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Pathways towards a culture of peace with Velma Šarić and Tatjana Milovanović | Balkan Diskurs
Maarten Van Alstein
May 31st, 2023
The Post-Conflict Research Center is a non-governmental peacebuilding organisation and research centre based in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
Researcher Maarten Van Alstein went in search of a breath of fresh air in a dialogue on peace with Velma Šarić and Tatjana Milovanović, Founder and Program Director at the research centre where the work towards a culture of peace and conflict prevention in the Western Balkans takes a central place.
Could you tell us more about your organisation and how you got involved?
Velma Šarić: Being a teenager at the time, I was deeply affected by the war. That is probably the only reason why I ended up in the field of peacebuilding. As a country, we are still dealing with a lot of division. There is not, for example, one shared historical narrative about the war – there are three different narratives. Between 25,000 and 50,000 women were sexually abused or raped during the war. Sarajevo experienced the longest siege in modern history. More than 1,600 children were killed in Sarajevo alone. We are still dealing with the consequences of genocide in Srebrenica. Transitional justice and post-conflict reconstruction are going slowly. We are a country in the heart of Europe, but we still have the phenomenon of segregation in our education, with the system of „two schools under one roof“. Kids physically go into the same building but are taught completely different curriculums. In that context, we are trying to find innovative approaches to engage young people in peacebuilding conversations. One of these methods is Balkan Diskurs, a pan-ethnic youth platform where we provide a free space for young people to make their voices heard.
Tatjana Milovanović: We use multimedia and the creative arts, but we also focus on research and monitoring the peacebuilding field in the region. The primary target audience of many of our programmes is young people, but we also do a lot of work with survivors and victims of the Bosnian war and genocide. Our goal is to empower them to tell their stories and help them in their everyday life and their fight for their rights, while also documenting their stories of survival.
In a post-conflict society, after the experience of sexual violence and genocide, memories are very painful and bitter. On your website you say you are dedicated to fostering a culture of peace. What does that mean for you?
Tatjana Milovanović: In our work with young people we ask them what peace means to them. It is such a big term. At the same time, it has a very practical side. In Yugoslavia people lived together peacefully. Ordinary people did not expect the war to happen. Then after the war they were pushed into this very westernised way of thinking, involving big terms such as “democracy” and “civil society”, “peacebuilding” and “transitional justice”. Many people thought of peace in the sense of the ending of actual fighting. What we now try to do is make young people think about peace in a positive sense as well, as both individual and communal. The first dimension is very subjective. It is a sense of feeling safe in your own community, feeling the safety of your identity in your community. At the same time, we welcome the diversity of this country. That is our vision: to see diversity as something to celebrate, while on an individual level it is important to feel safe and warm in your own community.
Velma Šarić: From a historical point of view, and keeping in mind that the Dayton peace accord actually is the Bosnian constitution, the war did not stop because of an agreement between people, but because of a military intervention and a lot of international diplomacy. In a country divided into ten cantons and political districts with 186 ministries, we try to remind people of the necessity of cherishing peace. Many young people don’t have the experience of a sense of belonging to the country. They don’t feel that politicians care about their future, their education, their well-being. So cultivating a culture of peace involves reminding young people that peace is more than merely not having a war – that it is also about celebrating the diversities we have in a country with different ethnic and religious groups. We always need to talk about and cultivate this culture of peace because it is extremely necessary. Especially now with the war in Ukraine and what we are witnessing in Europe, Bosnia and the Balkans should be a constant reminder of the kinds of consequences war entails.
We do not know when the war in Ukraine will end, but what, in your view, can we learn from Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of how a post-conflict society can build a culture of peace?
Tatjana Milovanović: I think Ukraine and people in the region might also learn from our experiences now, while the war is still raging. We have already had several conversations with Ukrainian activists, especially women leaders, about this. We first talked about the importance of documentation. In Bosnia that proved to be incredibly valuable for later judicial processes and war crime trials. For example, it is important to think now about how we will be able in the future to prove the identities of missing people. The International Commission on Missing Persons was established because of the war in Bosnia, and there is a lot of technical and practical expertise that unfortunately now can be implemented in Ukraine. When it comes to the peace agreement and the post-conflict period, a lot of people in Bosnia feel that the Dayton accord was a forced agreement that left a lot of unfinished business. The real work actually starts after a peace agreement is signed. Because our country did not have enough support to help people, there are still many people in Bosnia suffering from the consequences of war, especially women survivors of sexual violence and rape. I think that only a couple of thousand of them actually spoke about their experiences. I think that collectively, as a society, we have failed to give them proper reparations, proper psychosocial support and proper mental health support, which are all incredibly necessary. Also, many people who lived through the siege of Sarajevo did not receive support after the war. Even 30 years later, a great number of people are still affected by their war-time experiences. Obviously, through transgenerational trauma, their children are also affected.
After any conflict or war the building of peace is such a long-term process. It takes decades to really heal. There is no coming out of it in one or two years’ time. In fact there is not really any way of coming out of it. Society will constantly have to deal and re-deal with the violent past. That is definitely a lesson we learned.
Velma Šarić: I want to mention something that the international community is already doing right at this moment, and that is understanding that what Ukraine needs now is military help. We are happy to see that they are not struggling with embargos on weapons like we had to do. Another important issue is that of local ownership. It is important that the international community listens to local people and local civil society organisations.
In terms of processed of reconciliation, in Bosnia we learned that we lost the years immediately following the peace agreement. People were tired from the war, and this had an impact on their willingness to actually build peace. It taught us a very important lesson: the first steps to build a culture of peace need to be monitored closely and evaluated in a sustained manner. We skipped that period, unfortunately. We moved too quickly towards European integration and NATO processes. That still causes a lot of problems in terms of dealing with the past and transitional justice.
What can the international community and a region like Flanders do to assist in these efforts?
Velma Šarić: As to concrete ways a region like Flanders can assist, I strongly believe in enhancing the accountability of local governments and trying to lead them towards European values and processes of democracy and human rights. Projects that increase attention towards the rights of minorities – such as the Roma and Jewish communities, and people in mixed marriages – are also important. We also need to invest in building up economic capabilities and in social projects that bring people together. If people can provide for their families and give their children opportunities, there is a common ground where agreement can be found.
This article was published in the report “Dialogue in a Times of Uncertainty” of the Flemish Institute for Peace 2022.

author: Maarten Van Alstein


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Youth Organizations Prepare Young People for Employment | Balkan Diskurs
Kristina Gadže
June 2nd, 2023
Through various projects including sports, entertainment, cultural, and educational activities, youth organizations are striving to encourage volunteerism and the employment of young people in local communities.
Among these organizations are the Pod Istim Suncem Youth Club and the Most Association, which operate in the areas of Jablanica and Gradiška. With roughly the same number of volunteers, members, and activists, these organizations have many common activities.
Hariz Halilhodžić, President of the Pod Istim Suncem Youth Club, said that they have a wide variety of projects and services which are mainly tailored to children and young people, ranging from the athletic and recreational to the cultural and educational.
“One important thing that our organization does is advocating for solutions to certain problems in the community, including youth employment. We engage mostly young people in our activities as beneficiaries of some of our projects,” said Halilhodžić, highlighting the fact that they have a permanent group of volunteers.
The Most Association aims to promote personal and professional development, as well as participation in the community through a wide range of programs and activities. One of their priorities is informal education, which they provide in the form of free English and Italian language courses. They mostly work with young people between the ages of 15 and 30.
Arianna Previtera, an active member and volunteer at Most, stated that a lot of their recent activities have been devoted to improving the employment situation for young people in and around Gradiška. She added that frequent volunteers were given the opportunity to participate in occasional paid engagements.
To inspire young people, they also have workshops on CV writing and job search strategies, as well as 3D printing courses. In addition, they often organize environmental initiatives to keep Gradiška clean. They are affiliated with Zelena Mreža, a national organization dedicated to promoting environmental activities, fighting climate change, and providing education on environmental conservation.
Anastasija Katić, a member of the Most Association, mentioned that they also collaborate with the local museum and library to organize cultural events. “These activities can include workshops to promote local history and heritage, as well as provide opportunities for community members to connect and engage with each other,” Katić added. She stressed the diversity of programs and initiatives offered by the association that are designed to meet the needs and interests of their community.
She encouraged young people to get involved in the association, as it’s a great way to gain valuable experience in event planning and community service.
According to data from the Employment Service of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, approximately 37 percent of young people in the Jablanica area are unemployed. Halilhodžić attributes this to the underdeveloped economy and the inefficiency of policies and measures aimed at promoting youth employment.
“Unfortunately, as a result of this situation, young people, who should be the future employers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are going to better regulated countries looking for a solution to this problem. BiH is slowly becoming a country with an increasingly aging workforce as young people who remain lack the drive for self-employment or starting their own businesses,” expressed Halilhodžić.
When it comes to the young people who volunteer for the Most Association, Katić stated that they also have opportunities for employment within the association.
“Many organizations engage in projects on the topic of youth employability and keeping young people in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The maintenance of education and training, especially in rural areas, is of great importance for society. There are already some such initiatives throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. The number of these could be higher, but non-governmental organizations are still doing a very good job in this regard,” said Katić.
According to the Most Association, the significant issues affecting youth employment are the lack of quality job opportunities, low minimum wages, unpaid overtime, delayed payments, poor team dynamics, and requirements to work on weekends. These are just some of the things currently contributing to the  bad labor market in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Establishing better-defined laws and respecting them in both the government and the private sector is the key. If workers are motivated and satisfied, their work is of higher quality and they are more productive. So, employers should pay more attention to the satisfaction of their workers,” said the Most Association.
Halilhodžić believes that the solution to unemployment lies in improving education and changing policies. This will result in attracting more investors, encouraging local employers to hire young people, and supporting young people to start their own businesses.
This article is part of a series of texts within the #EmployMe project of the Post-Conflict Research Center and Balkan Diskurs. The series aims to raise awareness about the problems that young people face in the field of education and employment in BiH and highlight some good practices in battling these obstacles. This series is part of the “Youth Retention Program in BiH – Opšta Mobilizacija,” implemented by the Nešto Više Association and PRONI Center for Youth Development, with support from the Delegation of the European Union to BiH.

source: news-balkandiskurs

created: June 2nd, 2023

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

author: Kristina Gadže


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A Museum of Daily Life in Sarajevo Under Siege | Balkan Diskurs
Amina Sejfić
June 5th, 2023
On the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the start of the Sarajevo siege, the longest siege of a capital city in modern history, the Siege of Sarajevo Museum was inaugurated. The Museum authentically portrays the everyday life of Sarajevo’s citizens who were terrorized as part of the shelling and sniping campaign orchestrated by the Bosnian Serb political and military establishment.
The founding of the Museum arose from the necessity to shed more light on the experiences of people living in wartime Sarajevo. It is located at Jelića Street no. 3, in close proximity to the Sacred Heart Cathedral.
Alen Leko, the manager of the Museum, emphasized that their objective was to comprehensively depict all aspects of life under siege, including the most basic elements of the daily struggle to survive.
Among the topics presented at the Museum, Leko listed, “Sarajevo’s Tunnel of Hope, education during the war, life in shelters, the work of the fire service, trams, the exchange of goods, the markets, going to get water, funeral workers, hospitals….”
He went on to explain that the majority of the Museum’s content focuses on personal stories of tragedy and day-to-day hardships in the besieged city. One such story is that of Azem Sućeska, who donated the camera he used to document the siege to the museum. This camera was once hit by shrapnel, thus miraculously sparing Azem’s life.
The Museum mainly showcases personal belongings of survivors, which they have collected through a variety of means and from different places.
Leko clarified, “The exhibits were obtained in various ways. We reached out to people involved in the aforementioned subjects. Additionally, we talked to people from the community, in shops, markets, restaurants. They would then come forward with their personal stories and items from the wartime period.”
The Sarajevo siege began on April 5th, 1992, and ended on February 29th, 1996. It started with the establishment of barricades and checkpoints, and the seizure of strategic facilities and military equipment. The Yugoslav People’s Army blockaded the Sarajevo International Airport, and the western and northern suburbs of Sarajevo were occupied. There were attacks on the Personnel Training Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Vrace, the central tram depot, and the Old Town area.
The introductory passage from the Trial Chamber’s judgment against Stanislav Galić states: “The siege of Sarajevo, as it came to be popularly known, was an episode of such notoriety in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia that one must go back to World War II to find a parallel in European history. Not since then had a professional army conducted a campaign of unrelenting violence against the inhabitants of a European city so as to reduce them to a state of medieval deprivation in which they were in constant fear of death.” Galić, the commander of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was sentenced to life in prison.
The verdicts determined that the political leadership and Serbian forces, primarily the Sarajevo Romanija Corps, orchestrated a deliberate campaign of shelling and sniping with the primary objective of instilling terror among the citizens of Sarajevo. As a result of this campaign thousands of men, women, and even children were killed, and thousands more seriously injured and disfigured. What’s more, it left the entire population of Sarajevo with lasting incurable trauma and deep psychological scars.
The siege lasted for 1,424 days, and yet, life in Sarajevo continued to go on. The siege of Sarajevo has been the subject of countless books, films, artistic works, and photographic exhibitions. Today, the experiences of life under siege are presented through a variety of mediums and platforms.
The Siege of Sarajevo Museum offers unique insight into the daily lives of Sarajevo’s citizens throughout the 1,425-day siege. It is one of the three official Bosnian Museums of Remembrance, alongside the genocide museums in Sarajevo and Mostar.
The Museum holds immense significance for the culture of memory, precisely because of its inclusion of personal testimonies. Memories inevitably fade over time, however much we might wish it were otherwise. Thus, the Museum’s role in preserving and commemorating the experiences of life under siege is all the more important.
“The importance of the museum for memorialization is exceptional, given that it covers all aspects of life under siege and preserves the memory of that period. It speaks to the perniciousness of war and all the evil that war represents,” explains Leko. He adds that the Museum stands as a stark warning that such atrocities must never be repeated again anywhere in the world.

created: June 5th, 2023

author: Amina Sejfić


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Reimagining Peace in Brussels: “Don’t Wait for Problems to Arise” | Balkan Diskurs
Amina Sejfić
June 8th, 2023
The #ReImagining Peace 2023 conference concluded that today’s youth are the future and the future they need is one of peace. Educated young people are essential, and this is why we must provide them with a safe environment in which they can discuss controversial topics.
The conference “Reimagining Peace: New Agendas for Research & Policy in Times of Conflict” was held on May 8th and 9th this year in Brussels. It was organized by the Flemish Peace Institute, Post-Conflict Research Center, Tampere Peace Research Center, Prague Peace Research Center, and Oslo Peace Research Center.
The conference brought together around 150 people, including researchers, professors, students, representatives of non-governmental institutions, activists, and others dedicated to sustainable peace, youth, education, women’s peace research, security, and climate.
Nail Duquet, the director of the Flemish Peace Institute, emphasized that the conference aims to facilitate networking and information exchange among diverse actors in the field of peace research.
“We hope that the conference will generate new ideas and offer insight into the diversity of approaches to peace research,” said Duquet.
Following the introductory remarks and the opening of the conference, four panels were conducted. Two panels were held simultaneously, allowing participants to choose their preferred session based on their interests. The panel discussions covered various topics, including peace research during times of conflict, local peace initiatives, the climate and peace research from a
The panel titled “Global crisis – Local Peace” was moderated by Velma Šarić, president and founder of the Post-Conflict Research Center. The discussion focused on the topic of peace building in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Šarić emphasized that while memorialization initiatives do exist and are often highly publicized, they are rarely “coordinated between different sectors of government, civil society, local communities and within different ethnic and religious groups.”
“We haven’t been able to move away from the one-sided presentation of history and narratives that cause divisions in schools, including the physical segregation that is ‘nurtured’ by the ‘two schools under one roof’ system,” said Šarić.
Maarten Van Alstein, a senior fellow at the Flemish Peace Institute, spoke about the challenges of peace education, and stressed that controversies and social conflicts are inevitable in a democratic society. The burden of learning about the past, according to him, is on the entire school.
“Don’t wait for a problem to arise, start working on it sooner. Both teachers and students bring their perspectives on an event to the classrooms and from their respective positions, start a dialogue with each other. And the way in which that dialogue will be conducted depends on the entire school,” Van Alstein emphasized.
The panel “Global Crisis – Local Peace” also underscored two factors that contribute to educational discussions in the classrooms. The first is establishing procedures to handle any disrespectful behavior that may emerge and ensure a safe environment for all participants. The second is to have dialogue, where there is empathy for one another and the understanding that dissenting from the mainstream opinion does not justify spreading hate.
Tiffany Fairey, a professor at King’s College London, highlighted the powerful message conveyed by photographs, which serve as visual representations of the author’s perception of the world. Furthermore, she emphasized the value of images as educational tools, noting that depending on the author’s intentions, they can be used as instruments of revenge and propaganda, or as a shield in defense of peace and freedom.
Amidst a world full of images of war and conflict, Fairey posed the question of what an image of peace truly looks like, pointing to photos from the PCRC’s MIR magazine.
She explained that our conception of peace is mostly what we see in the present, adding, “We imagine peace through the past, but we also look to the future, and I think it’s exciting to work with creative methods like photography, because it allows us to imagine much more than what we see at the moment.”
Marko Kljajić, a PhD candidate in comparative politics and international relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a program director for PCRC, described reconciliation as the ultimate goal of post-conflict reconstruction.
“Although the term is rather ambiguously defined in the literature, most would agree that it refers to the building or rebuilding of social relations based on trust and cohesion,” said Kljajić.
According to Kljajić, the stories featured in the documentary “Ordinary Heroes” produced by the Post-Conflict Research Center are very important for a society recovering from conflict. These narratives shed light on people who have gone through hardships in the past and, as a result, have developed a profound sense of responsibility towards others. Kljajić underlined the significance of these people being able to make meaningful connections between their own experiences of suffering – whatever that may be – and those of others.
Regarding recognition, he noted that it can be a costly step which indicates one’s commitment to peace and reconciliation. Achieving long-term social cohesion requires certain moral, economic, and political concessions.
“Recognizing what has been done implies a normative determination that others should be treated with basic dignity and that they are entitled to certain rights and freedoms as members of the common human community,” added Kljajić.
Professor Emeritus Mary Koldor, the director of the Conflict Research Program at the School of Economics and Political Science in London, responded to questions about whether the war in Ukraine has changed the way we perceive war and peace. She also addressed whether there is a need to reconstruct our security structure, military setup, and even the role of NATO, presenting guidelines for thinking in times of conflict.
On the second day of the conference, which coincided with Europe Day on May 9th, interactive panels discussed topics such as new technologies and arms control, peacebuilding, and the role of Europe in these matters. The conference concluded with a panel featuring young researchers who presented innovative solutions in the field of peace research.

created: June 8th, 2023


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Scottish Tales from Sarajevo | Balkan Diskurs
Cameron MacBride
June 11th, 2023
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Scotland are two small countries with a lot of differences, but the Scots who live in Sarajevo believe that the people of these countries are connected by warm hospitality towards foreigners, dark humor, and a relaxed view on life.
As spring began, with coffee in abundance and the sun beaming down on us, I sat down with writer Kevin Sullivan and photographer Jim Marshall. Our journeys that brought us to Sarajevo differ remarkably, but our common homeland of Scotland, and the cultural bonds that tie us together rang throughout our delightful conversation.
It must be said that many of my fellow countrymen and women that choose to leave the streets of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, or Inverness, often end up with incredible tales to share upon their return – if they ever choose to deal with the ‘dreich’ Scottish weather again, that is. Kevin and Jim are no exception. If anything, their stories go above and beyond to illustrate the often undiscussed and missing tale of Scots abroad, and the (mis)adventures that we ‘wee folk’ tend to find ourselves upon.
After discussing the almost obligatory topics of Scottish small talk – politics, independence, and football – we begin to talk about the cultural ties between Scots and Bosnians, as unlikely or hidden as they may be. “Age before beauty,” Jim jokingly opens, inviting Kevin to take the first punt at the topic. It soon becomes apparent that one characteristic binds the two nations together more than nearly any other: our shared love of dark humor.
For many who are neither Scots nor Bosnians, it may seem rather strange that a particular sense of humor, especially one generally revolving around life’s grimmer aspects, should serve as such a powerful unifier among people of two different cultures and separated by such geographical distance. But for nations such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has suffered so much devastation and destruction, and those such as Scotland, which has underwent enormous societal, political, and cultural changes over the last half-century, often feeling overlooked and at the outer periphery of the world, it should come as no surprise that our people have naturally come to love the more sinister, but nonetheless creative, side of comedy.
Sharing a personal anecdote from the war, in which a Bosnian commander jokes about the dire state of the Bosnian military during the siege, Kevin highlights that even in the darkest of moments, people were able to make light of their woeful situation: “What we need is close air support, and then he goes, ah wait, I just remembered we don’t have an air force.” Through all the horror, this society constantly finds ways to remind themselves that no amount of shelling or shooting could take away their humanity, their creative ingenuity, or their spirit.
The two continue to discuss the similarities they have both encountered across their time living in Sarajevo and Glasgow. From the strong, humble, working-class nature of the cities to the rich cultural tapestries that flow through everything from their architecture to their food, music, and arts, but most importantly, of the warm hospitality of the city’s people: “The hospitality and homeliness of people was very similar when I came here…Sarajevo was an extremely cultural city.”
The respective paths that brought them to Sarajevo differ greatly. For Kevin, leaving Glasgow in 1980 was both a personal and practical decision, seeking an escape from the recent election of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister. Working in Italy, Singapore, and Japan throughout the 1980s, before moving to Bosnia in 1992, he worked in a variety of roles, mostly as a journalist reporting on the changing tides across the world as the Cold War reached its end.
For Jim, the process was more direct. He tells me about his activities, working alongside NGOs operating out of Edinburgh providing aid for those in need across Bosnia: “Every Sunday I would volunteer in Leith to help load the trucks going to Bosnia…I’d certainly think that Scotland punched above its weight. Despite the fact that Scotland is so far away geographically, it was kind of disproportionate.”
But when an opportunity came up to work more directly in the field, he leapt at it. “I’d never been outside of the British Isles” he says, continuing with a smile, “Mostar in 1994 was the first foreign place I’d been to, so I just thought all foreign places were like that.” For him, that first journey beyond Scottish shores was not only a chance to help Bosnians directly, but also marked them beginning of an adventure that still continues to this day. “I was only supposed to be there for three weeks…but it ended up becoming 30 years.”
Although both have adapted incredibly well to living in Bosnia, there are always some growing pains when settling into a new environment. “I’ve never gotten used to Bosnian coffee, I’m ashamed to say,” Kevin admits jocularly. “When I came here people couldn’t understand a word I said,” Jim confesses, certainly a common experience that many Scots abroad can relate to.
Even when visiting home, the two notice the growing differences between them and the ever-changing nature of Scottish society: “I feel like a privileged visitor in that I get to understand the accent and the jokes…I feel on the inside, but a lot of it, I have to ask,” remarks Kevin, discussing his most recent journey through Glasgow. “Scotland was much more baroque than Bosnia was when I first arrived, Bosnians were used to meeting people from many different cultures, and Scots just weren’t,” adds Jim.
However, with the two having played a very active role in Bosnian society amongst the international community during and after the war, they were consistently questioned about their home: “When you leave Scotland and you lose touch with it, you’re actually constantly reminded of it and asked to explain this, that, and the other about it.”
Although overlooked by many and overshadowed by our respective regional neighbors, Bosnia and Scotland have certainly made their own marks on the world. Stretching beyond language, cultural, and geographical differences, the two small nations have managed to bind their two peoples together through our most common of links: our warm hospitality to strangers and friends alike, fondness for darker shades of humor, and our easy-going outlook on life. The shared love for an occasional hearty meal certainly doesn’t go amiss either. Kevin and Jim are just two, but very important, parts of the connection that was sparked many years ago and flourishes to this day.
Maybe unknown to some, Scots have long played an important role in modern Bosnian society. Trevor Gibson, an aid worker during the war, was key in helping transport Iron Maiden star Bruce Dickinson when the group held a concert during the Sarajevo siege in 1994. Christine Witcutt, originally from a small town not far from Glasgow, gave her life helping to provide aid to those most in need during the war. You can still find a cultural footprint across Sarajevo especially, from the Celtic Pub on Ferhadija with its numerous Celtic F.C. banners and wide-scale shots of Edinburgh Castle, to the annual Burns Night supper, an event organized by the Caledonia Society of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
I’d like to personally thank Jim and Kevin for their time, and most importantly, their stories. I hope that this article helps shine a light on both of their rich histories living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the lessons they have learnt throughout their many years here.

author: Cameron MacBride


text:
Youth, Journalism, and Creativity: New Stories and the Mapping of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Balkan Diskurs
Balkan Diskurs
June 15th, 2023
More than 30 young people from different parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the world attended a training program on documentary photography and citizen journalism, as well as the Subjective Atlas workshop. They are now correspondents for Balkan Diskurs, a multimedia platform established by the Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC).
In this capacity, they will also be part of the team creating the first “Subjective Atlas of BiH,” a cartographic publication that presents diverse perspectives from individual cities, the country, and the region.
PCRC organized the ninth training program for Balkan Diskurs youth correspondents in partnership with the Belgian non-governmental organization Subjective Editions, with the support by the Newcastle University. The Subjective Atlas workshop combined participatory action research with art-based methods in geo-humanistic sciences, with the aim of facilitating efforts to achieve, analyze, and assess coexistence and reconciliation initiatives in society.
“If it’s up to the younger generation that participated in these workshops, the future is very bright. There’s so much openness to a society that goes beyond borders, and to an existence that goes beyond ethnic, religious, and geographic identities,” said Annelys de Vet, founder and chief editor of Subjective Editions.
The participants of the Subjective Atlas workshop engaged with social and urban phenomena, drew maps, and designed alternative flags.
Đuldina Kurtović commented, “A subjective atlas is an excellent opportunity to creatively present a place, a country. Through an individual and subjective approach, the atlas comes to life through personal experiences.” She emphasized that the Subjective Atlas serves as an ideal platform to identify problems, critically reflect on the everyday life of a region, and explore potential avenues for change.
Velma Šarić, the president and founder of the Post-Conflict Research Center, stated that the collaboration between PCRC, Subjective Editions and Newcastle University is an exceptional opportunity for young people and citizens to participate, from their own perspectives, in mapping cities and places in BiH. She explained that subjective atlases have already been created for Brussels, Amsterdam, Mexico, Luxembourg, and other cities, and now this partnership will provide the same opportunity for cities and localities in BiH.
The Subjective Atlas of BiH will be published next year and will be presented both within BiH and internationally. It will be available in local languages and English.
Regarding the Balkan Diskurs training, Šarić noted that at the ninth training for youth correspondents, which was held this year, participants learned about documentary photography and citizen journalism. With the completion of the training, they become part of the Balkan Diskurs network and are able to write about various topics. This includes contributions to the “Ordinary Heroes” project, which is a platform through which they can share positive stories of moral courage, rescue, and assistance that transcend ethnic lines.
“A total of 180 young people have participated in the Balkan Diskurs correspondent training over the past nine years,” said Šarić. She added that the documentary photography training was conducted by Paul Lowe, a renowned British photographer, war reporter, and member of the PCRC Advisory Board. Meanwhile, the journalism workshop was led by journalists and editors from Balkan Diskurs.
Lowe shared his photographic experience with the participants of the Balkan Diskurs workshop and encouraged them to explore their own photographic potential with mobile phones. “They were very enthusiastic and responded in creative and intelligent ways to the task,” said Lowe, expressing his delight in working with a new group of Balkan Diskurs correspondents.
Muris Terzić, a participant from Bosanski Petrovac, said that the lecturers were extremely knowledgeable, engaging, and inspiring. “Their passion for the subject matter was contagious, further fueling my desire for exploration and learning,” added Terzić. He expressed that the thorough presentations and analytical perspectives gave him knowledge about various topics and inspired him to actively participate in shaping the future.
Amina Bašić from Novi Travnik described the Balkan Diskurs training as a wonderful chance to share ideas and exchange experiences. She highlighted that the interaction with other participants was especially impactful.
“I feel inspired and motivated to use these tools to tell stories, drive change, and contribute to society in a positive way,” said Bašić.
For Aleksandar Holliday, a PCRC intern from United Kingdom, the most interesting aspect was Subjective atlas workshops.
“I found the training to be very interesting and insightful. Specifically for the journalism it was great to get advice and support from true professionals and I learned a lot from them. I particularly enjoyed the subjective atlas portion of the event as it made me personally re-examine the way in which I think about Bosnia,” Aleksandar noted.
This year’s Balkan Diskurs training and Subjective Atlas workshops were held from May 24th to 30th in Sarajevo.

author: Balkan Diskurs


text:
Kuća Klajn: An Authentic Place for New Artistic Practices | Balkan Diskurs
Vanja Šunjić
June 18th, 2023
The economic, political, and cultural climate of the moment constantly questions the organization of independent spaces where contemporary art can be produced. This art aims to challenge, criticize, and forge connections with the community. It also provides insights on how to overcome patriarchal cultural norms which view art as merely an extension of its regressive politics.
Over decades of transition, numerous such spaces have emerged and disappeared, from Triglav to Vardar, due to their inability to sustain themselves. However, they have had a lasting impact on our small societies and cultures, shaping generations of artists, critics, and individuals who stand against conformity, the suspension of critical thinking, and turbo-folk culture.
One example of such a place is Kuća Klajn [Klajn House], which is growing and thriving in the Croatian town of Klanjec, among the hills of Zagorje, five kilometers away from Kumrovec. Led by Dunja Bovan, a cultural producer, and Jerko Marčić, an actor and educator, this place not only brings hope to small local communities, facilitating their functionality and interconnectedness, but also provides a residential space for artists. In this inspiring and authentic environment, artists can create, question, and experience, and then share their works with the local population and beyond.
For nearly half a decade, Dunja and Jerko have been working on the transformation of Kuća Klajn, with the help of campaigns, the enthusiasm of friends, and the support of the community who recognized the site’s significance. Prior to finding Kuća Klajn, or as they say, before it found them, they hadn’t considered establishing such a space, despite the fact that Zagreb and the rest of Croatia lacked fluid environments conducive to creative processes.
Dunja has extensive experience in producing film festivals, and a significant portion of her career has been intertwined with cinema. The fact that the house contained a cinema hall served as the initial “invitation” for them to embrace the location. It prompted them to contemplate the purpose of Kuća Klajn, whose rich history unmistakably indicated that its essence should remain closely tied to the community, creation, residence, and performance.
Kuća Klajn is a private house built in 1937 by Albert Novak, a member of the affluent Novak family in Klanjec. Albert Novak was, among other things, the first private carrier in Klanjec and the owner of a transportation line that connected Tuhelj, Desinić, Klanjec, and Zagreb. Part of the house served the personal use of the Novak family, while the larger section was designated for other purposes. It included a garage, accommodation for drivers, and additional lodgings. The house also contained the first library in Klanjec and hosted various social events, such as the Fašnik Ball and New Year’s Eve charity balls, which were attended by the local gentry.
The house was nationalized in 1943 and temporarily transformed into a boarding school for children from Kozara who were displaced by the Second World War. With post-war stabilization, the house continued resumed its role as a gathering place for the community. It operated as the Zelenjak Hotel and Restaurant for a period of time and then in the 1960s, the State University of Klanjec took over the management of the property. At their initiative, the house became a hub for a variety of cultural, artistic, and educational activities, including night schools and driving courses, a chess club, theater performances, and concerts. The Jedinstvo Cinema, located inside the house, became the town’s central venue, hosting different events ranging from book promotions to high school graduation ceremonies. It truly became the heart of social life in Klanjec.
The house also had its own printing press, accommodated private tenants, and housed the offices of the Self-Management Interest Community. Even today, on account of its rich history, Kuća Klajn is often referred to as the cinema or the old hotel, as it remains the primary gathering place for the community in the town and its surroundings. Dunja and Jerko purchased the house in 2019 and have since been working to restore its old purpose within a new social environment.
“For us, the only logical thing to do was to continue that lineage and pursue our own interests, with a slightly different aesthetic, particularly when it comes to contemporary culture and art. We like to think of this space as a community hub – both for the local community and the broader artistic community that longs for such spaces. While there are residency programs in Croatia, we aren’t aware of a space that combines residence, creation, and performance,” Dunja stated.
They believe that independent spaces for artists are always important, especially in times when it is difficult to rely on stable support, financial and otherwise, from institutions.
Their professional occupations have guided and assisted them in making their projects a reality. They explained that their greatest asset has been a kind of social capital, particularly when it comes to spreading awareness about the house and raising funds for its renovation  through donations and crowdfunding. Some of their friends and colleagues, who are also members of the association Kućni Kolektiv [House Collective], collaborate with them in designing and implementing programs.
They add that they belong to the group of cultural workers who yearn for new possibilities, and perhaps even seek to escape institutional production. For them, the opportunity to create such a space represents the fulfillment of dreams that until recently had remained unexpressed.
The workshops and residencies that take place at Kuća Klajn are multidisciplinary, connecting art with humanities and current social processes and contexts. This is something that is now only possible on the margins.
Speaking about the perception of the margin from the standpoint of Kuća Klajn, the owners of the house emphasize that being geographically situated on the border with Slovenia is a major advantage. While borders no longer exist, the significance remains clear.
“The influence of different cultures and historical transformations is a source of inspiration for us. It’s led to the creation of residency programs focusing on life on the border, or more precisely, life without borders. In terms of visibility and, once again, funding for culture, it is common for anything outside urban centers to be inherently marginalized. If we delve into deeper analysis, projects like ours are also considered ‘marginal’ within the context of cultural policies, although things are slowly but surely starting to change,” explained Dunja, expressing a sentiment shared by Jerko.
The biggest happening at Kuća Klajn this year is the completion of the renovation and transformation of the Martin Cinema on the ground floor of the house. The renovation was mainly financed through a crowdfunding campaign, and donations from numerous colleagues, companies, and local government bodies. The hall will serve as a versatile space for regular film screenings, theatrical and dance performances, artist and community gatherings, as well as seminars and rehearsals.
In addition to this, Kuća Klajn continues with its other programs, such as “Suvremeno u Zagorju” [Contemporary in Zagorje]. This program is returning for its third edition this year, bringing together domestic and foreign authors and performers from the field of contemporary circus, dance, and drama in Klanjec. Dunja and Jerko emphasized that their main goal is to introduce the audience to something they don’t often have the opportunity to experience.
“It’s a departure from traditional theatrical and dance productions, not to mention contemporary circus. The concept of the circus is still seen as something exotic and daring. In that sense, we are extremely pleased to collaborate with numerous organizations and associations that tirelessly work on popularizing these artistic practices, such as Škvadra, Cirkorama, defacto, Kunst Theatre, Room100 in Split, and many others,” explained the current owners of Kuća Klajn.
The design of Kuća Klajn, located in the heart of Klanjec, a small town in Zagorje that was home to the likes of Antun Mihanović, Oton Iveković, and Antun Augustinčić, was conceived in such a way as to promote feelings of safety and relaxation.
According to Dunja and Jerko, “Relaxation is a prerequisite for any creative work, for initiating any process, whether artistic or life-related. From a relaxed state, we can also perceive boundaries. Do we need them and to what extent should we build them? If we don’t need to build them, then we are not on the margins but at the center, symbolically speaking. And freedom becomes a matter of choice.”

author: Vanja Šunjić


text:
Guide for History Teachers and Video about the Hague Archive | Balkan Diskurs
Balkan Diskurs
June 23rd, 2023
A guide has been realeased by the Post-Conflict Research Center, the Sarajevo Canton Memorial Fund, and the Mechanism Information Programme for Affected Communities (MIP) for history teachers on how to utilize archival material from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts (Mechanism), as well as video production by MIP. The main objective of this manual is to enhance knowledge and skills in using archives and informing the public about judicially established facts.
This guide, developed in collaboration with the European Association of History Teachers (EuroClio) and representatives from teacher associations throughout the former Yugoslavia, is intended to empower history teachers with the necessary understanding and ability to incorporate archival material from the ICTY and the Mechanism into history lessons on the conflicts that occurred in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.
“This guide comes at the right moment as now is the time to start learning about the history of the nineties,” said Andreas Holtberg, EuroClio program manager.
The guide, according to MIP representatives, comprises two sections: the training methodology and thematic ideas on utilizing sources from the archive.
“Research shows that people in general, and especially the younger generation, know very little about the facts established by the courts, about the importance of the Tribunal, and their attitudes and discourse primarily stem from media infludence, family, ethnicity and, very importantly, school,” remarked Anisa Sućeka, coordinator for youth engagement at MIP.
Arna Daguda and Mire Mladenovski, history teachers, are among the ten authors who collaborated on the guide’s second volume, containing five chapters. These chapters explore topics such as the legacy of the Hague Tribunal and history education, women in war, migration and conflict, children in war, and cultural destruction.
Mladenovski acknowledged that history has been used as a weapon in the past but emphasized that the task of professors and teachers is to make history a tool for fostering cooperation and learning about the past.
In light of the support MIP receives from the European Union, Fermin Cordoba, a political advisor and team coordinator of the European Union delegation team in Bosnia and Herzegovina, addressed the audience at the launch event for the guide. He emphasized the need to focus on cultivating critical thinking skills and presenting positive stories when educating young people.
“Education should aim to contribute to mutual understanding and social healing, focusing on balancing the cognitive, emotional, and ethical dimensions in history teaching and learning. Avoiding the politization of the past and fostering multi-perspectivity can certainly help,” said Cordoba.
During the presentation of the video, Rada Pejić Sremac, an MIP coordinator, said that they have created 200 short videos since 2019. “Unfortunately, these topics are not a thing of the past and are extremely popular. According to our data, people between the ages of 30 and 50 view these materials the most,” said Pejić Sremac. She pointed out that the video content is based entirely on verified facts.
Ahmed Kulanić, the director of the Sarajevo Canton Memorial Fund, also spoke about the use of judicially established facts, including the work of the ICTY and the Mechanism. He highlighted the collaboration with the Post-Conflict Research Center on the publication “The Siege of Sarajevo,” which also utilizes the facts substantiated by the courts. Additionally, Kulanić announced the construction of the most state-of-the-art archival facility in Southeastern Europe, which will be located in Vogošća, in the immediate vicinity of the former infamous Kon-Tiki camp.
“Using archival facts, the Educational Center of the Memorial Fund will continue to bring this material closer to young generations through education about the history of the nineties,” said Kulanić. He emphasized the meaningful partnerships with numerous non-governmental organizations and institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He also noted the historical significance of the Sarajevo Canton Memorial Fund collecting documented evidence, providing future generations with an objective and realistic view of what transpired in the country.
Velma Šarić, the president and founder of the Post-Conflict Research Center, emphasized the importance of using the legacy of the Tribunal through multimedia.
“Without cooperation, heritage, and judicially established facts, it would be impossible to educate young people. The Tribunal and its heritage represent the greatest success in the recent history of Bosnia and Herzegovina because, as they have helped us prove terrible crimes and present them to young people,” Šarić explained.
She announced the signing of a memorandum between the Sarajevo Canton Memorial Fund, Post-Conflict Research Center, and MIP facilitating the transfer of educational and archival materials from the ICTY and the Mechanism.
The launch of the guide and the accompanying video content was organized into panels moderated by Erna Mačkić, a researcher at the Post-Conflict Research Center, and Dr. Rodoljub Jovanović, one of the editors of the Guide.


text:
When Coexistence Becomes Parallel Existence: “Two Schools under One Roof” | Balkan Diskurs
José Salcedo Jiménez
June 25th, 2023
What began as a temporary arrangement, “two schools under one roof” has now become an enduring example of segregation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with profound implications for long-term peace and coexistence in the country.
“There used to be a fence there,” says Tarik, pointing to an invisible line in the courtyard of Petar Barbarić school in Travnik. In front of him, a visible line still separates what was until last year a divided school. The building is painted in two colours, yellow and blue – a code that was used to mark the separation between the two major ethnic groups that have coexisted in Travnik since the end of the Bosnian War: Croats and Bosniaks.
His school was not unique: it was just one of 56 educational institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) operating under the so-called “two schools under one roof” system. This was an informal arrangement implemented after the war in the Federation of BiH, one of the country’s two territorial entities, in the ethnically mixed cantons of Zenica-Doboj, Central Bosnia, and Herzegovina-Neretva. However, what was intended as provisional solution soon became a permanent one, which has not changed since then.
These schools are not the only examples of segregation in the country. In Republika Srpska, all institutions adopt a Serbian curriculum. For example, schools attended by both Bosniak and Bosnian Serb students adhere to a strictly Serb curriculum, leaving Bosniak families feeling alienated and discriminated against within their communities.
Meanwhile, in places such as Travnik, two schools under one roof ended last year, when a new school was built to accommodate Bosniaks. “Now we have two separate buildings, but it’s the same issue. We’re divided,” explains Tarik. Tarik is now a university graduate, but he remembers his experience as a student in Travnik very well.
He said that the entire system was made so that he didn’t know anyone who went to the other side of the school, and they didn’t know anyone from his side.
Not only were the curricula different, but there was also physical separation, as is the case nowadays in most of these schools. “We even started lessons 15 minutes before the Croats. The only way you could spend some time with them was through athletics or NGOs.”
According to the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the main obstacle to change in the post-war period has been a lack of political will. As they explain, both sides politically justify the existence of these schools as a way of reflecting their national identities, because they think that if they go together and learn in one of the languages of any other people, they will lose the unique characteristics of their identity. In other words, these schools are a way of carving identities in stone.
Dijana Mujkanović is a PhD Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh whose research has focused on the effects of inter-ethnic interaction. As far as she’s concerned, separating children along ethno-religious fault lines has no positive repercussions.
“It’s not really about preserving a certain set of core religious beliefs or cultural aspects; it’s actually about cementing those divisions,” explained Dijana.
The OSCE has a similar opinion: “Politicians are using the situation with the schools to send a clear political message that the Bosnian society is a divided one, where children can’t even go to school together.”
The consequences of being segregated from your peers since early childhood can last a lifetime. In 2018, the OSCE published a report denouncing the policy and calling it an obstacle to peace in the country.
Mujkanović says that the majority of voters are now the people who went through this education system as kids. These groups, which are already separated, can be easily manipulated by any side.
People who don’t have a lot of interactions with members of other groups in high schools, as Mujkanović explains, are unlikely to have those interactions going forward, resulting in deeper, and potentially irreversible, segregation among adults.
“It means that coexistence becomes parallel existence. We exist in parallel worlds, alongside one another but passing each other by,” Dijana reflects.
Tarik remembers when a Bosnian Croat politician from the cantonal government visited his town and commented on the situation there between Croats and Bosniaks, “he came here and said that apples and pears don’t mix.”
Metaphors aside, such claims are dubious at best, Mujkanović believes. In reality, we see innumerable examples of diverse communities in which children learn to live together with members of other ethnicities long before they are taught prejudice.
“One of the things that we need to keep in mind when we’re talking about schools is that we have two very important characteristics of contact there: one is that it occurs at a younger age, and the other thing is that it’s continuous. If you start having relationships with people of different ethnicities or from other groups, they are likely to stay there over the years,” says Dijana.
For this researcher, contact from an early stage between people from diverse backgrounds is essential for creating a more tolerant society. “Contact demystifies the other and makes it so that it’s no longer really a question of ethnicity. It personalizes the other, draws them out of the collective and allows us to see the individual.” She believes that putting members of different ethnic groups together enables people to see the diversity in the other group.
“The important thing about contact is understanding that there’s diversity and understanding that groups can’t be generalized in certain ways as being bad or good,” explained Mujkanović.
In July 2016, students in the Central Bosnia Canton, including Tarik, took to the street to protest the decision to implement the “two schools under one roof” policy in the town of Jajce. “The protest took place here,” he says, referring to Travnik.
“Many people from my school went, and they were successful because the school in Jajce wasn’t built.”
Despite the success of the protests, this was treated as an isolated case. The system itself was not called into question and the practice of separating students on ethnic grounds continued. Two years later, activists again tried to persuade politicians and the international community to reject this policy, but interest in the issue has since diminished.
The OSCE explains this impasse as the result of a political system that is not receptive to the demands of these young students.
“I think that young generations are sending a very, very strong message that they do not accept this system, but they’re not willing to spend their life changing the minds and the values of the country,” was explained by the OSCE Mission.
Mujkanović agrees, specifying two factors that contribute to the inertia of the education system: “One is just the general impasse, with the current situation, people are simply exhausted, they’re tired, they don’t feel like anything they think or feel matters. And I also think that the baseline of what is normal has shifted. People have lived this way for so long that it just becomes the norm. It’s the default. And those are the hardest things to attack and change.”
Despite the difficulties, not everyone has given up. Some civil society organizations are slowly challenging “two schools under one roof” at the local level, although this is often far from the headlines. This is the case with Nansen Dialogue Center (NDC) Mostar, an NGO that promotes dialogue between ethnic groups as an instrument for sustainable peace. In 2008, they started working on education in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton. As they say, they couldn’t keep their eyes closed when it came to two schools under one roof because they even had some of these schools on their street.
They have succeeded in implementing a dialogue model in extracurricular activities for Croats and Bosniak students to cooperate. “We really wanted to establish common ground for students to come together, so we started to involve them in organizing different kinds of community projects, like setting up the school magazine,” says Vernes, an NDC Mostar officer.
They select groups of 30 students from each ethnic group and put them together with four teachers, two Croats and two Bosniaks. Although they faced certain difficulties, such as resistance from local authorities and the concerns of the student’s parents, they were able to overcome them and Vernes considers their model a success.
“The teachers are kind of role models for kids, they are cooperating and communicating. And I believe that students and kids interacting and having fun participating in all these programs really sends a positive message that there is an alternative to the current educational model in Bosnia Herzegovina,” said Voloder.
Outside civil society, there are other voices emphasizing that education without segregation possible. Mujkanović is one of them. She believes that cultural identities can be protected without enforcing them in the school.
“We don’t need to necessarily think of initiatives to separate people within institutional structures, these initiatives only originate from the politicians,” she adds. In her opinion, religious activities and cultural traditions can still be present in the extracurricular sphere, while having common courses and curriculums.
However, the issue remains of which subjects can be unified. History, for example, is taught differently in Bosnia depending on the community one belongs to. Tarik is against “two schools under one roof,” but he doubts that the Bosnian society can reach a consensus about its past.
“We don’t have a common history and creating it is almost impossible.” Mujkanović disagrees, however, arguing that objective facts can be taught and then a dialogue can be created around contrasting interpretations. “I can imagine textbooks where those conflicting narratives are put in conversation with one another with clear learning objectives.”
But all the forces of change in Bosnia must confront one inevitable truth. Every year there are fewer young students in the country and their voices are losing power.
“In this region, unfortunately, we are losing the only source of change that we have”, says the OSCE.
In Travnik, “two schools under one roof” ended last year after the construction of a public school that is now used almost exclusively by Bosniaks. Tarik says it was supposed to be one of the best public high schools in Bosnia, but that now that it’s finished, the question remains of who it was built for, since every year, there are less children.

author: José Salcedo Jiménez


text:
No One is Out for Revenge, but Society Needs Healing | Balkan Diskurs
Elma Hasanspahić
June 29th, 2023
In the last 50 years, there have been no death penalty verdicts or known blood feuds in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the country’s violent history of atrocities and genocide.
Ajdin Huseinspahić, a university professor in the Department of State and Legal History at Zenica Law School, affirms that survivors and victims of crimes rarely seek revenge or resort to violence. As a society, we must focus on the essence of our mission in the educational process and at every step, so that we do not become slaves to fulfilling norms, quotas, and completing tasks without achieving meaningful results.
The most recent retaliatory murder in Bosnia and Herzegovina occurred in 1973 as a result of a blood feud that claimed the life of 11-year-old Bruno Čalić from Zenica. Bruno’s murder was an act of revenge that was arranged by a woman named Višnja Pavlović, whose son Milenko was killed in a traffic accident involving Bruno’s father, Stipo. After Stipo was acquitted for this crime on account of unfortunate circumstances, Višnja decided to seek revenge. With half a million dinars and a gun she obtained from her husband, she hired a man named Dragomir Bajčeta to kill Bruno.
At the time of his murder, Bruno was attending elementary school the former Sestre Ditrih Elementary School, since renamed the Miroslav Krleža Elementary School, located on Travnička Street in Zenica. After Bruno finished his classes, he was approached by Bajčeta, who introduced himself as a friend of Bruno’s father. Bajčeta took Bruno to a cemetery, where he stabbed the boy nine times with a knife, resulting in Bruno’s death.
According to some sources, Višnja and Bajčeta managed to escape to Montenegro, while other accounts claim that after the city was sealed off, they were arrested by police on a train near Vranduk and then imprisoned in Sarajevo. Višnja and Bajčeta were both sentenced to death, while Višnja’s husband, Rajko, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in the crime.
After their only son was killed, Stipo Čalić passed away in 1991, and Anka Čalić, Bruno’s mother, in 2020. According to media reports, Anka had contemplated suicide but refrained from going through with this act for religious reasons. Instead, she devoted herself to her faith, singing in the church choir and praying every day for her son Bruno, whom vengeance had cost his life.
Professor Huseinspahić says that revenge killings and the death penalty can both be viewed as instruments of justice. He explained that revenge killing has developed from legal and political systems since ancient times as a means of establishing deranged justice.
“It is known that throughout history, the system of composition, the system of retaliation (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth), had its place in legal systems such as the Roman, Sharia, and socialist system, in which the murder of Bruno Čalić occurred and death sentences were given to the perpetrators,” said Huseinspahić. He emphasized that large systems in Eastern countries, like the Chinese legal system, also have the death penalty.
Professor Huseinspahić argues that revenge killing can be defined by criminal law, but even if it isn’t, it still exists within the people. He mentioned that at one point, there was a separation between the concepts of the death penalty and blood revenge. When asked why the death penalty is increasingly being imposed less worldwide, he responded that it could be interpreted as a sociological phenomenon. He questioned the significance of blood revenge and how much satisfaction it truly brings.
“We should differentiate countries and legal-political systems that impose the death penalty for corruption, bribery, abuse of power… In those cases, the death penalty is quite a strict sentence. On the other hand, we have countries with legal systems like our previous socialist system, where the death penalty was associated with a disturbed system of values or the unjustified taking of a life due to the internal motives of the killer,” asserted Huseinspahić.
According to the professor, criminal law theorists are more inclined to advocate for the harshest sanction, the death penalty, in cases of intentional murder rather than in cases of property offenses. However, this also depends on the level of societal development.
The death penalty in Bosnia and Herzegovina was abolished in the criminal legislation of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 2000s and in the Republika Srpska in 2019.
Huseinspahić added that there is a room for debate regarding the fairness of the death penalty, in cases where someone commits a premeditated act of murder, regardless of their motives or impulses, in a situation where they do not need to defend their own life or the life of others. Instead, these acts stem from an obsession or an attempt to establish their own subjective notion of justice in the world.
“We can question whether the lives of those they have killed are less valuable than their own life and who has the authority to take someone’s life. Imposing the death penalty on a killer who has been determined to have killed, or admitted to killing, out of obsession might deter other potential killers from committing such crimes or prevent future murders. I believe that the more stringent the sanction, the more it should scare and deter individuals from committing criminal acts,” the professor said.
He goes on to explain that people individuals take justice into their own hands when they feel that the legal system is unjust or when there are inadequate mechanisms within the legal system to meet their subjective standards of justice. The professor emphasizes that this is very bad and should always be condemned. However, it should also serve as a signal, at least to those who engage in researching specific issues such as the death penalty and revenge killings, to consider the character of the person who committed such a crime.
“Going into the reform process, we need to carefully listen to society, listen to its individuals, and see if society has matured in the legal sense for criminal sanctions and the abolition of the death penalty. On the other hand, we need to see if society is mature enough to preserve the death penalty within the system of criminal sanctions,” said the professor. He added that when we engage in reforms without proper analysis and when we adopt practices from other systems and act by dictate, we create dissatisfaction.
The essence, the professor notes, is for people to accept the norms and the reform process.
When we compare the punishment for the murder of Bruno Čalić with the murders of young men near Trnovo committed by the Scorpions or the executions during the Srebrenica genocide, the question arises whether the criminal-legal mechanism of punishment was justly established.
Huseinspahić highlights the lack of retaliation and blood feuds, even though many of the genocide’s perpetrators are still alive and their identities known to survivors and communities. “The survivors aren’t going after them, let alone retaliating for such heinous crimes,” he stated.
Cases like the recent murder of children and a security guard at a school in Belgrade indicate, according to the professor, that perhaps we have not matured enough as a society to devote ourselves to the essence of our mission. In the educational process, and at every step, we are enslaved to formalities, to meeting norms and quotas, to simply getting the job done rather than achieving the end result, which is very significant.
“Abdulah Sidran wrote that sick societies cannot give birth to healthy individuals. It is crucial to understand that. Society itself needs to be healed. Role models for children must truly be people who are productive and beneficial to society. They cannot be people who are on the margins of social life,” the professor said.
He added that if we don’t return to the primal essence, understand our mission, and comprehend the purpose of our lives in this world, then we won’t reach the true essence, which is striving to live a healthy, normal life in a time when the abnormal is becoming a trend.

author: Elma Hasanspahić


text:
Bosnian-Herzegovinian “Water Heroes” | Balkan Diskurs
Omar Zahirović
July 3rd, 2023
Although the Spid swimming club was founded with the goal of developing inclusive sports, over the last eight years, it has become a gathering place and a source of unbreakable friendships for children from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), regardless of their ethnicity or any other differences. This club has also been a place where children with developmental difficulties or disabilities, who are often referred to as “water heroes,” have won numerous awards.
Amel Kapo, the founder and coach of Spid club, stated that since his college days, he has known his goal in life and has never wavered from it. However, he is still surprised by the success he has achieved with the children he trains. He personally has played a vital role in developing the Bosnian-Herzegovinian water heroes.
One example of success resulting from hard work and strong determination is Ismail Zulfić, a 12-year-old boy who has come to be called “the wingless butterfly.” Despite being born without upper extremities and with a deformity in his right leg, Ismail has won 40 medals with the support and expertise of Coach Kapo.
Kapo also highlighted the remarkable success of Ismail Barlov, who, at only 12 years old, achieved the A standard at the Paralympic Games. Kapo described Barlov as a hero who has left a mark on Bosnian-Herzegovinian history in the best possible way.
“When I started, I never thought I would have this kind of success,” Kapo said, emphasizing that sports should be accessible to everyone and free of charge.
In addition to Kapo, the Spid club has several other coaches who have helped to nurture the water heroes. The club is funded through projects and external sponsors.
Despite completing his studies at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education at the University of Sarajevo and obtaining a master’s degree in the same field, Kapo revealed that he was apprehensive initially because there were no programs within the system that prepared future coaches for such tasks. For this reason, they had to seek knowledge beyond national borders.
“Strong will always pays off,” Kapo emphasized.
He went on to explain that the Spid club not only develops athletic and physical skills but also works to break down prejudices and stigmas that exist within the community.
“In this club, children from all over BiH come together, regardless of nationality, ethnicity, or religion. Everyone comes together here for one common goal, which is to make a better and easier future for the youngest,” Kapo said. He added that great friendships and even new loves are forged in this environment.
Each story carries a message of immense effort and boundless love, neither of which is limited by prejudice or discrimination. Kapo and his team of coaches have dedicated themselves tirelessly to those who only want one thing: to be equal.
“In sports, results are important, but the significance of the social narrative we have built is also crucial,” stressed Kapo, the founder of the Spid family, which has achieved enormous triumphs and shattered numerous barriers.

created: July 3rd, 2023

author: Omar Zahirović


text:
Charting Your Way Home: Youth Map their Bosnian Landscape for Subjective Atlas’ Latest Edition | Balkan Diskurs
Annabelle Werner | Theresa Rauch
July 6th, 2023
For some, maps serve as a streamlined tool to help one get from point A to point B. But for the team of the Subjective Atlas project, the act of cartography itself represents a complex journey informed by politics, history, and the personal relationships we have to the landscape in which our lives unfold.
For five days, local and international youth in Sarajevo have had the chance to explore the world of cartography and artistic expression by mapping their own lived experiences in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The Post-Conflict Research Center (PCRC) has dedicated resources to host the Brussels-based Subjective Atlas project, for which participants were to critically engage with their personal and geographical surroundings by mapping an Atlas of BiH.
The premise of the project is to push back against singular, top-down narratives that claim to present objective truths about a region, and instead document places from the “bottom-up.” Through photos of shared and personal cultural experiences, such as the documentation of daily routes, architecture, personal belongings, and unique cultural phenomena, both creators and readers of the Atlas can visually understand what it means to live in that place while making space for the complex identities that exist in every individual.
“We first started with creating the map of our country from our personal experience and now we are working on flags.” Jelena Ostoić, a Mostar-based psychologist and workshop participant told Balkan Diskurs. Through artistic practices, including crafting and map-making, young people at the workshop were encouraged to creatively depict how they perceive and understand their own environment, country, and culture.
The collection of their contributions will be turned into a physical atlas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to be published next summer. In this type of map-making – the practice of counter-mapping – the process is just as important as the destination.
In 2003, Dutch designer and researcher, Annelys De Vet, travelled to Tallinn to capture Estonian perceptions of the European Union given the EU’s enlargement eastwards that increased the number of its members from 15 to 25. De Vet observed that despite this unparalleled expansion, the EU’s collective visual imagery remained the same. To engage these underrepresented imaginaries, her workshop encouraged Estonian participants to create their own flags, maps, and projections on what the EU and Estonian accession meant to them. The resultant “Subjective Atlas of the EU from an Estonian Point of View” marked the onset of the Subjective Atlas series, which would spawn a total of 13 more cartographic publications before its team made their way to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In a workshop and an interview with PCRC, De Vet, founder and editor-in-chief of Subjective Atlas, shared the vision of this counter-mapping venture. “How our perception of the world is being informed (…) through atlases, through cartography – it often represents quite a singular worldview.” The act of mapping holds tremendous political power, though it is rarely acknowledged as such. De Vet elaborated that the institutionalised, top-down nature of maps and cartography tends to go unremarked, and unquestioned. Official maps rarely articulate the conditions under which they are made, even though they are human-made, subjective constructions of a shared socio-political space. Instead, such maps claim to present a “singular truth,” supposedly position-free and untouched by the power dynamics and inequalities that govern their production.
In response, Subjective Atlas seeks to act as a platform for plurality, creating alternative maps from the bottom up through artistic practices and everyday realities. To demystify the practice of map-making, De Vet and her team invite local participants to create maps “that allow different ways of identification, different ways of belonging.” In this process, “people who inhabit the space” map their environment from their own experience and “situated knowledge.” James Riding, researcher in human geography from Newcastle University, explains that landscapes, places and experiences hereby come into play as counterforces to state-based renditions of mapping.
Riding also stresses how, to engage with Bosnian youth and collect their imaginations about their future in BiH, Subjective Atlas needed to forge connections with a local organization like PCRC first. The team reiterated how local partnerships are paramount to their work, and how they only conduct workshops in countries upon invitation. This process of relationship building can be quite long. Riding himself has spent ten years in Bosnia to build a base of contacts that would grant him a local network for his academic work. He underscores how such a method is needed to gain trust and reputation that such work will bring “diverse voices together in a sensitive and careful way”. For him, it’s vital to make space for complex identity and not replicate the “simplistic straightforward narratives” of division. Rather than reinforcing a singular narrative that flattens individuals to just their ethnicity, Riding’s research seeks to embrace the complexity and creativity in each individual’s experience of a landscape. Thus, Bosnia and Herzegovina presents an ideal model where the requirements of invitation, partnership, and the need to publish the creativity and uniqueness of a complicated landscape and the people inhabiting it are all present.
Subjective Atlas’ workshops encourage participants to share the lived experiences of their environment through artistic expression. This methodology aims to both challenge and sidestep vocal and written language as standard means of producing and conveying knowledge. “We carry a lot of knowledge in our bodies, in our memories, that is not often (…) being expressed,” explains De Vet. Participants’ visual communications take centre stage in the Subjective Atlas project, whose methodology aims to activate forms of situated, non-institutionalised knowledge.
The expression thereof, however, requires some practice, as stated by Brussels-based performance artist Sana Ghobbeh, who joined Subjective Atlas as a coordinator and supports the series in its artistic component. Though much of her work is text-based, Ghobbeh equally deals with problematic architectural and public spaces. “In that sense, I think I’m super conceptually connected to the project.” She emphasised the “different dynamic and energy” each atlas carries, all the while highlighting the universal importance of the visual in their respective editions.
Though many workshop participants initially approach the workshop with reservation, seeing previous examples of the ever-growing series inspires them, and renders them more comfortable in creating their own contributions, says De Vet. She equally stresses that such a participatory environment benefits from a culture of transparency, safety and hospitality – factors feeding a “joyful energy, allowing for [the right] conversations to take place.”
According to the team, these very aspects also play a central role in the workshop’s inclusivity and accessibility. The project selects the locations for their atlases based on local initiative and partnerships, and therefore relies heavily on the contacts and infrastructure provided by its partnering organisations on site. Insofar, marginalised groups and their voices are sought-after through these channels to reach certain levels of diversity in terms of the participants’ gender, ethnic and religious background, and age.
Part and parcel of the series is to get participants to recognise and engage with their backgrounds, and understand how this subjectivity shapes their perceptions of the world around them – a process reflected in the maps, flags, and other creative contributions produced throughout the workshop. While this aim renders the atlas an inevitably political item, De Vet and Riding underscore that it is “not a place for propaganda.” Rather, they expand, the atlas seeks to communicate “the complexity of the human being” by collecting a range of voices that, together, build a unique societal context.
The life of the atlas continues well beyond the workshop. In its post-production, it addresses audiences aside from its initial participants. Subjective Atlas’ Creative Commons approach facilitates the reproduction and dissemination of its content through events, exhibitions, republications, and follow-up projects. The subjective maps, flags, and other contributions thereby speak to both internal and external audiences. Locals and other individuals relating to the place addressed, as well as diasporic communities frequently take substantial interest in the publications. However, in the past, reflections produced in the Subjective Atlas series have equally entered into official and institutional contexts. The “Subjective Atlas of Palestine,” for instance, was embraced by local officials as a gift for visiting internationals.
This attests to the elasticity of such a deeply personal and yet profoundly socio-political project to contribute to a larger discourse on cartography and plural identities. The objective “to demystify cartography and stress other ways of expressing belonging to a place” stands at the centre of the Subjective Atlas series. De Vet further expands on the project’s potential as a tool in education as well as urban planning and development. As such, the atlas’ methodology has the capacity to diversify professional and institutional discourses on matters that concern ordinary citizens on a daily basis. The “generous, dedicated participation the team experienced throughout their past workshops cast light on how artistic practices can contribute to imagining other futures,” says De Vet.
The Subjective Atlas team has put careful consideration into the methodology of using artistic practices to “counter-map” a complex post-conflict context, and the participants were eager to publish their expressions. “I would recommend this training to anyone,” said Zerina Sirćo, an international relations and diplomacy student from Visoko.
For Adna Jeleč, a social work student from Sarajevo, the workshop provided “a new opportunity to express [her] opinion based on [her] experience and [her] knowledge” – a subjectivity the project’s team intentionally seeks out.
The Subjective Atlas team, in turn, appreciated the workshop in Sarajevo as “a crash course into history, culture, life, social fabric, administration, language, sayings, habits, food…” – setting them off on their venture to produce an atlas of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The workshop has clearly left an impression on local youth, who can use this activity to develop their artistic and journalistic skills. Their stories will undoubtedly contain insightful testimonies of their relationship to a country that grew throughout their lifetimes, without excluding lighthearted representations of Bosnian identity too. Thus, one can expect deeply personal, cartographic representations of the community from the Subjective Atlas of BiH, alongside images and stories of warm servings of burek and Bosnian coffee.

created: July 6th, 2023

author: Annabelle Werner | Theresa Rauch


text:
Genocide Commemoration in Tuzla: “We Don’t Harbor Hatred, but We Will Never Forget” | Balkan Diskurs
Ramo Tučić
July 13th, 2023
The Srebrenica genocide is commemorated in Tuzla, where many survivors came after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995. The commemoration features demonstrations demanding justice and emphasizing the importance of remembrance, a commemorative march, a recitation of the names of the genocide victims, and various other cultural activities and events. The message of the commemoration is clear: “We don’t hate, but we will never forget.”
Nura Begović, president of the Women of Srebrenica Association, lost 18 members of her immediate family in the genocide. The process of locating and identifying the remains of her relatives brought renewed pain, but also relief. Her loved ones who were killed in the genocide have all been laid to rest in the Srebrenica Memorial Center Cemetery in Potočari, with the exception of her aunt, whose remains have not yet been found. Many of her relatives’ remains were found only in part, with the remains of her brother being the least complete.
“Not knowing where the remains of your loved ones are hurts the most. But when you find the remains, only then do you see the true extent of the crime. Only then do you understand what they did to your loved ones,” Begović said.
Regarding the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, she says that the persistence of genocide denial is very painful.
“You lose everyone in the genocide and then someone says the genocide never happened. It’s very painful and it hurts. It’s like I had never had anyone,” said Begović.
On the 11th of every month, the Women of Srebrenica hold a demonstration in Tuzla to ensure the genocide is never forgotten as well as to demand justice.
“We demand that those who did this be punished, that they are held accountable. Not everyone is guilty. The perpetrators have names,” she said, highlighting the importance of finding and identifying perpetrators.
She emphasized that they don’t harbor hatred toward anyone, but they will never forget what happened. “When they deny genocide, they also deny the existence of our loved ones. Who took them from us?” Begović asked.
The students of the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Tuzla also commemorate the genocide. For the third year in a row, the Student Council is organizing a public reading of the names of the genocide victims in Tuzla’s Sloboda Square.
“With this, we want to encourage deeper reflection on everything that happened and thus by the reading, to give a voice to each of the victims and make them visible in that way,” said Amina Hodžić, President of the Assembly of the Student Council of the Philosophy Faculty at the University of Tuzla.
This is all done with the aim of cultivating a culture of memory. However, the biggest challenge is that on the other side, there is a different memory culture in which war criminals are celebrated.
“It is devastating that young people cultivate and nurture this culture. Things like this and this action must serve as an inspiration to us and show what is right and what is true and just, because the world depends on us,” concluded Hodžić.
The culture of memory surrounding the Srebrenica genocide is nurtured through a variety of activities, especially in the cultural sphere. One such activity is “Days of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide, an event which the Bosnian Cultural Center of Tuzla Canton (BKC TK) is organizing for the second consecutive year.
“The program consists of three book promotions and an exhibition of the judicial verdicts. At the end of the program, on July 10th, there is a symbolic march called ‘Peaceful March for Srebrenica 8,372,’ where the citizens of Tuzla take a symbolic 8,372 step march from the BKC TK to the Square of Srebrenica Genocide Victims,” explained Nedim Ćudić, an expert associate for public relations of the public institution BKC TK.
All of these events seek to cultivate a culture of memory and encourage forgiveness as well as continual remembrance. There is no hatred, but only hope that the remains of the missing will be found and buried, in order to give the surviving relatives of victims a place to pray and remember their loved ones. Throughout the year, and on July 11th especially, Begović repeats this prayer for Srebrenica: “We pray to almighty God. May grievance become hope. May revenge become justice. May mothers’ tears become prayers. May Srebrenica never happen again.”

author: Ramo Tučić


text:
Youth Leaders: Visionaries Changing the World | Balkan Diskurs
Amina Bašić
July 17th, 2023
Youth leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) have an important role in driving necessary changes and inspiring young people with their activism to contribute to positive changes in local communities. Adnan Družić from Bosanski Petrovac is one such leader.
For Družić, activism presents an opportunity to help the community in Bosanski Petrovac as well as to improve the overall situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina through hard work and commitment. He gained his first experience in activism around the age of 17, when he became involved in volunteer work at the Mozaik organization through the Youth Bank program. Here, he developed skills in working with fellow youth and supporting their personal growth. Additionally, through informal education, he honed his abilities in public speaking, teamwork, project management, and writing project proposals.
“Previously, we faced challenges in attracting young people and encouraging their participation in activism and volunteering. However, today more and more young people recognize the importance of activism and volunteerism and get involved in various projects,” said Družić.
He emphasized that there is a new challenge, which is the diminishing number of young people in small local communities. This requires collective efforts to create a more favorable environment that encourages the return of those who have left.
Recognizing the importance of activism and the potential of youth to contribute to community development, Družić encourages young people to use their activism efforts to achieve goals in various fields such as music, science, and culture. He stresses the importance of partnerships and support because, as he points out, he doesn’t want to be the sole leader or organizer of activities and projects. Instead, he wants to empower young people to champion their own ideas and initiatives. Družić wants young people to experience activism as something personal rather than just another task or project.
“Young people should be allowed to grow and develop through their activism,” Družić said.
He emphasizes the importance of honesty as a basic virtue and of cultivating a sense of belonging to the community.
“I encourage young people to be self-aware and to work on themselves in order to improve the community in which they live,” added Družić, explaining that he believes that even the slightest progress made by young people towards a better community and personal development is significant and valuable.
Družić initiated youth activism in Bosanski Petrovac through his own efforts, which is confirmed by Nejla Zukandžić. She describes Družić as “a truly inspiring leader” who shows incredible dedication to his community.
“His initiatives allowed us to get involved and feel that we can make a difference. He encourages us to express our ideas and supports us in achieving our goals. We feel safe and supported with him. He is a true visionary who encourages us to dream big and believe that we can make our dreams come true,” said Zukandžić, describing Družić’s influence on young people in Bosanski Petrovac.
Družić’s activism in this small Bosnian-Herzegovinian town have also been recognized by local institutions, all with the aim of achieving greater youth engagement in social activities and helping to transform the world around them through their efforts. With hope for positive change, young people, alongside Družić, believe in a better tomorrow.

author: Amina Bašić