In a society in which for more than thirty years there has been a deafening silence compared to the nineties, in which we are surrounded by men who carry unprocessed traumas from the battlefield, every honest word that contributes to coping, especially said in a moment of deep crisis and the search for justice, is healing
"We haven't seen anything more beautiful than this in a long time," said the students of the State University in Novi Pazar on the X social network after the speech of Goran Samardžić, a war veteran who greeted the crowd with the greeting "Selam alejkum" RTS blockades standing next to the banner "The market is the world".
"I want to tell the parents of these children from Novi Pazar not to worry and that there are no more children of ours and yours, they are all our children", said Samardžić and stated that in May 1992, at the age of 21, he was wounded in Sarajevo, where he went to fight, as he says, "under quotation marks, with 'Bali' and 'Turks who wanted to create an Islamic state on the soil of Europe', and we were to 'save Serbian holy lands' and to protect the Serbian people'".
REPENTANCE IS IMPORTANT REGARDLESS OF MOTIVES
Speaking about his generation, Samardžić stated that he "accepted those lies" that originated from the RTS building, while today's youth stood up against it.
For many of us who have been advocating for years for Serbia to confront its past, these words are deeply moving. This does not mean that they are a textbook example of taking responsibility. As journalist Dejan Kožul says: "RTS was an indescribable evil. But there is something in people too."
Nevertheless, in a society in which for more than 30 years there has been a deafening silence compared to the nineties, in which we are surrounded by men who carry untreated traumas from the battlefield, every honest word that contributes to coping, especially said in a moment of deep crisis and the search for justice, is healing.
And Radislav Krstić, a former commander in the Army of the Republika Srpska, who was convicted of aiding the genocide in Srebrenica, in his letter to the public acknowledges responsibility for the committed genocide and also has a message for young people: "I would like my words to be read and understood by the young people who live today in the areas where there was a country called Yugoslavia. I would like the people who will live there long after I am gone, if these words somehow find their way to them, stop and think - never again. Never again war, no more deaths caused by someone else's religion, nation or beliefs, no more genocide”.
WAR ALWAYS COMES HOME
Unfortunately, his words did not find their way to the majority of society in Serbia. Neither the government nor the opposition reacted to them, and they were rarely reported by any independent media. Krstić's letter, which the court asked to be publicly available, is an addition to the formally submitted request for early release. That fact offers a reasonable basis for doubting the sincerity of his repentance, especially since we already have examples of false confessions for personal gain in recent history. Nevertheless, this recognition, as well as Samardžić's words that come in a completely different context, are not only sobering, but also offer a significant stimulus for conversation, not only about the war, but also about its causes and consequences.
"War always comes home", are the words of Staše Zajović from Women in Black, one of the few anti-war groups that to this day have not only not stopped demanding responsibility for war crimes committed in our name, but are also in consistent, uninterrupted contact with victims of all nationalities. Last year, I participated in the Women in Black meeting with women who survived various war crimes, including those from Srebrenica. None of them said that they believed in Krstic's words, but that's why each of them said that his confession still means something to her. Because, while the society from which the criminals come was silent, Krstić's letter was widely discussed in the society of the victims.
"God is not in a hurry", said the women, even though the wounds are opening anew and no one is completely clear if such an act makes any sense at all after so many years.
Samardžić's words uttered at the student protest suggest that searching for meaning is not only necessary for victims. Despite the silence on this side, but also in certain areas on the other side of the Drina, the traumas of the nineties surface even when we least expect them.
What says more about their suppression than the statement of Adnan Alic, a student from Novi Pazar, who, on the occasion of his participation in a large student protest in Kragujevac two months ago, said: "We felt really welcome. For the first time, that there is no tension, that there is nothing in the air, that we really feel welcome. First, that I am a student of the State University in Novi Pazar, then that I am a Pazarian and a Bosniak. It is as if we were put on the map of this country for the first time."
REFLECTION FOR A BETTER FUTURE
However, silence does not mean that we have forgotten (about) Srebrenica and the war past. That, for some, is the most painful, for others, the most profitable thing they turn to when they want to discredit and attack someone. Just last year, the regime's tabloids targeted young people on several occasions. Davud Delimeđac, a student at the Faculty of Political Sciences, was attacked because he used a template on his profile picture on social networks, with the inscription "Never forget Srebrenica, 11.7.1995" next to the Srebrenica flower. (Let us never forget Srebrenica).
Months before the student blockades, staged attacks were also organized on Mila Pajić, a student at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, as well as on four other young women who spoke on social media about the importance of the adoption of the UN Resolution on Srebrenica in April last year. "We support this resolution because we believe that lasting peace must be based on truth and dialogue, not on hatred and enmity... The resolution on Srebrenica is important because it removes responsibility from the people and reminds us that there are responsible individuals whose names we know well," they said then, which is why they received threats on social networks.
Although we could not have guessed it until recently, there is a significant number of young people who were born after the wars, and who nevertheless know the burden of the past that was given to them as a legacy. Today they are creating spaces for a war veteran to give a speech that many seniors say they have been waiting for for more than 30 years. They know how to recognize the continuum of impunity that is woven into every pore of the present. Because, as Professor Nenad Dimitrijević says, "such reflection is a necessary prerequisite for a different future". And really, we haven't seen anything more beautiful than that in a long time.
Zorica Slavković Marjanović, one of the suspects in the canopies case, has had her custody terminated and a measure prohibiting her from leaving the apartment with electronic surveillance
The beginning of the third day of the extraordinary session of the Assembly was marked by the discussion on the Law on Alimony Fund, and mutual accusations were made. There was also talk of a tent settlement in Pionirski Park, better known as Ćaciland
In the third address to the public, the President sat on the terrace, which he likes the most, because he is above the people, and on the terrace, it was as if he had won a gold medal at the Olympics.
Vučić's regime is really heading towards its inevitable end. The damage he has done in almost all spheres of society is great and difficult to repair. And it will be greater the more the final departure is delayed and prolonged. Exactly what that end will be like and what it will look like, no one can predict with certainty. But it can be said with a lot of certainty that, if this "our" opposition party, i.e. the anti-regime side managed to get rid of some of its pains, that departure must have been faster and more certain. What kind of ailments are we talking about?
Patriotism is clearly recognized in the readiness to fight and give our lives for the freedom of our homeland and not allow a change of borders, laws, human rights, freedom, language and values to be imposed on us. It sounds nice, but it's not that simple
Aleksandar Vučić now has only the old, proven methods of classic dictatorships left, because these modern methods of insanity and poisoning the public are failing. And that, however, goes against his head
Vučić is not defending the state, but himself from the state. With a drum on his back and a guitar in his hands, this man-orchestra performs two or three of the same songs without hearing, with falsifications and falling out of rhythm. His government and politics are like that. In short - dangerous for the environment
Arrests of professors, punishment of people, firing of journalists... The regime of Aleksandar Vučić is shining and is yet to shine. It is the decadent phase of the regime, the one towards the end
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