Fans in Sarajevo celebrate after Bosnia-Herzegovina qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in their country’s history. Can soccer unite the still wartorn country, or is divisive as almost everything else here? Two texts for comparison:
one (c) THE GUARDIAN, the other one by THE DIALY MAIL, 2013
Archive for Bosnia-Herzegovina
Soccer as glue for Bosnia-Herzegovina?
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnian War, FIFA World Cup, football, soccer, sport on 18 October 2013 by delclem“For those who can tell no tales”
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Andrićgrad, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnian War, Emir Kusturica, ethnic cleansing, film, Jasmila Žbanić, review, Višegrad, war crimes on 10 September 2013 by delclem
Jasmila Zbanic‘s “brave drama commemorates the victims of atrocities in 1990s Bosnia, making a substantial impression despite a short running time. She commemorates the more than 3,000 Bosniaks murdered during ethnic cleansing in the Visegrad area in the 1990s, especially the women tortured in rape encampments.” Thus, her movie van be seen as a direct response to the nationalitic Potemkin Village project of another Bosnian director: Emir Kusturica. See the full review (c) variety.com 2013 Cf. the text on Kusturica in THE GUARDIAN, 2012
‘Shards’ – Leaving Bosnia (or not)
Posted in Uncategorized with tags autobiography, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnian War, fiction, interview, Ismet Prcic, Literature, review, Tuzla on 8 September 2013 by delclem
“There is a long & important history of memoirs & fictions, and hybrids of the two, that address the aftermath of war (particularly the Yugoslav Succession Wars of the 1990s). Shards, the impressive first novel by Ismet Prcic, finds inventive ways to interrogate the anguish of enduring and then escaping Bosnia during the war (1992-95). The novel is constructed of fragments — shards — seemingly written by its main character, Ismet Prcic. Ismet grows up in Tuzla and manages to flee shortly before his induction into the “meat grinder” of the Bosnian infantry. He has survived and made his way to America, but is fractured by what he left behind.” >full review & illustration (c) NYT, 2011; interview with the author (c) Suhrkamp/youtube, 2013
Related articles
- Netherlands liable for Muslim deaths in Bosnia, court says (cnn.com)
- Netherlands liable for Muslim deaths in Bosnia, court says (cnn.com)
The Srebrenica Massacre of 1995: still counting…
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnian War, commemoration, cultural memory, genocide, massacre, Srebrenica, war crimes on 11 July 2013 by delclemWhite Armband Day 1992 / 2013
Posted in Uncategorized with tags 1992, Bosnia-Herzegovina, commemoration, genocide, memory, Prijedor, Yugoslav Wars on 31 May 2013 by delclem
“The White Armband Day campaign aims to give a voice to victims of mass atrocities around the world in their struggle for the truth, dignity & remembrance. We call upon you to wear a white armband on 31 May and place a white sheet on your window for ten minutes in memory of the non-Serb citizens of Prijedor, Bosnia-Herzegovina, who were subjected to a campaign of extermination in 1992, and all victims throughout the world who are facing denial of their suffering. The actions of the authorities in the city of Prijedor then, in 1992, when this brutal campaign of violence was implemented and now, when the city government denies the crimes that have taken place, is a universal example of the oppression we are fighting in all corners of the world.” >more (c) STOP GENOCIDE DENIAL
The Serbian Chetniks & the Jews
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Chetniks, history, Holocaust, Jews, Marko Attila Hoare, Muslims, Serbia, World War II on 15 May 2013 by delclem
British historian Marco Attila Hoare explores the ugly sides of World War Two & the Holocaust in the Balkans: the hidden agenda of local nationalism/s. >text (c) KOSOVO-NEWS 2013
How A Old/Holy Book Was Saved
Posted in Uncategorized with tags book culture, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bosnian War, Haggadah, Judaism, Sarajevo on 24 March 2013 by delclemA recent BBC documentary on how a 700 year old Jewish holy book was protected by the people of Sarajevo, during the 1992-1995 war. It is the oldest Jewish holy book still in use worldwide. (c) BBC & YouTube, 2012
“Murdered, buried, denied”
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, film, genocide, interview, Lukas Sturm, Srebrenica on 26 January 2013 by delclem
If “writing poem about Auschwitz is barbaric, as German philosopher Theodor W. Adorno claimed: what about feature films on genocide? In this case Body Complete (about the Srebrenica massacre) by Austrian director Lukas Sturm >interview (c) wieninternational.at 2013
Balkan Gay Pride Made Joyful
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Balkans, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, film, homosexuality, Serbia on 20 October 2012 by delclem
“A homophobic, middle-aged Serbian gangster ends up sacrificing himself to protect Gay freedom in his country…” The surpise success movie in the Western Balkans this Fall. It promotes nothing less than the Utopian reconcilation of the ex-Yugoslav peoples (or, of their gangsters, at least;) over the protection of Serbian LGBT rights. Or does it take to be a mobster to support gays and lesbians (which would be a less nice message)?
Kusturica’s Nationalist Disneyland
Posted in Uncategorized with tags Andrićgrad, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Drina, Emir Kusturica, film, Ivo Andrić, Literature, Nationalism, Serbia, theme park on 23 August 2012 by delclem
“On 28 June, which is the anniversary of the battle of Kosovo, the Bosnian Serb film maker was going to inaugurate Andrićgrad: a town (theme park?) built to celebrate the work of writer Ivo Andrić. Belgrade journalist Boško Jakšić dénonces a project, which he claims is intent on instrumentalising history and memory for nationalist ends.” Full text (c) presseurop.eu 2012
Another text (c) THE GUARDIAN, 2012
delirium clemens 