Srebrenica is a unique crime for many reasons. As a single event, it lost the lives of the most people in the shortest time. It is also the crime that finally moved the great powers to stop the overall genocide in Bosnia. But it was not the only instance of genocide. The largest mass grave, which contained around 400 bodies, was not found in Srebrenica, but in Prijedor - according to some dark logic and to be expected, because there the forces of the rebel Serbs worked unhindered and almost in isolation, since there was no resistance. One of the most gruesome individual crimes took place in Visegrad, when Milan Lukić imprisoned women and children in houses and burned them alive, 70 people at a time. And let's not talk about the thousands of bodies that floated on the Drina. But Srebrenica is certainly the most memorable event because it happened in front of the noses of the Dutch UN soldiers, in front of the eyes of the media and world politics, which was responsible for the safety of those people. Not only one of the most difficult, but also one of the fastest genocides in human history took place in Srebrenica. The organization and mechanization of mass killing there was more efficient than Auschwitz.
The concrete motive was to destroy the Bosniak population of that region. All men, including boys ten years old and older, and the elderly, were to be killed, and the perpetrators largely succeeded in doing so. They say that it could not have been genocide because women were allegedly spared and female children are disabled for several reasons. First, it's not true. Hundreds of women in Srebrenica were actually raped. Many of them were also killed. The dark racist logic of the then Serbian leadership believed that genetics spread through men anyway, so their destruction was enough, and there were probably pragmatic reasons, due to the presence of international observers.
Not much needs to be said about the background of the crime. The motives are old, rooted, twisted and sharpened by the politics and church of Serbia at that time. A wave of hatred hit the entire nation and society in which nationalism was valued, which is why everyone was competing to be more extreme. They have made people who are forever on the defensive, constantly in overly emotional hatred and fear of the possibility of confrontation. It's all a sad hysteria, from which there seems to be no way out. But there has to be one day. When Serbia manages to get out of its own mental hell, it will be a day of celebration, a day of respite and joy.
As for the non-passage of the resolution in the Security Council, I would tell everyone not to pay much attention to that event, except that it speaks for itself. Of course, Serbia and Russia, as well as the whole world, know that genocide took place in Srebrenica, otherwise they would not have reacted so panicked about all this. In fact, Serbia is in a way a victim of Russia, which is conducting moral experiments with it, experimenting to see how far a country can morally stumble. It is a kind of racket that Serbia, whether it wants to or not, has to pay to Russia, probably in money or large future services. But the much more important resolution, the one in the European Parliament, fortunately passed. Only it is of real importance for the region, and I am sure that it would have been smarter for Serbia to have lobbied where crucial decisions are made for it, and not where it should imitate Russian rebellion against the West. It is sad for Serbia, because with all these setbacks, it does not manage to remove the stain from itself.
Let's be clear, no nation is genocidal. But that reputation is being imposed on Serbia right now, and that by itself, because its officials refuse to condemn the crime of individuals, thereby distributing the blame equally to all its citizens, while manipulating them against themselves, against a catharsis and a healthy realization of the truth.
Therefore, what even Karadžić and Mladić could not do during the war, the short-sightedness of the Serbian leadership in its indolence does by itself. It's all hard to watch. Serbia seems to be suffocating or sinking into quicksand. In a way, it is a fate worse than genocide. Unfortunately, constantly paranoid, as they were during the war, they think that the Bosniaks want to do this or that to them, and finally to label them as a genocidal nation. But that assumption is the opposite of the truth. If so, for us they would be like the Mongols or the Nazis, non-memorials or some soulless ghosts. None of us would try to melt their hearts and petrify their souls, and to beg humanity from them. The fact that Bosniaks expect repentance or recognition from the Serbian leadership is the greatest possible compliment they can receive. It is a sign that, despite everything, we still consider them people ready for humane acts, and maybe even brothers.
Srebrenica and the broader Bosnian genocide are a severe wound for the people and their consciousness. Immediately after the war, it was enough for people that the military operations stopped and that no more people died. But twenty years later there has been a maturing of awareness of the true scale of what happened. It began to be imprinted in our psyche, to become our characteristic, the trauma of a small nation, which shook it, turned it off course, weakened it and almost destroyed it, and finally became a part of our identity. But all is not over. The fight continues.
Denying the crime is a continuation of the genocide, its last stage. But that phase will also have to pass and there are already signs that it will happen relatively soon. This is precisely why I appeal to all my compatriots to have patience, not to fall into pessimism and despair. Instead, they should demand and seek understanding and humanity in the other, and not close themselves in national and religious labyrinths with no way out. And if there is so much absurdity, so much illogic and malice in front of us, let's try to treat the world as if it is not like that. Let's follow the advice of Camus when he talked about the myth of Sisyphus, and let's give ourselves to the one and only purpose of man, which is to look absurdity straight in the eyes and to constantly show revolt against it, pretending that absurdity does not exist. Only in this way will we be able to see and find our place in the world. We do not want to imitate those who wounded us, to imitate their nationalist systems and ways. Let's be what we've always been, the most harmless and unscrupulous people in the Balkans, even if we look naive in that. Let's take them at their word when they say they're human.
We owe it to the victims of Srebrenica not to stumble and fall into fatalism and despondency. They died in our place, and it is actually for us. That is why we must always remember them and always mention them, love that white flower, which is taken as their symbol. We must visit them and pay homage to them and never morally betray them, use them for political purposes or take them as a reason for hatred. That would be an insult to their suffering, because it was precisely hatred that snatched them from our embrace.
That is why I am ending this sermon with an outstretched hand and a message of reconciliation.
Bonus video:
