CONGRATULATIONS RADA!
RADA BORIC, ONE BILLION RISING COORDINATOR,
ELECTED MEMBER OF CROATIAN PARLIAMENT

Image courtesy: Dragan Matic / Hanza Media

We are thrilled to share the news that One Billion Rising Coordinator Rada Boric has been elected to the Croatian parliament! Rada is a member of the New Left party in Croatia and the We Can coalition, a Croatian platform of local green and progressive movements that formed a progressive political party and won seven seats in Sunday’s parliamentary election.

“We showed in the span of a month and a half what courage means – that’s what we brought to the table from activism. We also showed what creativity and respect for people and talking to them can do,” stated Rada in Slobodna Dalmacija, when commenting on the electoral success of the platform. “What the Prime Minister resented about us was our political activism and we think that many had been politically dormant in the past and the success of the election reflected that. This success is not just the success of our platform. I would say it is the cumulative success of 30 years of activism, gathered from different movements – anti-war, anti police powers, for women’s rights,” she added.

In Parliament, Rada will continue her lifelong commitment and advocacy to advance gender equality in Croatia, including fighting for a modern Abortion Act to provide women with free, safe, and accessible medical treatment and contraception. She will advocate for sex education, a modern civic education program designed to help students understand gender equality, and equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, including adoptions and foster care.

Rada is a feminist linguist and activist who has coordinated One Billion Rising across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia since the campaign launched in 2012. Prior to One Billion Rising, Rada has been a pillar of the V-Day movement, producing benefit performances across Europe. Rada is a member of the Initiative for the Women’s Court for Former Yugoslavia, regional coordinator of V-Day, the global movement against violence against women, and a member of the Nobel Women’s Initiative Advisory Board. In 2012 she was elected vice-president of the European Women Lobby (representing Women’s Network Croatia). In 2013, the Croatian President awarded her with the decoration Order of Danica Hrvatska for her work on promoting women’s human rights.

Please join us in congratulating Rada!