Srebrenica, Bosnia and the Lessons Unlearned

This short piece is based on a thread on X posted on 11 Jul7 2024 on Srebrenica and the genocide in Bosnia.

 

Today marks the 29th anniversary of the genocide in #Srebrenica.

Islamic Human Rights Commission has released a recording by Nargess Moballeghi of her essay for #TheLongView ‘Bosnia: the forgotten warning for European Muslims‘

 

It is a very powerful and evocative piece.

I am sharing some resources here, mainly from IHRC, because Bosnia and the genocide during the war, were foundational issues for the organisation. The relevance of what happened, is as Nargess conveys, a lesson for Muslims in Europe.

The Genocide Memorial Day project has some Bosnia specific resources for schools including lesson planes for teachers to use. Find them here.

This one ‘How can you give a human being a number?‘ has obvious crossover with the Holocaust and other atrocities.

 

It features the events on the evening of the memorial in 2017 mentioned in Nargess’ article.

Srebrenica witnessed the worst single massacre in 1995. We must also remember that there were many more during the Bosnian war, yet only this one is recognised as genocide

That only Srebrenica is recognised, is discussed in this 45 min IHRC film, ‘Forgotten Genocide’.  Find it here.  A trailer is below.

 

There are Palestinian flags flying all over Bosnia today. Some have been seen on the 3 day march to Srebrenica this year.

It is clear that no lessons have been learned in the intervening years.

Things get worse.

We need the young to learn from this, we are too old now.

Before Bosnia, there was Palestine. Since Bosnia there is Palestine. And so many, many more atrocities perpetrated and or aided by the so-called West and its minions.

The racisms we decry have fuelled these abominations. We know what needs to change.

I wrote this, ‘You Will Burn My House Down – But I will Still Dream be Here: Memories of Bosnia, Genocide and the Histories of Hate’ in 2015

It ends:

“We are taught then only two histories. Either we remember only the civilian Bosnian men and boys killed in Srebrenica, not the men and women who fought and were martyred. Or we are taught that we must avenge in the way our oppressors tortured, desecrated, raped and humiliated us. Both are Europe, and neither are Islam.

“We – those of us who do remember, whether Muslim, Christian, Jew or British, Indian, Bosnian whoever – fail our children again and again by allowing only these world views to exist in their minds.

“By all means remember and respect Srebrenica’s dead in Westminster Abbey, the Vatican and wherever else will acknowledge their names. But understand that this is neither enough, nor good enough, because Europe and its minions repeat – in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, in DRC, Pakistan and well beyond. Not to understand that fails to respect the dead. It simply keeps that ‘potential for future atrocities’ alive.”

 

For more on the legacies and ongoing struggles in Bosnia read Demir Mahmutcehajic’s articles in The Long View, ‘Peace is still holding’ and ‘Back in sight: Deflating Genocide to Dissolve Bosnia and Herzegovina‘

Find anything by Arnesa Buljušmić-Kustura. This tweet speaks volumes as to how the horror is instrumentalised:

 

 

The IHRC Bosnia archives are not complete, and much is missing. I hope they will be finalised this year. The full Genocide Memorial Day project with video, audio, academic papers, lesson plans, material for universities and more can be found here.

 

Arzu Merali is a writer and researcher based in London, UK.

Original Photo (c) and courtesy Assed Baig, 2008 shows a rose lain by a surviving relative on the Srebrenica memorial.

 

 

 

 

Original thread here

 

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