Raziskovalni Inštitut 8. marec (8th of March Institute) is a nonprofit organisation focused on highlighting injustices, inequalities and the importance of human rights as well as formulating and acting on concrete demands. The 8th of March Institute was founded in 2016, at first, their aim was simple: to continue raising awareness of the importance of equality. However, they soon began focusing on numerous other aspects concerning the themes of gender and inequality.
This young and driven team, are the initiators and coordinators of the Slovenian #metoo (#jaztudi) campaign that collects testimonies of sexual harassment and violence. They monitor the adoption of new legislation through the prism of equality and social justice and organise campaigns that actively influence laws.
Their campaigns draw on people’s personal experiences to highlight current issues. The crew are also increasingly active in the field Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (authors of the only Slovenian pro choice web page). Recently, they led a nation-wide campaign to change the legal definition on rape and sexual violence in accordance with the “yes means yes” consent model and they are becoming active on environmental issues as well.
From March to July 2021 they coordinated a national referendum about the amendments to the Water Act Act that endangered drinking water and watercourses, first collecting the 40,000 signatures for calling the referendum and then leading the referendum campaign that in the end gave a historic victory, the law was rejected 86,75% of the votes with an unprecedented general turnout for a referendum of 46,46% and a significantly higher mobilisation of young voters – even though the referendum was held during the summer vacations.
In the last year, March 8th Institute have been one of the most active civil society voices against the described negative tendencies of the government – organising protests, petitions, humanitarian actions and formulating legislative proposals and demands.
The 8th of March Institute has brought together people from different fields (sociology, anthropology, biology, pedagogy, cognitive sciences, linguistics and others). They are a strong, close-knit team which has so far operated on a voluntary basis.
The crew are currently planning or are in the middle execution of several actions:
– #jaztudi campaign (ongoing): continue raising public awareness and demanding concrete changes;
– sexual health and reproductive rights (ongoing): fighting the neoconservative tendencies of the current government and preparing mobilisation for SHRS;
– Employment Relationships Act Amendment (September-ongoing): they are helping the trade union of police officers, that are being disciplined by the authorities for resisting the authoritarian tendencies of the government with collecting signatures to put a law into parliamentary procedure that will
– Drinking Water for the people of Anhovo (planning – will be launched in a couple of weeks): an action aimed at securing budget funds for connecting the water supply system to a clean and healthy water source
– Universal Free Kindergarten (planning): the team are preparing a law that would bring Universal Free Kindergarten
Guerrilla Grant 2021
With our grant, the March 8th Institute will continue mobilising people for a more just and equal society during this critical time for Slovenia. There will also be funds allocated for internal capacity building to kick up the organisation to a new level: to teach themselves on how to work with the actual money, map different donors, establish a new way of including new members to the organisation, as well as additional training in campaign practices, structures of different organisations, ways of mobilising people.
The overall goal with this core support translates to engaging more people in the democratic process in Slovenia. In the last general elections in 2018 the election turnout was only 52,64%, almost half of the voting population didn’t participate in the democratic process, and voting abstention was highest among the young.
The current political climate in Slovenia pushes us to be even more active in defending achieved rights while at the same time demanding higher standards of human, social, democratic and environmental rights. Using the current political momentum as a dynamo, the March 8th Institute are now aiming to push their activities to a higher, more professional level and systematically build a grassroots movement that will engage for a fairer, just, equal and democratic society with concrete demands and actions. Through this they want to achieve greater participation in the democratic process which is a precondition to achieving larger scale change in the country.
