Rabia Ali: The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been generally perceived in the West as a civil war or a tribal blood feud ––the product of centuries-old enmities between the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. In the media and in the pronouncements of statesmen and political commentators, the conflict is described as a “typical” Balkan convulsion which cannot be understood, much less […]
The Srebrenica genocide is and will remain an enduring trauma for all generations in Serbia, both present and future. Each new judgment passed by the Hague tribunal reveals new details and lays bare the enormity of the crime. Although fifteen years have passed since the atrocity, the collective consciousness in Serbia remains largely unchanged. Criticism of selective memory as a […]
Oct. 6, 1969, Monday. Across Serbia southwest of Beograd. From this flat country we got into hillier & hillier terrain, and by the time we crossed the beautiful Drina at Zvornik we were definitely in Bosnia: mosques with their minarets, and the women in their flowery bloomers and some even with their headscarves covering nose & mouth. The more rugged […]
The Book of Genesis Chapter One In the beginning thou didst create the heaven and the earth And the earth was without form and void And there was darkness over the abyss And thou saidest Let there be light And there was light And thou didst see that the light was good And didst divide from it the darkness And […]
Snow has fallen on the springtime fruit trees, Time to love whoever you may please. If she won’t hear, there’s no way to push her, Love is no use if she cannot choose. If my bad luck could ever turn to good, I would climb up to your chamber door, So I could sit in the middle of your cushions, […]
At the Bosniak Institute in Sarajevo on July 8, 2010, BZK “Preporod” (“Renaissance”) organized a lecture on remembering the Srebrenica genocide 1995-2010. The speakers that evening were the president of BZK “Preporod” Senadin Lavić and professors Edina Bećirević, Ćazim Sadiković, Šaćir Filandra, Asim Mujkić and Dino Abazović. Fifteen years have passed since July 1995 in Srebrenica. Many questions have still […]
Fifteen years have passed since the genocide in Srebrenica and the major culprit of that crime, Ratko Mladić, is still at large. This is a moral mortgage that prevents us from moving forwards. New generations are held hostage to this mortgage; new generations are held hostage to the Serbian Government’s lack of readiness to fulfill its obligations toward not only […]