As part of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, the director of the TPO Foundation, Prof. Dr. Zilka Spahić Šiljak, held a lecture today for students and teaching staff on different forms of violence, its symptoms, the characteristics of perpetrators, and tactics of coercive control. She urged young people to recognize the signs of violence and to react and protect themselves in time.

In the first part of the lecture, the professor explained why the 16 Days of Activism Campaign—observed in 164 countries around the world, including Bosnia and Herzegovina—is so important.

She presented two dramatic pieces available on the TPO website within the Media Pedagogy section to help young people understand the mechanisms of violent behavior and the patterns of verbal violence that are often adopted in the family environment and later transferred into school and other areas of life.

She introduced the basic tactics of coercive control—intimidation, isolation, gaslighting, and similar methods—used by abusers to keep victims under control, and recommended further reading in the works of Evan Stark.

Finally, she emphasized that the concept of sabur (patience/endurance) must not be understood as mere passive suffering, but as an active state in which one seeks a solution and a way out of violence. She also added that violence affects men as well, though disproportionately less than women and girls.