Of everything that Munira Subasic could have told Aleksandar Vučić on behalf of the Mother Enclaves of Srebrenica and Žepa, there is nothing more logical, but also more senseless, than expecting him to turn into the local Willy Brandt. If there was once a chance for that, if not from his personal catharsis, then at least from calculations of political benefit, and there were some and he even came to Srebrenica once, those chances and geopolitical circumstances are long gone. And the social atmosphere in Serbia, which he helped to further strengthen, is such that the policies and values of the nineties were widely accepted, with a complete package of denial of mass crimes and the ultimate goals of those policies. The situation in Republika Srpska is even worse in that regard. And expecting some kind of catharsis and honest mass confrontation of those in whose name the genocide in Srebrenica was committed in the near future is simply an illusion. What everyone in these areas is aware of.
However, what Munira Subašić may have unknowingly opened up as a broader social issue is the reason why there was never a chance for the success of such a gesture here. Because the gestures themselves did happen. Well, Ivo Josipović, as president of Croatia, together with Boris Tadić, as president of Serbia, visited the places of major crimes. After all, he was also in Ahmići, so nothing was deeply absorbed. Stipe Mesić, the man who smoothly won two presidential mandates in Croatia, exposed Tuđman and his politics to the end, and then nothing. Tuđman and his legacy and ideas are more alive than ever. The real question is why is this so?
And the responsibility, unfortunately, lies both with the legacy of the left and with Tito himself.
Simply put, when already 1945, together with Bleiburg and the mass shootings of collaborationist soldiers, happened and when the Italians and Germans who lived in Yugoslavia actually received the label of collective guilt, with the exception of those who fought together with the partisans, that story at some point during Tito's life and the still unquestioned power of the party, had to be somehow opened to the wider public. And, unfortunately, that didn't happen. The story began to unfold in the XNUMXs, when it was already too late, when Tito was no longer around and when power was slipping out of the hands of the communists.
In this way, the historical revisionism and revanchism of the nationalists got additional fuel and thus, in the end, a situation was created in which it was possible to reduce the entire People's Liberation Struggle and the socialist period only to post-war revenge.
It is especially a pity that this topic was not opened in time, because it would have prepared today's society for the topic of crimes committed in our name to be opened. Because how can we expect politicians acting in the name of policies that were criminal at their core to face these crimes, if they were not able to do so or did not even rise to the awareness that it was necessary, neither Tito, nor the communists who fought for right idea and they had every right to say: Yes, we did something bad, which shouldn't have happened, but our idea and struggle were right.
And now we are where we are. With even two unprovoked wars and genocides and without any readiness of the societies and politicians who lead these societies and states to face their own responsibility and acknowledge the traumas of others.
So here, not only should the kingdom be offered for the new Willy Brandt, but the mindset of society should be fundamentally changed. Which requires not coercion or action by non-governmental organizations, but a long-term change in education, media and social atmosphere.
Until then, people who are aware of the evil that was committed can only respect the facts that happened, remember the people and cities that were killed and try the almost impossible, to find a formula for how to continue living with all the unspoken apologies and cynicism.
Bonus video:
