It was over 14 years ago that thousands of men and boys were slaughtered at a place called Srebenica and buried using bulldozers after the women and girls of the town had been bussed out by General Mladic’s army. His first name, appropriately enough, is Ratko, and he still roams free somewhere in Serbia. His boss at the time, however, is finally going on trial in the Hague. That vile member of our species is named Radovan Karadzic and, in addition to the genocide at Srebenica he’s also charged with directing the siege of Sarajevo, which killed 12,000.
The memories of the war in Bosnia have grayed over time, especially because the images from our current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are so vivid and raw. But it’s important to remember it, and to remember how leaders held the conflict at arm’s distance because it wasn’t convenient to intervene. The first Persian Gulf war had put everyone off – and then there was the "Black Hawk Down" debacle in Somalia. There were no oil fields in Bosnia and, though the majority there are white, the people being attacked by the Christian Serbs were Muslim in faith. Most inconvenient.
It’s taken 14 years to get to this trial. Slobodan Mlosevic was brought to trial too, a few years ago, but accidentally overdosed on the medication he was taking to feign illness so he could delay his trial. Like Pinochet before him, Mlosevic demanded sympathy for himself and yet none for his victims.
I know that these are not insane people. (I refuse to call them "men" because I adore true men too much.) Yet I cannot fathom the amount of hatred, disdain, selfishness, brutality and all other things evil they summon up to blot out the feelings – the very existence – of those they call "others."
What does this have to do with eco-friendly handbags? Not much that’s obvious. But humans are a part of nature and deserve protecting too – and I also did humanitarian work in Chiapas, Mexico in the aftermath of the Zapatista rebellion. I was there about the same time Karadzic and Mladic were perpetrating their cruelties on innocents. I had my moments of danger in Chiapas, but they were nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to what they suffered in Srebenica and Sarajevo.
Was it 1984 when the Winter Olympics were held in Sarajevo? That was only 11 years before the Srebenica massacre – and, mind you, that was not the only one. Those Games were just 7 years before Mlosevic first went after the non-Serbs in then-Yugoslavia. The world celebrates and parties in your city one year, then ignores the lakes of blood there a short while later.
I’m struggling not to be cynical about this because that doesn’t suit my personality. I suppose I should dwell on the fact that the perpetrators have been pulled into court. I just know there are tens of thousands who wish someone had cared enough to intervene.
XOXO Marty
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