SREBRENICA, JULY 2008 – FINAL THOUGHTS

The following nine blogs were posted after a visit to Srebrenica in Bosnia, in late July 2008. Our group, the Advocacy Project, is helping survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre to develop and promote a memorial quilt commemorating the victims. Beba Hadzic, who heads the Bosnian women’s group Bosfam and is coordinating the quilt project, is keen to involve more weavers from Srebrenica itself and was interested in our input and ideas. As chance would have it, Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, was arrested shortly before I arrived in Bosnia. Karadzic was one of the authors of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica. There are nine blogs in total, and they should be read in reverse order.

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The sun is shining as we leave Srebrenica. A plan for the Bosfam weavers is definitely taking shape.

If money can be found, Bosfam will identify about 15 women like Hasnija from the villages or refugee settlements, who will invited to Tuzla for several weeks of training over a three-month period. That will give them exposure to other women and teach them a skill. They will then be given a loom and wool to work on a home. Beba likes the idea of Hasnija at her loom while the snow falls silently outside. So do we all.

Setting up a training center in Srebrenica itself seems beyond Bosfam’s capacity at the moment, but it could be done the following year if this first phase works well. Together the trainers and trainees will make a dozen more quilts, which will be shown in North America, Europe, in Bosnia itself, and even in Serbia.

Never forget: Beba Hadzic at the Potocari site, where her brother in law is buried

This is an ambitious plan, and after a moment of euphoria we all come down to earth. There is always the risk that the quilt will lose its appeal as Srebrenica loses its hold on people’s imagination, as discussed in an earlier blog. This is unlikely as long as Karadzic is on trial and Mladic can evade capture. Milorad Dodik seems intent on doing his best to stoke the anger of the survivors. And for Beba, Magbula and Hasnija, the pain will remain vivid until their relatives are identified and reburied. They hope to use the memorial quilt to keep the memory alive for as long as possible. This will require a mighty effort from many well-wishers.

There are other questions about this initiative. The quilt is not a profitable venture – indeed it is currently losing money. But it can make a lasting contribution if it can provide women like Hasnija with an economic cushion against poverty. This will happen if the weavers can parlay their skills into a profitable business, and here they face a formidable obstacle. Bosnian carpets, even the traditional cilims, cannot compete against cheaper carpets from Turkey, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. They will need special marketing once the connection with the massacre wears thin.

In a wider sense, the same holds true of their former town. Underneath the veneer of the new supermarket and mosque, there is very little to show for the past thirteen years. Part of this was due to the inbuilt contradictions of the Dayton agreement, which created two states and gave the Serbs an opportunity to block the return of refugees. Part of it was our inability to face up to the horror of what we let happen here in 1995. The world recoiled in shame and disgust, and the hard men took advantage.

Is it too late, one might ask? This is the wrong question. Having let these people down, we do not have the luxury of abandoning them a second time. Instead, we should listen and follow their lead.

I expect to take many more coffees with Magbula in her little house, near the grave of her husband. I also hope to see Beba back in her house by the Lake. And of course there are many other massacre victims throughout the world who can learn from the awful experience of Srebrenica.