'I waz here. Game on'. The Balkan Route. Resistance Art by People on the Move in Velika Kladuša, BiH.

 I spent a few weeks of winter 2022 in  Velika Kladuša, a small town on the border of Bosna i Hercegovina and Croatia, part of the Balkan Route that many people seeking asylum and protection cross to enter the European Union. I was there as volunteer member of an organisation dedicated to give practical support to those people on the move. 

 I took these pictures during that time. Most of them are taken in a derelict building used by new arrivals whilst they wait and attempt (many times) to succeed in 'the Game' to cross the border into Croatia and the EU. The photos highlight the wall art/graffiti they have created to leave their mark, to say they were and are there to remind Europe and the world of their resolution to not give up despite the racist migration laws, the arbitrary nature of borders and citizenship, and to demand freedom of movement for all. Because of my own migration history, I connect deeply with the people and aim to keep amplifying their voices and fighting for active solidarity and for all people on the move any way I can. 

 

Cultural Resistance, Memory and Solidarity during and after the Bosnian War and Genocide

ABSTRACT AND RECORDING of a paper I presented at the online '5th International Interdisciplinary Conference. Post colonialism, post Communism and Postmodernism' chaired by University of Gdansk and the Norway University of Science and Technology, on 27 July, 2023.

YOUTUBE LINK:

 https://youtu.be/q9kb7Jkljag?si=iejDVoGtSwFqzm0b

ABSTRACT:

The Bosnian War and Genocide in the first half of the 1990’s resulted in the killing or maiming of thousands of Sarajevo residents during the 1425 day long Siege, the murder of 8372 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995 in Srebrenica alone, as well as criminal cultural genocide which (Lemkin, 1944, p. 91) defines as ‘the malicious destruction of works of art and culture’. Significantly, however, many acts of resistance and solidarity took place in Sarajevo which contributed to lifting the morale of all Bosnians resisting shelling, Siege and genocide. Some of these acts have remained embedded in the collective memory.

This paper will discuss connections of creative anti-fascist actions of resistance, solidarity and memoralisation during and after the Bosnian War. It will touch on the Bosnian participation in Eurovision 1993 and 1994, and highlight the historical concert of the Slovenian art collective Laibach on the day the Dayton Agreement was signed in December 1995, their 'NSK State of Sarajevo' collaboration with the History Museum of BiH, and the recognition they received from the Bosnian cultural establishment in May 2023. This study will also discuss how popular history is applied in the recently opened Siege of Sarajevo Museum, and the 2021 book ‘Unbreakable’, a tellingly self-published, compilation of survivor's testimonies by oral historian Nermin Bošnjak.

This study is grounded in historical background, materials from memorialisation institutions, empirical, ethnographic and autoethnographic research conducted in Bosnia i Herzegovina, as well as exclusive interviews with the aforementioned individuals, collectives and cultural establishment. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of aspects of the culture of memorialisation in modern BiH from an outsider’s viewpoint, which as Taskeva states, is “an exceptionally important form of multiethnic postwar solidarity that is of great significance to ongoing peace and reconciliation processes” and prevention of denial so the world truly never forgets.

References: Bošnjak., N. (2021) 'The Unbreakable' Self-published. Sarajevo. Lemkin. R. (1944) Axis Rule in Occupied Europe: Laws of Occupation, Analysis of Government, Proposals for Redress (Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Takševa, T. (2019) 'Post-war Yugoslavism and Yugonostalgia as Expressions of
Multiethnic Solidarity and Tolerance in Bosnia and Herzegovina' in New Diversities Vol. 21, No. 1.

Tais Yáñez

Independent Researcher. 2023.