence, "a source for original news and analysis about struggles for justice and peace around the globe." [17][18] Popovic was removed from the board in the wake of the Stratfor controversy (see below).[19]

Teaching

In addition to activism, Popovic also runs educational workshops and lectures at a variety of forums and universities. Additionally, he has taught courses on nonviolence tactics and political struggle at Grinnell College, Harvard University,[20] Colorado College, New York University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, Northeastern University, Rutgers University, and Belgrade University. Popovic and the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Actions and Strategies have partnered with Northeastern University's Co-Op program, hosting interns and running them through nonviolence workshops.

Honors and Awards

Foreign Policy magazine listed Popović as one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" of 2011 for inspiring the Arab Spring protesters directly and indirectly and educating activists about nonviolent social change in the Middle East.[21]

In January 2012 The Wired included him among the "50 people who will change the world".[22]

Peace Research Institute Oslo's (PRIO) director Kristian Berg Harpviken speculated that Popović is among the candidates for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.[23]

World Economic Forum in Davos listed Popović as one of Young Global Leaders for 2013.[24]

Tufts University Awarded Popović, along with CANVAS, with the Jean Mayers Award in February 2016.[25]

Controversy

Involvement with Stratfor

In 2011, the hacker collective Anonymous broke into the computer network of corporate intelligence agency Stratfor, and the subsequently leaked e-mails were published by WikiLeaks.[26] Included was correspondence between Srda Popovic and analysts at Stratfor, and Wikileaks tweeted that CANVAS was "used by Stratfor to spy on opposition groups."[27] In December 2013 Steve Horn and US Uncut co-founder Carl Gibson published an article that sought to shed light on Popovic's interactions with Stratfor, and criticized him for his apparently extensive interaction with Stratfor analysts, which ranged from passing them intelligence to inviting them to his wedding.[28][29] The article garnered heavy criticism from the New York-based culture-jammer Andy Bichlbaum[30][31] (who sat with Popovic on the board of Waging Nonviolence at the time).[32] Gibson and Horn stood by their original denunciation of Popovic,[33][34] pointing out that Popovic gave information about grassroots activists to Stratfor without their consent, and served as a liaison between Stratfor and Muneer Satter, a prominent investment banker who worked at the time for Goldman Sachs [35][36]

References

  1. ↑ Liel Leibovitz, "The Revolutionist: The secret architect of the Arab Spring casts an eye on Occupy Wall Street," The Atlantic Magazine (6 February 2012).
  2. ↑ Steve York, Miriam Zimmerman, Peter Ackerman, Jack DuVall, "A Force More Powerful," Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  3. ↑ The Independent: "So You Want A Revolution?" , September 2011.
  4. 1 2 Bringing Down The Dictator;PBS 2002
  5. ↑ http://www.blueprintforrevolution.com/
  6. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/11/review-blueprint-handbook-for-activists-srjdja-popovic
  7. ↑ Cohen, Roger (26 November 2000). "Who Really Brought Down Milosevic?". New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  8. ↑ Rosenberg, Tina (16 February 2011) "Revolution U – What Egypt learned from the students who overthrew Milosevic," Foreign Policy Retrieved 20 July 2011
  9. ↑ Di Giovanni, Janine (18 March 2011) "Blueprint for a revolution", Financial Times. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  10. ↑ "Srdja Popovic". Oslo Freedom Forum. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  11. ↑ "FEATURE-Serbian activist teaches lessons in revolution". Reuters. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  12. ↑ "Srdja Popovic: How to topple a dictator". ted.com. November 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  13. ↑ "Canvas Finds Itself On UAE Terrorist List". InSerbia.info. November 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Ekoloski Pokret "Green Fist"". NGO Directory. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ecotopia". Ecotopia. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  16. ↑ Duncan Greene, "Review: Blueprint for Revolution, a fantastically readable and useful handbook for activists" "The Guardian" (11 March 2015).
  17. ↑ Michael Barker "Conspiracy Theories and Nonviolence" The Real News, January 6, 2013
  18. ↑ Bryan Farrell "Are activists being used as spies?" Waging Nonviolence, November 20, 2013
  19. ↑ Stephen Zunes "Barker's Bizarre Attacks Against Progressive Scholars" The Real News,
  20. ↑ http://www.hks.harvard.edu/degrees/teaching-courses/course-listing/iga-388m
  21. ↑ Kedar Pavgi, "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers," Foreign Policy Magazine (28 November 2011).
  22. ↑ "The Smart List 2012: 50 people who will change the world". The Wired. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/srdja-popovic YGL Official website
  25. ↑ "Univerzitet Tafts dodelio nagradu CANVAS-u - B92.net". B92.net. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  26. ↑ Amy Goodman, "Stratfor, Wikileaks, and the Obama Administration's War Against the Truth", The Guardian (1 March 2012).
  27. ↑ Wikileaks twitter, 8:00 AM - 16 Nov 2013
  28. ↑ Carl Gibson and Steve Horn, "Exposed: Globally Renowned Activist Collaborated with Intelligence Firm Stratfor," Counterpunch (Dec 3 2013)
  29. ↑ Carl Gibson and Steve Horn, "Exposed: Globally Renowned Activist Collaborated with Intelligence Firm Stratfor," Occupy.com (12 February 2013).
  30. ↑ Andy Bichlbaum "How Yellow Journalism Screws the Left" Yeslab.org, Dec 4, 2013
  31. ↑ "How Yellow Journalism Screws the Left," The Huffington Post (12-04-2013).
  32. ↑ "Are activists being used as spies?" Waging Nonviolence, Nov 20, 2013
  33. ↑ Carl Gibson and Steve Horn, "How Defending Private Intelligence Collaborators Screws Grassroots Activists" Occupy.com (5 Dec 2013).
  34. ↑ "Does a Globally Renowned Activist Have Ties to Global Intelligence Firm Stratfor?," Acronym TV (8 Dec 2013).
  35. ↑ "RE: meeting with Goldman Sachs partner," Wikileaks: The Global Intelligence Files.
  36. ↑ "RE: putting you and George in touch, 2010-05-14," Wikileaks: The Global Intelligence Files.

Further reading

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