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30-Jun-2005

Condemning genocide: marking the tenth anniversary of Srebrenica

by: Women in Black, Belgrade

Serbia: Eight civil society organisations from Serbia, including Women in Black - who first initiated action in this direction - have submitted a declaration which condemns all crimes committed in the wars by the Serbian side, and particularly the genocide in Srebrenica, as well as the suppression and relativisation of those crimes. It was submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia through the president of the Civil Alliance and former president of Parliament, (as well as former provisional president of the Republic) and through the president of the Social Democratic union.

The declaration is supported by the oppositional Democratic Party and also by members of the ruling coalition: the Social Democratic Party and Serbian Renewal Movement. It is opposed by the main ruling party (Democratic Party of Serbia) of Prime Minister Kostunica, and with the largest oppositional party, the Serbian Radical Party (whose president, Vojislav Seselj, is now in the Hague indicted for war crimes), and the Serbian Socialist Party - on whose support the parliamentary stability of Kostunica’s ruling coalition depends (and whose honoured president Slobodan Milosevic is also in the Hague, indicted for war crimes).

These three parties have submitted a proposal for a general declaration that would condemn all crimes committed by all sides in the wars, without mentioning either Srebrenica or genocide. After this unsuccessful harmonisation of opinion, the Chair of the National Assembly has refused to put the declaration to a vote, explaining his decision by the impermissibility of divided opinions about such important questions such as the condemnation of crimes. In this way, adoption of the declaration was avoided. Given that the National Assembly does not want to adopt this declaration, Women in Black emphasise the following:

This refusal confirms the continuation of the politics of legalism of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, as the continuation of the politics of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic (the politics of war and justification of war crimes); that is, that the politics of institutionally organised denial of crimes is itself the continuation of the politics of state-organised crime.
This refusal is not incidental, rather it represents the logical and consistent attitude towards war, that is a confirmation that collective responsibility (moral, political, etc.) exists.
This refusal shows that the climate which produced war remains and is being maintained (from negation to the relativisation, justification, and minimising of crimes) by the sources of war in the form of certain cultural patterns, the value system, and ideological positions.

Although after the recent public release of the 1995 video of the torture and execution of a group of civilians in Srebrenica, the share of the population that is ready for facing the past has increased, Serbia is still far from the state of mind that will enable effective facing of the past and real catharsis. This means that there is still much work to be done to change the dominant climate in the country.

Women in Black will mark the tenth anniversary of genocide in Srebrenica on 10 July in Belgrade with a protest action “Never Again”, expressing solidarity with the victims, as well as protesting against the politics of denial of the criminal past, which is being carried out by the current government. Participation in this manifestation has been confirmed by Women in Black activists from Italy and Germany. Members of the Women in Black Network in Italy will, on that day, in cooperation with other peace and feminist group, organise protest vigils in more than 10 towns.

We are inviting members of the WiB International Network to join this action by organising vigils in their own communities.

Women in Black from Belgrade and other parts of Serbia will travel on 11 July to the central commemoration that will be held in Potocari, near Srebrenica, in order to pay respect to the victims of genocide and to express solidarity with their families.

NOTE:
A report of the Srebrenica anniversary events will be published in the forthcoming issue of Peace News, available 15 July. To subscribe visit http://www.peacenews.info/webshop/index.php?category=1.

Source: Women in Black, Belgrade