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District Team Moves Boundaries | Balkan Diskurs
Alma Mustafić
November 5th, 2020
It all started three years ago in Sarajevo, when a group of young activists got the opportunity to make a documentary. That’s when the name of the activist movement “District Team” was created. Although they are still an informal group, wanting to become a formal association, young activists from Brčko are finding opportunities. And their activities are numerous.
District Team’s very first activity was the shooting of the film “Children of Dayton,” which aimed to show the reconciliation process after 1995, both in the Brčko District and in the rest of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The film features high school students, war veterans and famous hip-hop musicians.
“There are various people in the film – such as the Association of High School Students – as we wanted to show Brčko as a positive example of students’ togetherness. They are not separated, as is the case with the two schools under one roof. We have included hip-hop musicians from both Brčko and Tuzla. One of them is Frenkie who has worked on reconciliation through music. We also included war veterans from all three sides, as direct participants in the war. The focus of the film was for them to tell their stories, to show how bad the war really was,” says the founder of District Team, Mirsad Zahirović, adding that the response to the premiere of the film was better than expected.
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One of the group’s most significant activities, realized through the film, was the making of a mural by the river Brka.
“The mural shows the symbol of connecting the three former states from the former Yugoslavia – BiH, Serbia and Croatia. It shows how film connects people. This contributed to the advertising of the film itself, because media portals reported on that all over Europe, but also in America. The BBC came to make a documentary about us, so these murals contributed the most to [our] advertisement,” says Zahirović.
Apart from the documentary, District Team continued with projects and activities such as organizing excursions, workshops with war veterans and high school students and a panel discussion for musicians attended by famous hip-hop musicians Kontra and Marčelo.
“Doing so, we wanted to attract young people and talk about some things that the street and the war and reconciliation processes bring, and to show how music has been bringing young people together all these years,” explains Zahirović.
“Mirso and I were sitting at the bar, District Team was still a thing, but we didn’t know whether to do something or not, to continue with our work or to leave it all in the past. Mirso said, ‘Come on, I’ll submit some project, and we will see what happens next.’ That’s how we actually started. Mirso and I are not alone here in District Team, there are more of us in the team. We have started doing some new things, and our goal [is] actually to gather young people and create some new activists, because these children are a symbol of peace and connection,” says Edna Mulić, member and PR of District Team.
Last year, District Team set up a large canvas on the Youth Square in the Brčko District so everyone who wanted could come and write messages of peace.
“The kids would approach the canvas on their own and we thought that it’s the picture-perfect response, since they didn’t care who organized it, under whose responsibility and who were the others writing their messages. They were happy to write those messages of peace,” Mulić points out.
Some of the written messages were: “Three nations, one soul!;” “Bro, how are we not a team when we steal like one?;” “Diversity is our embellishment!;” “Peace is the strongest bridge to the future.”
Due to the corona virus, the young activists do not have a way to organize certain activities. However, this time as well, they have showed their professionalism and desire to work.
The founder of District Team, Mirsad Zahirović, came up with the idea to hang a slogan on the bridge over the river Brka reading, “Heroes come from the street, not from an unrealistic film.” In this way, District Team wanted to pay tribute to Srđan Aleksic, but also to all the people who are currently at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19.
In 1993 Srđan Aleksić, a young man from Trebinje, tried to defend his fellow citizen Alen Glavović from an attack by members of the Republika Srpska Army. The soldiers beat him, after which he ended up in a coma, only to die in the hospital in Trebinje.
Last year, District Team submitted a request to the Brčko District Assembly to name one of the bridges on the Brka river Srđan Aleksić, but that request has never become part of the agenda.
“We sent letters to all deputies individually, but it never came up on the agenda. We didn’t even get an answer. They could at least try to send us an answer,” Zahirović explained.
The fact that the activists do not have the support of government institutions is best illustrated by an event last year. A humanitarian action,
“Donate for a school snack,” was held to raise funds for socially disadvantaged children. With the help of two hairdressers who worked voluntarily, they collected a thousand convertible marks. But the Government of the Brčko District of BiH was not a direct or even indirect participant in the organization of the activity.
“We do not have any support from government institutions. Each and every activity has been organized under our initiative. No one from the government dared to ask what is happening, why these people are doing what they are doing. First of all, it is sad that we have to organize those things in the first place, yet I still think that the budget that the Brčko District has can help those socially endangered children in any way, as it all went to school kitchens so that the children could have snacks. So I think they can support those kids too. All the support that came from some catering facilities, some sponsors that we found, projects that we applied for and received some funds to make our activities happen,” explains Mulić.
One of the latest activities organized by District Team was completed as part of the project “Hoćemo l’ više?” developed by the association Altteatar. The theater performance was held in Brčko on August 12, 2020 under the title “And where are you going?” and was aimed at addressing some of the issues young people face in this local community, including unemployment issues and lack of opportunities.
In response to the number of young people leaving the country, the group also started a symbolic “bell ringing” that resounds throughout the city at five to twelve. It reminds the government of the youth of the city, and that the government should enable them to stay here, to bring their knowledge in their city and country, and not anywhere else.
“We believe that the time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, just as we like to say here, is five to twelve. The bell symbolized the ‘last bell’ of our hopes – the last bell for the youth, for the government, for the state and for our dreams. What is life and how much is it worth in Bosnia and Herzegovina? After the ringing, surveys were held with citizens about what could actually be improved, where we are and where they see themselves in a couple of years, and what they see Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says Mulić.
These young activists have shown how much can actually be done with great desire, will, effort and empathy. Although they say that they have wanted to become an association for a long time, they also say that the “charm” of their work is actually that, despite the lack of funds and “non-existence on paper,” they continue to do great things and plan new projects.
“Currently, we have two projects going on, and we plan to apply for new ones and to continue to gather young people as much as possible,” says Mulić.
“Young people must be active participants of change, that is, to bring about change and to be a part of change. Regardless of whether it is a governmental or non-governmental sector, they must be engaged in their local communities and be a part of positive stories. I think that with activism we can achieve a lot of things, and that young people should aim to become activists, participate and follow what is happening in our country, because we cannot change if we have no idea what is happening. We cannot just say we are not interested, we need to be a little more interested in ourselves, as well as in our country and what awaits us tomorrow,” Zahirović concludes.
Photographs: Archive of the District Team.

created: November 5th, 2020

author: Alma Mustafić


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The Fortress of Doboj: the Crown of the City | Balkan Diskurs
Amira Banjić
November 10th, 2020
The old town of Doboj is located in northern Bosnia, in an area with wide geographical foothills. The significant geostrategic position around the mouths of the rivers Usora and Spreča was a decisive factor in the formation of the fortress from which today’s Doboj developed.
In 2005, the Commission for Protection of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the Architectural ensemble “Old Town of Doboj in Doboj” a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The monument consists of the ramparts and towers of the old town and the heritage pieces kept in the Native History Museum in Doboj.
The significance of the Old Town of Doboj, or Gradina as it is called, was also recognized by the Institute for the Protection and Use of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of the Tuzla Canton.
“The continuity of settlement around Doboj has been confirmed since the Old Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. In Roman times, the areas around Doboj were in the border zone between the provinces of Pannonia and Dalmatia. A Roman military camp and a civilian settlement were built on Gradina in Makljenovac, about 4 km south of Doboj. In the medieval period, Doboj was located in the parish of Usora in the Bosnian medieval state. Doboj was in the possession of the Bosnian dynasty of Kotromanić – other cities were as well, such as fortifications in the valley of Bosnia,” says Semir Hadžimusić, Expert Associate for Cultural-Historical, Artistic and Monumental Heritage at the Tuzla Canton Institute.
As he says, Doboj was first mentioned in historical sources in 1415 in a letter from Dubrovnik merchants, although the fortress itself is much older. The letter, as the story goes, was written when King Zigmud was near Doboj with the Hungarian army. In 1449 an agreement was reached between the Bosnian king Stjepan Tomaš and Hungary on a joint military action against the Ottomans.
While rulers superseded one another in Bosnia, both in the Middle Ages and during the Ottoman occupation, the Doboj Fortress served them at all times.
“In the seventies of the 15th century, Doboj came under Ottoman rule, and together with other towns in the basin of Bosnia was annexed to the Bosnian Sandžak. After the Peace of Belgrade in 1739, the Doboj captaincy was established. According to the territory and the number of soldiers, it was one of the smaller captaincies. It included the city of Doboj and the surrounding area with 171 commanders and soldiers. The city of Doboj was abandoned in 1851 and since then it has not had a military-strategic function, so it has been left to the ravages of time,” says Hadžimusić.
An interesting description of the fortress from 1875 was given by John Arthur Evans, a famous English travel writer and archaeologist:
“When passing a turn in the road, the old castle of Doboj rose before us, finely seated on a canonical hill. […] We now directed our footsteps to the old castle that crowns the summit of the hill. The ‘‘Starigrad’’ as it is called here, is one of the most interesting historic relics in the whole of Bosnia. A glance from its moldering walls makes one realize the importance of its situation… The castle, therefore, was the key to the whole valley of the Bosna against a foe coming from the Hungarian plains, and commanded the highway through the province of Usora to the very heart of the Bosnian kingdom… The fortress under the Turks has begun to fall apart a long time ago, and now its ruins are already falling apart.”
However, not only did the fortress not collapse, but a whole settlement has developed around it, which has survived to this day.
“In the area around the Doboj Fortress there was a settlement of the same name which had a square in the Middle Ages, and with the arrival of the Ottomans the Selimiye Mosque was built next to it, as well as profane buildings in the new neighborhoods of the city of Doboj,” explains Hadžimusić.
Today, the Doboj fortress is a cultural and historical monument of high value, which imposes upon the characteristics of the modern city. Numerous cultural and entertainment events are held in the amphitheater of the fortress, and with panoramic binoculars it is possible to see all the beauties of the city of Doboj.
The Doboj Tourist Organization says that they are working on its improvement.
“Gradina is still in function, and this year we had really big plans in terms of the promotion and improvement of it, as well as certain innovations that we would include as content on Gradina. However, the period of stagnation caused by the pandemic affected the realization of our plans. But that does not mean that we will not continue with this project and that we will not offer our visitors additional facilities at our fortress,” says Adrijana Ristić, Director of the Doboj Tourist Organization.
She adds that the fortress is still open to visitors, and that it has been rearranged and cleaned. Entrance fees are not being charged at the moment.
“However, our focus is not on it being just clean so that people can come and take pictures. We want to offer additional content, a souvenir shop and domestic products,” explains Ristić.
The Doboj Tourist Organization also states that the most frequent tourists visiting this national monument are mostly from Doboj, but also from other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the height of the tourist season, they have a lot of visitors from abroad, according to their data. The Doboj Fortress is visited by about 4,000-5,000 foreigners on average, and during the year they record a total of about 7,000 tourists.
“Foreigners are interested in almost every detail. They take photos, ask questions related to the history of the city’s origins, read information about the history and are certainly interested in getting acquainted with the cultural and historical background of the fortress,” says Ristić.
Young people from Doboj are proud of the historical heritage of their city and like to spend their free time on Gradina.
“I am partially familiar with the historical background of Gradina. However, I think it is quite important. This is a great tourist potential for Doboj, which has not been used in the right way. However, in addition to the profit it could bring, I believe that its historical and cultural significance for Doboj, as well as in the context of the entire history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is very important,” said one young girl from Doboj.
The Old Town of Doboj is a national monument and significant asset of the cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. For years it has showed that it has great potential to become a tourist attraction for visitors from all over the world.

source: news-balkandiskurs

created: November 10th, 2020

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Amira Banjić


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Can Bugojno Overcome War-time Divisions? | Balkan Diskurs
Sajra Talargić
November 19th, 2020
In Bugojno, a town in central Bosnia, war-time divisions remain strong even twenty-five years after the war. Although it is not an administratively divided city, Bosniaks and Croats live almost completely separate lives. Schools are divided, but also catering facilities. Everyone knows exactly who can come in and who cannot.
The only thing shared in common is young people who demand change. Among them are Andrea Pocrnja and Mahira Herić, young activists who graduated from high school this year.
“I do not hesitate to meet other nationalities and go out to places where I feel comfortable. I get along great with them. Sometimes the system in Bugojno bothers me, and even though I do not see it as an obstacle in my life, the community could still provide much better opportunities than it does now. I finished high school and I plan to leave Bugojno,” says Andrea, who believes that young people are the bearers of positive change.
Andrea’s peer Mahira often thinks about the “division” of Bugojno, although she has never felt uncomfortable in the company of people who are not of her nationality.
“However, as I heard in the stories around me, especially in the story of my parents, they felt discomfort after the war in BiH. And I think that not only Bosniaks felt it, but also people of Croatian nationality. My attitude towards that is that I simply do not look at anyone differently, regardless of my nationality, and I try to be accepting of everyone,” explains Mahira.
She recalls attending protests in Travnik three years ago over the “two schools under one roof” policy. She was, as she says, proud of herself at the time. She also went to a segregated school and believes that this kind of education is completely wrong.
Since the end of the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina has had a “two schools under one roof” policy, in which children of Croat and Bosniak nationality in 13 cities in the Federation of BiH attend classes separately in the same building. They study under two different curricula, one “Croatian” and one “Bosnian.”
In 2014, the Supreme Court of the Federation of BiH ruled that the “two schools under one roof” policy allows for the ethnic segregation of students and that such practices must be abolished. But they have yet to be changed.
A 2018 report of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina found that although the characteristics of the ‘‘two schools under one roof’’ program differ from case to case, all such schools segregate children and teach them through this segregation that there are insurmountable differences between the nationalities.
“I have friends and acquaintances of another ethnicity and they are part of my life and my society. I don’t hold back anything. I normally go out to the cafes I want, no matter who goes there. I don’t think nationality should matter and that youth should work together and try to suppress all stereotypes,” says Mahira.
She believes that young people in Bugojno are suffering due to the lack of job opportunities. She tells young people that the future will not be any better if they do not start taking initiative, including ending stereotypes.
One of the places where young people in Bugojno meet is the Youth Center. Director Adis Čaušević says that the status of young people in Bugojno is better than half a year ago, but the local community still does not invest in them.
“I do not perceive Bugojno as a divided city. The situation is much better now than it was fifteen years ago. I think a lot of young people gather in the same cafes and other spaces, which was unlikely to happen fifteen years ago,” he says.
Adis emphasizes that the Youth Center has a saying that reads, “It is not WE and THEY who exist here, but young people,” and that everyone there is trying to drive away national prejudices.
“All the activities organized by the International Organization for Migration in the past two years have welcomed everyone. There was resistance at first. I remember that the former principal from Uskoplje High School, which has two classes at Bugojno Mixed High School, was against joint activities. But with the arrival of the new principal, that changed,” says Adis, adding that he did not notice any national or religious intimidation.
He believes that Bosnia and Herzegovina need changes, but ones that will make people more aware, so that they do not just wait for things to change.
“I hope the old people won’t hold a grudge against me, but when one generation of old, nationalistically-oriented people disappears, I think there will be a general change,” concluded Adis.

created: November 19th, 2020

author: Sajra Talargić


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The Bektić Sisters: Horses Teach Us Nobility, Tenderness and Responsibility | Balkan Diskurs
Dženana Salihović Dokara
December 10th, 2020
Sisters Ćamka, Kadira, Fatima and Đeneta Bektić from the village of Jasenova became famous because of a photo of them galloping on horses through the snow-covered forests of Srebrenica. They say that they do not remember whether they first learned to walk or to ride.
Photography: Ahmedin Đozić
Their parents returned to Srebrenica in 1999 with the two oldest sisters, Ćamka and Kadira. The younger Fatima and Đeneta were born in the village of Jasenova, where they took their first steps.
“Horses played an important role in our upbringing. As we were learning about ourselves and getting to know the world, we were actually learning about horses. We like to say we don’t remember if we walked or learned to ride first. Our childhood is full of memories with horses.  they have always been a part of our home. So love for them was inevitable,” says Đeneta.
The four of them were each other’s coaches and riding role models, and their love for horses came from the first touch – the braids they braided on their manes, the grooming, and the sugar cubes they secretly took from Mom’s kitchen.
“It may sound strange, but horses know how to be good teachers. They teach nobility, tenderness, responsibility, and even wisdom. For us girls, horses were our plushies, part of our childhood, and now they are an inseparable part of our lives,” adds Đeneta.
She believes that the behavior and nature of a horse depend on the treatment given to it, that is, how the horse is “bred” from the very beginning.
“If a horse is exposed to physical abuse, there is a great possibility that it will become aggressive, restless. However, if you treat it from an early age as a living being with needs, if you give it love, and set aside hours and hours to spend with it, you will be more than happy with the horse in the end,” says Đeneta. She adds that every horse has its own character and behaves according to how many people manage to recognize its mood and adjust to it.
“Horses are very cute animals, and those that connect with them have a sincere friend for the rest of their life. They say a good rider can talk to his horse, but a great rider can hear his horse whisper. That is the magic of that relationship, what is between a man, a horse and the love they create,” says Fatima Bektić.
It often happens that people, due to the accelerated pace of life, like to escape from the crowds and the city into nature. Then sisters and their parents entertain friends, acquaintances and relatives on their property.
“In addition to socializing in nature, our guests can ride horses, which is especially interesting for children. They tell me that I was always brave and courageous in that regard, I was not a step behind my older sisters. In my own way I managed to stay on the horse, holding on tightly, to the mane, to the horse’s neck…I don’t remember having any fear. As soon as my parents allowed me to be so close to the horse – it means that I was very skillful,” says Đeneta.
Their father Emin Bektić is a horse breeder and has twelve horses in his stable. He inherited his love for them from his father, and has passed it on to his daughters.
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created: December 10th, 2020

author: Dženana Salihović Dokara


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A Second Chance for Mostar? | Balkan Diskurs
Federica Woelk
December 14th, 2020
Mostar is famous for its Old Bridge, but also, sadly, for ethnic divisions and a dysfunctional government that hasn’t held elections for 12 years. Now is the time for Mostar to stand up and show that something can be changed. With local elections scheduled for 20 December 2020, one of the 14 priorities for the country’s application for European Union (EU) membership has finally been satisfied.
Mostar is a unique city. The conflict from 1992-1995 continues to affect different parts of life there. Administratively speaking, the city has been divided into two autonomous parts – East and West, Croat and Bosniak. Interaction between the two parts is almost nonexistent, apart from semi-integrated schools which still experience a kind of ethnic segregation. History classes in schools are such that each ethnic group is given different “facts” about the war. The division is also clear in the city’s two electricity companies, two phone networks, two postal services, two utility services, and two universities.
Mostar was one of the most ethnically integrated cities in the former Yugoslavia until the war. But extreme nationalism managed to destroy and divide the city. The division of the city was considered a victory for nationalists, and culminated in the destruction of the Old Bridge, which was, and is now after its reconstruction in 2004, the symbol of Mostar. The dividing line today is similar to the front line during the war.
Mostar is the only municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in which local elections have not been held since 2008. In 2010, Bosnia’s Constitutional Court declared the city’s electoral statute unconstitutional. The reason for this decision was inconsistencies in the Election Act of 2001. The Constitutional Court gave the relevant authorities six months to harmonize the inconsistent provisions. However, the judgement has still not been implemented. As a consequence, in 2012 the Constitutional Court adopted a ruling on the non-implementation which essentially invalidated those provisions of the Act.
Since then, it has been impossible to agree upon the adoption of a new law. In the meantime, Mostar has been run by an acting mayor from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), whose administration did not have a democratic mandate. Martin Bago, director of NGO Futura and head of the NGO Network “Our Society,” told Euronews that the lack of a city council has left the mayor’s office unchecked, allowing it to do as it pleases.
In October 2019, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Bosnia and Herzegovina to amend legislation and allow elections in Mostar. Irma Baralija, president of the Mostar branch of Naša Stranka, sued the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina because it was impossible for her, a politician living in Mostar, to vote or run for office. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in her favor, finding that the failure of Bosnian authorities to enforce the Bosnian Constitutional Court’s 2010 ruling has created a legal catastrophe.
Numerous problems in Mostar’s electoral system have stalled change. There are six electoral constituencies in Mostar which elect the same number of representatives to the city council. This is based on the pre-war 1991 census, despite the division of the city and other demographic changes since then. In addition, there are power-sharing mechanisms like ethnic parity and the indirect election of the mayor. All of this has made vetoes and political stalemates the norm. For years, the two major parties, HDZ and the Bosniak-led Party of Democratic Action (SDA), have not been able to agree on reforming the necessary provisions. SDA has lobbied to divide the city into several voting municipalities, while HDZ has stood for the principle “one man, one vote,” relying on the fact that Mostar now has a Croat majority.
The Council of Europe and the EU have put local elections in Mostar and improvements to the electoral system in its conditionality program for BiH’s EU membership. In the European Commission’s 2019 Opinion on BiH’s membership application, the EU listed 14 key priorities. The first was ensuring elections were conducted in line with European standards. Therefore, elections in Mostar are crucial for BiH’s path to the EU. This was also made clear in a joint statement by the EU’s High Representative and Vice-President, Josep Borrell, and the Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi.
The Council of Europe has long been aware of the situation in Mostar. The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities decided, during its session in October 2017, to establish a Reflection Group on Mostar. The group sought sustainable solutions for restoring local democracy in the city and visited it a number of times. Recently, a major project on participatory democracy was launched by the Council of Europe, aimed at strengthening citizens’ involvement in politics.
Mostar was originally exempted from local elections on 15 November 2020. But a last-minute political deal sign under international mediation has enabled the state election commission to set December 20 as the date for voting in Mostar. Željko Bakalar, President of the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, wrote the proposal to hold elections in Mostar on December 20. SDA and HDZ signed the compromise agreement on the 17 June 2020 after several weeks of renewed talks. The agreement established a new electoral system based on proportionally on the number of voters in the constituencies. In July 2020, a new Election Law passed through the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and was finally enacted.
More specifically, the new system will establish a city council with 35 members elected via two ballots. One for the entire city of Mostar will elect 13 members under a single proportional representation system. The other will elect 22 members from six constituencies, as detailed in an interview with Professor Suad Arnautović for the Heinrich Böll Stiftung.
At the local level, representatives of five political parties (SDA, SBB, DF, SBiH, BPS) that are part of the Coalition for Mostar 2020 signed a Platform and Principles for Joint Action in August 2020. This should also be a significant step forward towards a unified city.
This agreement was signed by Slaven Željko and Salem Marić, presidents of HDZ and SDA in Mostar, and by national SDA leader Bakir Izetbegović and his HDZ counterpart, Dragan Čović. The signing was attended by UK Ambassador Matthew Field and the Head of the EU delegation, Johann Sattler. Čović stated that “the two sides would now initiate a legislative process to change Bosnia’s electoral law as soon as possible.” Izetbegović said that the agreement on the new statute, which will be adopted at the first session of the city council, was a compromise that foresees joint management of the city. He added that it was the only possible solution.
The two parties also signed an agreement before the next general election in 2022 to resolve other issues that have strained their relations, such as representation in the upper chamber of the Federation entity parliament, the House of Peoples. In this chamber, the parties hold power together. Another issue discussed was the election of the Croat member of Bosnia’s three-member Presidency, which Bosnian Croats have long complained is elected by the Bosniak majority in the Federation rather than themselves, despite the fact that he or she is meant to be their representative.
Different organizations have expressed their opinions on the agreements. The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, actively supports local inter-party dialogue. It has expressed the need for ongoing dialogue during and after the election and stressed the need to actively control the elections to prevent fraud. Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec, Head of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, called upon community and religious leaders to continue the dialogue and consider citizens’ requests going forward.
Irma Baralija as the one who brought the case to Strasbourg, stresses that international pressure will play an important role in the reforms. The EU’s Opinion on BiH’s application for membership has helped encourage change so far. But the EU can do more, she says, to help bridge ethnic divisions. “Representatives of the EU didn’t help much when they openly celebrated and served as witness to the agreement between only the two national parties in Mostar. There are many ways how the EU can help in strengthening democracy in Mostar. If there’s somebody who sincerely wants to help, at this point what we need the most is adequate assistance on the very Election Day, it would be crucial to make sure there is no electoral fraud,” she says, echoing Ambassador Kavalec.
Moreover, Baralija explains that the future of the city depends on the parties themselves. If national parties like HDZ and SDA obtain two thirds of the seats in the city council, Mostar will be even more divided in the future. In this case, each party will still effectively control its own side and could possibly exploit divisions. This is why she is pessimistic. Her party and other opposition leaders are trying to create a non-divided city instead.
Less pessimistic is Boris Čović, a Mostar resident who believes that the compromise could finally change the situation in Mostar. He says local elections could be the first step to making this happen.
Elections in Mostar depend on solving the nationalism that still affects the city. The lack of progress on elections so far suggests that international actors have not done enough for reconciliation in the Mostar. However, recent deals among the ruling parties could have a positive effect, as they aim to improve the electoral system. If the new laws succeed, this will be a step forward on BiH’s path towards the EU, and also a push towards a better society overall. Nonetheless, this will also depend on how and if the two parties can cooperate in the future. The EU and other international actors should therefore not only rely on political parties in BiH, but also connect directly with its citizens, who are ready for change.
Bibliography:
Primary Sources:
European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, “Commission Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership of the European Union”, https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/20190529-bosnia-and-herzegovina-opinion.pdf, 2019.
European Commission, Commission Staff Working Document, Analytical Report in: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council, “Commission Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership of the European Union”, https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/20190529-bosnia-and-herzegovina-analytical-report.pdf, 2019.
European External Action Service, “Bosnia and Herzegovina: Joint statement by HR/VP Josep Borrell and Neighbourhood and Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi on political agreement on the electoral law for Mostar”, https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/81072/bosnia-and-herzegovina-joint-statement-hrvp-josep-borrell-and-neighbourhood-and-enlargement_en, 2020.
Secondary Sources:
Baralija Irma, “Mostar: a democratic “ghost town” in Europe”, Friends of Europe,
https://www.friendsofeurope.org/insights/mostar-a-democratic-ghost-town-in-europe/, 2020.
Borges Anelise, „We are building foundations for the next conflict’: Scars of war still present in Bosnia”, Euronews, https://www.euronews.com/2020/02/17/we-are-building-foundations-for-the-next-conflict-scars-of-war-still-present-in-bosnia, 2020.
Brezar Aleksandar, “Inside Mostar, the Bosnian city that hasn’t had a local election in 12 years”, Euronews,
https://www.euronews.com/2020/10/02/inside-mostar-the-bosnian-city-that-hasn-t-had-a-local-election-in-12-years, 2020.
Council of Europe, “Situation in Mostar: Congress contribution in view of the October 2020 general local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, https://www.coe.int/en/web/congress/-/situation-in-mostar-congress-contribution-in-view-of-the-october-2020-general-local-elections-in-bosnia-and-herzegovina, 2020.
Dervisbegovic Nedim, “Bosnia Parties Strike Landmark Deal on Governing Mostar”, Balkan Insight, https://balkaninsight.com/2020/06/17/bosnia-parties-strike-landmark-deal-on-governing-mostar/, 2020.
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European Western Balkans, “EU welcomes the adoption of Election Law in BiH allowing Mostar municipal election”, https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2020/07/09/eu-welcomes-the-adoption-of-election-law-in-bih-allowing-mostar-municipal-election/, 2020.
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Knezevic Gordana, „Mostar, Bosnia’s Most Divided City”, https://www.rferl.org/a/balkans-without-borders-mostar-bosnias-most-divided-city/28665807.html, 2017.
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created: December 14th, 2020

author: Federica Woelk


text:
The Srebrenica Memorial Center: the Gravitational Center of a Nation’s Experience | Balkan Diskurs
Ahmo Mehmedović
December 21st, 2020
“I see the future of the Srebrenica Memorial Center as a gravitational center [for] the experience of one nation during the 1990s, with its own archive, research and museum capacities for the commemoration of the victims of Srebrenica, Sarajevo and Ahmići…because we are the generation that should give this institution a chance to survive and be the best for everything that comes in the future.”- Emir Suljagić, Director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center
Emir Suljagić grew up in Bratunac. He was 17 when his family fled from the Drina Valley in 1992, escaping ethnic cleansing and taking refuge in Srebrenica. He learned English by himself and became a translator for the United Nations forces stationed in the city.
After the war, Suljagić attended the University of Sarajevo and the University of Bologna and received his doctorate from the University of Hamburg. His book, “Postcards from the Grave,” is the first account of the Srebrenica Genocide to be published in English by a Bosnian who survived the Genocide. So far, it has been translated into nine languages.
Suljagić was appointed director of the Srebrenica Memorial Center in October 2019. During 2020, his team in Srebrenica gathered numerous artists and organizations from all over the world to successfully organize the 25th commemoration of the Srebrenica Genocide, despite the challenges caused by the pandemic.
The Memorial Center: A Place for Learning and Remembering
The future of the Srebrenica Memorial Center will be researching and documenting the response of the former Yugoslav countries to the 1995 genocide.
“I would like to work with civil society organizations and authorities from Slovenia to Northern Macedonia. I want to see how the former Yugoslavia can pay tribute to the victims of Srebrenica and find a way to continue living together,” Suljagić said.
In the next three years, the Memorial Center plans to implement a comprehensive program with a number of activities. One of the new programs is the creation of personal files for those persons killed during the genocide in Srebrenica.
“For me personally, our new project, which is supported by funds [from] the local authorities, is very important. We want to document and form a single database on human losses in and around Srebrenica from May 1992 to July 1995. I believe this is the first step towards expanding the narrative about Srebrenica, because people here have been victims of genocide for three and a half years, not just five days in July 1995, which is unfortunately the current narrative.”
As Suljagić explains, for the Memorial Center, it is extremely important to preserve and renovate the infrastructure on the site of the Center.
“The memorial room, for example, is in a rather dilapidated condition, that is, the complete physical infrastructure is in a dilapidated condition, and I hope that we will soon begin the renovation of the administrative building. We are already working on renovating the library and building the archives, and in the near future we will be able to inform the public that we have found a donor and that the repair of the roof on our main hall is about to start. When we finish these renovations, we will renew the heart of this institution,” Suljagić explains.
Another goal of the Center is to give young people from Srebrenica the opportunity to actively work on building and preserving historical memory.
“The Memorial Center should not exist unless it includes the generation of children of those who lost their lives here, the generation of children who may have been born after that, but whose lives are marked by Srebrenica,” says Suljagić
Although funds for including young people are limited right now, Suljagić hopes that in the coming years more young people will come work for the benefit of Srebrenica.
“And that’s why I will do everything in my power to increase the number of young people in the Memorial Center every year, because we are the generation that should give this institution a chance to survive and be the best for everything that comes in the future,” he says.
When asked about daily life in Srebrenica, Suljagić says that memories and feelings come back every day through conversations with friends and acquaintances.
“I am someone who was here in 1995, someone who lost family members and survived, who knows many people who lost their loved ones – none of us have survived Srebrenica and remained intact.”
Although he spent part of his life getting educated abroad, Suljagić emphasizes that he never actually left Srebrenica, and that he went everywhere with the goal of bringing “at least one small piece to the victims; if not justice, than at least satisfaction.”
“I still do not live here in the full sense. I’m here two to three days a week, and the other three days I’m on the road. And that is because I can’t find money, people or knowledge here to make this institution what it should be,” he explains.
The Memorial Center is a state institution established by the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The law that established the Center clearly sets its goals, and envisioned it primarily as a cemetery and not a large Memorial Center.
“What we want to create is a broader vision and strategy [for] the Memorial Center, which intertwines its management structures with the families of survivors and victims. I see the future of the Srebrenica Memorial Center as the gravitational center for the experience of a nation during the 1990s, with its own archives, research and museum capacities, capable of recording not only what happened in July 1995, but also the period before 1995 which led to genocide and suffering.”
Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Genocide: Achievements and Challenges
The commemoration in Potočari in July this year was attended by 47 heads of state, prime ministers and foreign ministers from around the world. The programs implemented on the eve of July 11 were more diverse than ever before.
“By far the hardest part of this was deciding how the commemoration would take place. We thought about whether it would [use] traditional commemoration practices as in previous years, or whether we would ‘move’ the commemoration into a completely virtual space. And the third possibility, which we opted for, was to combine traditional practice with virtual events. I think we made the right decision,” said Suljagić.
“I believe that by doing so, the commemoration touched more people than ever before. The novelty is that this year, for the first time, we had a very pronounced artistic dimension in the celebration, and I plan to continue with it in the future.”
One of the art programs was the exhibition, “Exodus,” which was by the most famous Bosnian painter and graphic artist, Safet Zec.
“The second art segment is an exhibition by a group of war photojournalists, including Tony Birtly, who visited Srebrenica in 1993. This exhibition provided visitors with a unique insight into the siege of Srebrenica and the situation in the municipality in the period from May 1992 to July 1995,” Suljagić explains.
Another art project originated from an idea by the Memorial Center and the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC). It is a photographic exhibition entitled “Memento: Fragments of the Srebrenica Genocide,” which presents objects donated by persons who survived the genocide in Srebrenica and the families of the victims for permanent display and storage at the Memorial Center.
During the commemoration this year, the first summer school in Srebrenica took place. It was entitled, “Dealing with the past to rethink the future.” During the summer school, which was also implemented in cooperation with PCRC, 25 young people from all parts of BiH had the opportunity to learn from experts, academics and artists working in the field of human rights, transitional justice, historical memory, and mass crime prevention.
“This year, the art exhibition, ‘Što te nema,’ arrived in Srebrenica, during which Aida Šehović, together with young activists and participants of our school, lined up more than 8,372 cups of coffee that remained undrunk in memory of the victims of the Genocide.”
A social media campaign dedicated to survivors was also launched. It was called “12 days of remembrance,” and a number of other activities, many of which will be continued in the future, were held.
“The other day I was with one of my good friends, who said that what he feels most of the time is the desire to [trade] everything he has now for 1992 and 1993, including suffering and hunger and everything…just to be with [his] loved ones once again.”
It is this feeling that leads Suljagić and his team to create a community in the Memorial Center, where survivors will be able to remember their loved ones and always have a place to preserve their memories.
“We want the Memorial Center to be a place where the events and the period that defined and determined the future of this country will be commemorated for a very long time,” he concludes.
Preparations for the 26th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide are already underway, and the perseverance and commitment of people like Suljagić remains an inspiration and an example of how one person’s vision can trigger historical change and bring new hope for the future.

created: December 21st, 2020

author: Ahmo Mehmedović


text:
Irvin’s Oasis of Peace in Srebrenica | Balkan Diskurs
Edina Šečić
January 4th, 2021
Irvin Mujčić is a thirty-two-year-old returnee to Srebrenica, where he is trying to make his childhood dreams come true.
At the age of only six, Irvin was forcibly expelled to Tešanj with his mother, brother, and sister. In that small town in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they spent six months with their grandfather. From there, they managed to go to Croatia, where they lived in a refugee camp for almost a year. On August 9, 1993, they managed to board a ship for Italy.
“It was weird when we arrived, as we didn’t know where we were going to live. Several cities had refugee programs. We ended up in a small municipality in the Alps, at 1100 meters above sea level,” says Irvin at the beginning of his interview for Balkan Diskurs.
He remembers being taken to that small place in the Alps by a driver, and when they arrived the entire population greeted them on the main street.
“There was also the local Philharmonic that played. They were preparing a huge table and a big lunch. It was all weird when you remember that only a few months ago, my mother walked 7-8 kilometers, during the shelling, to buy some flour to feed us.”
Irvin remembers that in 1992 he did not want to leave Srebrenica, so on the day of their departure he hid in the woods near his house, but they found him. So, he had to go into exile with his family. His father stayed in Srebrenica, where he was killed during the Genocide.
Irvin finished school in Italy, had a job, traveled the world, but decided to return to Srebrenica. His motive was to help the local community, through the development of rural tourism.
“Natural resources are being used brutally. Our air is completely polluted. Our rivers and waters are polluted. Our country and our food are polluted. Life moves fast, everything is consumed quickly, and everything grows quickly thanks to chemicals. It has become irrelevant how people feel and what their soul is like,” says Irvin, who founded the Association of Friends of Nature in Srebrenica.
All of this, he believes, has led to people lacking empathy and distancing from each other.
“That is why I decided to leave this ‘modern’ civilization and return to Mother Nature.’’
When he returned to Srebrenica, Irvin organized tours around the municipality, mostly in the villages of Srebrenica, to show Italians and other foreigners the untouched nature that surrounds Srebrenica.
Then he bought land about 15 kilometers away from Srebrenica, in the town of Kasapić, where he began to build a unique ethnographic village, or “ethno-village” – a touristic settlement resembling traditional Bosnian villages.
“Our small oasis of peace is built between the Jadar River and the Kasapić Stream. Every civilization was born between two rivers. We are currently building four wooden houses. The goal is not to build a village for cool photographs and social media promotion. The goal is to try to build something environmentally friendly. Something that comes together with nature instead of destroying it,” Irwin explains.
His wish is to bring back to life what is typical for this part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The idea is to connect the ethno-village to other parts of the Srebrenica municipality through walking or horse tours. The construction of the ethno-village itself is moving at a slower pace than what would be expected usually because the construction is carried out with minimal usage of modern machines, which is Irvin’s goal – to return the skills and values of natural life and preservation of the environment in Srebrenica.
“We are building it according to the principle of Osat’s mimar, traditionally called neimar. It is an old way of building from our region. Unfortunately, there are only a few masters left who know how to do that. Today, it is easier and faster to build with blocks or order these wooden prefabricated houses from a false semi-shape. Building by this principle requires that most jobs be done by hand, because no machine can replace a man’s hands, from carving to planning, and setting up one half-shape.”
He adds that being Osat’s mimar requires vision and understanding for each piece of wood separately and no screws are used. Because of these characteristics, houses built in this way are much more resistant to natural disasters, such as earthquakes.
“There is a huge difference in appearance and beauty, but also safety when you look at buildings constructed this way versus the modern way. Through this way of working and building, we want to showcase all the beautiful aspects of our nature, villages and Bosnian hospitality”, says Irvin at the end of our conversation.
When he decided to return to Bosnia and Herzegovina from Italy in 2014, Irvin was driven by a longing for the Bosnian people and their humanity. He found this during his trips through Bosnia and meeting fellow citizens who were ready to help and welcome him. The traditional spirit of Bosnian people led this young man to dedicate the rest of his life to Srebrenica in an attempt to restore this local community’s natural splendor.
To follow and support Irvin’s work and the activities of his association visit the Facebook page “Srebrenica – City of Hope”.

created: January 4th, 2021

author: Edina Šečić


text:
It’s Not the Name That Matters, but Love and Respect | Balkan Diskurs
Armin Halilović
January 11th, 2021
Olga and Zijad will celebrate 40 years of happy marriage this year. Despite being born in Banja Luka, their wedded bliss and commitment to bringing up two daughters have not been broken by ethnic and religious divisions; not even by the war that raged in Bosnia and Herzegovina for almost four years. The key to the success of their marriage is, as they say, love, respect and compromise, above all.
The first dance
They met in the 1970s at a college disco.
“He asked to dance and that’s how it started. I wanted to teach him to dance professionally, because that’s what I do, but it didn’t work out,” says Olga with a smile.
She says that her husband is reliable, protective, determined and honest – those things are the most important to her. Zijad jokingly adds that he is also a nervous person, but his wife is “honest, fair, virtuous and hardworking. Everything a woman should be.”
“She’s beautiful as well,” he says while looking at Olga.
At the time they met, being in a “mixed” relationship or marriage in Banja Luka (or anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina) was not unusual, not to their friends or family either.
“Nobody cared about those things. Believe me, it was nothing. When I joined the army at the age of 18, I declared myself a Bosnian. Colleagues I was with at the age of 15 are still my friends today. It’s just how real friendships work. I don’t distinguish my friends by religion. My sister is married to a Catholic. Nobody said anything to them or judged them,” explains Zijad.
Olga adds that in the city, people did not pay attention to one’s religion. “My sister is married to a Muslim. And my brother married a Catholic woman and one of our sisters was married to a Serb,” she says.
Six hundred ethnically-mixed marriages in BiH in 2019
Today, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is very different. In 2018, the Prime Communication Agency published a survey on BiH citizens’ views of mixed marriages. According to that survey, a total of 38.7 percent of citizens oppose this type of marital union.
According to data from the entity statistical institutes of the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, there were more than 18,000 marriages in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019. Of that number, only about 600 are ethnically mixed marriages.
Social perceptions of ethnically mixed marriages have changed significantly. Now few choose to start such a relationship. There is fear of condemnation by family, neighbors, and society as a whole. In addition to that, the difficult war legacy, including transgenerational traumas, often affect one’s choice of life partner.
They say that it was not easy for them during the war in Banja Luka. “There were awkward situations. Everyone had them, not just us. After all, it was a war,” says Olga.
“How Serbs felt in Sarajevo, we felt in Banja Luka. They are all nationalists, they are all in cahoots and filled with hatred,” Zijad added.
The absence of civic values in (children’s) upbringing and education
Olga and Zijad believe that there are few people who promote peace, coexistence, tolerance and compromise in Bosnian society because these values do not suit local leaders. But they have always tried to promote those values in their family. They raised two daughters, 37-year-old Maja and 28-year-old Melanie, on these values.
But not everything was as easy as it seemed on paper. Problems faced by most “mixed” families after the war were also present while Olga and Zijad raised their family. Their daughters were not raised to belong to any of the ethnic or religious groups.
“Melanie attended religious courses at school because she wanted a better GPA, and Maja never did. Maja was the only one in the class who did not attend those classes,” says Zijad.
“Melanie once came home and said, ‘Mom there was a chimney sweep at school and Dad has to sign this so I can attend this religious course.’ And I wondered what kind of chimney sweeps are connected to religious classes, and then I realized she’s talking about hodža [a muslim schoolmaster],” Olga recalls with a laugh.
They believe that teaching civic values is the most important thing when raising kids, but they add that those values are almost non-existent here in BiH.
“In all civilized societies, civic values come first, but in nationally-oriented societies, they take a backseat. Wherever religion comes first, there is no progress. Africa, Brazil, Uruguay, South America, all those religious countries, it’s all like ours, so there is no progress. Before, people valued one’s personality, morals, promises, honor,” says Zijad.
“Everything that is normal elsewhere is not normal here. All this that we are talking about here is never mentioned at all in Germany, for example. My brother is in America and when he applied for his first job, he said he was from Bosnia. To that, his employer replied, ‘What does it matter? I’m from Boston.’ Foreigners do not perceive ethnicity as we do in Bosnia,” says Zijad.
Everyone has the right to their own beliefs
Although they say that they are atheists, all religious and other holidays are celebrated in their house. They believe that religion is a totally private matter. Everyone should decide how they will treat religion and faith. It should not be imposed on anyone.
“Everyone has their own beliefs, and they have the right to do so. We have friends who celebrate their slavas. I never told them, ‘don’t do that,’ nor did they tell me that I should. It’s a private matter, so if you don’t impose that on me, I won’t impose anything on you,” explains Zijad.
“I even have an aversion to religion, especially nowadays. It has become a business today. Nobody does that from the bottom of their hearts anymore,” he added.
When Ziyad’s mother died, Olga said that Eid would be celebrated in their house. And everyone was always welcomed. “I’m not doing it for [Zijad]. I’m doing it for myself because I said that people can come to us on Eid. I even made baklava during the war.”
For Easter, they paint eggs and gather again as a family, only the closest family members, without much fanfare.
“Before the war, I did it for Catholic Easter, so that nobody could tell me I did it just for my Orthodox Easter, but for Catholic. Then I started celebrating everything,” Olga recalls.
Once their daughters, today a granddaughter receives gifts from Olga for Saint Nicholas Day and from Zijad for the New Year.
A society of backwards values
For almost fifty years Zijad and Olga have lived in the same neighborhood, where nothing has changed. The neighborhood has remained the same since the 1970s. They help each other, but they don’t visit one another too much.
“Things are different in urban areas. We don’t have the habit of drinking coffee with neighbors at one person’s house and then in someone else’s tomorrow. Everyone has their own things to do. My mom, for example, always went to her neighbor and she to her. That older generation took care of those relationships and visits were frequent, but back then there was more time for that,” says Zijad.
They can’t even compare times before and after the war. Everything has changed – the value system, the way of life.
“It cannot be compared to now. Before the war it was a normal society, now it is different. Our society is now a septic tank,” says Zijad.
The reason for this, he believes, is that everyone is selfish now. Normal values that existed before have been forgotten. The fact that a small number of people got rich in dubious ways, and most of the others remained poor, adds to that feeling.
“Property has changed people. It’s all about personal interests today. What suits whom. I had a Mercedes before the war…I know people who didn’t have a bicycle then and now have half of Banja Luka, and we have nothing. That is the root of the problem. Same as in Sarajevo and elsewhere. The problem is that one could finish college within two months with some strings pulled, and someone studies for five years and nothing. And it happens every day and we know it, but we do nothing about it,” says Zijad.
A life filled with happiness
That day, after the first morning coffee before our arrival, they were making a toy for their granddaughter because it was her birthday. “Then he fixed some of his machines and I helped him when he needed help with holding something and so on. Then we had lunch and that’s it. That’s how our days generally go by,” says Olga.
In today’s Banja Luka, where the demographic picture has completely changed after the war, in a society that looks at a family like theirs with prejudice, Olga and Zijad, regardless of the challenges and obstacles which life has brought them, fight through everything together. From making a toy for their granddaughter, or fixing a car, to the great task of raising daughters, their love, mutual respect, and understanding, on which they base forty years of their marriage, make their lives filled with everlasting joy.
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Text editing: Balkan Diskurs team; Photography: Mitar Simikić; Photo Editor: Dr. Paul Lowe.
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This story is part of the “Love Tales” project implemented by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) with a group of Balkan Diskurs youth correspondents. The project is implemented with financial support from the VII Academy, the BOLD program of the US Embassy in BiH, and PCRC’s core grants, with the aim of challenging the common narrative that real connections between Bosnia’s different ethnic groups are unattainable by documenting stories of successful interethnic relationships across the country.

created: January 11th, 2021

author: Armin Halilović


text:
Differences Make Zlatica’s and Muhamed’s Lives Richer | Balkan Diskurs
Azra Berbić
January 19th, 2021
A married couple from Sarajevo, Zlatica (55) and Muhamed (58) Kljuno are celebrating 28 years of happy marriage this year. Their life has been filled with love for each other and their two children. They believe that their different religions have brought a lot of prosperity and happiness into their life. They say that the key to their successful marriage is that their differences complement each other perfectly – what one of them lacks the other one has.
Fateful Skating in Skenderija
Zlatica and Muhamed have known each other since childhood. They say they dated when they were very young, which made them want to reunite later. They met on the skating rink in Skenderija when she was in the eighth grade of elementary school and he was in the second grade of high school.
“I was on a skating rink, here in Skenderija, when something tiny and bombastic flew by. Once, then another time, and I remember thinking, ‘this one could knock me down, I swear to God!’ So I stopped her, I said let’s talk a little bit before you take me down. That’s where it all started,” Muhamed recalls with a laugh.
Zlatica reminds him that their friends have been asking her all her life what attracted her to him, although she thinks it is obvious how charming and nice he is.
“We were together, and then we broke up. We were friends and after 17 years we started dating again. You think ‘I’m young, it is still early for something serious, but…’” adds Muhamed.
They Complement Each Other Perfectly
Although their personalities are different, they believe that is what binds them together. Their differences create a balance in their marriage.
“I’m more down to earth, and his head is in the clouds,” Zlatica points out.
“We complement each other and stay close to each other. She is quite calm, I am more dynamic, more explosive,” Muhamed admits.
Muhamed is a retired police officer, and he says that even now he is always on the go, hanging out with friends and family, while Zlatica likes to plan everything.
“I just love this marriage and this life. I don’t even have the feeling that I’m missing anything. And Zlatica’s different religion makes our lives more prosperous,” says Muhamed.
“We are enriched by that,” Zlatica proudly concludes.
Family Support at a Time When Nationalism Was On the Rise
They both point out that from the beginning they have had the support of their parents and friends because they grew up in a society in which national and religious differences were not talked about.
“These differences were not thought of at all, nor should they have been thought of. We were not brought up that way, and nobody knew what your religion was, nor did anyone ask. You were never called out for who you were. We are the generation of the 60s that lived the most normal life and we did not care about religious differences,” Zlatica recalls.
They got married, as they say, in 1992, when nationalism was on the rise. However they still had the full support of their parents. It was only Muhamed’s uncle who opposed their marriage.
“The only one who objected to her being a Jew was my uncle. Once he visited us and was greeted by my mother. He started yelling at her, so she showed him the door. My late father was there, sitting motionlessly, not uttering a word. We all expected him to scream, ‘how dare you do that to my brother,’ but he is silent. I look at him, and then at my mother. She is furious and says ‘If Zlatica is good enough for me and you, what is he worried about?’ And my father was reading Oslobođenje, and says, ‘Rađo, you’re right. I wanted to knock him out. Call the sisters to see what we will do.’ And so, we got married,” Muhamed recalls with a smile.
Their son Benjamin and daughter Benina also plan to be in ‘mixed’ marriages. This makes their parents happy. They still jokingly add that every marriage between a man and a woman is a mixed marriage.
“Our son and future daughter-in-law have a story similar to ours. She lives in Israel, in Jerusalem, and he is from here. And should I tell him ‘you can’t go there, you can’t do that.’ God forbid! Go children, and fight like we did.”
They add that their daughter will marry a Muslim and that they will have a Sharia wedding in the mosque and a wedding according to Jewish customs in the synagogue.
Before the war, they celebrated all the holidays together. Today that is not the case. Muhamed’s parents are not alive, and Zlatica’s parents and her brother live in Israel. Still, they hope that this tradition of family gatherings will now be continued by their children.
Challenges in Raising and Educating Children
They say that it was difficult for them to explain to their children that they celebrate both Muslim and Jewish holidays, especially as their children’s peers did not know anything about Hanukkah, for example.
“It was very difficult to explain to Benjamin that we celebrate Eid and Hanukkah. He would come home from school and tell us, ‘but they don’t know what Hanukkah is.’ Then on another day, he would come from school and say I swear to Allah, and he couldn’t have heard that from me. I told him, ‘Son, if you believe in something, you believe from the heart, and not to convince others in that.’ It was hard, I had to go to talk with the teacher sometimes,” Muhamed recalls.
Zlatica adds that they both received religious education. “In school they attended Islamic religious education, and on Saturdays I held a small school for Judaism, so they learned the customs of that religion.”
Although Benjamin did not have any major problems during his school days, Benina did in primary school. It was a very traumatic experience for her and her parents, which is why her parents decided to move her to another school.
“Benina was in third or fourth grade. One day she came home crying, and she says, ‘Mom, I have nobody to talk with me in school.’ And I asked, ‘well, what have you done so 33 children won’t talk to you,’ and she says, ‘I don’t know, Rijalda says that I am a Jew, and that she shouldn’t hang out with me because we kill people!’”
They believed that that little girl could only have heard something like that at home. After hearing their reaction, the teacher held a parent-teacher meeting, where the girl’s father apologized to them. However, after that, they decided to change schools.
“Still, I decided to transfer her to another school, after her teacher told her, ‘well done Benina, if you made all this up!’ She came home crying – imagine telling a 10-year-old that she made it all up. Let’s transfer her to another school. There were other such situations there as well, but the teacher always reacted correctly. It’s what you bring from your home, it’s not the children’s fault,” concludes Zlatica.
Together Through All the Ups and Downs
Zlatica and Muhamed believe that love is not only strengthened in beautiful moments, but when life is difficult. Then partners must be supportive of one other.
“Love is not just the honeymoon phase. Love is when it is tough, when you need to be there, to push each other, to support one another, and to correct when needed,” says Muhamed.
They recall their struggles with serious illness.
“When they diagnosed me with cancer, that’s why I have a hard time talking. When they told me, the first thing I thought and looked at was her. She stayed with me. The secret of our successful marriage is that we always push each other even when we argue. There’s always laughter, jokes,” Muhamed explains.
Zlatica immediately confirms his words, jokingly claiming that they hoped he would talk less after the operation and recovery. But she adds with a smile, “You see how much he talks, and he promised us that he won’t talk this much…When all this was over, treatment and everything, and he finally spoke up, I went to the doctor and said, ‘you really tricked me. You told me he would be just like characters from silent movies, and now he’s talking like five people at once!’ He’s full of spirit, and there are times when he’s not like that, so then I tell the doctor he probably did something to my husband’s head.”
They say that there are discussions and even arguments in their relationship, but that there is never a lack of understanding and respect.
“And we do fight, but smartly, with arguments. It is all about understanding, love. Money is spent, youth passes, and beauty is fleeting. Here we are, the children are gone, and I have my Zlata by my side,” concludes Muhamed.
No One Can Ruin Your Relationship If You Fight For It and Defend It
They point out that faith should not be a factor in choosing a partner with whom you want to build a life, and that young people should not allow anyone to interfere with them and their partner.
“There are stories on different [Facebook] groups – about Sarajevan women, about raja, and someone comments whether a mother-in-law could destroy a marriage. Neither a mother-in-law nor a father-in-law can ruin your marriage. Here we have Benjo, and if he allows, I can divorce him from his girl,” Muhamed adds jokingly.
“Respect is the foundation of everything,” adds Zlatica.
They conclude that there is no ideal relationship, but that it is important to find someone with whom it is worth striving for the ideal one, especially if it is someone with whom you can be nice, someone you will look forward to. As Muhamed says, “I often go for coffee with friends, but I go home quickly because I cannot wait to do so.”
Text editing: Balkan Diskurs team; Photography: Armin Durgut; Photo Editor: Dr. Paul Lowe.
This story is part of the “Love Tales” project implemented by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) with a group of Balkan Diskurs youth correspondents. The project is implemented with financial support from the VII Academy, the BOLD program of the US Embassy in BiH, and PCRC’s core grants, with the aim of challenging the common narrative that real connections between Bosnia’s different ethnic groups are unattainable by documenting stories of successful interethnic relationships across the country.

created: January 19th, 2021

author: Azra Berbić


text:
Love Is Always The Right Value To Fight For | Balkan Diskurs
Mirnes Bakija
January 27th, 2021
Although they have encountered many difficulties throughout their life together, Danijela and Miralem have been living in a happy marriage for 27 years. They proudly point out that love is always the right value to fight for, because when there is love, there is respect among partners.
They Met At A Disco
They started dating during high school. They met at a disco, which was very popular at the time. Danijela says that Miralem was one of the most handsome young men, and she points out with a smile that she has always been attracted to those who played hard to get.
“I was attracted to her physique. She was blonde with curls,” says Miralem, looking at Danijela.
They married in 1993 during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since Miralem was born in Gacko, he barely managed to get his birth certificate. Danijela, who was born in Sarajevo, in the Centar Municipality, had the same problem. They recall that the municipal representative, who was from SDA (the Party of Democratic Action), did not want to come to sign off on the wedding. Danijela says that a wonderful woman named Mukadesa dared to make their marriage official with her signature.
“During our wedding, due to the shelling, we could not enter the building through the door, so we used small windows to enter. There were small ladders through which you could sneak out the window. My neighbor then cut a metal part on the balcony, so that I could enter in a dress and so that the guests could enter normally,” says Danijela.
Danijela explains that she is also the child of a “mixed” marriage. Her late father was a Serb and her mother a Croat. Miralem spent most of his life in Sarajevo. He says he comes from a traditional Muslim family, in which all people have always been respected regardless of religion and nation. They point out that their families have never opposed their marriage.
Danijela remembers that as a child, a friend asked her what her nationality was, and she did not know what to answer. She asked her father what to say, and he then told her that they do not share that or declare themselves anything. And that is how it is today. “I am a human, that’s who I am,” she says.
They do not celebrate any religious holidays. Danijela says that it bothers her when people congratulate each other on the holidays without putting real emotions into it.
“How can we talk about love when people send the same message to everyone on their phone in a stenciled way. It’s nonsense. It’s done in a robotic way, just to be done,” adds Miralem.
Negative Experiences Have Strengthened Their Love
Their marriage was full of various trials and tribulations. Danijela remembers how a neighbor once told them that their marriage had no future. Miralem adds that a neighbor once commented, “Look at you two, making a small Yugoslavia.”
During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Danijela says that they were sometimes isolated because they were in a mixed marriage. She remembers that on one occasion a representative of ‘Merhamet’, a humanitarian organization, came by and said ‘good day’ to her, but used the more traditional ‘merhaba’ to greet Miralem. She says that they could only get humanitarian aid in the name of her husband, not in her name.
Their daughter Adela was born after the war. She is now 22 years old. After graduating from college in Dubrovnik, she stayed to live in Croatia. Their son Armin was born during the war. He studied Russian and currently lives with them in Sarajevo. They never told their children with whom to hang out, nor did they ever discuss ethnic divisions. Danijela says that there were situations when their son was called derogatory names, and unfortunately it happened that certain groups of children physically attacked him.
“Our children did not attend religious classes, and only Islamic education was offered. It happened that these lectures were in the middle of other classes, so the children were segregated and divided from others. There were even Muslim families who did not send their children to such classes,” says Daniela.
They proudly point out that their children are taught basic human values, and that the most important thing to them is to remain a good person.
They Decided To Stay Here
Danijela explains that there were many more cases of mixed marriages during the war than after the war, especially now. They say that the system rarely promotes interethnic marriages. It’s only through positive examples of love that tolerance and coexistence are promoted.
“While I was working as a translator at USAID, I traveled to Bratunac, Zvornik, and those areas around Srebrenica. When I would come home, I happily told the family that there were Muslims and Serbs working together on projects, about cases where a Muslim got a greenhouse and a Serb helped him with that. I was delighted to hear such stories,” says Danijela.
They say that many mixed marriages in Bosnia and Herzegovina took place so that people could leave the country faster and easier. They were sometimes put in the same category. Danijela says they wanted to leave the country when Armin was born in 1994, but she adds that at the time it was uncertain whether she would be granted refugee status with a child in her arms. Their second attempt to leave BiH took place in 1998, when Adela was born.
“My husband and father made a mistake, and instead of handing their papers over to America they handed them over to Canada. When we got approval to go to Canada, we gave it up because it was a French-speaking part of the country,” says Danijela.
Persistence And Knowledge Cannot Be Taken Away From You
They say they’ve had plenty of time to dedicate to each other due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Their daughter had online classes and their son was there with them to help. Danijela says that she is a big fan of cooking, so she prepared a lot of food. Eating together connected the family even more.
“All we do is eat!” Miralem exclaims with a smile.
“Too much of everything is being analyzed in this country, and there is no way we can firmly embark on change,” Miralem says. Danijela is often contacted by the media, because as a tour guide she fought for equality and the legalization of her job. However, when she realized that the authorities did not even know how to register tour guides, she realized that there was nothing to fight for. She adds that people came to her from Great Britain, Australia and other world centers.
“You need to be persistent. No one can take away your persistence and your knowledge. They ask me who helps me, and I say dear God and no one else. I don’t go to religious facilities, but I don’t do to others what I myself wouldn’t like others to do to me. That is my religion,” says Danijela.
Young People In Mixed Relationships Should Never Give Up
Danijela remembers how there used to be harmony among people, and how her mother Dragica and neighbor Magbula had a wonderful friendship. She adds that a lot has changed today, and that she doesn’t even know her neighbors in the building.
“My mother worked from seven to three, and when she got home, she would bang on her friend Magbula’s wall as an invitation for coffee,” remembers Danijela.
The perception of mixed marriages has changed significantly, and only a few decide to start such a relationship. According to the data of the entity statistical institutes of the Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH, more than 18,000 marriages were concluded in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2019, of which only about 600 were ethnically mixed.
Danijela and Miralem tell young people in romantic interethnic relationships that there are no barriers and no restrictions. If love happens, they should embrace it and work on strengthening their love to overcome the obstacles that society imposes on them.
Text editing: Balkan Diskurs team; Photography: Mitar Simikić; Photo Editor: Dr. Paul Lowe.
This story is part of the “Love Tales” project implemented by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) with a group of Balkan Diskurs youth correspondents. The project is implemented with financial support from the VII Academy, the BOLD program of the US Embassy in BiH, and PCRC’s core grants, with the aim of challenging the common narrative that real connections between Bosnia’s different ethnic groups are unattainable by documenting stories of successful interethnic relationships across the country.

created: January 27th, 2021

author: Mirnes Bakija


text:
Building Homes, Building Livelihoods, and Building Peace | Balkan Diskurs
George Foden
February 4th, 2021
The journey to reconstruct one’s life after war is long and fraught with danger. Current approaches by the global humanitarian system, including peacebuilding processes and local and national laws often make it an impossible journey.
Conflict creates homelessness. Homelessness is one of the most immediate and wide-reaching impacts of warfare. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, conflict and violence triggered 8.5 million new displacements in 50 countries in 2019 alone. Of those 8.5 million, some will flee their country and become refugees, seeking asylum in various host countries. The vast majority will remain trapped in their home country, ever at risk of violence. Even those that succeed in escaping conflict zones face immense difficulties in rebuilding their lives in a new place, surrounded by new faces speaking new languages, often with little social, economic, or cultural support.
Permanent Impermanence
The Rohingya crisis in Myanmar has dominated global attention in recent years, and for good reason. For refugees fleeing Rakhine State, life in neighbouring Bangladesh brought little respite. Approximately 900,000 refugees crossed the border in 2017 and 2018, and the vast majority of these people ended up in sprawling mega-camps in and around Cox’s Bazar. The speed with which the crisis escalated meant that the international humanitarian system was stretched to its limit trying to supply refugees with suitable emergency shelter. For some local residents, the arrival of an army of foreign actors and resources to support the refugees created the perception that these “intruders” were being prioritised over an already-poor community. More recently, The New Humanitarian reports that COVID-19 has stoked tensions further, and has provided a potential spark for conflict between the refugees and their host community. International NGOs are taking precautions to prevent an outbreak in the overcrowded camps, while local communities have received limited support from a stretched Bangladeshi government.
In times of crisis, these sources of tension can boil under the surface between groups.
We do not know how long these Rohingya refugees will be displaced. Even if the ethnic cleansing in Rakhine is brought to a close, many may never return. Some may be granted asylum status in Bangladesh or elsewhere, but this is never guaranteed. The long-term outcomes of this exodus are yet to be seen, but we can look to previous conflicts, and previous displacements, for an example of what can become of individuals made homeless by violence.
In Bosnia-Herzegovina, the scars of a conflict that officially ended 25 years ago remain deep and visible. Particularly for those affected by the worst atrocities of the conflict, the wounds are still fresh. The Guardian reported in February 2020 that many survivors of the Srebrenica Genocide, where over 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were massacred in July 1995, remain living in the so-called “temporary” refugee village of Mihatovići, dependant on humanitarian aid and unable to rebuild their lives. To quote one 45-year-old survivor from the article, who lives in the village with her mother after losing several male family members in the massacre, “When I arrived in Mihatovići, I thought that they would assign us a real home. Here we still are after 25 years. A family of five living on my mother’s war pension of about €400 a month.”
Much like the paralysed political system in Bosnia-Herzegovina that is still so heavily shaped by the Dayton Accords and the remnants of the conflict, the displaced families of Mihatovići find themselves frozen in time.
The long-term impact of conflict is unquantifiable. We see figures like the 8.5 million people displaced by conflict in 2019, but we fail to grasp the scale of that misery. How many of those people will ever return home? How many will find safe passage to a new place, somewhere else in the world? And how many will be lost in time like the families of Mihatovići, no longer a member of their old community, but unable to start a new life in earnest elsewhere? According to the EU, displacement lasts an average of 20 years for refugees and more than 10 years for 90% of IDPs. The majority of displaced persons that end up in camps are forced to live in temporary and transitional shelters with little in the way of livelihood opportunities. This can breed aid dependency and prevent individuals from having agency over their own lives.
The national and international systems that handle refugees and displaced persons create a context in which people are forced into permanent impermanence, unable to plan for the future or put down roots in a new location. Without these roots, it becomes almost impossible to move on. Some of this is an unavoidable consequence of war. As with the arrival of 900,000 Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, sometimes even providing basic food, water, and shelter requires miracles to be performed by the host community, international humanitarian system, and displaced people themselves. However, in other cases, legal restrictions, discriminatory government policies, and social isolation from host communities act as barriers to individuals displaced by conflict. While this is common in refugee camp settings, there are several examples of progressive policies that support refugees in building meaningful lives and livelihoods in displacement settings.
Building a Better Future in Displacement Contexts
For example, in Uganda’s Bidi Bidi camp, the second largest in the world, progressive policies have allowed refugees to build more permanent structures than their counterparts in other refugee camps globally. The standard white tent structures have been replaced by more permanent housing, built with mud and thatch, and, in some cases, brick. As a result of this stability, community ties have flowered. Small businesses have been set up. Public spaces host town meetings and local aid organisations work closely with refugees to help develop skills and provide livelihood opportunities. Bidi Bidi refugee camp is becoming a city. To quote National Geographic’s investigation into the unique experiment taking place in Bidi Bidi, “Even in well-planned camps such as Azraq in Jordan’s desert, the starkness of life without jobs or a sense of belonging sends refugees back to Syria or forces them to try to earn money in dangerous, under-the-table arrangements. In Uganda, under one of the world’s most progressive policies, those who’ve fled civil war in South Sudan can live, farm, and work freely.”
In Myanmar’s northern state of Kachin, there has long been growing tension between IDPs living in camps as a result of the outbreak of violence in 2011. Surrounding communities have come to view the displaced people as lazy and dependant on aid. In a context of ongoing intergroup tension and violence, such stereotyping and animosity can be a dangerous thing. In an effort to reduce these tensions, the government announced in 2018 that it would be closing the camps and rehoming displaced persons in new communities around Kachin and Northern Shan states. In response to this, Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS), the Burmese arm of the global Caritas movement, with support from Catholic Relief Services (CRS), set out to help the displaced families settle into their new communities, using their shelter programme to help generate social cohesion.
The programme itself was informed by lessons learned from the Rohingya response in Cox’s Bazar, and aimed to facilitate social interaction between the displaced and host communities by providing cash assistance to the displaced households to use in the construction of their new homes. KMSS provided training to both the displaced families and the host community to ensure construction standards were met. It then provided cash to displaced households which they could use to purchase materials and labour from their new neighbours. KMSS and CRS technical support was available throughout the process, and local community members were encouraged to take ownership of the reconstruction projects and of welcoming the new households into their communities. In 2020, 46 households were rehomed in this way, and the project continues to grow. Many more IDPs have expressed interest in joining the project, and KMSS and CRS are recording the results of the project for other humanitarian actors looking to support long-term social cohesion through similar initiatives.
Humanitarian shelter and settlement programming is increasingly seen as dated. The idea that post-disaster or post-conflict international NGOs can provide temporary accommodation in the form of tents or shelters and consider their job done has long been challenged by those working in the sector. There is now momentum behind the idea that shelter is “more than four walls and a roof,” and that it actually represents an important steppingstone from post-disaster response towards full recovery. Refugee camps throughout the world have demonstrated that “temporary shelter” is a fallacy, but NGOs are often restricted by limited funding, government legislation, and a lack of mandates for long-term response. As a result, in many cases they are still required to provide the most basic materials for housing.
As Mihatovići demonstrates, this temporary accommodation can last for decades. Those with the skills and resources can and do update their housing over time to turn it into something that better meets their needs, but this often happens over the span of years and with great difficulty. If we approach shelter from the earliest possible stages as something that has the potential to change a life and support a household’s recovery from humanitarian crisis, we can give agency to those affected by disaster and accelerate the return to a semblance of normality.
In Bidi Bidi, progressive land and construction laws enabled refugees to build their own city and start their own economy, rather than be forced into temporary accommodation with aid handouts as their only source of income. With this freedom, a new community has thrived. In Kachin, collaborative house construction has built community ties that previously did not exist, and has given hope to many displaced families that they can wrestle control of their future back from the hands of the combatants that forced them to flee their homes years ago.
When we talk about peacebuilding, we are usually referring to the development of culture, institutions and social networks that can bring groups together for mutually beneficial ends. The physical act of building itself is usually the first, and most important, requirement of post-conflict recovery. Done right, it can also be a tool for peacebuilders to support communities in settling into new contexts together. For too long we’ve looked at shelter as something that keeps the rain off our heads. But seeing shelter as a process through which peace can be supported and lives can be rebuilt can help to marry the physical and social recovery of a community wracked by violence.
The destruction of life in a warzone can take seconds. The resulting displacement, dependency, and insecurity can, and all-too-often does, last a lifetime.
But it does not have to.
Shelter operations are a core pillar of any humanitarian response. But shelter is a process, not an object. By working with affected communities, both displaced groups and host populations, the shelter process can be a powerful foundation for long-term peace.
To build a home is to give the opportunity to build livelihoods. To build livelihoods is to build communities. And to build communities is to build peace.
I have been privileged to learn about this emerging theme in humanitarian shelter through my work with QSAND in Myanmar, supporting the CRS and KMSS project in Kachin, and through the shelter and settlement practitioners that make up the Global Shelter Cluster, which is responsible for coordinating humanitarian shelter operations around the world. For those of us who live in relative security, we can often take our living space for granted. For those who have been forced to flee, a chance to rebuild a life often starts with the foundations of a new home.

created: February 4th, 2021

author: George Foden