Balkan babel and Bosnia

Balkan Babel and BosniaBosnia and Kosovo in a century of genocide

Javed MohammedWriter-Producer

k2film@live.com

To share the history, the horror, the lessons of

the war for independence,the genocide and ethnic

Objective

the genocide and ethnic cleansing

of Bosnia and Kosovo

What are the Balkans?

§ A mountain range§ Yugoslavia and

neighboring countriescountries

§ Balkan wars 1911-13§ A lot of history,

culture, beliefs, languages, and ethnicities

Who are Bosnians?

Initially YugoslaviansThen Bosnians: Bosniaks, Serbs and CroatsThen Muslims, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians

Bosnia: ethnic mix

2530354045

5048

37

05

10152025

BosniakSerb

Croat

Other

14

1

Balkan Countries

Five Centurie of Turkish Ottoman rule§ Mid-15th – 1912§ Large segments of population in Bosnia,

Kosovo, become Muslim§ Serbia remains Orthodox§ Serbia remains Orthodox§ Croatia remains Catholic§ Deep mistrust between Serbs and Ottomans.§ Ottoman rule replaced by Austrian-

Hungarian rule in 1878

Assassination of Archduke 1914: Triggers World War 1

Timeline

§ 1918 Bosnia becomes part of the South Slav state of Yugoslavia

§ 1950's becomes Communist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under TitoRepublic of Yugoslavia under Tito

Time Line:

§ May, 1980, Tito died and presidency rotated.

§ December 9, 1990 -- Milošević elected president in Serbia's first multi-party election president in Serbia's first multi-party election since World War II

§ June 25, 1991 -- Croatia and Slovenia proclaim independence

Rising Nationalism§ Origins of Serb

Nationalism Lie in Kosovo in Late 1980sú Albanian Majority

Pressures for Greater Political RightsPolitical Rights

ú Serbs Respond with Military Force

§ Milosovic uses Kosovo as opportunity, seizes power in Serbia.

§ Uses Nationalism to Mobilize popular support for his rule and his goals.

Slobodan Milosovic

Milosovic Extends His Power

§ Exploiting Nationalism, Milosovic Installs “Puppet Leaders” in Vojvodina, Montenegro, Kosovo.

§ Serbia Begins to Redraw Boundaries to Incorporate All Serbs Living in Yugoslavia into Greater Serbia.Yugoslavia into Greater Serbia.

§ Direct Challenge to Croatia and Bosnia, Each of Which have Large Serbian Population.

§ Security Dilemma Emerges

Wars in Slovenia and Croatia

§ 1990 Slovenia declared independence ú 7 days war, no Serbs

§ 1991 Croatia declared independenceú warú warú Serbs from Croatia joined Milosevicú occupied part of the country

§ 1992 UN imposes arms embargo on all members of the former Yugoslav Republic, including least armed Bosnia.

§ UN and EU enforce peace in Croatia

Bosnian-Serb War criminals

§ Led by nationalist

Radovan Karadzic

Chief of Army Ratko Mladic

War in Bosnia

§ Referendum for independence - 70% voted YES§ Serbs did not accept results, proclaim new

republic separate from Bosnia§ UN recognized independent Bosnia§ UN recognized independent Bosnia§ 1992 – aggression from Serbia + Bosnian Serbs § Start of the siege of Sarajevo§ Ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims starts by

Serbs and Croats§ 200 000 people killed, millions expelled

War in Bosnia

§ Coallition between Muslims and Croats in different cities like Mostar and Sarajevo to fight Serbs.

§ 1993 – Croats turn against Bosnians§ 1993 – Croats turn against Bosnians§ Now at war with two enemies§ Their plan – to divide Bosnia between Serbia

and Croatia§ Bosniaks (Muslims) – to disappear

1992-93

§ January 1992 -- U.N. forces enter Croatia and fighting subsides.

§ February 29 - March 1, 1992 -- Bosnia's Muslims and Croats vote for independence in referendum boycotted by Serbs. by Serbs.

§ April 6, 1992 -- War breaks out between Bosnian government and local Serbs, who start 1992-1995 siege of capital Sarajevo.

§ January 1993 -- Bosnia peace efforts fail, war breaks out between Muslims and Croats, previously allied against Serbs.

Sarajevo

§ Bosnian Serbs shoot at peaceful demonstrators in Sarajevo.

§ Bosnians Muslims disarmed by UNdisarmed by UN

§ Bosnian Serb soldiers discharged from the Yugoslav army, but keep all of their weapons. May 1992

§ The Siege begins

Siege of Sarajevo

§ 1992-96 (3.5 years of siege)§ Held hostage by Serb snipers and artillery in hills

surrounding city§ Blockade: 400k residents trapped§ Blockade: 400k residents trapped§ No water, no electricity, no heating, no food§ airport - UN forces – maintaining the siege§ humanitarian aid: half to Serbs half to Bosnians§ Arms embargo hurt only Bosnians§ 10 000 people killed in Sarajevo, 1000 children

Genocide

Acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group

One explanation….

§ Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. (Friedrich Nietzsche)(Friedrich Nietzsche)

Things are Not Always What They Seem.

Ethnic Conflict Is Not:§ “Conflict fuelled by

age-old loyalties and cultural differences.”cultural differences.”

§ “Ethnic Groups lying in wait for one another nourishing age-old hatreds.”

§ Irrational Violence

Ethnic Conflict Is Conflict Over Who Gets What§ The State Controls Access to

Resources.§ Group that Controls the State

Controls Resources.§ Politics Revolves Around

Competition Between Groups Competition Between Groups for Control of the State in Order to Gain Resources.

§ When Groups are Defined Along Ethnic Lines, Competition is Between Ethnic Groups.

Real reasons for conflict

§ Nationalism amplified: creates Us vs Them§ Land-grab§ Retreat to archaic value systems Retreat to archaic value systems

ú Tribal-patriarchalú Revenge/blood killingsú Women: property and badge of honor

§ Blurs distinctions: what people share and what divides them

Bosnian-Serb leadership:I do it because I can

UN peacekeepers: only provided humanitarian aid but did nothing to keep peace

Propoganada

People in Sarjaevo became daily targets for snipers

Summer 1992

§ Reports of "ethnic cleansing," a policy of slaughtering Muslim inhabitants of towns or driving them away, in order to create an ethnically pure region. Reports of ethnically pure region. Reports of concentration camps, mass rapes.

§ The UN disarmed Bosnian enclaves and designated them “safe havens”, including Sarajevo, Žepa, Srebrenica, Goražde, Tuzla and Bihać

Safe Haven?

Not

Men and young boys were detained and faced mass executions

Some Bosnians (Croatas and Muslims) did take up small arms

8000 people killed in 3 days in Srebrenica

But no one in the UN, Europe, NATO heard their cries

But no one in the UN, Europe, NATO heard their cries

After Dayton, Ohio Peace Conference§ Siege end, November 1995§ Country split in half§ Rotating presidency§ 2 government one Serb, one Bosnian

alternate§ Dysfunctional country§ Bosnian Serb entity still wants to join Serbia§ Most war criminals NOT arrested

Bosnia-Herzegovina divided after Dayton agreement 1995

November Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Bosnian Serb Republika Srpska

Kosovo

§ Almost parallel situation to Bosnia happened in Kosovo in 1999.

§ Kosovo with 90% majority Muslim-Albanian population declares independence.

§ Serbs start ethnic cleansing campaign§ Hundreds of thousands of refugees forced from homes

towards Macedonia and Albania§ NATO started bombing campaign of Serbia§ War stops and UN takes over§ Kosovo redeclared its independence in 2008 which Serbia

still does not recognize

You are uniqueYou are uniqueYou are uniqueYou are unique§ I pledge my loyalty to you

My thousand year old landFrom Sava to the seaFrom Drina to Una

§ You are uniqueThe only homeland I haveYou are uniqueBosnia and HerzegovinaYou are uniqueBosnia and Herzegovina

§ May God save youFor the generations to comeYou are the land of my dreamsThe land of my forefathers

§ You are uniqueThe only homeland I haveYou are uniqueBosnia and Herzegovina

§ Author: Dino Dervishalidovic

“Memorial”

How do we prevent genocide in future?

Buy It!

From Bosnia with LoveA Novel and a Five Year Odyssey

Buy It!

Tell others about it!

Read It!

See the trailer on Youtube athttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stsArHDfZMU

Bibliography

§ “Conflict in developing societies, lecture 12§ Bosnia Visitors PPT (author unknown)§ Identity and Conflict in the Balkans, (author unknown)§ Living through the siege of Sarajevo, Rizvic, Selma§ Images from Google.com§ Images from Google.com