Jump to content

Srđa Popović (activist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 217.169.221.165 (talk) at 15:13, 25 February 2014 (→Other Activities). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Other people3

Srđa Popović
Popović speaking at the roundtable discussion on regime change organized by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin on 16 January 2012.
Born (1973-02-01) February 1, 1973 (age 51)
Belgrade, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
CitizenshipSerbian
OccupationPolitical activist

Srđa Popović (born 1973) is a Serbian biologist, political activist,and executive director of the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS). Srđa Popović was a leader of the student movement Otpor! that helped topple Serbian president Slobodan Milošević.[1]

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]

Activism

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.[5] 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,[6] including Iran, Zimbabwe, Burma, Venezuela, Ukraine, Georgia, Palestine, Western Sahara, West Papua, Eritrea, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Tonga and, recently, Tunisia and Egypt.[7][8]

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.[9]

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.[10]

Other Activities

In December 2013, an Occupy.com story alleged that Popović acted as an "informant" for Stratfor, a Texas-based global intelligence firm. Their claims were contested.[11] Popović is a board member of International Communications Partners, a media and PR consulting company. [12] In November 2011 he 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.[13]

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]

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.[16]

In January 2012 The Wired included him among the "50 people who will change the world".[17]

Peace Research Institute Oslo's (PRIO) director Kristian Berg Harpviken speculated that Popović is among the candidates for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.[18]

World Economic Forum in Davos listed Popović as one of Young Global Leaders for 2013.[19]

References

  1. ^ Revolutionist;The Atlantic Magazine 2012
  2. ^ "A Force More Powerful". Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  3. ^ The Independent: "So You Want A Revolution?" , September 2011.
  4. ^ a b Bringing Down The Dictator;PBS 2002
  5. ^ Cohen, Roger (26 November 2000). "Who Really Brought Down Milosevic?". New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  6. ^ Rosenberg, Tina (16.02.2011) Revolution U – What Egypt learned from the students who overthrew Milosevic, Foreign Policy. Retrieved 20.07.2011
  7. ^ Di Giovanni, Janine (18.03.2011) Blueprint for a revolution, Financial Times. Retrieved 20.07.2011.
  8. ^ "Srdja Popovic". Oslo Freedom Forum. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  9. ^ "FEATURE-Serbian activist teaches lessons in revolution". Reuters. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  10. ^ "Srdja Popovic: How to topple a dictator". ted.com. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  11. ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-yes-men/how-yellow-journalism-screws-the-left_b_4387341.html
  12. ^ http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,8
  13. ^ http://www.ted.com/talks/srdja_popovic_how_to_topple_a_dictator.html
  14. ^ "Ekoloski Pokret "Green Fist"". NGO Directory. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  15. ^ Ecotopia http://www.ecotopia.rs/. Retrieved 12 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. ^ Foreign Policy Magazine: 2011 Top Global Thinkers;Foreign Policy Magazine, December 2011
  17. ^ "The Smart List 2012: 50 people who will change the world". The Wired. 24 January 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ http://www.weforum.org/young-global-leaders/srdja-popovic YGL Official website

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Srđa_Popović_(activist)&oldid=597077527"