ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE?
Marš sa Drine is a national campaign against the mining of lithium, borate and related minerals in Serbia. We started as a network of groups against Rio Tinto’s mine in the Jadar Valley with the primary purpose to support the local opposition to the mine, Ne Damo Jadar. We have expanded into a collective of citizens, independent experts, activists, local and national non-governmental organizations from Serbia and beyond, all united to protect the Jadar Valley and the rest of Serbia from the devastating effects of mining on fertile soil.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to support locals working to protect their land against planned lithium and borate exploitation and against forced relocation that that entails. We work based on social, environmental, economic and legal aspects.
Bounded by mountains, surrounded by water and home to thousands of multigenerational, sustainable agriculturalists, the Jadar Valley is known as the most fertile land in Serbia. Instead of protecting it, the Government of Serbia, together with Rio Tinto, wants to destroy it, displace the people who live there and build a lithium – borate mine whose consequences on the environment of not just that area, but the whole of Serbia, would be catastrophic. Marš sa Drine stands with the people to protect our precious natural resources, our water, air and soil.
OUR TEAM
Bojana Novaković
Coordinator
Bojana is an actor, writer, documentary maker and organizer. As one of the founding members of the MSD campaign, she believes that the keys to the solution for the climate catastrophe can not be put into the hands of the industries that created it, To her, the solution is structural and systemic. Therefore stopping giant polluters from extracting and destroying fertile soil in Serbia is an essential first step to cleaning up and preserving our natural and living environment.
Ivan Bjelić
Journalist and youth worker
Ivan is a journalist and environmental activist. Due to many years of work in the media and in the field of environmental protection, he believes that this moment is crucial for the further development of people's awareness on this topic. The growing problem of global pollution can be solved only by understanding the consequences that any harmful effects will leave on the future of the planet and society.
Isidora Petrović
Graphic designer
Isidora is a graphic designer, and is the most proud to have created the logo for Mars sa Drine. She doesn’t want to live in a polluted, mining colony and Europes landfill and that is the reason she is a part of this fight - to try and save her country and the planet.
Jovana Amidžić
Europe and Petitioning
Jovana completed her BA in Arabic and is currently doing her masters at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade.
Ivan Nikolić
Art and Culture
Ivan is a cinematographer, editor, documentary maker and cave diver.
Stephanie Roth
Consultant
Stephanie completed her Master of Philosophy in IR at Cambridge and was editor of The Ecologist from 1999 after which she coordinated the campaign against Europe's largest open-pit gold mine from 2002-2010. Known as the Save Rosia Montana movement, she won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005 for her work there. She currently lives in Berlin where she campaigns and works on food & farming issues and the CAP reform. Since 2014 she has been working as campaign coordinator of the Stop TTIP self-organized European citizen's initiative, a European campaign fighting against the TTIP and CETA transatlantic free trade agreements.
Marijana Petkovic
Community Liaison
Marijana is a literature teacher at the high school in Loznica. She is a member of Ne Damo Jadar, the local association of landowners opposed to Rio Tinto’s mining project, and one of their main spokespeople. Marijana has become a legend among the Serbian public with her incredible public speeches and her frank, transparent and emotional addresses at rallies. She lives with her husband Nebojsa, a fellow activists in Ne Damo Jadar, and their two daughters.
OUR NETWORK
