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What we do?

Association Spectra is a feminist non-governmental organization registered in 2017 in Podgorica, Montenegro, with a mission to promote primarily gender equality with a special focus on the needs and contributions of the trans, inter and gender variant (TIRV) community. Our work is based on the principles of feminism, anti-fascism and intersectionality.

DE­COLO­NIAL­ISMSpek­tra strong­ly op­pos­es wars and mil­i­ta­riza­tion. We be­lieve in re­solv­ing con­flicts of small­er or larg­er di­men­sions by peace­ful means. We also be­lieve in re­spect­ing peo­ple's self-de­ter­mi­na­tion, and re­spect­ing cul­ture and coun­try. We be­lieve in re­sis­tance to ha­tred, oc­cu­pa­tion and colo­nial­iza­tion. We fight against ex­ploita­tion and geno­cide.
ANTI-VI­O­LENCEWe be­lieve in a proac­tive and trans­for­ma­tive ap­proach to jus­tice, which is not only based on harm re­duc­tion, but also on ed­u­cat­ed un­der­stand­ing and pre­ven­tion of ha­tred, prej­u­dice and op­pres­sion in so­ci­ety. When we con­front and ques­tion prej­u­dices and bi­ased be­hav­iors in our­selves, oth­ers and in­sti­tu­tions, we can stop the es­ca­la­tion of prej­u­dice and make it dif­fi­cult for dis­crim­i­na­tion and ha­tred to flour­ish.
PACI­FISM AND ANTI-MIL­I­TARISMWe be­lieve in ex­is­tence with­out prac­tic­ing vi­o­lence in any form. We strong­ly op­pose any prac­tice that rep­re­sents phys­i­cal, psy­cho­log­i­cal, sex­u­al and/or sys­temic vi­o­lence.
SELF-DE­TER­MI­NA­TIONWe be­lieve that every per­son has the ex­clu­sive right to de­fine his/her own iden­ti­ty/s, and we stand for the legal recog­ni­tion and re­spect of those iden­ti­ties.
FEM­I­NIST PRIN­CI­PLESWe be­lieve in gen­der equal­i­ty for peo­ple of all gen­der iden­ti­ties and/or sex­u­al char­ac­ter­is­tics. We be­lieve in the equal­i­ty of all peo­ple, in an egal­i­tar­i­an so­ci­ety in which per­son­al char­ac­ter­is­tics do not di­min­ish equal op­por­tu­ni­ties.
IN­TER­SEC­TIONIn our ac­tivism, we are guid­ed by the prin­ci­ple of in­ter­sec­tion­al­i­ty, which rec­og­nizes that we all have mul­ti­ple iden­ti­ties, and that our life ex­pe­ri­ences are com­plex and shaped based on mul­ti­ple per­son­al char­ac­ter­is­tics and/or be­long­ing to dif­fer­ent groups, while not giv­ing pri­ma­cy to any of them. We be­lieve in in­ter­sec­tion­al­i­ty as an en­light­en­ing and em­pow­er­ing con­cept, and we op­pose the use of this con­cept for the pur­pose of pa­tron­iza­tion and (auto)vic­tim­iza­tion.
RE­SPON­SI­BIL­I­TYWe be­lieve in in­di­vid­ual and col­lec­tive re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, in the prin­ci­ple of car­ing to­wards work tasks, to­wards re­sources, to­wards our­selves, to­wards team mem­bers, to­wards the com­mu­ni­ty we work for, to­wards the so­ci­ety of which we are mem­bers.
HOLISMWe be­lieve in a sys­temic ap­proach to solv­ing prob­lems, in ob­serv­ing the sys­tem as a whole, and each actor as a part of the sys­tem in which he par­tic­i­pates, and there­fore to whom he has re­spon­si­bil­i­ty.
TRUSTWe be­lieve in giv­ing trust, by giv­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ty. We as­sume the best in­ten­tions and are guid­ed by stan­dards of eth­i­cal be­hav­ior. In the event of a breach of trust, we cre­ate space for it to be re-es­tab­lished.
AU­TON­O­MYWe be­lieve in the idea that peo­ple's con­scious and in­formed de­ci­sions must be re­spect­ed and must not be re­ject­ed, to the ex­tent that they do not en­dan­ger the life of ei­ther the maker/dif­fi­cult de­ci­sion, or other peo­ple. Per­son­al au­ton­o­my is, at a min­i­mum, self-man­age­ment free from con­trol­ling in­ter­fer­ence and con­straints that pre­vent mean­ing­ful choice.
RE­SPECT FOR IDEN­TI­TY, PER­SON­AL IN­TEGRI­TY AND EX­PE­RI­ENCESWe be­lieve in the au­then­tic­i­ty of every­one's iden­ti­ty and ex­pe­ri­ences, with­out ques­tion­ing them. We be­lieve that per­son­al in­tegri­ty is an in­vi­o­lable right of every human being, and we are par­tic­u­lar­ly ded­i­cat­ed to pro­tect­ing it.
IN­TEGRI­TYWe make de­ci­sions in ac­cor­dance with the val­ues ​​and goals of the or­ga­ni­za­tion, not al­low­ing com­pro­mis­es that could un­der­mine them. We do not agree to po­lit­i­cal pres­sure, we do not trade with human rights, we do not sup­port those who do not share our val­ues.
CAREFor us, care im­plies the con­cept of 'All for one, one for all', and care for the com­mu­ni­ty, for our­selves, ac­cord­ing to the re­sources we have, care for the col­lec­tive, and care for the val­ues ​​we rep­re­sent. We per­ceive care as a po­lit­i­cal con­cept, not only as em­pa­thy, and we ac­tive­ly work to cre­ate safe, but also brave spaces where we can prac­tice the ethics of care and sol­i­dar­i­ty.
EM­POW­ER­MENTWe be­lieve in pro­vid­ing and re­dis­trib­ut­ing re­sources where they are most need­ed. We do not agree to (auto)vic­tim­iz­ing po­si­tions and ac­tive­ly work to dis­man­tle them as in­stru­ments of op­pres­sive sys­tems.
SOL­I­DAR­I­TYWe be­lieve in im­par­tial ad­vo­ca­cy for true val­ues, for po­lit­i­cal sol­i­dar­i­ty that tran­scends sub­jec­tiv­i­ty. We be­lieve in equal prac­tice that comes from value, not char­ac­ter as­sess­ment.
CON­SIS­TEN­CYWe show re­spon­si­bil­i­ty by hav­ing a prac­tice that we fol­low, and jus­ti­fied ex­cep­tions that con­firm the prac­tice. We know the rea­sons why we do what we do, and we be­lieve in equal prac­tice that comes from value, not sit­u­a­tion­al as­sess­ment.
SER­VICEWe be­lieve in serv­ing the com­mu­ni­ty we rep­re­sent and the idea we de­fend and fight for. We do not serve im­posed op­pres­sive au­thor­i­ties, nor those who oc­cu­py a false po­si­tion of au­thor­i­ty over our per­son­al­i­ties, val­ues ​​and strug­gles. We be­lieve in val­ues ​​­greater than our­selves.
PUR­POSEWe work for val­ues greater than our­selves.
GROUND­ED­NESSWhile we are guid­ed by val­ues ​​and ideas, we stand firm­ly on the ground and keep a per­spec­tive on the real, com­plex prob­lems that the com­mu­ni­ty faces. We are guid­ed by ideals, act­ing strate­gi­cal­ly and ground­ed in con­text and for the best in­ter­ests in line with the val­ues ​​we rep­re­sent.
DI­VER­SI­TYWe re­spect and sup­port di­ver­si­ty, re­in­forc­ing the idea that peo­ple are not the same. We re­spect the di­ver­si­ty of bod­ies, faces, skin and hair color, opin­ions, ex­pe­ri­ences and per­spec­tives.
AN­TIPER­FEC­TION­ISMWe be­lieve that it is human to make mis­takes, we be­lieve in the po­ten­tial to learn from them, as well as in re­main­ing ori­ent­ed to re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, to the les­son, and to the re­sult.
FEM­I­NIST HONORHonor is de­scribed as a code of du­ties of in­di­vid­u­als and in­di­vid­u­als with­in a so­cial group. Fem­i­nist honor re­de­fines these du­ties in ac­cor­dance with fem­i­nist val­ues.
TRANS­PAREN­CY IN WORKWe are com­mit­ted to ac­tive and con­tin­u­ous com­mu­ni­ca­tion with the fem­i­nist and TIRV com­mu­ni­ty and the gen­er­al pub­lic, with the aim of keep­ing our work fully trans­par­ent. We be­lieve that a trans­par­ent way of work­ing is nec­es­sary so that the com­mu­ni­ty we stand for is al­ways aware of our ac­tiv­i­ties and the rea­sons be­hind them.
TEAM­WORK AND CUL­TURE OF DI­A­LOGUEWe be­lieve in ac­tivism that comes from as­sertive com­mu­ni­ca­tion, shar­ing re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, and joint de­ci­sion-mak­ing. We do not shrink from dif­fi­cul­ties and con­flicts, but solve them to­geth­er.
CRIT­I­CAL THINK­INGWe ac­tive­ly par­tic­i­pate in is­sues of im­por­tance to the TIRVQ com­mu­ni­ty and the gen­er­al pub­lic, with a crit­i­cal ap­proach and en­cour­ag­ing crit­i­cal think­ing. We also wel­come crit­i­cism of our work, and we ac­tive­ly work to im­prove it.