23.11.2010
The threat of closure of the largest safe shelter for abused women in Zagreb made some of the biggest names in Croatia’s music scene use their talents to raise funds for the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb. tportal joined their campaign and called upon its fans to support the initiative by direct donations, setting an example by its own generous contribution amounting to 100,000.00 HRK. The top divas of Croatia’s music scene, Gabi Novak, Vanna and Tamara Obrovac, performed the deeply moving lyrics of the new song „Ako ima nekog iznad nas“ (“If there’s someone above us”) by the well known Croatian musician and composer Bruno Kovačić, dedicated to abused women.
All musicians waived, for life, their royalty and performance fees with regard to the above mentioned song, in favor of the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb, including ZAMP (Croatian Composers’ Society, Collecting Society) which will donate its portion of the revenue. Inspired by their selflessness, tportal, by its campaign "1 Like - 1 Vote Against Violence Against Women", will provide additional funds and enable free of charge download of the song on its official Facebook fan page. tportal Editor Alemka Lisinski expressed her wish for a success of the campaign, saying: “Hopefully our initiative will be supported by both tportal visitors and Facebook users who are expected to join our fan page in largest possible numbers, where the premiere of the emotional song by Bruno Kovačić is available, along with exclusive material, and where they can see, on a daily basis, how the campaign is doing.“
Neva Tolle, Coordinator of the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb, described how the cooperation with musicians and tportal came to be: „When, one morning, Ivana knocked on our door and said that her husband wanted to give us his song as a present, we had absolutely no idea that, within only a couple of weeks, so many wonderful people would join us and offer their work and selflessness to help the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb. We are particularly grateful to tportal which contributed substantial funds to this campaign.“ „My husband’s song simply was not supposed to just stay on paper. The message it sends is that we have to fight against violence, and it was our logical choice to give it away for a noble purpose.
We are glad that we can help such an institution, as, unfortunately, this is an issue which must not be ignored“, said Ivana Plechinger on this occasion. After 20 years of work, the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb faces the threat of being closed; they need substantial financial assistance in order to continue their mission of helping women and children who fell victim to violence. „One of our Government’s primary tasks is good social policy, therefore we hope that, if there is someone above us in the City of Zagreb, in the Zagreb County or in the Government of the Republic of Croatia, that our appeal will be heard and that we receive further funding for our work“, said Neva Tolle. In addition to the citizens who participate in the "1 Like - 1 Vote Against Violence Against Women" campaign by supporting the Autonomous Women’s House Zagreb via the tportal Facebook fan page, the radio, by airing the song „Ako ima nekog iznad nas“ nationwide every day, also contributes to the survival of Croatia’s largest safe shelter.