Coming to life in Tuzla

<*>The Helsinki Citizens' Assembly held its Fourth General Assembly in Tuzla, Bosnia-Hercegovina from 20-22 October. With the Citizens' Forum of Tuzla serving as local hosts, "Unite the Citizens, Unite the Nations" attracted 400 participants. This included a substantial number of activists from all the republics of former-Yugoslavia; more than 50 came from Serbia and Montenegro.

The Helsinki Citizens' Assembly is a coalition of activists who want to strengthen the place that civil society in plays in determining European public policies. It was born in 1990, in the euphoria that followed the end of the Cold War but soon faced harsh realities: instead of a new Europe influenced by "democracy from below," there was an increase in war, ethnic nationalism, racism and economic dislocation. The HCA network has become a valuable support network for many people who tenaciously continue to struggle against these developments and to work for civic values throughout Europe and the former Soviet Union.

HCA chose to hold its assembly in Tuzla to introduce the network to a city where the struggle for civic values is most tragic and yet most inspiring. And to give them a significant public show of support. Tuzla, one of the UN "safe havens"in Bosnia, lies close to Bosnian-Serb held territory. The elected city leadership come from a social-democratic political party rather than one with an ethnic base, which is unique in Bosnian politics today. The leadership has a strong commitment to keeping the city's multi-ethnic character, to making it a safe and secure place for everyone. In the past year, they have adopted a special economic survival strategy, re-opening and rebuilding local industries even while the war continues, breaking the dependence on humanitarian aid.

>>> Boring conference, significant discussions

HCA's primary goal for the Assembly was to deepen people's understanding of what it is entailed in building a civil society and in challenging the powerful social systems which favour separatism, elitism and militarism. For many participants, this goal was fulfilled. It was a significant event. But the depth was often there despite the work of the HCA rather than because of it. Something went off-track at the Assembly and many of the conference offerings were quite boring. Why was this?

HCA put a lot of emphasis simply on the fact that the conference was held in Tuzla and that people were there. Much less importance and attention seemed to have been given to the contents and structure of the conference, even though this was the primary mechanism by which people's political understanding and analysis could deepen.

Getting participants to Tuzla and back was a major accomplishment requiring logistic and political manoeuvrings. The Croatian authorities went out of their way to humiliate and abuse the rights of the Serbs and Montenegrins who had to travel through Croatia to get to Bosnia. Some spent seven days in bus travel for the three day conference. Buses were held overnight at the Hungarian border, were controlled by police escort throughout the Croatian part of the journey and limited in the number of rest stops allowed. On the return trip, Serbs and Montenegrins who had visas to remain in Zagreb were forced to return to Belgrade instead. Upon returning from Tuzla to Split, Croatia, one Assembly participant was arrested on charges of espionage. He is Radovan Jovic, a former judge from the Krajina who now works with the Helsinki Committee in Belgrade.

While this Croatian treatment ate up time and frayed nerves, in Bosnia, the buses had to stop at frequent checkpoints because the road ran close to recently won territory. The war-damaged road system meant long detours around bombed out bridges and tight squeezes when the narrow roads were shared with UN convoys bringing humanitarian aid.

>>> Participants save the day

But HCA's hard work on logistics was not enough. Workshops were often weak because convenors had been given very little preparation time; a couple of weeks' notice in some cases. There was a strong dependence on well-known personalities and "experts" but their presentations were often the most predictable and the least challenging or interesting. And in some sessions, a theme was selected for discussion with no preliminary consultation with likely participants as to whether this was the most valuable focus for their time.

The conference gained its depth because the participants themselves saved the day. They were not peace tourists content to just "be" in Tuzla. They brought with them information and analytical ideas to share. Sometimes they retrieved discussions from dry panel presentations; they set up ad hoc workshops.

At the opening plenary, an extra round-table discussion was set up because a keynote speaker was late in arriving. In the round-table, a disagreement surfaced between Elena Popovic, a human rights lawyer from Belgrade, and Ivan Cicak from the Croatian Helsinki Committee. Their views differed on how effectively ethnic hatred has been taught to young people in former Yugoslavia and how much young people are resisting these lessons. They spoke from two different generations and it was an enlightening exchange; the audience could see the truth in both views and understand more about the war's complexity.

Participants working on the rights of the Roma people ("gypsies") visited two Roma settlements near Tuzla. In both situations, they found that the Roma communities are isolated and at the bottom of the list for receiving humanitarian aid or health care. Yet there is equality when it is time for military service; Roma men are required to serve. There is no functional Roma organisation in Bosnia but participants discussed ways that the HCA office in Tuzla can play a stronger role in pressuring for more humanitarian help.

An ad hoc session on Chechnya attracted about 15 participants to hear Tim Wallis' report on establishing a human rights office in the Grozny. Sasha Sakalov of HCA Russia reported on related political developments in Russia and the work of Russian peace groups. The need for a strong Russian anti-war movement seems urgent. This same point came up in another workshop on Building a Civil Society in the Newly Independent States. A Georgia HCA member criticised the Russian HCA for its easy going style. "We needed protests in Moscow when there was a coup attempt last year. Your casual style may seem fine to you, but it also could be considered irresponsible considering what needs to be done."

In the workshop on economic reconstruction, discussion centred on Bosnia and what shape economic reconstruction should take in the region if the current peace plan is accepted. Common economic structures will be essential and will require international support. But all the economic reconstruction programs need to emphasise employment rather than market reform and need to be built on local initiatives. How can NGOs be included in this effort?

In some instances, conference sessions which were questionable could be highly educational. Peter Galbraith, US Ambassador to Croatia, made a surprise appearance and participated in a question-and-answer session. For the HCA organisers, this was a feather in their cap. For the participants, it was our opportunity to see the arrogance and politician's evasive style that are a hallmark of US participation in the Balkan crisis. When asked who in the Dayton negotiations would speak for a multi-ethnic Bosnia, Galbraith blithely answered, "We will: the Americans." He went on to explain that "we are the most multi-cultural country in the world" and that this has produced a deep commitment to multi-ethnic society. Later, his lies were more blatant when he categorically denied that the US government had provided any technical or training support to the Croatian military to carry out the conquest of rebel Serb-held territories in Operation Storm (The allegation was fully documented a few days later in the New York Times).

>>> Life in Tuzla

HCA was right about Tuzla and the inspiration to be gained from spending time with the local citizens. Many participants stayed in private accommodations and learned directly about life with running water from 5-7am and a 10pm curfew. Everyone found time to walk to the centre square and stand for a few moments in front of the small cafe that has become a flowered shrine for the 67 young people killed in a mortar attack last May.

Melissa Jameson from War Resisters League in the USA spent much of her time with local young people. She said that it was it was their resiliency and normalcy that struck her and made the tragedy of the war all the more stunning. She recalls one conversation where a young man told her that "four years ago, they stopped showing MTV here. That is when we knew there would be a war, when they cut us off from other young people."

The Assembly took place during the ceasefire so the guns and threats were temporarily stilled. But the sadness was still everywhere, in all the conversations, like a thick cloud. Not anger but sadness. Not so much about the people who have died, but about what people have done to each other.

Helsinki Citizens Assembly, Milady Harákové 103, CZ-16000 Praha 6, Czech Republic (tel +42 2 323259; fax 323538; email hca@hca.cz)

Tuzla Citizens' Forum (tel +387 75 221119; fax 237095; email hca--tuzla@zamir-tz.ztn.apc.org)