Category Archive: Europe

1. Final Friday Feature Podcast

   August 25, 2016 2:51 pm Leave a Comment

   I’ve been home in the States for a couple of weeks now, and I’ve been super busy with a two-week course at Fletcher on Design and Monitoring for Peacebuilding and Development (I only kind of know what that means…). Travel and timing provided good excuses to put off my final podcast and blog, but something happened yesterday that jolted me out of my happy back-to-school transition and made it necessary to speak up.

   The Greek Forum of Refugees moved to a new office last week. It is still in the Exarcheia neighborhood, just on a new street called Notara, and it is much bigger than the two rooms we had before, where people sometimes sat on stacks of paper instead of chairs and used hand-repaired computers that tech-savvy refugees found and fixed from the side of the road. The new space is more than an office—it will serve as a community center for the local refugee and migrant communities and organizations to meet and hold events. It has been an exciting and promising time to finally start the move into the new office.

   But yesterday, I found out that on the very same street as our new office, just a few buildings down, there was a hate-fueled arson attack on a refugee squat. Notara 26 is an abandoned building that was occupied by the same solidarity movement/anarchist political group that organized the City Plaza squat that I have mentioned in previous blogs. Luckily no one was hurt, but the damage is significant. What’s more significant is what the attack symolizes. There haven’t been hate crimes in the Exarcheia neighborhood against refugees and migrants in some time. In fact, the reason that GFR moved to Exarcheia in the first place is because their previous office was vandalized, and Yonous and other members of GFR were physically attacked. He used to not talk about this incident—he kept it a secret for almost a year after it happened, at the same time fighting along with Human Rights Watch to get local legislation passed against hate crimes targeting migrants. But speaking out about his own experience helped garner support, and those efforts catalyzed a significant decrease in xenophobic attacks in Athens over the past 6 years.

   And now it’s happening again. It is no wonder that refugees in Greece don’t feel safe. With reports of child sexual abuse in Greek refugee camps and the creeping influence of mafia gangs in a vulnerable and volatile situation, this new attack heightens the sense that the security situation resulting from the mishandling of the “refugee crisis” in Greece is a ticking time bomb.

   In my last “Friday Feature Podcast” (note to self, never include a weekday in your podcast title unless you diligently post on that day), I talk to Yonous about why he doesn’t think Greece is facing a “refugee crisis.” It is a crisis of political will, solidarity, and responsibility sharing—but now it is beginning to feel like a crisis of security as well. Listen below to hear more.

2. Athens: Where the Walls Speak

   August 10, 2016 9:02 am Leave a Comment

   Before all else, I must inform anyone who reads this and hasn’t already seen it through various other social media channels: IRA GLASS SAID MY NAME ON THIS AMERICAN LIFE. Well, sort of. He called me “Matteo” when issuing a brief thank-you in the credits in the show they did on refugees in Greece—producers and reporters from TAL had come to the GFR office a few months ago and conducted interviews and listened in on Skype calls, and I happily helped with a follow-up phone interview and several email exchanges to answer questions and share information. So basically I’m a very important and famous expert, and you should all listen to the podcast and its follow up that just came out this week here!

   

   The hills have eyes.

   Anyway, last week, the walls of Athens were talking to me.

   Really, hear me out on this- I’m not admitting to listening to the voices in my head (well, sometimes), only the voices of the walls. Because almost everywhere I go in Athens, the walls are shouting at me. “REFUGEES WELCOME!” “NO BORDERS!” “ANTI-NAZI!” Those are just some of the phrases, short and long, that are scrawled across the walls of the city. The art that often accompanies or stands in place of the messages is even more telling: a young, distorted man crawling with the burden of a city on his back, Tsipras and Merkel in a passionate embrace. This is the most graffitied city I have ever seen in my life, and maybe it’s one of the reasons Athens isn’t known for its aesthetics or beauty the same way that Florence or Paris usually are. But to me, the city is beautiful in a way that feels more real than the historic architecture of other European cities. The walls are passionate and political, they speak of institutional disdain and sympathy with the rejects of society. I absolutely love it. I love the grungy, dirty, complicated mess of Athens, and I love listening to the walls when they speak. And yes, the anarchist neighborhood of Exarcheia* might speak the loudest, but it’s not the only one—Athens is literally built of wailing walls and belligerent buildings. They tell vibrant stories of struggle and solidarity, and I think that just taking a walk around Athens, never meeting a Greek in person, would convince you that the city is both complicated and compassionate.

   

   The embrace

   

   Peace

   

   Solidarity

   
   

    

   The walls of Athens exemplify the solidarity that I have come to know and depend on for my work. There is a spectrum to be sure—from the true anarchist, political movements that run media-darling squats to house refugees to the well-meaning and sometimes blundering foreign volunteers who swing by the camps while on vacation and help with mattress distribution. What has been most helpful to me, beyond my coworkers and contacts with various NGO representatives in the field, are the Facebook groups I’ve joined, such as “Immigrant and Refugee Support in Athens” or “Information Point for Volunteers.” The groups are mostly well-managed, well-organized, and legitimate forums for information sharing, rumor disputing, highlighting important initiatives and opportunities, and supporting the necessary volunteer efforts throughout the country by both Greeks and internationals. Whether in person or on social media, these networks are essential for the continued engagement of the local and international community in the lives of refugees and asylum seekers.

   Working on the refugee crisis in Greece can often be incredibly frustrating and depressing—feelings familiar I’m sure to many people in the humanitarian field. It is horrible to receive messages and pictures from people virtually trapped in terrible conditions on island hotspots, pleading for help to reunite with family in Athens, for example, and knowing that you just learned in a UNHCR meeting that there’s basically no one on Leros to help directly (despite an existing asylum office, there are still no authorities actually working in the office to process applications, due to lack of staffing and security concerns). It feels frankly crappy to not be able to provide answers and help that people desperately need—a conundrum that might sound like a broken record for many working in Greece. But what gives me hope? The writing’s on the wall. The people of Athens care, and the ones who care the most do more than just spray paint their solidarity, but they volunteer and they build networks that show the willingness to remain active and engaged for the long-haul. Though I am worried about overall waning hospitality in what is increasingly becoming a protracted situation and sputtering momentum in volunteerism once the summer is over, my experience thus far makes me optimistic that despite what might seem like neglect at the government level or in the media, many people in Greece are fighting hard for refugees’ rights and protection, and that won’t stop any time soon.

   

   *The GFR office is in Exarcheia- it was one of the only safe spaces it could move to after a violent, racist attack against the president Yonous and other GFR community members a few years ago.

3. Friday Feature Podcast- “We could all one day become refugees”

   July 31, 2016 6:24 pm 1 Comment

   As I don’t want to give anyone the wrong impression, I have to maintain my reputation for tardiness and post my “Friday” Feature Podcast on a Sunday. Life lesson: never commit yourself to cleverly titled days of the week podcasts on the internet.

   Regardless of when this is going up, I am truly so privileged to share the voice of Alice, our legal expert at the Greek Forum of Refugees. Alice is one of the most committed, knowledgeable people I’ve met who works in this field. She is the person I turn to when I’m confronted with problems I don’t know how to solve (which happens every day)- when a refugee messages us on Facebook from Leros to ask how to reunite with his wife in Athens, when a refugee family comes into the office seeking shelter, when I have to explain to a curious reporter the Skype-for-asylum procedure- I always ask Alice, and she always knows the answer. Have a listen below to my brief but brilliant conversation with Alice, where she reminds us that “we could all one day become refugees.”

4. The White-Coated Ladies

   July 27, 2016 6:23 pm 6 Comments

   Ruh-roh, it’s been a long time since my last blog. And I thought I was doing so well keeping up with them! There has been a lot going on here in Athens, and my natural proclivity for avoidance has snuck into my blogigations (blog+obligations=blogigations… or blobligations? You decide).

   

   Milos for vacation!

   Unfortunately, thinking back on the last week and a half to catch people up isn’t an exercise in rosy nostalgia. To be sure, some truly wonderful things have happened (including a recent mini-vacation to the island of Milos.) Earlier in the summer, one of my articles I had posted on the Fletcher Women’s Network Facebook group attracted the attention of a 2009 Fletcher alum named Hila Hanif, and through a whirlwind of serendipitous happenings, she arrived in mid-July to live with me and volunteer at the Greek Forum of Refugees and other organizations. More on her later (she may be peer-pressured into being my Friday feature podcast this week- my past two interviewees have ditched me so I’m lucky to have someone so great under my own roof!) Also, the GFR finally published the short film that had been in the making for months as part of their #RefugeesVoice campaign, with support from the Open Society Foundation. Featuring discussions from refugees and community leaders about integration in Greek society, the film is called “Integration Now: Participation is Everything.” Have a look- it’s a truly unique perspective that adds to the typical media narrative shown in the US. Beyond the protracted humanitarian emergency of refugees arriving and being stuck in Greece, how often do we hear about integration? Let’s face it—most of the refugees in Greece will be here for a long time, and this is an important conversation that needs to be had (even the EU agrees), and it is imperative to include refugees themselves in the dialogue.

   But overall, the desperate situation of refugees in Greece has led to increasing tensions and outbreaks of violence. During the first week of July, locals on the island of Leros clashed with refugees and targeted aid workers—a number of NGOs decided to pull out due to safety concerns. Just a few days later, on July 14, there was a deadly stabbing in Elliniko Camp (the site of the former Olympic stadium), and two of the GFR Community Workers were beaten at the scene, prompting a press release on the issue from the GFR. The same week, I learned about the rape of a four-year-old girl at the unofficial Piraeus Port camp (which is in the process of being evacuated by authorities), and the following week we were confronted with a terrible story of a teenage Afghan boy arrested and physically and sexually abused by Greek police. I am tired of writing press releases with bad news.

   And then there’s the hospital. I may have mentioned in previous posts that one of the services the GFR provides, voluntarily and out of necessity, is interpreting for refugees in Greek hospitals. There is no legal obligation of medical facilities to provide translators for non-native patients, and none of the hospitals in Athens have any programs or protocol to provide language services. Recently I wrote an article that we published as a call to UNHCR and the Greek ministry to address this serious issue, and Yonous (the GFR president) wrote a heartbreaking opinion piece after visiting the local children’s hospital on Eid (which I strongly suggest you read before continuing with this blog post). So when Yonous invited Hila and I last week to visit the children’s hospital with him, I didn’t think I could do it—I told Hila that I didn’t want to go because I figured I would just cry in front of the kids and that wouldn’t be helpful for anyone. But she was confident in me: “you’ll be fine, you’re strong,” she said.

   

   Hila in the hospital with the kids.

   So I went last Wednesday to the Agia Sofia Children’s Hospital with Hila, Yonous, and his wife and three-year-old daughter. When we got to the room, I saw the children that I had read about in Yonous’ article. There was Zabi, the 14-year-old Afghan boy who made the trip across the mountains from Iran to Turkey with a severe respiratory infection without his parents, and is now separated from his aunt who is in a camp while he remains in the hospital to receive treatment. He probably weighs no more than 60 pounds. And there was Yalda, the three-year-old whose father is in jail for being caught trying to cross the border illegally and whose mother is nowhere to be found. She isn’t sick, but there is no room in orphanages in Athens, so she remains in the hospital by herself. Next to her were two more Iranian siblings, a toddler and a baby, in the exact same situation. Their father is in Austria and their mother was caught trying to cross the closed border into Macedonia to make her way to join him, so she is being detained while the children are left in the hospital. Finally, there was Zainab. She is two-and-a-half, and she is in the hospital even though she isn’t sick either. She is lucky, however, because her father is with her. Her family was flown from a camp on Lesvos to Athens because her mother needed urgent surgery. However, her mother was in a different hospital, and there was a court order for Zainab to stay in the children’s hospital, because technically anyone who has arrived on any of the Greek islands after March 20 (the date of the implementation of the EU-Turkey Deal) must remain on the islands while their asylum claims are processed—so this is a way to maintain the family’s technical detention.

   Although Zabi is nearly completely bedridden, the rest of the refugee children are healthy kids who are stuck inside most of the day. The hospital room has a balcony where people are allowed to smoke, and the doors are kept open almost all day. I shouldn’t have been surprised. “This is Greece,” Yonous often tells me when the shock at some terrible condition or story or law registers on my face. But seriously, smoking virtually inside a hospital, especially where there is a boy who has a respiratory infection?

   

   Zainab and Yonous’ daughter Lina playing together.

   While Hila sat with Zabi and spoke to him in Farsi, I learned from Yonous about Zainab’s father’s desperate situation. He had to go to the hospital where his wife was to have surgery the next day, but he wasn’t allowed to leave Zainab alone. When he visited his wife the day before, he had apparently left his daughter with a smuggler he knew for 5 euros, and was threatened when he returned by the hospital staff that the next time he took Zainab out of the  hospital he would be arrested. I said of course I would come back and watch Zainab for the day while he visited his wife. I was getting increasingly emotional by my surroundings. The children were mostly happy and playing with women in white coats who I assumed were nurses, but I suddenly saw Hila step onto the balcony with tears streaming down her face, and that broke me. Later, I asked what made her cry. She had asked Zabi what he does for fun, what makes him happy, and he said, “not much, I mostly lay here and cry.”

   The next day, I went back to the hospital bright and early, loaded with toys and snacks and an intentionally cheery attitude. I had already bonded with Zainab, and she jumped into my arms when she saw me. I set to work spreading hugs and kisses and changing diapers, until soon two more women, wearing the same white coats as the ladies before, came in the room and seemed to take charge of Yalda and the Iranian brother and sister. I asked if they were doctors, only to learn that no, they were volunteers specifically assigned to the unaccompanied refugee children. They bustled about, feeding and cleaning and changing the sheets, and happily talking to or jokingly scolding the kids in Greek—and they were responding. In Greek! These little refugee babies who had been stuck here for so long had learned to speak Greek. I was amazed. And they clearly loved their white-coated ladies. I learned that they are part of an organization connected to the Greek Orthodox Church, and they come in three hour shifts, all day every day, and take care of the children. I almost cried with gratitude and happiness, especially when one of them told me, “yes, we’re all one big family.” They really were the family of these de facto orphans, and suddenly I didn’t feel that the situation was so terrible or desperate.

   

   We’re both really into selfies.

   We spent the day playing outside, blowing bubbles, and eating popsicles when Hila came back to visit, bringing the welcomed snacks and a tablet for Zabi to play with. It was an exhausting but fun day, and we stayed late into the night once word spread that Hila could interpret, and doctors and nurses came out of the woodwork to pull her into different rooms to help with Afghan refugee families.

   I actually had a hard time saying goodbye to Zainab when her father came back, and I thought about her and the other kids all weekend while I was on my little island vacation in Milos with Hila and her friends. There was an especially terrible moment when Yonous called to tell me he was informed of a child’s death at the hospital on Saturday, and the fifteen minutes between his first call and the next that confirmed it wasn’t Zainab or any of the others were some of the longest of my life. And what a terrible feeling, relief that the two-year-old refugee child that died wasn’t the one you know and love (it was another little boy who had been transferred from the island of Chios). If you read Yonous’ article that I linked, the picture he painted of little Yalda crying for her father is different from the girl I met, who was speaking Greek and clearly bonded with the women coming in and out to care for and play with her. While I am in awe of the dedication and love from the white-coated ladies, and especially the resilience and adaptability of refugee children, it is still sad to know that Yalda and the others are not with their own families in a healthy and whole home, learning their own language and culture.

   

   Me and Z- Best Friends:)

   UPDATE: I started this (terribly long) blog post this afternoon, then went back to the hospital with Hila. I just got back into the city, and am finally feeling a bit rosier about things. The two Iranian babies are gone—their mother was released from a month long detention, and she picked them up. Yalda was as sassy as ever with another white-coated lady, but when Hila spoke to her in Farsi, she responded in Greek. Zabi was more relaxed and talkative than I’ve seen him since we met—he had a visit from a social worker recently, who told him about his relatively bright asylum options because of his medical status. (He also commented to Hila that I was really sweaty, so at least he’s as snarky as a teenage boy is supposed to be).  Zainab was almost as happy to see me as I was to see her, but unfortunately she now has a cough—I guess that’s what happens when a healthy kid has to stay in a hospital. I was concerned that her father wasn’t there, but he returned in the middle of our visit, happy to report on his wife’s progress recovering. I don’t know what will happen once his wife is discharged from the hospital, but we are going to put him in touch with a lawyer from one of our partner organizations, the Greek Council for Refugees, in hopes that the family won’t have to go back to Lesvos.

   There’s so much more to say about these kids, but I am quite sure if there’s a word limit, I’ve hit it. I was a little worried about bonding too closely with Zainab—what if she starts to expect to see me, and then I leave and disappoint her? But in reality, I’m the one who is having separation anxiety. It is going to be really, really hard to leave Athens in a couple of weeks.

5. The Stories We Tell

   July 10, 2016 8:51 pm 7 Comments

   Tough. That’s the only word I can come up with right now to describe the past week. I don’t like the word because it seems overwhelmingly negative, but it is all that comes to mind right now. I was putting off blogging for the past few days because I didn’t know what to say. It’s been a busy week at work—we participated in the Anti-Racist Anti-Fascist Festival over the weekend, released an exquisitely researched report on how Greece’s asylum policies impair international protection, and said goodbye to three members of the GFR team. With Sonia’s project complete, Elena’s internship ending, and Andrea taking time to work on her PhD research, it felt like the team lost a limb this week. But we’ve kept swimming through the choppy waters of daily life at the GFR: navigating the increasingly frustrating Skype for asylum system, responding to requests both routine (legal advice) and urgent (shelter or translating in a hospital), managing the Community Workers in the field, and writing reports about recent visits to the camps. The course of a day’s work is never the same because the context shifts constantly, and the team has to coordinate between proactive projects and reactive responses. This week has felt particularly tumultuous.

   But it’s not just because of work that I’m feeling a bit lost right now, or as my Italian friend who lives in the apartment below me would say, “in confusion.” I can’t disengage from what’s going on at home, as much as it would be a relief to do so—to focus solely on the refugee crisis, and to concentrate on cause and effect in an intimate, local way. Here I am, in Athens, interacting daily with refugees, aid workers, activists, community leaders, NGOs, authorities… but still with the privilege to be slightly detached. I have a home to go to at night, I have more experienced and knowledgeable people all around me to turn to when I don’t know the answers, I can numb some of the daily dose of despair in what I learn and see by getting coffee, going shopping, watching a show—it’s very personal, and yet not personal at all, because in the end, I get to leave.

   It’s this same privilege that has shaped the lens through which I’ve viewed the devastating events in the US over the past week. Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, the Dallas police officers. I was a little late in learning about what happened, but sat awake watching videos and reading articles every night this week—I got sick to my stomach, cried, got angry, talked with my family and friends, thought about what I can and can’t do in the midst of this crisis of race, mistrust, and violence- pretty much the same reaction as many young, white Americans, but being abroad seemed to take the edge off a little. That is until a cab driver asked me, “why is your country so crazy? What is wrong with you?” And a Greek co-worker asked me, “what is it like to live in such a violent country?” And my Italian friend asked me, “why do the police kill black people? Are all Americans so racist? I don’t understand.” My first reaction every time is defensive. America is crazy? Look what’s happening here! And in Italy! But then comes my confusing babble trying to speak for the crisis of my own country: “it’s the system, it’s structural racism, white privilege, white supremacy, history, gun laws…” and I give up, because everything I say is woefully inadequate. It’s not a story I want to tell, nor do I feel I have the right to tell it.

   But it’s important to talk about. Just like the stories I hear every day, that I see with my own eyes, are important to talk about. I don’t mean just the stories of suffering—unfortunately, that’s the easy part to tell. Frankly, it’s simple to say these things: a cop murdered a black man in Louisiana. An authority denied a mother diapers for her three-and-a-half-year-old in a refugee camp in Athens because of the new policy that only allots diapers for children under three. It hurts to know these things, to say them, to write them, but it’s harder to explain them, to discuss them, to challenge them, to think of ways to prevent similar things from happening. And here I’m at a loss. Because what am I doing here other than telling stories? How can I make storytelling something that actually helps?

   This week I also began my participation in a research project through the Fletcher School. I am one of the researchers in a four-country study led by Professor Kim Wilson and PhD candidate Roxani Krystalli tracing refugee livelihoods on the move, and Wednesday was my first day conducting interviews with an amazing team of interpreters. Just one day though was extremely draining, and I marveled at Roxani, who has dedicated her life’s work to this type of research, as well as the interpreters, who hear the stories more directly in the tellers’ native language, and perhaps the edges soften through their interpreting and my notes. I’m hopeful that this research experience will help my own understanding of how to derive true impact from storytelling.

   To end, I must admit I am going to fully steal from Roxani’s website and share a poem that she posted. I have always been an avid Margaret Atwood fan (her newest book is the only one I brought with me to Greece), but I hadn’t read this particular poem until I saw it on R’s page, and I am so grateful that she shared it, because it captures perfectly everything I cannot say.

   NOTES TOWARDS A POEM THAT CAN NEVER BE WRITTEN (an excerpt)
   by Margaret Atwood

   The facts of this world seen clearly
   are seen through tears;
   why tell me then
   there is something wrong with my eyes?

   To see clearly and without flinching,
   without turning away,
   this is agony, the eyes taped open
   two inches from the sun.

   What is it you see then?
   Is it a bad dream, a hallucination?
   Is it a vision?
   What is it you hear?

   The razor across the eyeball
   is a detail from an old film.
   It is also a truth.
   Witness is what you must bear.

   In this country you can say what you like
   because no one will listen to you anyway,
   it’s safe enough, in this country you can try to write
   the poem that can never be written,
   the poem that invents
   nothing and excuses nothing,
   because you invent and excuse yourself each day.

   Elsewhere, this poem is not invention.
   Elsewhere, this poem takes courage.
   Elsewhere, this poem must be written
   because the poets are already dead.

   Elsewhere, this poem must be written
   as if you are already dead,
   as if nothing more can be done
   or said to save you.

   Elsewhere you must write this poem
   because there is nothing more to do.

    

6. Friday Feature Podcast… On a Saturday!

   July 2, 2016 11:42 am 77 Comments

   My sincerest apologies for both skipping last Friday’s podcast and for posting this one a day late! But believe me, it’s worth the wait. For this short podcast I had the true pleasure of interviewing one of the most wonderful people that I’ve met in Athens, Eirini, who works for the Greek Forum of Refugees as a Community Worker.

   Community Workers and Cultural Mediators are really essential workers in the refugee camps. The program is coordinated in partnership with UNHCR, but all of the Community Workers are part of the GFR community and many came to Greece as refugees themselves.

   Eirini grew up in Greece in an Egyptian-Greek household, speaking both Greek and Arabic, and she studied Arabic in Syria and was trained as an interpreter by one of the big Greek NGOs, Metadrasi. Eirini works in the Eleonas Refugee Camp which is the closest one to Athens city center.

   So what is a Community Worker, and what stories does Eirini have to tell about her work? Take a listen and find out!

7. When It Rains, It Pours

   June 30, 2016 5:45 am 317 Comments

   Last night’s Whatsapp conversation with my sister:

   Me: “HELP.”
   Marina: “What????”
   Me: “Can I post this selfie?”
   Marina: “No.”
   Me: “Ok.”
   *Posts selfie anyway*

   

   Safari Chic

   Here it is folks. Regardless of how unflattering, I wanted to share the aftermath of getting caught in a hail-rain-thunder-lightning-flooding storm on my way home from buying a fan to beat the heat of the office yesterday. OH THE IRONY, I thought, while the freezing winds blew raspberries at me, making my sophistikhaki (new word, you like?) shorts cling to my shivering thighs, I WAS JUST SO HOT AND SWEATY AND NOW I AM SO COLD AND WET.

   The storm started with hail on the metro, and grew to truly biblical proportions while I waded through the flooding streets (water up to my knees I tell ya!) on the seven-ish minute walk from the metro stop to my apartment. I consoled myself with a mini-mantra when I had to scoop up my phone, wallet, and new fan from the river at my feet after the paper shopping bag I was carrying completely disintegrated from the rain attack, “you’re ok, you’re ok, you’re ok.” Once I finally made it inside, a pathetic, blubbering mess with a pinecone in my shoe, I first took a selfie (priorities). Then I ran out to my balcony, where I remembered I had a bunch of laundry “drying,” and filmed the streets below.

   

   I even made a gif! This is after the rain stopped…

   I was kind of peeved, and not just because I was so wet. Right before I had made it into the (flooded) entrance of my apartment, I had to waddle past the 24-hour-café that is connected to my building, which I do every day. But this time I was met with the booming laughter of the café owner as I passed, complete with a point and nudge to his buddies to join in on observing my misery.

   Ok, I get that I looked comical, and he had every right to laugh, but this guy is not my favorite person and he is representative of an ugly part of Greek society. I was annoyed at his smugness. Especially because after the shock of getting caught in the storm wore off, the only thing I could think about was how bad it must be for the people living in the camps I visited recently. I cannot imagine what a brief rainstorm does to the masses of tents on the red dirt grounds in Malakasa or Elliniko. I thought about the tent I was warmly welcomed into the other day in Schisto, where I was given tea and listened to 14 and 15-year-old girls answer my question that no, they do not feel safe at night—they can’t leave the tent after 8:00.

   I wondered what the rain did to the “carpets” made out of layered UNHCR woolen blankets and the cardboard boxes full of personal belongings. I wondered what the rain did to the outdoor mosque at the Schisto camp, where mats were laid out under trees and atop the beds of pine needles—did the makeshift holy place float away in a muddy flood? I wondered what the rain of Athens, which broke my spirits in less than 10 minutes, did to the spirits of the thousands of asylum seekers who live outdoors in camps and city squats.

   Maybe for some, it brought a brief and welcome respite from the heat, but I can’t imagine something much worse than flooding in the camps right now. I wondered if the café owner saw the conditions where the refugees are living, would he laugh at them too?

   

   Malakasa Camp- imagine this in the rain…

   Sadly, he probably would. The very first time I went to the café, the owner asked me why I was in Athens. I told him I am here to work with a refugee organization for the summer. He responded immediately with, “I hate you.” Um, what? Is this sarcasm? He glared at me as I laughed nervously and said, “Oh? Why?” He explained that no, he doesn’t actually hate me, but he definitely hates the refugees who come to his country and make all of the problems Greece already has much worse.

   A few days later I was sitting in the café, typing on my laptop, and from behind the counter he shouted at me, “kill all the refugees!” I turned to him and said, “What? Me?” And he said, “if you don’t, I will.” Whether or not this is all just part of a dark sense of humor, the sentiment is clear. And it is common. I used to pull out my phone and write down all of the negative responses I got when I told people what I’m doing in Athens, but now I just avoid telling people.

   I know this is not the general feeling of Greeks toward the refugees and asylum seekers in their country, especially from the wonderful people I have met through my work at the Greek Forum of Refugees, but the vitriol with which otherwise kindly people speak about refugees is alarming. My landlord, for example, once explained his theory to me that Muslims are trying to conquer Europe, and they are “worse than wild animals.” Another woman from whom I used to buy my morning coffee proudly told me about how she refused to let her eight-year-old son bring milk to school when the teacher asked for donations for refugee children because, “if we have extra to give to people, we will only help our neighbors, not those strangers who ruin our country.”

   The hate always comes with reason, of course. “We are in a financial crisis.” “There are no jobs for Greeks.” “Why can’t the rest of the world help?” “We don’t have enough to feed our children, why should we feed theirs?” Existing frustrations with domestic issues are understandable, but how far can one go to justify hatred? At what point do these words turn into actions? The GFR is in its second office, because the first one was vandalized and Yonous, our director, was physically attacked. The spike in hate crimes in England in the wake of Brexit is foreboding, and I wonder how far and fast it will spread.

   Still, the positive outshines the negative around here. This weekend, the Greek Forum of Refugees will have a booth in the 19^th Annual Anti-Racist Anti-Fascist Festival in Athens, and I’m really looking forward to chilling out and chowing down with the good kind of activists. And just to really make sure I don’t end on any sort of a sour note, let me leave you with a question that’s been nagging me lately: do Greek women not use tampons? Seriously, look at this picture I took while shopping the other day:

   

   Can you spot the tampons? No? That’s because THEY’RE ALL PADS!

   There are about 4 million varieties of pads and only two kinds of tampons, and they’re the WORST kinds. UGH. It’s quite perplexing considering that tampons find their origin in Ancient Greece. This might just have to be a lyric in my next song about Athens…

8. Beware of The Feels

   June 23, 2016 8:04 pm 272 Comments

   Overshare alert. I’m having a really hard time at the moment. Not in general, I mean right this moment—now, trying to write a blog post alone in my living room at midnight, crying. More like sobbing—racked with heaving, just-read-the-part-where-Dumbledore-dies kind of sobs. I wanted to write about my visits to the camps over the past two weeks. I’ve been to four now. There is a lot to say. But I don’t think I can do it right now. I was just looking at my pictures from our visit to Skaramagas Camp today, and I’ve become overwhelmed with the feels, and lots of them. I’m about to turn on some Sarah McLachlan and really give in.

   What was the trigger exactly? A runny nose.

   

   My pal who needs a tissue

   There was one particular photo of a little boy, maybe two or three years old, with a very runny nose, bare feet, and a smiling face. When we met, he was playing on the water pipes behind the containers/houses (they’re called “isoboxes”) where Syrian and Afghan refugee families live, but he followed us around a little throughout the day, dragging along a bent wire like a pet.

   At one point, this tiny kid had a giant sneeze, so I used some paper towel from my backpack, wet with the juice of a nectarine pit, to wipe his nose. I don’t really know why this picture and thinking about wiping his nose just threw me so much. I’ll admit, some of it is pure pity thinking of a little boy entertaining himself with rocks, pipes, and wires and walking around without shoes, his face chapped from an un-wiped runny nose.

   But it’s also his smile. Most of the children I’ve met at these camps are just so trusting, so affectionate, so happy. This is cliché and obvious, but they are so innocent. And it kills me. It makes me so angry that they aren’t all in comfortable houses with clean clothes, shoes that fit, medicine for when they’re sick, soft tissues to blow their noses, food that they like, toys that aren’t broken, full days of school, and families that are whole and happy and healthy.

   Children like me. They always have. I am blessed with a squishy body that is made for baby-holding and toddler snuggles (don’t worry, no rock hard abs here), one of those automatic, manic smiles that turns on at the sight of literally anyone under 12, and the all-too-natural ability to make a fool of myself to kids’ delight. When I worked at the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Albany, I kind of shirked as much actual responsibility as I could to just play with the little kids who had to wait in the office while their parents applied for Medicaid or took language lessons, and I’ve always missed that completely natural comfort I have with children who don’t really speak my language. Now I get to experience it again almost every day.

   

   He’s like “stop scaring the children” and I’m Sally Fields-ing, like “she likes me! She really likes me!”

   It’s really special to bond with kids who seem to love fearlessly despite language barriers. That’s what I’ve always loved about working with refugees in general—the ability to connect even when the only common language is laughter. It feels so human. Of course, non-verbal connections make me feel better about my shameful one-and-a-half languages (Italiano?), as I’m working in the international community where even the children are polyglots.

   And because I’m in the oversharing mood, I’ll admit the other thing you readers might have already suspected with an internal eye roll, especially if you know me personally—I love the attention. Seriously. I love that the kids I meet make me feel special and loved and yes, popular. These things make me happy, and making them laugh and light up with individual attention makes me even more happy.

   But here I am, heartbroken, in a very annoyingly “white savior” way, thinking of these children in relation to myself. I have the privilege to do that, and the fact that I’m sitting here analyzing my feelings in a blog post is even more repugnantly privileged. Empathy is a wonderful trait to have, but it doesn’t do much good to just cry and blog about it.

   

   I’m not the only one who loves to squish cheeks- that’s GFR president Yonous

   Luckily, that’s not the only thing I’m in Athens to do. As an organization of refugees who are also Greek citizens, the Greek Forum of Refugees is in a unique position to really positively impact the distressing reality of the refugee crisis. And I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be part of this amazing team.

   PS- Thank you for indulging this feelings post, but keep an eye out for future news about an upcoming report from the GFR I’m helping to write about the on-the-ground situation of the camps, which will be less *Mattea* focused, I promise.

    

   PPS- Please check out this article I wrote about how the GFR experienced World Refugee Day.

9. Friday Feature Podcast

   June 17, 2016 5:35 pm Leave a Comment

   I’ve gotten the chance to talk to a lot of refugees and asylum seekers so far in Athens, and I am stoked for the opportunity to help share their stories, but the people I’ve been talking to the most over the past couple of weeks are the incredible people who work at the Greek Forum of Refugees, and I think it’s really important to hear from those closest to the refugee and asylum seeker communities. Sooooooo I decided to make a little weekly podcast- my Friday Feature! This week I chat with the wonderful Elena Iusso, who has the patience of an angel (I ask a lot of questions at work…) and can sell Athens attractions like a pro (she has me wandering around the “enchanting alleys” of the anarchist neighborhood trying to copy her photos). So please press play and hear some behind-the-scenes insights about how she shows “compassion, in the Greek sense of the word” in her fun and challenging job at the GFR!

    

10. These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

    June 13, 2016 5:00 pm 10 Comments

    I got a lot of great feedback on my previous blog post (thanks mom), but also a suggestion that I go for shorter, more frequent posts rather than my typical weekly novella. Point taken (though I am a terrible self-censorer so no promises). So I wanted to pop in a little micro-blog to precede further reflection on the work I’m doing with the GFR, and naturally I decided to do this in song. Please read the lyrics below to the tune specified, and don’t forget to check the footnotes (yes my song has footnotes). In fact, I’ve included a simply marvelous audio version of myself singing, which I am quite sure will be enjoyable to all, as I have been often told since childhood (by the voices inside my head) that I have true vocal talent.

    My Favorite Things About Athens

    (To the tune of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music)

    Take away coffee’s a really big thing here
    It’s actually decent and so is the Greek beer
    There’s AC and wifi and towels in my house—
    No, geckos, rats, scorpions not even a mouse! *

    People are friendly and understand English
    The pastries I’ve eaten make my top 10 food list
    Comfort’s in style and clothing is cheap
    My wardrobe has doubled just in the first week!

    When there’s BO
    On the metro
    And I’m feeling sad
    I watch old ladies ‘round me make signs of the cross**
    And then I don’t feel so bad!

    *This is in comparison to the apartment I lived in for a year in Lecce, Italy, where it was equally as hot but without blessed AC, the wifi I tried to steal from my neighbor’s apartment never worked, and yes there was a scorpion on my rug once and I spent a whole night chasing and mercilessly murdering a poor little gecko with ant spray.

    **I couldn’t fit the whole explanation into the song, but I had been noticing that on the metro many of the little old ladies would do the Orthodox sign of the cross three times and end it with a kiss (I saw some burly dude doing it too) and it took me a few rides to figure out that they would do it every time we stopped at two particular metro stops—Aghios Nikolaus and Aghios Eleftherios. “Aghios” means “saint” in Greek, so they do it every time we stop at a saintly metro station! It always makes me laugh when I see them do it, and helps distract me from focusing on the more pungent passengers.

     

11. The Wait

    June 7, 2016 9:49 am 6 Comments

    DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOP. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.

    You know that sound? No? Think Skype—now do you know it? Maybe you’ve never paid much attention before, because you only hear it briefly while you wait for your grandma to figure out how to accept an incoming call, or while you sweat in a too-tight collar waiting for a video interview for a summer internship. That’s Skype’s take on a ringback, a mix between a dull dial tone and the shrill classic of a ringing landline.

    I know the sound well. After only a few days in the office of the Greek Forum of Refugees, on the third floor of a nondescript building in a graffitied alleyway tucked into a bustling part of the city, the Skype ringback tone plays in my dreams—I can’t imagine what it’s like for Ismini, Elena, Effy, and the other women working here. But maybe for them it’s just mutable background noise in their daily grind, something they don’t hear at all anymore.

    The people who do hear it, who listen to it intently on the edge of their seats, waiting for the connecting “bloop” to signify that someone on the other end has picked up and is ready to listen, are the asylum seekers who wait outside the office for hours just to sit in front of a computer screen and wait for an hour more to get a 12 minute Skype conversation with someone from the Greek Asylum Service.

    There is a schedule for these calls, it’s not unorganized, but people who sign up for a slot during the one hour per week reserved for Urdu speakers show up early in the morning and wait all day, knowing there is no guarantee that there will be an answer during their scheduled time. Who’s on the other end? Woefully understaffed Asylum Service Officers, there to give this very first interview to asylum seekers, which basically serves to schedule further in-person appointments to continue the asylum application process. Every asylum seeker, whether seeking asylum in Greece or relocation elsewhere in Europe, and even Syrians who have special “fast-track” status, must go through Skype.

    

    Kids waiting outside the GFR office building

    This is something I learned about after asking why there were so many people sitting on the floor in the hallway outside the office (there’s no waiting room or chairs), which itself is a meager two rooms, with a little den area for the computer. There is only one chair in front of the laptop to use for Skype—accompanying family members and interpreters sit on stacks of computer paper and brochures leaning against the wall. They used to have the Skype interviews in the office space, but if you think a constant Skype ringtone would be distracting, imagine an asylum interview happening in your left ear.

    I want to take pictures of the men, women, and children waiting outside the office—especially the children, who play with paper-made guns or patiently sit under their mothers’ watchful eyes—but I haven’t had the guts to ask yet. I become irritable and antsy waiting for two minutes in line for coffee without my phone to distract me, and I feel uncomfortable asking to snap a shot like a tourist of what looks like miserable circumstances, just hanging out in a hallway with nothing to do.

    So why the Skype? Believe it or not, this was a solution to an even more burdensome situation. I don’t need to shock anyone reading this with facts and figures—I think we all know that we are facing a GLOBAL migration crisis. Countries like Greece are bearing the brunt of the burden, and frankly they’re not doing a great job. As Elena, an Italian intern in the office, said, “refugees aren’t the problem, the ineffective asylum system is the problem.”

    This is a sentiment that I remember hearing at the migration panel I helped organize during the Harvard European Conference in the fall—a UNHCR rep said the refugee crisis was only made a crisis because of Europe’s mismanagement. Reading the GFR’s reports and press releases and talking to the incredibly hard-working staff members here has illuminated the daily frustrations faced by asylum seekers in Athens and the surrounding camps (oh and by the way, check here to learn the difference between asylum seekers and refugees, just in case you don’t know!) Instead of listing all of the ways I have embarrassed myself and my people in Athens so far (#sorryamerica), I wanted to use this blog post to zoom in on one of the issues important to this organization and the communities with which it works.

    

    On the wall at GFR office

    Seeking asylum in Greece is all about waiting—anxiety-producing waiting far worse than the security lines at O’Hare Airport. The old asylum system was run mostly by the police. Asylum seekers from Afghanistan, the DRC, Somalia, and other countries would wait in lines by the hundreds outside offices that only arbitrarily accepted about 30 people per day. The excruciatingly slow and unclear process left many without decisions on their asylum applications for a decade, leaving them vulnerable to arrest and deportation and without the right to work, go to school, or receive health and social services.

    A new asylum procedure introduced in 2011 was meant to alleviate the incredibly large backlogs, and meet the challenges of the increasing numbers of people fleeing direct conflict, but many who had been waiting for years weren’t given access to the fairer and more efficient asylum services. The Skype system was created in 2014 in order to improve access to asylum offices and eliminate the unbearably long lines, but it has effectively transferred the lines from outside government offices to outside NGOs’ doors, as it has become common belief that calls from NGOs have a higher likelihood of being answered. During the time it takes to get a Skype call, often a month or longer, the temporary documents asylum seekers are given upon arrival can expire, again risking their arrest.

    GFR has written a press release denouncing the dysfunctional Skype system, as the office staff has been left with the power and burden of deciding who has access to that essential first step. From the report, “Now, each day, we are forced to decide: will we let the young mother in the front, sending home the two young men who’ve been waiting in our office every day? Or should we let them sit at the computer, and send home the young woman with her baby? Should we create a number system, allowing smugglers to gain power and sell them to people? Or should we shut our doors to refugees, feeling totally wrong, like traitors?”

    

    Sitting in Omonoia Square, a common gathering spot for refugees

    Like everything else with this refugee crisis, things are changing rapidly. The EU and Greek government have announced a new pre-registration system in the camps, which will initiate this Thursday and (supposedly) last less than three months. Well, not IN the camps, but in “hubs” nearby—I guess they wanted the inevitable lines to form away from the over-crowded camps, adding transportation logistics to the equation.

    The ambitious project involves wristbands, strict time allotments, and multiple phases, and it will be run by the Greek Asylum Services with the assistance of UNHCR and the relatively new European Asylum Support Office (EASO). I’m not sure how successful it will be in managing the bottleneck created by the Skype system, but I’m really interested to see it in action. GFR has a contract with UNHCR to manage a Community Workers program, in which GFR community members (refugees living in Greece) liaise with and advocate for refugees and asylum seekers in the camps every day, so I will soon be able to visit some of the camps with Andrea who oversees the program.

    I tend to compare all others’ experiences to my own and my perceived capacity to deal with things, because I’m totes self-centered and I’m my only real point of reference, and I just can’t imagine all the waiting and boredom involved in the process. I’m looking forward to finding out about what people do to cope with these circumstances. Or perhaps I’ll find out that my perception is totally wrong—maybe there’s lots of activity and planning happening in the camps. I just hope I can learn directly from the source.

    Oh, and just to throw some fun in at the end, here are some of my favorite pictures from my first week! Don’t forget to check out my Flickr page and Instagram for more!

    

    At my friend Efthymios’ house with Fletcher flag!

    

    Greek changing of the guard

    

    Traditional Greek dancing!

    
    

12. Goats, Soaps, and HTML: Pro-Tips for Peace Fellow Prep

    May 27, 2016 7:01 pm 102 Comments

    Expect the Unexpected

    

    Always the optimist: Mattea at training

    This week, twelve eager AP Peace Fellows traveled to DC for training before we ship off to work with community-based organizations across the globe. The services we’re trained on range from story-telling and strategic planning to website-building and fundraising.

    If someone told me before I came to DC that after a week I would be learning HTML and coding my own designated host server, I would have politely asked them to repeat that in English. But now, after a deep dive into the techie world at AP training, if someone asked me write HTML or create a host server, I would whip out my computer, confidently pop open my browser, and Google “HELP- what is HTML?!” Ok, so I haven’t exactly become an IT expert in an afternoon, but I have certainly learned A LOT over this past week—much more than I was expecting.

    I will be heading off to Athens, Greece in a few days to work with the Greek Forum of Refugees, the newest AP partner organization. GFR is truly grassroots—it was created a few years ago by a group of refugees and local Greeks to help protect human rights throughout the process of seeking asylum and to foster community integration. I have no illusion that my purpose is to parachute in and perfect the organization, solve the refugee crisis, then grab some feta on the way back to the US, but this week of learning from the AP staff, various expert guests, and my incredible peers has helped me build confidence and understanding in what I can offer the GFR.

    What to do if You’re Not Making Soap, Shearing Llamas, or Curing Uterine Prolapse

    I’ll admit that compared to the other Fellows, I was feeling a little inadequate when we first went around the room and talked about our projects on day one. They are entering established partnerships with pretty clear goals—Rose will help produce soap with victims of sexual violence in Mali, Daniel with create an income generation project with wool in Peru, and Morgan will build a clinic in Nepal to screen for uterine prolapse (check out theirs and all the other amazing blogs!) What the heck can I offer? What does my organization even do? We only hooked up with GFR a few weeks ago (finally—apparently the back-up plan was to send me to Nepal with my partner in crime, Megan).

    Although I have been following news about the refugee crisis in Greece and studying issues of forced migration at Fletcher, the reality of everyday life for locals and refugees in Athens is a blind spot, and my brief phone call with one of the GFR staff members left me with way more questions than answers. But throughout the week, I’ve been given tools to help me craft overall goals and specific processes and deliverables. My first, and continuing, objective will be to listen. By asking the right questions and understanding the needs of the GFR and the refugee population they serve, I hope to be an effective advocate.

    When in Doubt, Take a Picture of a Goat

    So what does it really mean to be an advocate? At the very least, you have to take a lot of pictures. And, according to our Director Iain, they have to be “really, really good pictures.” The Peace Fellows must be master storytellers through many mediums—pictures, blogs, videos, interviews, profiles, podcasts, quilts, and my personal favorite, social media. Now that I know some of the basic rules of photography, I can really experiment with some arty fartsy flourishes on the photos I post to my new Flickr and Instagram pages (hello rule of thirds!!). There is a bit of pressure to deliver compelling photos that will illustrate the stories we hope to tell to potential donors for our organizations, but you don’t need a $500 professional lens to capture magic—one of the most memorable photos from a past Fellow was of villagers loading goats atop a bus in Nepal. I know there will be a wealth of stories to tell in Greece, and even if I can’t find any goats, I’m excited to get to know refugees and the people who help them on an individual level, and help share their voices with the world.

    

    Peace Fellow Picnic

    

    Am I doing this right?

    

    Morgan’s first podcast

13. The Untold Story of the Perpetual Victim

    July 26, 2015 6:57 am 86 Comments

    “Aren’t you just a victim

    selling your own trauma?

    asked the Harvard blonde

    with the brains worth half a million.

    I couldn’t find the words in English to say,

    Do you have any idea how right you are?

    Nine deaths, bleeding eardrums,

    Dodging bullets –

    It all fits in the word trauma.

    And yes, I was unable to say in English,

    I’m afraid that’s the only valuable thing I have.

    -“Trauma Market” by Bosnian poet Adisa Bašić

    

    From left to right: BOSFAM weaver, Rasema, Rasema’s sister-in-law, Janka, Rasema’s daughter, Fatima, and me at the grave of one of Janka’s brother’s lost in the genocide twenty years ago. Photo by Iain Guest, The Advocacy Project 2015, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    I didn’t cry when I attended the 20th anniversary ceremony of the Srebrenica genocide two weeks ago. I was sad, moved, inspired, and angered, but I did not cry during this overwhelming, surreal, and, frankly, confusing day.

    If you have or had any interest in the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, you’ve probably seen at least some of the press coverage. The media seemed to cover three types of stories over the course of the weekend:

    1. The profiles of grieving widows coping with the loss of their male relative(s) and weeping over the iconic green coffins.
    2. The “assassination attempt” on the Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, who attended the ceremonies and was chased by angry, stone-throwing mourners out of the cemetery.
    3. The valiant concessions given by notable policymakers, including former US President Bill Clinton, on the failures of the ever-ambiguous “international community.”

    

    Women grieve at the burial of the relatives in Srebrenica. Photo by Iain Guest, The Advocacy Project 2015, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    These stories are real and there is an obligation to report on them. I was moved by many pieces about Srebrenica in the days leading up to the ceremony in Potočari. (I highly recommend this piece by the International Center for Transitional Justice.)

    But here’s the thing: Srebrenica stands in the international spotlight for a few days around July 11th. And it should. But amidst the talk of “never again” and the documentation of the profound grief of Srebrenica widows, nobody seems particularly interested in what life is like for these women the other 364 days of the year. Few seem to wonder how they make a living, where they sleep at night, how their kids go to school, how they get healthcare, who they spend time with, and what they do for fun.

    I cried two days after the anniversary, July 13th, a normal Monday morning on the steps outside BOSFAM. And when I say I cried, I really mean that I ugly-cried, called-my-husband-at-three-am-Eastern-time lost it. Because on Monday, 48 hours after all eyes were on that cemetery in Potočari, nobody cared. I felt angry and hopeless. It was unfair and I was sickened by the exploitation of the genocide victim narrative that we seem unable to move past and which I knew I was guilty of using in the past.

    

    Empty graves waiting to be filled. Photo by Iain Guest, The Advocacy Project 2015, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    In the eyes of the international community, Bosnians are perpetual victims that exist in a vacuum of grief the first week of July, only to disappear into obscurity by August because shots are no longer being fired and blood is no longer being shed. They are exploited for their traumas; their stories are reduced to the simplest terms to bring us to some kind of horrifying nostalgia without recognition for the tremendous and inspiring efforts made to put the pieces of their lives back together since the genocide.

    The world reports on the “open wound” of Srebrenica that refuses to heal, but doesn’t seem to discuss why divisions are so deeply rooted. We share photographs of fainting women, but don’t talk about the strength they demonstrate within their communities when they aren’t burying their sons and husbands. We watch videos of young men screaming and throwing rocks at Vučić, but don’t realize that Bosnia has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world (a staggering 60% from 2010-2014). We mourn the loss of children during the war, but don’t talk about the children who have been born since and raised in refugee camps.

    The stories of Srebrenica are important beyond measure and deserve to be told, but not for the purpose of reducing thousands of identities to victimhood and certainly not for the relentless pursuit of political agendas. The young men crying and sweating as they shoveled dirt over the coffins of fathers they never even met is not the whole story. It is profound and it grabs the attention of the public, but we have a responsibility to tell what has taken place in the twenty years since then. The live feed of a completely deserted Potočari July 12th, twenty-four hours after it was filled with tens of thousands of mourners, reporters, and politicians was just as unsettling to me as the unconcealed grief I saw the day before.

    

    July 11th isn’t completely filled with grief. For many, it is also the chance to reunite with family and friends and take comfort in each other’s company. Photo by Iain Guest, The Advocacy Project 2015, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    The BOSFAM women are survivors, but their lives have not remained static and tragic since they fled Srebrenica. They built new homes, lost family members. They have emphasized the importance of their stories not just on July 11, but on the 11th of each month since then to make sure that Srebrenica is truly never forgotten, thanks to a Child Cancer Donation Charity.

    Bosnians do not simply wish to offer us their trauma, because, despite our disinterest, they have so much of value to share. The women of BOSFAM use their skills in weaving and handicrafts to earn money and I find great inspiration in that. The tragedy of Srebrenica is a chapter of the complex lives of these women that in many ways defined how the rest of their life has played out since.

    I encourage you to ask, “What now?” Not just about Bosnia, but in conflict and poverty-ridden countries around the world. Many of my fellow Fellows around the world are asking the same question and the answers are unique and fascinating. And if you’re asking, “What now?,” I have an answer.

    BOSFAM has just launched its fundraising campaign to rebuild its weaving workshop here in Tuzla. They don’t want donations for themselves. They are seeking an investment in their business so they can continue to earn a living and support their families. They don’t want pity; they want the chance to rebuild their lives. They are not perpetual victims. They are weavers and knitters, mothers and wives, comedians and excellent cooks. And they want to offer you hard work, not trauma. I ask you to join us in this investment, because it allows these survivors to empower themselves in ways our annual sympathies never will.

14. Oh, the humanity.

    July 10, 2015 4:20 pm Leave a Comment

    I saw a cadaver once in high school. My anatomy class was going on an optional field trip and I told myself, “Hey, when are you ever going to see another dead body in your life?” I think I also needed the confirmation of the suspicion that I was not cut out for medicine, as so many over-ambitious young people must.

    I spent most of the time in the corner of the room, deeply inhaling Vicks vapor rub to try to erase the smell of the formaldehyde. The man’s face, hands, and feet were covered, so as to maintain his anonymity, but while my braver classmates were examining his carefully preserved and labeled organs, I was staring at his arm hair; I could not stop remembering he was human.

    

    Bodies bags fill metal trays with the human remains of Srebrenica victims at the ICMP identification center in Tuzla. Photo by Sarah Reichenbach, Peace Fellow 2015, BOSFAM Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    Turns out five years later I’d see more dead bodies. Not so much bodies as skeletons. Not so much skeletons as bones. The metal trays at the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) identification center in Tuzla are not filled with the bodies of old men who died of natural causes and willingly donated their bodies to science, preserved and dissected for the education of students. Here the trays are filled with bags and in the bags are bones.

    I’m not sure what I expected. As an aspiring “genocide scholar,” I think I did not want to imagine what I would see at ICMP for fear that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. It was a befittingly gloomy, drizzly afternoon as I walked from BOSFAM down the road to the identification center. I was introduced to Nadim, a tall thin man with kind, but noticeably sad, eyes. We stand outside of a plain white building with all the grandeur of a small warehouse and begin talking about the war.

    

    Each of the thousands of body bags at the ICMP contain a person, or parts of them, until other parts can be matched to one another and put together. Photo by Sarah Reichenbach, Peace Fellow 2015, BOSFAM Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    Nadim says that immediately after the war, one quarter to one third of the entire Bosnian population was missing. After the chaos of the fall of Srebrenica where Muslim men were separated from their families and the women were sent away, many had nothing to do but wait for their loved ones’ return. Some emerged from the woods to be reunited with their families with horrifying stories of being shot, playing dead for hours, and trying to escape. Most did not.

    Many of those who never returned have been brought here to this center, funded as one of many projects by the ICMP, that identifies the human remains from the Srebrenica genocide. Nadim and I enter the building and the first thing I notice is this time there is no smell. Maybe a bit of the smell of the soil that surrounded these bones for the last twenty years, but not like I expected.

    I walk through the rows of ominous-looking body bags with names and numbers scribbled on in Sharpie and search desperately for any signs of humanity, like the arm hair of my first anonymous cadaver encounter. I do not feel the grief or horror I thought I would and I am not overwhelmed. I study the bags almost scientifically and write down the numbers and facts Nadim is spouting from memory.

    

    Satellite images like this were used to identify patches of “disturbed earth” and find where bodies could’ve been hidden.
    Source: ICTY; U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency; National Security Archive.

    ICMP joined Bosnian identification efforts in 1999, taking thousands of blood samples from the families of the missing so their DNA could be stored and matched to the DNA of remains. The number of bodies for the center, at first, was overwhelming. Satellite imagery was used to identify patches of disturbed earth to exhume mass graves. Since the beginning of the project, 6,584 Srebrenica victims* have been officially identified by a full time staff of about five people. There are still about 1,000 active cases*.

    

    Many bodies were moved from one mass grave to another, making remains broken, scattered, and difficult to identify. Photo by Sarah Reichenbach, Peace Fellow 2015, BOSFAM Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    The work is only getting more difficult, Nadim explains. When authorities began searching for mass graves, the Serb forces who filled them dug up the bodies they hid with heavy machinery, haphazardly depositing them someplace else. The remains of the victims are literally spread across the countryside and an enormous part of the center’s work has become not just identifying remains, but matching them with their counterparts. Estimates put the death toll of Srebrenica at more than 8,000, but more than 18,000 body bags* containing parts of people have come through the center since 1999. One bag I examine show that this man has been found in three different mass graves. And I’m guessing since he’s still here, he has probably not been put together completely.

    

    A jaw bone and a few teeth of a victim of the Srebrenica massacre at the ICMP. Photo by Sarah Reichenbach, Peace Fellow 2015, BOSFAM Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    With steady hands, I hold a jaw bone, a femur, move bone fragments on the forensic anthropologist’s work table for a photograph, trying to make myself feel something that reflects the magnitude of this atrocity, to find a shred of humanity in myself and in the bones that have long since been washed and dried, waiting to be connected to their former selves.

    The feeling of humanity finally creeps in as I look over the forensic anthropologists’ reports. Each bone is cataloged, given a number, and meticulously filed away. The paperwork includes a drawing of a skeleton and the bones that have been found are highlighted. They found this person’s hand, at least most of it. They photograph it. And then someone has to call the family who has been waiting two decades to know for certain this person is really gone and to put them to rest and say I don’t know what. How do you tell a family you found their father, brother, son, husband, but just a part of them? I can’t help but wonder how much of someone must be found to feel they have truly been “found.”

    These are the excruciatingly painful decisions case managers at the center have to help families make. Some families choose to bury what has been found in Potočari and have them re-exhumed and reburied if the center calls them back with more. At the time of my visit, there were about 1,000 pending re-exhumations*. Some decide to wait. The pieces of about 150 identified victims* are waiting at the center to be joined with more until their family feels they are ready for burial.

    

    A section of this bone was removed and sent for DNA testing to be matched against ICMP’s database of family members. Photo by Sarah Reichenbach, Peace Fellow 2015, BOSFAM Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    The most heartbreaking to me, though, is the 3,000 body bags* that, despite the tireless efforts of forensic anthropologists, cannot be identified. Many of the pieces are too small to isolate a DNA sample. Some people have been found, but no one will ever know. Nadim tells me they will eventually bury these bones together in one large grave in Potočari. I sense they don’t want to give up on them. I wouldn’t either.

    Everyone is Bosnia seems to be trying to piece things back together. The ICMP, like the women of BOSFAM, can do nothing more than chip away at the devastation day by day to uncover something, although I’m not sure what. Justice? Peace? Closure? There are still 1,000 people who have not been found*, who, twenty years later, are still hidden away in the Bosnian countryside, while their families wait in agony.

    

    On July 11, 2015, the 135 people identified this year by the ICMP will put to rest in at the Srebrenica-Potocari memorial. Photo by Sarah Reichenbach, Peace Fellow 2015, BOSFAM Bosnia-Herzegovina.

    Bosnian Serbs, Serbia, and their allies in Russia are still vehemently denying the death toll of Srebrenica and oppose its ruling as a genocide. Last month, the president of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia called the “the greatest deception of the 20th century.” Days before the twentieth anniversary, Russia vetoed the United Nations Security Council resolution calling the events in Srebrenica a genocide. Serbian officials have banned any demonstrations in Belgrade on the anniversary for fear of public unrest. The politics of genocide and the battle for recognition are a very important discussion to have and one that I will share my thoughts on soon. 

    But tomorrow, as we mark two decades since the greatest atrocity in Europe since the Holocaust, let us turn our eyes away from the politicians and pay our respects to the fragments of loved ones lost being put back into the earth and our thoughts and hearts be with the survivors. Here is a video I produced of my friend here at BOSFAM, Zifa, sharing her experience as a survivor of Srebrenica.

    *These numbers are estimates and may differ slightly from the ICMP official statistics.

15. How to make Bosnian coffee when there aren’t any Bosnians to help you.

    June 28, 2015 6:45 am 5 Comments

    Sometimes when traveling you have to learn to be independent. Sometimes you have to figure things out for yourself. Sometimes All the time, you really need coffee.

    

    Traditionally, your kafa would be served in a lovely copper setup like this. While it may appear to be Turkish coffee, do not call it Turkish coffee. It is Bosnian coffee.

    On this gray Sunday morning, the need was strong and the instant Nescafé just wasn’t going to cut it. But we all know that going down the street to the local cafe to get the good stuff requires a tremendous amount of steps, including, but not limited to, putting on real pants.

    There are no Starbucks in Bosnia. Coffee never comes in any kind of paper, plastic, or otherwise disposable cup. Coffee is not fuel to get you through the day like an IV drip; it is meant to be sipped and enjoyed, preferably in the company of friends.

    So relying on my memory (and a helpful YouTube video), I ventured into making my own kafa, the thick, muddy deliciousness that awaits me most mornings at BOSFAM. Here we go:

    1. Boil some water. Easy (once you figure out where to plug in the stove.) Fortunately, the women of BOSFAM are always prepared for coffee breaks, as a pot with water sits on the stove, waiting to be heated at all times.

    2. Put coffee grounds in a tiny metal pot. I am told the coffee here is different because its ground to be much finer. If you want to be really authentic, you can buy Bosnian coffee grounds online fairly inexpensively. Or you can just wing it with the stuff you already have.

    Most Bosnians I’ve met don’t drink coffee out of the fancy copper sets like you will see in souvenir shops and traditional restaurants. This simple, small metal pot does the job and you can get one for much cheaper than any electric coffee maker on Amazon. Just put in a couple of scoops of coffee grounds (or three or four…)

     

      3. Pour boiling water into tiny metal pot with coffee grounds. Be extra careful if you’re holding your phone to take a video at the same time.

    

     

    4. Put tiny metal pot back on stove. Ok, this is where the magic happens. It doesn’t need to be on there for long but you want to wait until you see some of these slow bubbles to know it’s ready. (Is that not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?)

    

     

    5. Scoop up the foam and put it in the bottom of your cup. I have no idea why we do this, but those are the rules.

    

     

    6. Pour into a cute, tiny cup, like so. A saucer with a couple of sugar cubes are good too.

     

     

    7. Try that first sip. You can add milk or sugar cubes. Nobody thinks you’re cool because you drink it black. If you want, you can dip a corner of a sugar cube in the coffee and then bite the sugar cube.

    

     

    8. Realize the serving size you made is for like four people and do a happy dance. Now you have enough kafa to get you through the whole day and probably keep you up all night.

    

    Ideally, this would be a social activity, but I am not ashamed to say I drank the whole thing myself.

    Kafa is one of the most important aspects of Bosnian culture. Back home, a coffee break is running to the Starbucks on the corner and then heading straight back to the office to drink it while I work. In Bosnia, a coffee break is a real break. Everyone stops what they are doing, comes together, and talks (and not about work). If you’re interested in a how this tradition came to be, I recommend this article.

    It wasn’t quite as good this time as it is when my BOSFAM friends make it, but learning new things is always exciting. I will be going up to Srebrenica tomorrow, so more serious blogs will follow but here’s a little reminder that life in post-conflict countries is not always doom and gloom. There are some little things that are really beautiful.

     

16. When 8,372 is not enough.

    June 15, 2015 12:07 pm 2 Comments

    

    The entrance to the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial where thousands killed in 1995 have been buried.

    The group of young people, probably my age, wears matching black and red T-shirts. The backs read, “Building a better future” in bold, white letters. They stand in a row, arms around one another, grinning, laughing, chatting in English, while posing for a group picture. The background of this photo: the thousands of pointed white headstones of the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial.

    

    A headstone of one of the 8,372 slaughtered in Srebrenica twenty years ago.

    I follow silently behind Beba, fuming at the appalling indifference of this group. Beba, thankfully, seems not to notice as she walks slowly among the countless rows of graves, surely recognizing names and remembering friends. As I kneel on the grass to photograph one of the headstones, I become acutely aware of the fact that someone’s body lies beneath me. It’s as if I can actually feel the bones crunching under my feet. I read the headstone. This person was born the same year as my mother. In July 1995, my mother was seven months pregnant with my baby sister. In July 1995, this person was slaughtered and thrown into a mass grave in an effort to wipe out an entire group of human beings.

    

    The anger I feel while standing surrounded by pink flowers and white marble is not wholly surprising to me. I often joke when people ask me how I do not get depressed studying genocide as a full-time career and say it’s because it makes me pissed off, not sad. Wanting to scream at these unmoved “Future Builders,” who’s laughter seems to echo off the surrounding hillsides, I find this suspicion I’ve had of myself is confirmed.

    I recently watched a video (above) illustrating the death tolls of different groups, soldiers and civilians, during World War II. The sleek animated infographic shows the magnitude of the human cost of the war, including the Holocaust. At first, I was impressed. What a simple and effective way to show the perspectives of lives lost. I had never realized just how many Soviet soldiers had perished, nor what an astonishing proportion of Holocaust victims were from Poland.  However, I became apprehensive as the narration described the Japanese as losing “only” 200,000 in the invasion of China and didn’t even include a bar to show the homosexuals, Catholics, and disabled killed in the Holocaust because it was “relatively small.”

    

    A screenshot of “The Fallen” by Neil Halloran, comparing battle deaths from WWII to conflicts in following years.

    My apprehension turned to frustration as the video zoomed out to show the looming bar of millions of battle deaths in World War II compared to soldiers killed in subsequent conflicts. The 1990s, containing the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides, where civilian deaths far outnumber military ones, become mere blips on the radar of the 20^th century. Nevertheless, the video’s creator, Neil Halloran, argues the world is becoming more peaceful:

    “We give such importance to the word ‘peace,’ but we don’t tend to notice it when it occurs or report on it. Sometimes it takes reminding ourselves of how terrible the world once was to see the peace that has been growing around us.”

    I am not disputing the data presented in this video, but its conclusion that since there are less deaths in the last few decades than in World War II, the world, especially the “Great Powers” should give themselves a pat on the back, is dangerously misguided. Certainly, I am glad that there are less deaths now than in the 1940s but I fear this comforting rhetoric moves people to complacency.

    

    The names of those killed engraved in stone.

    I stand surrounded by graves of innocent men and boys and think, this is not what peace looks like. I think back to September 11, 2001, when 2,977 innocent people died in the blink of an eye and the thousands that followed on all sides in the wars to follow. I think of the 202,354 dead in Syria. The 2,000 killed in a single day in Nigeria by Boko Haram.

    In comparison to WWII, entire civil wars and genocides become statistically insignificant. And I wonder to myself, how could we let this happen? When in the last 70 years of “never again” did we create the equation that peace equals less than x number of deaths?

    I watch the “Future Builders” cheerfully climb into their fleet of mini vans, uploading their group photos to Instagram and preparing for the next item of their itinerary and I wonder how many more bodies need to be buried under this blood-soaked soil to stun us into silence. How many years passed does it take before a graveyard becomes a tourist attraction? How many miles must lie between “us” and “them” before we are moved from apathy to action?

    

    At a monthly protest in Tuzla, families bring banners depicted the faces of thousands lost in the Srebrenica genocide.

    We can quantify bodies and put them on a graph but in doing so we lose the ability to comprehend the unquantifiable: the anxiety of waiting decades for your loved one’s body to be found and identified; the trauma of knowing how they were brutally murdered or, perhaps, the nightmares of not knowing and forever wondering how it happened; the oppressive quiet surrounding destroyed houses and empty schools; the countless family photos lost as families fled their homes with every intention of coming back.

    

    The endless graves of Srebrenica.

    I am not innocent of this kind of distanced thinking I describe here. At one point, I find myself noting that this gravesite is smaller than I expected, comparing it to the massive Arlington Cemetery back home in Washington. There, headstones go as far as the eye can see, but here, if I stand back far enough I can just make out the site’s perimeter.

    And then I remember my friend back in Tuzla, Zifa, who will finally lay her son-in-law’s newly identified remains to rest here next month alongside her son, brother, and nephews. There is simply no acceptable number of deaths. Even just one is far too many.

     

17. I’m pretty sure I am Colin Firth.

    June 6, 2015 11:52 am 166 Comments

    Okay, so I’m assuming you’ve all seen the movie, Love Actually? If you have not, you’re missing out on one of the best R-rated, British, Christmas rom-coms of all time. And most importantly, this blog will make no sense to you. For those of you who only watch this movie at Christmas (which is understandable, but regrettable), let me refresh your memory.

    Colin Firth’s character finds his wife is cheating on him and moves to a tiny cottage in France to work on his book in dejected solitude. (If you do not know who Colin Firth is, I cannot help you.) His house is cleaned daily by a beautiful Portuguese woman whom he drives home at the end of each day. She does not speak any English, nor does he speak any Portuguese. Nevertheless, they speak to each other without understanding each other and its funny and poignant and they fall in love.

    With the women of BOSFAM, I am Colin Firth. I am not claiming to be as clever or handsome, but I speak to them in English with a couple of words of mispronounced Bosnian sprinkled in and ridiculous charades to mime what I’m trying to say and they laugh and respond and hug me. What they are saying? Usually, I do not know. However, I think we are in love.

    Since arriving in Sarajevo and then settling in Tuzla just a few short days ago, I have fallen in love.

    

    The view from my apartment at BOSFAM house in Tuzla.

    There is something about this place that has an exceptional patience and tolerance for others and, most remarkably, a kindness and hospitality that has been unmatched in my travels. This shouldn’t have surprised me. Every person I’ve spoken to who has visited Bosnia speaks of three things: the amazing coffee, the beautiful scenery, and the friendliness of its people. However, as an American who has travelled throughout Europe, I have grown accustomed to a kind of barrier between myself and a city’s locals; it is just really difficult connecting with people when you can’t speak their language. But here, even when we can’t communicate through words, I feel a deep connection with these wonderful women.

    

    Zifa did not hesitate for a second to take a selfie with me.

    Meet Zifa. This woman is incredibly beautiful, inside and out. Every time I return to the house, I check the room with her loom to see if she is home and when she is, we always hug and she gives me a kiss (and usually offers me something to eat.) She speaks to me in Bosnian with a huge smile on her face and I respond in English, neither of us really knowing what the other is saying, just happy to see each other. I taught myself the word for husband (muž) and tried explaining that I was going upstairs to call him. She was so excited that I had learned this one little word and my desire to actually understand the things she says to me is pushing me to study my little Bosnian-English dictionary as much as I possibly can.

    

    Zifa is one of BOSFAM’s most talented weavers.

     

    Zifa, like the other women of BOSFAM, is a survivor. During the 1995 genocide, she fled from Srebrenica to Tuzla with her daughter and grandchild, where she was reunited with her husband. Tragically, Zifa and her family waited for her 25-year-old son to join them, but he never returned. In 2007, his remains were identified and reburied in Potacari.

    I’ve heard Zifa’s story several times from past fellows and other women at BOSFAM, but I can’t process it. I struggle to see any trace of sadness in her shining face each day I see her. But I know it is there, especially as the anniversary of the genocide approaches and I fear the day that I will bear witness to this sadness.

    And that is what amazes me about Bosnia. This legacy of violence, hatred, division, and loss from just twenty years ago is present in the monuments of the cities and the quilts of BOSFAM, but not in the hearts of its people. Every person I’ve met is generous and compassionate and open-minded. Even though I am certain they are still grieving, it has not hindered their desire to reach out to others.

    So it is for this reason I have fallen in love. With Bosnia, with Tuzla, with BOSFAM, and with Zifa. There is evidently no tragedy too strong to wipe out the capacity for love.

    So I will continue to teach myself Bosnian and I hope to be able to expresses these feelings and my deep admiration for these women, even if it is as broken as Colin Firth’s Portuguese in Love Actually. Language is not a barrier and love knows no bounds.

    

     

     

18. Pondering fear and failure in Munich

    June 1, 2015 3:56 am 2 Comments

    

    Coffee and letters from home.

    This morning, as I sit in the Munich airport with my second cup of coffee, I wonder why I don’t feel more afraid. I am tired and would really like to brush my teeth, but I don’t feel afraid.

    The past few months, I’ve been fluctuating between excited and terrified and sometimes denial that I was leaving my comfortable home behind for three months. As I left for my training in DC last week with a backpack so heavy it bruised my shoulders and a sizable sum of money generously given by people I desperately do not want to disappoint, I felt afraid.

    

    My husband, Ben, our pup, Juniper, and I before leaving for Bosnia.

    Naturally, there was the fear of leaving my comfortable bed, my air-conditioned office, and, most difficult, my main support, my husband, behind. It is not that I am afraid of change itself; less than a year ago, we packed our belongings, cats and all, and moved across the country, away from our parents and the state I called home for over a decade to plunge into grad school and student loans and married life. That was exciting. I liked the change. What I am afraid of is the unknown: what will take the place of all these things that make my world feel like home?

    For the next three months, Bosnia will be my home. The more I’ve told myself that over the course of the last week, the more it seemed to sink in and feel okay. I’ve been told that the women I will be working with are strong and loving. I am told that Bosnia has a beautiful landscape and amazing coffee. The opportunity this fellowship offers is something I have hoped and prayed for for a long time. So what is this nagging feeling that kept me awake at night after long days of training?

    

    AP’s rockstar, Katie Petitt, and I after a successful training in Washington, DC.

    It is the fear of failure. The stakes are high. I will be in Bosnia during the 20^th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, where over 8,000 men and boys were slaughtered. I will be working with BOSFAM, where women who survived this atrocity gather to support one another emotionally and weave beautiful, intricate carpets to hopefully support themselves financially. I am told they are courageous and caring and, of course, still grieving. So where am I supposed to fit in?

    I am honored to hear their stories and to work this summer to help them in every way I possibly can. They have been through more than I can even comprehend and in July, I will travel with them to Srebrenica to witness the burial of the newly identified bodies that families have been waiting to put to rest for two decades. I realize my fear now is that I could fail them in some way. But now I am in Munich. And in about twelve hours I will be in Tuzla, Bosnia, my new home, and it is time to be brave. I’ve turned to one of my lifelong comforts, J.K. Rowling, for inspiration:
    

    “It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case you fail by default.”

    
    With the support of my family, friends, and cohort of other Peace Fellows, and, most importantly, the strength of these women I am so in awe of without having even met them, I think I will be able to live a life that will somehow make a difference for women who, despite having lost everything, carry on.
    [content-builder]{“id”:1,”version”:”1.0.4″,”nextId”:3,”block”:”root”,”layout”:”12″,”childs”:[{“id”:”2″,”block”:”rte”,”content”:”<\/a> Coffee and letters from home.[\/caption]\n\nThis morning, as I sit in the Munich airport with my second cup of coffee, I wonder why I don\u2019t feel more afraid. I am tired and would really like to brush my teeth, but I don\u2019t feel afraid.\n\nThe past few months, I\u2019ve been fluctuating between excited and terrified and sometimes denial that I was leaving my comfortable home behind for three months. As I left for my training in DC last week with a backpack so heavy it bruised my shoulders and a sizable sum of money generously given by people I desperately do not want to disappoint, I felt afraid.\n\n<\/a> My husband, Ben, our pup, Juniper, and I before leaving for Bosnia.[\/caption]\n\nNaturally, there was the fear of leaving my comfortable bed, my air-conditioned office, and, most difficult, my main support, my husband, behind. It is not that I am afraid of change itself; less than a year ago, we packed our belongings, cats and all, and moved across the country, away from our parents and the state I called home for over a decade to plunge into grad school and student loans and married life. That was exciting. I liked the change. What I am afraid of is the unknown: what will take the place of all these things that make my world feel like home?\n\nFor the next three months, Bosnia will be my home. The more I\u2019ve told myself that over the course of the last week, the more it seemed to sink in and feel okay. I\u2019ve been told that the women I will be working with are strong and loving. I am told that Bosnia has a beautiful landscape and amazing coffee. The opportunity this fellowship offers is something I have hoped and prayed for for a long time. So what is this nagging feeling that kept me awake at night after long days of training?\n\n<\/a> AP’s rockstar, Katie Petitt, and I after a successful training in Washington, DC.[\/caption]\n\nIt is the fear of failure. The stakes are high. I will be in Bosnia during the 20^{th<\/sup> anniversary of the} Srebrenica massacre<\/a>, where over 8,000 men and boys were slaughtered. I will be working with BOSFAM<\/a>, where women who survived this atrocity gather to support one another emotionally and weave beautiful, intricate carpets to hopefully support themselves financially. I am told they are courageous and caring and, of course, still grieving. So where am I supposed to fit in?\n\nI am honored to hear their stories and to work this summer to help them in every way I possibly can. They have been through more than I can even comprehend and in July, I will travel with them to Srebrenica to witness the burial of the newly identified bodies that families have been waiting to put to rest for two decades. I realize my fear now is that I could fail them in some way. But now I am in Munich. And in about twelve hours I will be in Tuzla, Bosnia, my new home, and it is time to be brave. I\u2019ve turned to one of my lifelong comforts, J.K. Rowling<\/a>, for inspiration:\n<\/span>

    \u201cIt is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all\u2014in which case you fail by default.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/blockquote>\nWith the support of my family, friends, and cohort of other Peace Fellows<\/a>, and, most importantly, the strength of these women I am so in awe of without having even met them, I think I will be able to live a life that will somehow make a difference for women who, despite having lost everything, carry on.\n<\/span>“,”class”:””}]}[/content-builder]

19. Basildon’s Big Fat Eviction Balls-up

    February 1, 2013 9:32 am Leave a Comment

    It was great to see AP Director Ian Guest last week and to get the chance to discuss ways in which we can try to assist the residents still living at Dale Farm. The landscape there has changed drastically since his last visit, before the eviction. There are now mounds of rubble, discarded possessions and sewage where the homes of the Dale Farm families once stood. Scores of trailers are now lined up on the road leading to the bulldozed site. The families living there are much worse off than when he last met them, as they have lost their homes and are now living without access to electricity and toilets in hazardous conditions.

    

    Two things that Ian said during our visit to the site really struck me. Firstly, after chatting and drinking cups of tea with several of the residents, he commented on how strong they remain amidst such difficult circumstances. Does Basildon Council hope that forcing the Travellers to live in increasingly miserable circumstances will break them and force this entire community (many of whom were born in Basildon, all of whom have been residents of the district for at least 10 years) out of its jurisdiction?

    Secondly, as we were leaving the site, Ian asked, “Who are the winners in this situation?”. Aside from those who received the millions of pounds it cost Basildon to carry out its eviction campaign, it is very difficult to name anyone else who has benefitted from making these families homeless. It is time now that Basildon residents recognise that Tony Ball and his colleagues wasted millions on a personal vendetta against the Travellers. How has this been in the best interests of the people of Basildon?

20. Dale Farm: New Year, Same Old Problems

    January 25, 2013 7:38 am Leave a Comment

    It is the beginning of a new year – over a year on from the eviction of the Irish Traveller families at Dale Farm – and it is clearer than ever that Basildon Council’s aggressive, multi-million pound approach to the situation was a waste of time and has only caused more problems for the Travellers and for the local settled residents in Crays Hill. I am not sure exactly what Tony Ball and his colleagues expected to happen. Did they expect that the Travellers would just disappear?

    

    The residents of Dale Farm have always been very clear in their meetings with the Council. They filled out endless homeless applications, detailed forms about their personal circumstances and explained face-to-face that they have nowhere else to go and that life on the road is no longer tenable (and is particularly dangerous for the many children, elderly and disabled residents who have settled there). Basildon Council members claim to have reviewed their personal circumstances and have deemed the residents officially homeless by the Council’s standards. Therefore, Council members knew how many small children and elderly, ill and disabled people lived there. They knew that if evicted and forced onto the road (where they would most likely be moved on every 24 hours), it would be impossible for the Travellers to access reliable and consistent healthcare, education, and water/toilet facilities. By evicting the residents from their homes, what choice did Basildon Council give them but to stay (where they have established relationships to doctors, schools, some facilities) as long as possible?

    So this is exactly what has happened. The Dale Farm Travellers are still there. They are either now living on the road leading up to their bulldozed properties or temporarily taking refuge on the neighbouring yards on the legal side of Oak Lane. No matter what Tony Ball wants you to believe, these are the same Travellers he forcibly evicted 15 months ago. In the 3 years leading up to the eviction, I personally visited the residents on every single yard on numerous occasions, and these are the same people I still visit today. Of course, Tony Ball doesn’t want to admit that these are the same people. The fact that they are still there, living in squalor with no reliable access to water, sewage, electricity, proves that the residents were telling the truth when they said they had nowhere else to go. Even more worrying to Mr Ball, their presence proves not only that his eviction campaign was a complete and utter failure but that it has left a brewing humanitarian and environmental crisis in its aftermath.

    The Environment Agency has visited and examined the site and is due to report on the level of contamination any day (the most likely hazards are asbestos, leaking sewerage, and rat infestation). These environmental hazards are not only a threat to the former Dale Farm Travellers, but also residents on the adjacent legal yards and the settled Crays Hill residents on Oak Road, which backs up to the site. These local residents are entirely dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council’s  “eviction”, so much so that their most outspoken, pro-eviction representative, Len Gridley, is now teaming up with the Dale Farm Travellers to sue Basildon Council.

    It is no big surprise that the forced eviction at Dale Farm offered no solutions (long or short term) to anyone’s problems.  Local councils cannot just forcibly evict people with no consideration for their welfare, with the hope at best to push their problems onto the next council.  Surely, if councils won’t, the UK government needs to take a wider, longer term view on this issue. The obvious solution is to address the shortage of sites, which will address the needs of an ethnic minority group currently without adequate access to housing, healthcare, education or basic services and, in turn, decrease the number of illegal encampments that negatively impact on local settled residents.

    The legacy of Dale Farm and this botched eviction may serve as a lesson to other councils and may pave the way for longer-term decision-making. Basildon Council, however, needs to learn from its own mistakes, stop threatening yet another eviction, and find a long-term solution for the Travellers and local residents. Planning permission has been granted for a small, 15 pitch site in Basildon near Dale Farm. This is certainly a step in the right direction and this site will hopefully become a permanent, stable home to some of the most vulnerable Travellers from Dale Farm and throughout the district. This does not come close to addressing the current need in the area. It is time now for Basildon Council to abandon strategies that are not working and to look to solutions that can actually benefit its constituents.

21. Five months on from the Dale Farm eviction: It’s not too late to find a long-term solution

    March 22, 2012 2:34 pm Leave a Comment

    It seems strange that in the five months that have passed since their eviction, in some ways, everything is different for the Dale Farm Travellers but, in other ways, nothing has changed.  The home they had made over the past ten years is unrecognisable:  Basildon Council has dug up every yard and has intentionally left piles of rubble blocking any possible entrance point into the site. Bunding (enormous mounds of earth and deep ditches) on the road makes it impossible for residents who are legally allowed to remain to get their trailers anywhere near the three legal pitches. (Lorraine Brown, Basildon Council’s legal representative, told these residents that they would need a helicopter to re-enter their yards.)  It has been left resembling a bombsite and has now become a prime site for fly tipping.  It seems impossible to imagine that Basildon Council has any intention of returning it to green fields as it promised (particularly since none of the eviction budget was allocated for this purpose).

      

    Photos: The road leading to the 3 legal yards at Dale Farm; A sign put up by activists before the eviction is one of the only surviving structures on the site; View of the legal yards at Oak Lane. Photos by Mary Turner and Susan Craig-Greene

    Dale Farm residents, however, did not just disappear after the eviction as Basildon Council hoped. The majority remain just past the boundary of the Dale Farm site on the legal Traveller site at Oak Lane. The conditions under which they are living are far worse than before. Some have been allowed temporary refuge on relatives’ legal yards with limited access to amenities (electricity, water, toilets) but the majority are forced to live alongside the main road of the site without even these basic necessities.  Spirits are low and tensions high and these hazardous conditions are taking their toll. Both the UN and the Red Cross have visited the site and have submitted reports to Basildon Council detailing the environmental health implications of living under these conditions. Opponents to the Travellers and the local press often claim that the Dale Farm residents have other places to live – but having seen the post-eviction reality at Dale Farm first-hand, I find it difficult to believe that anyone would choose to live there, if they had anywhere else to go.

    Their lives have been turned upside down and, to make matters worse, they are facing all of the same problems they were trying to tackle before the eviction. The Council is still refusing to engage in constructive negotiations to find a long-term solution to its problem, despite the Travellers’ eagerness to work with the Council to find a suitable alternative site. This week they not only lost again in the courts (this time they lost their appeal arguing that Basildon Council should be required to provide culturally appropriate accommodation), but they were also served with Planning Contravention Orders requiring them to leave the legal site within 21 days.  The Travellers know that it is only a matter of time before they are again facing an eviction, and the Council has still not addressed the residents’ very real concerns that consistent and reliable access to schools and healthcare whilst on the road will not be possible.

      

    Photos: A post-eviction view of one of the 3 legal yards at Dale Farm. Basildon has left it impossible to re-enter; Jeany and her grandson Richard. She is awaiting surgeries at Basildon Hospital but will soon be forced out of the area; View of caravans on the main road at Oak Lane. Photos by Susan Craig-Greene

    So, where do we go from here? I don’t believe it is too late to find a long-term solution. Council Leader Tony Ball has stated “the council accepts that it will need to provide additional pitches to cater for the growth of the traveller population who live legally in the borough and it will be working with the travellers to do this.” This is an important declaration. So, CL Ball, is there a willingness on the part of the Council to engage with the Dale Farm Travellers who have been made homeless by the eviction and have a clear need for pitches? Wouldn’t this serve Basildon’s interests better than further costly enforcement action that has no guarantee of solving the problems of either side?

22. My experience of the Dale Farm eviction

    March 1, 2012 4:29 pm Leave a Comment

    Four months have now passed since Jimmy Tom’s 7^th birthday. In the weeks leading up to his birthday, all he could talk about was how much he wanted to still be in his home at Dale Farm to celebrate it. Jimmy Tom got his wish, but it wasn’t at all as he had imagined. At 7 a.m. on his birthday, Jimmy Tom was woken up by the activists’ alarm sounding across the site and riot police storming past his trailer.

      

    Photos by Mary Turner. Click here for more eviction photos.

    Luckily, Jimmy Tom was hidden away inside his caravan as the heavy-handed scene unfolded outside. Scores of riot police, grouped closely together and protected by shields, stormed through a fence at the back of the site, fired Taser guns indiscriminately at residents/protestors running towards them, knocked several residents forcefully to the ground (one resulting in a fractured spine), and demolished walls and fences (protected by a court order) as they made their way through the site. Residents looked on in horror and disbelief as the site swelled with what seemed like never-ending groups of police. There was a momentary pause as Jimmy Tom’s aunt Michelle briefly held back police and made an impassioned speech telling the police that they should be ashamed of themselves and that they were in breach of the court order. Nothing, however, could stop the beginning of the end at Dale Farm.

      

    Photos by Mary Turner and Susan Craig-Greene. Click here for more eviction photos.

    I was in a bit of a daze that day.  After arriving through a back way with a barbed wire gash on my head¸ I entered the site to find rows of riot police, distressed residents, burning caravans, and activists locked on to any immovable structure they could find. I am not sure what I had expected to find, but I certainly was not prepared for this. I had an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, a resounding realisation that we had failed the residents, as I walked aimlessly around the site. Even now, I haven’t lost the feeling of frustration, disappointment and disillusionment that overcame me on that day. All I could think was, “How has it come to this?”. This could have been easily avoided. Providing an alternative site or sites for the residents was, and still is, the obvious solution at Dale Farm, a long-term solution that would serve both the interests of the residents and the Council. Instead, millions of pounds have been wasted, lives and homes destroyed, and the problems for Travellers and the Council continue.

      

    Photos by Susan Craig-Greene. Click here for more eviction photos.

    In the midst of this chaos and devastation, I felt powerless but tried to help with the small things.  Probably the most useful thing I felt I could do that day was to help Nora (Jimmy Tom’s mother) who was determined to give him a little piece of normality on his birthday.  The community police, who have always been helpful and well-liked at Dale Farm, escorted Nora, Jimmy Tom and me off the site to my car so that we could go to Asda to buy him a cake and a few decorations. Whilst we were away, Basildon Council cut off the electricity to the trailers and residents were forced to rely on small generators and torches. For a few moments during the small celebration with his immediate family and cousins in his trailer, we shut out what was going on outside.  Jimmy Tom, who has excelled during the last 2 years at the local school, was excited to read “The Gruffalo” (the book I’d got him) aloud to me several times.  At one point, the generator died and he was so eager to continue, we read by the light of my phone screen. All I could think as we were reading in the dark was that this was not just about one phenomenally bad birthday for Jimmy Tom. This could mark the end of his education (if he and his family are forced onto the road) and perhaps even of his way of life (if councils like Basildon continue to refuse to work with Travellers to find them somewhere culturally suitable to live).

    Jimmy Tom will always remember his 7^th birthday as the day Basildon Council forced his and 50 other Traveller families from their homes at Dale Farm. I will always remember it as the day my local council failed not only this little boy, but his entire community.

23. Prologue to an Eviction: a photo essay on Dale Farm

    October 12, 2011 4:51 am 1 Comment

    Here is a link to a collection of photos I have taken at Dale Farm since Basildon Council issued the 28 days’ notice letters to residents on 4 July.  Since then, residents’ lives have been turned upside down.

      

    At Dale Farm, the Travellers are adapting to a changing world where travelling as they once did is no longer an option. They are able to live in caravans as they have traditionally done, to take responsibility for the needs of their extended families and, if able, to continue to travel as much as they can during school holidays. Parents who cannot read or write at all can see their children making significant progress at Crays Hill School. Elderly and ill relatives who may not have survived on the road have consistent access to the healthcare they need. Travellers from Dale Farm attend the local Catholic Church regularly, have welcomed people from the wider community into their homes and are willing to make a significant effort to build bridges with a local community that has been overtly hostile towards them.

    With an eviction, this progress will have been wasted. They are facing life on the road, where they could be moved on daily, making it almost impossible to access even basic healthcare or education services. Most of the children were born in Basildon and have never known life on the road. Basildon Council is sending them a clear message that there is no legal place for them in this community. Who will give Travellers a legal place  in society?  And when will the UK government and local councils realize that by further marginalizing them, they are not only ignoring the human rights of an ethnic minority but also causing themselves on-going problems in the future?

    Although residents have tried to hold on to a semblance of normality during this process, the worry and stress has permeated everything. They have been through a roller-coaster ride of emotions; They have packed up their belongings and mourned the loss of their homes and community. They have seen their homes become overrun by protestors and barricades. They have stood behind a cemented gate waiting for bailiffs to enter. And after a last-minute reprieve, they have been given a glimmer of hope that something good might come of these last three judicial reviews.

    The waiting is the worst part.  Today, at least, we will know the answer.

24. Judgment Day for Dale Farm Tomorrow

    October 11, 2011 6:54 am 4 Comments

    As we were driving out of Dale Farm the other day, my five year-old son said to me, “Mummy, if you tell the judge that it is the Travellers’ culture to live together in caravans, maybe he will let them stay there.” After thinking a bit more about it, he told me, “It won’t be enough for you to just say that it’s not fair. You are going to have to tell the judge a lot more than that.”

    Here we are again. Tomorrow we are facing yet another crucial ruling; the Dale Farm residents’ fate is in the hands of yet another judge.

    

    The residents have, in some respects, already won. Three weeks ago, bailiffs, who had set up an intimidating compound in a field near their homes where ponies used to roam, approached the barricaded gate and were set to commence a complete site clearance. Now, an injunction and three judicial reviews later, Basildon Council has been forced to admit it was going to over-enforce and has now conceded hard standing, fences, gates, walls and several yards and buildings. The site will never be the greenbelt Basildon promised, the costs are spiralling out of control and there are calls from all sides for someone (namely, Tony Ball) to be held accountable for what can only be described as a botched eviction. But what does any of this mean for the Dale Farm residents if, in the end, they can still not remain in their homes and there is still no obligation on Basildon Council to help them find somewhere culturally-suitable to live?

    The ruling tomorrow on the three judicial reviews is critical. If the Travellers lose, the majority of the families will still be evicted with nowhere to go.

    So have we done enough? Have we convinced this judge that the impact of an eviction on education and health is unnecessary and disproportionate? Have we convinced him that no peaceful, viable alternative solution has been offered or sought by Basildon Council? Have we convinced him that this eviction is not a long-term solution for anyone and that further marginalizing this community will exacerbate the problem? Have we convinced him that there is a long-term solution; alternative sites must be found and planning applications taken seriously?

    My son is right. It won’t be enough to argue that this isn’t fair. Let’s hope we’ve done enough.

25. Handicrafts and Dance in Tuzla

    September 30, 2011 7:28 am Leave a Comment

    What does a Friday look like at BOSFAM in Tuzla?  Last week, we opened our annual, weekend-long handicraft fair.  The event featured handmade crafts, carpets, clothing, and other souvenirs from BOSFAM weavers as well as other local women artisans.  I scored some beautiful, handcrafted lace earrings and picked up some early Christmas presents (don’t you wish you were on my list!).  I also documented the opening ceremony, so to speak, which include a fashion show, traditional Bosnian folklore dance, and speeches from our founder and director all with a backdrop of our most beautiful carpets.  Here is the short film I made to feature the event’s highlights.  Prijatno (Enjoy)!

26. Dale Farm: To be continued…

    September 22, 2011 11:56 pm Leave a Comment

    We thought it was all over.  At 3 p.m. on Monday, a group of bailiffs in a huddle (surrounded by police and press) left their enclosure for the first time and approached the barricaded gates at Dale Farm.  After making a muffled announcement that only a few members of the press actually heard, they retreated but it seemed they were ready to move. Little did most people know, as protestors were standing firm (one with her neck bicycle-locked to the front gate) ready for bailiffs to storm the gates, one resident and two supporters had, against all odds and without legal representation, achieved an emergency injunction to challenge the enforcement notices and stop the eviction at least until Friday. Residents and supporters cheered as they heard the news.

    

    Dale Farm resident and mother of four boys, Michelle Sheridan, said that it was a scary experience standing before the High Court judge pleading for what seemed like their last chance to save their homes.  She said, “the judge was very understanding when we didn’t know when to stand and they gave us scented tissues when we were crying.” The judge ruled that there are grounds to consider whether or not Basildon Council’s plan for an entire site clearance would be unlawful and would go beyond the scope of the enforcement notices, and set the hearing date for Friday.  Tony Ball and Basildon Council have no one to blame but themselves for the increasing cost of the eviction, which offers no real long-term solution for anyone and could soon be declared unlawful.

    Now, even if it is only for a few days, residents are happy that some normality has been restored to Dale Farm. As the gates were opened yesterday to comply with the terms of the injunction, a line of caravans re-entered the site as “Country road, take me home to the place I belong…” blared from one of the vans. Michelle said, “It feels great to be back. I know it may only be for a few days but you don’t know how good it feels to be home.”

    Now we wait. The decision on Friday is crucial.

27. Last Stand at Dale Farm Begins

    September 19, 2011 3:54 am Leave a Comment

    Today is the day the bailiffs come into Dale Farm. The Travellers’ home is now unrecognisable. Although many residents remain on site, fearing a violent clash between bailiffs and protestors, they have been forced to move the children, elderly, and ill away from danger. There are makeshift barricades throughout the site, slogans (“Lady with Difficulty Breathing Lives Here”, “Save Our Homes”, “Where Will We Go”, “Cancer Patient, Let Me Be”…) painted on fences, portacabins and trailers, and activists lying on mattresses and locked onto cars and gates and blocking the entrance. We are now barricaded inside the site; the protestors are allowing no movement on or off.

    

    Amongst this chaos, the real story here is sadly being lost. This is about the people; the Travellers; the community. They are now face-to-face with the reality that they live in a country that does not recognise that their culture is worth preserving. Their whole way of life is under threat. The only option Basildon Council has ever given them is to split up their families and to conform to a settled way of life and live in bricks and mortar.  If this option is unimaginable, the residents are forced into a precarious situation on the road with no real home and no access to basic services. This reality resonated with me as the school bus came this morning as always and four brave children made their way past the scores of media and field of bailiffs to clamber on and head to school for a few hours of normality.

    We have now come to the point we hoped we would never reach. We are standing behind barricades, waiting for the bailiffs to make their move.

    

    Breda asked Marie as we were waiting around this morning, “Are you all right, Marie? Are you ready for them?” Marie answered, “We have no choice now.”

     

28. Basildon Council, are you listening?

    September 13, 2011 3:04 am 2 Comments

    It was great to see hundreds of people turn out to march alongside Dale Farm residents and stand up against Basildon Council’s £18 million eviction campaign. It was important for the residents to see so much support, particularly local support, as they often believe that all local people think like Len Gridley. Jean excitedly rang her mum (who was too ill to take part) in disbelief and proudly told her that “millions” had turned up to march with them.

          

    As we passed the health centre, church and school that the Travellers attend on our way to Dale Farm, it really resonated how deeply entrenched in the local community they have become over the past 10 years.  At the end of the march, MEP Richard Howitt summed it up in his speech to the residents when he said, “what is happening here is not decent. Throwing people out of somewhere when they have nowhere else to go is not decent”.

    The end is drawing uncomfortably near.

    Are you listening, Basildon Council? It is certainly not too late for you to decide on the peaceful and logical solution that makes sense for Dale Farm and for local settled residents.  The Homes and Communities Agency officially stated to MEP Howitt, “We are willing to place any of our land in Basildon at the Council’s designation as Gypsy and Traveller sites…We are willing to identify and invest capital to establish pitches on such land…” It is unjustifiable for you to ignore this offer, spend £18 million of taxpayers’ money unnecessarily and make a community homeless in the process.

       

29. On this Eleventh Day

    September 11, 2011 4:01 pm Leave a Comment

    Today marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Towers in lower Manhattan, that caused the collapse of the Pentagon’s wall outside of Washington, D.C., and that led to the crash of flight 192 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania – killing nearly 3,000 people.  I can hardly believe that it’s been a decade since then, a day which I, and everyone else alive to hear about or see the attacks, will never be able to shake.  We all have those “where I was when I found out the planes hit the buildings” stories: I was in my sophomore year of high school and in my music theory class when, just after 9 AM, we turned on the TV to see the second plane hit the tower.  Because I lived in a town just across the river in New Jersey, one that had many residents working in lower Manhattan, each time a student was called to the administration’s office over the loudspeaker the school shuddered with a moment of dread.

    That evening and early the next morning, we could smell the towers burning – the eerie cloud of smoke passed through each town and permeated our noses and memories.  These are collective memories I share with the people who were there that day, but I recognize my luck because I did not lose anyone on September 11^th.  Still, while the point of a memorial is certainly to honor individuals lost, it is also to provide an outlet for collective grief and reflection.  This year, I won’t be able to join friends and family in remembering the attack that changed everything about the United States and, to some extent, the world.  Earlier this summer though, I did attend another memorial commemorating a group killed in a far away country when I was only seven years old living in Rumson, New Jersey.  The Srebrenica genocide memorial and burial ceremony is held every July 11 to remember when thousands of men and boys were killed after the safe zone Srebrenica fell to General Mladic’s paramilitary units, and to bury those newly identified bodies pieced together by forensic anthropologists after mass grave exhumations.

    

    This year there were over 40,000 people in attendance – many from Bosnia and its Diaspora, but also many from the international community.  Now, I admit that I have some qualms with the way the town swells to the tens of thousands while the next day it is empty as ever.  I think that we are doing a huge disservice to Srebrenica by seeing it singularly in the light of the genocide, but more on that will come in later blogs.

    The most important thing I saw and I felt during July 11 this year was a collective sense of pain that every mother, daughter, or wife who has lost a male loved one can relate to regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, or country of origin.  My home town lost five residents in the 9/11 attacks, including one of my own neighbors.  That day the family lost their husband and father.  On July 11 I could see how women burying their husbands braced themselves for the shock of putting the bones into the ground and saying goodbye one last time.  Their pain was written on their tear-streaked faces, in their hunched-over bodies, in their deep, throaty, primal cries.  The atmosphere was so heavily saturated with desperate anger and sadness that no one there could remain emotionally untouched.

    When I was twelve my mother and I buried my father.  He spent nine months fighting cancer, but just couldn’t hang on anymore.  When we parted with his body after the funeral service, my mother’s face filled with something that I will never forget.  It wasn’t just emotion but the very embodiment of loss.  The heaviest burden is to bury someone you love, most of all someone lost before their time because of violence.  Violence in the tumors racking your body and transforming it into a prison, violence in hijacking a plane to crash it into New York City landmarks, or violence in executing thousands of men and boys on local football fields or in factories.

    My mother’s face, the faces of the women in Srebrenica on July 11, and I’m sure the faces of 9/11 victims’ families all share an uncanny similarity, which is that loss burdens us with a heaviness we must carry for the rest of our lives.  I’m not sure if there’s much we can do in our everyday lives to make such things better – I’m a true believe that time transforms the sharp pain into a duller one, and that pain finds a way to fit in with the other elements of your daily existence.  However on anniversaries that are as pregnant with meaning as this one for my own country, or yearly burying newly identified bodies from mass graves in Srebrenica, collective mourning helps us to process what happened and consider what we lost as individuals and as a whole during such events.

    As I take my own moment this September 11^th to mourn the loss of American citizens and the violence since that has been committed in their names, I will undoubtedly pause to also consider the loss that permeates my current town of residence, Srebrenica.  For in the end, a mother’s loss is the same in Bosnia, the United States, Sri Lanka, and South Africa.  Observing 9/11 in Bosnia exactly two months after burying 613 genocide victims means recognizing that every country, every community, every person faces loss and the best thing we can do to cope is brace ourselves and support the others around us, whoever they may be, in taking our next steps together.

     

30. Last chance to learn for Dale Farm children

    September 7, 2011 2:02 am 3 Comments

    The children of Dale Farm returned to school, today, to begin what could be their last two weeks in formal education.  After the residents had received their 28-day notice letters, I was sitting in Nora Sheridan’s trailer having a cup of tea when two women from the Travellers’ Education Service came by and handed her a laminated card. They explained that they will help her to place her children in a new school, and that she should give them a ring after the eviction once she has settled somewhere. She didn’t get a straight answer when she asked how this will work if she is forced onto the road and not allowed to stay in any one place for more than a few days or weeks at best. The reality is, as all of these Travellers have experienced in the past, there is no way for the children to get any sort of consistent schooling under these circumstances. Many of these children will never go to school again. Why has this not been considered by anyone throughout this process?

    

    Nora is extremely worried about having to pull her children out of the school they love and to put an end to the significant progress they have been making over the past few years. Six year-old Jimmy Tom, her youngest, who started at Crays Hill Primary School just last year, proudly gets out his books every time I come round and demonstrates how well he can read. It is amazing how fluent he is after just one year. He couldn’t wait to go back to school today.

    Margaret Quilligan is devastated that she will soon have to take her six year-old son with Down’s syndrome, Dan, out of his special needs school in Basildon after the two years it took to secure him a place there. She cries as she explains that Dan had finally settled in there, made friends with the local children and eagerly waits for the bus each day. How can she possibly find him an appropriate place if on the road?

    These children want to go to school and their parents want to send them. This is remarkable progress, considering the vast majority of parents do not read or write at all.  Surely, the UK government owes Jimmy Tom, Dan and the rest of the children an explanation, as to why their rights are not being considered (specifically the Article 28 right to education under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and why it is endorsing and funding this eviction and putting them in a position where access to education is virtually impossible.

     

31. We have failed the Dale Farm Travellers

    September 4, 2011 3:18 am 4 Comments

    After all local taxi companies refused to come to the Traveller site on Oak Lane on Wednesday morning (except the Crays Hill School bus driver), eight women from Dale Farm and I endured a long journey on a protestor’s hippy bus to hear the tragic news that they had reached the end of the road at the High Court in London.  The 25 Traveller women present at the hearing were bewildered and said that the proceedings and judgment “might as well have been in a foreign language”.  I explained that they had been refused their final appeal to access an independent tribunal to consider their personal circumstances and human rights before Basildon evicts them from the land they own. The Court upheld previous rulings that stated that although there will undoubtedly be an interference with their Article 8 human rights if they are evicted, this is proportionate and justified in order to protect the greenbelt and traffic regulations.  On the solemn journey home after the hearing, Margaret could not understand how “they think more of a former scrapyard and traffic than the human rights of our families.” We were all left speechless.I have been at Dale Farm every day since, filling out forms for the solicitor, explaining the current legal situation and discussing their options and, most importantly, spending time with the people who have come to mean so much to me over the past 3 years. The site is much busier than it would normally be this time of year, with everyone who was away travelling back to deal with the realities of the imminent eviction, media swarming, and activists building barricades and chasing off media. Despite this frenzied activity on the site, there is an overwhelming atmosphere of dismay and loss. All around, women are crying as they pack up the treasured contents of their soon-to-be-bulldozed chalets to put into caravans. These women are forced now to face the imminent reality of once again living on the road and endlessly being moved on, separated from their extended families and community, and with no proper access to healthcare or education.

    Tragically, last minute pleas from religious leaders, the UN, the Council of Europe and Amnesty International for the UK government to consider the realities and human rights implications of this eviction have fallen on deaf ears. The UK government is ignoring its obligations under international law and fully supports Basildon Council’s £18 million eviction campaign that will make an entire community homeless and vulnerable and will offer no long-term solution to anyone’s problems.

    In the UK, planning law is king.

32. Sretan Bajram! Enjoying Eid the Bosnian Way

    September 1, 2011 6:52 am 251 Comments

    This Tuesday, 30 August, was Eid ul-Fitr, otherwise known as Bajram to Bosnian Muslims.  Eid comes just after Ramadan, when Muslims all over the world celebrate the end of a month of fasting.  I admit, I felt both badly and amazed for my Muslim friends who fasted this year – it’s August, so the days are very long, and it was incredibly hot.  The dedication they had, fasting without even water for 9 or 10 hours, is admirable if not a little bit crazy (but in a good way!).

    Tuzla has been astoundingly quiet for the last month because of this very combination: Ramadan, the obligatory August vacation everyone seems to take “on the sea” (in Croatia mostly), and the blazing heat (we’re talking 98 F every day for two weeks).  Today when I went into town though, the city had transformed itself – like it had come out of hibernation with renewed energy and vigor.  Everyone was out looking happy, walking with friends and relatives, washing cars, eating ice cream, laughing loudly, getting ready for their big meals and night of drinking homemade rakija (plum brandy).

    

    So while I didn’t fast, I did get in on the post-Ramadan festivities a bit with some of my BOSFAM colleagues.  I had a lovely lunch of homemade lepina (a special type of bread for Ramadan), homemade kajmak (think fattier, more delicious sour cream to go on said bread), and beautiful, local tomatoes.  Since receiving the invite the day before I had been a bit nervous – these are great women, but they don’t speak English and I barely speak Bosnian.  I kept wondering what would we talk about?!  Instead, I felt completely comfortable.  I understood a good deal of what was happening, even if the details were often hazy, and when I spoke they understood me as well!  Even when there was silence, it was the roomy, comfortable type.

    This heartening experience came at the heels of several satisfying days of accomplishing a lot for work while also meeting up with new Bosnian friends (a real social life, finally!).  Sunday night a friend and I got dinner and, because I am comfortable with her, we spoke half in Bosnian and half in English.  And I actually understood!  Not only was it exhilarating to feel minorly more competent in the language, but it was great to feel a close friendship developing.  Within those couple of days I also had a stimulating and eye opening conversation with another friend/colleague about nationalism, extremism, and Tuzla as a multi-ethnic city.  I can’t describe how happy I am, not necessarily at discussing such difficult topics, but that my friendships are growing into a phase that we have a foundation that allows us to have those types of conversations.

    In a way, I feel like I had my own version of Ramadan fasting for the past couple of weeks – albeit far less spiritual in the traditional sense.  Since Quinn left on 20 August, I have been adjusting to living alone, something that I’ve never actually had to do before now.  With more time on my hands now that Quinn and I aren’t watching silly videos online in the evening, I have been committed to studying the language more formally.  While a necessary evil, the process has proved to me just how little I know and how much I want to learn.  I hate feeling so limited by language, but then again it is coming steadily and slowly.

    Socially and intellectually the past weeks have been a bit like emotionally ramming myself against a big, granite wall…. and these not-so-pleasant realities hit as my apartment reached nearly 100 degrees for days on end.  But then, just as Ramadan was winding down, things seemed to shift.  The heat broke.  I had plans for the weekend with various friends.  I was starting to incorporate newly learned words into my vocabulary.  Maybe I’m starting to sync with Bosnia’s unique pace of life, or maybe it is just a coincidence that these things occured at the same time.  Whatever the explanation, I am happy that my own personal steps forward have come as the Bosniaks of the country celebrate Eid.

33. What I Learned From Losing A New Friend

    August 23, 2011 2:41 pm 2 Comments

    Last weekend my partner in crime, Quinn, flew back to northern California to finish her last semester of a masters program.  When she left, I admitted that I couldn’t bring myself to write her a note – it was both too hard to think about not having her around, and the time we did have I wanted to spend with her instead of writing to her.  It may seem a little odd or a little too touchy to write a blog dedicated to her or our friendship on the Advocacy Project website, but I promise I will convince you of why this is an important subject by the end of the entry.

    For the past three months, Quinn and I have worked, lived, and traveled together.  After only three days of our pre-departure AP training in DC were we thrown into the challenges and joys of working in Bosnia.  Whether or not we liked it, we were pretty much stuck with each other.  Luckily for me, I have honestly come to love, respect, and admire Quinn as a friend and colleague.  Even if my fellowship had nothing but hardship besides this friendship with her (which, of course, the fellowship hold much happiness and adventure innately), I would gladly accept the challenge so that I would be blessed with the opportunity to meet her.

    

    At a barbeque with friends in Tuzla

    Without Quinn I’m sure much of the Bosnian grammar would remain a mystery to me…. She came in with previous knowledge of the language.  Yet, not once did she make me feel unintelligent or embarrassed during my slow and sometimes painful language-learning process.  Together (though, mostly her), we were able to figure out the majority of what people were saying to us by the end of her fellowship, and we proudly completed three interviews with other Srebrenica-based organizations without the assistance of a translator.

    Over the months we’ve shared experiences that can be challenging to convey to others.  We have laughed a lot, tried to cook in our modest kitchen, we have met interesting characters, and traveled through Bosnia and into Montenegro.  I will always hope that we can spend more times as funny and fun as these again, but what I really value was how supportive Quinn came to be during the difficult moments.  In Potocari, during 95 F degree weather and mourning women fainting all around, she grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd as I cried.  She was always there to hug me or cheer me up or tell me that I was doing ok with language.  She was honest but constructive with me if I was being overly abrasive, or when we’d hurt each others feelings.

    

    New, Surprising Friends

    The truth is that I want to be more like Quinn.  She is open hearted, sensible but sensitive, and giving.  She is loyal, intelligent, and takes life with a grain of salt.  I think that she was a blessing in the BOSFAM center and, as the women keep asking about her, I know that she will always be remembered as a friend and welcomed back with open arms.

    So why does all this gushing really matter?  It makes me think about a number of things that I have learned and will continue to learn during my fellowship.  Mostly that relationships really, deeplymatter in one’s life.  They are the substance of life, which is why it is so hard to lose them, whether through death, a breakup, or a close friend moving away.  Another lesson is that relationships can sometimes be very hard, but in the end the work you put in is usually worth it.

    My friendship with Quinn just clicked – we shared an odd sense of humor that allowed us to weather the big, sometimes startling differences in the culture (including lack of air conditioning on our long bus rides!).  Other friendships in this country have taken a little more work and a lot more time.  The language is a barrier, and so are our own cultural norms.  Yet, as I embark on a new phase of living in Bosnia during my AP fellowship, one without my compatriot Quinn, I realize from these reflections that I want to put in the effort it takes to make new friends and deepen already-existing friendships.  If I am able to build connections with people that are even half of what I’ve gained from Quinn, then it will be a monumental and long-lasting achievement.

     

34. How to live happily in a challenging environment?

    August 19, 2011 2:58 am 1 Comment

    We laugh…. a lot.

    My entries have become fewer and far between within the last 6 weeks.  This is, as always, both a good and bad thing.  I am busy!  With work and with friends!  I forgot how incredibly satisfying it is to have produced a solid writing project – which is what I have after a week working on a grant application for the US Embassy.  This came on the heels of my amazing long weekend in Montenegro, on which I will write a fuller entry at a later, less surprisingly busy moment in my life.

    For the moment I offer to you all a funny, if not insightful, look into the past three months of my life in Bosnia.

    Hope you enjoy a rather light take on our life here.  It’s been a challenging and sometimes emotionally difficult three months so far, but we try to laugh long and hard.  Enjoy!

     

35. Leaving – But Not for Long

    August 16, 2011 2:17 pm 3 Comments

    It’s starting to finally set in.  I have four days left in Bosnia.  Not only will I board a plane on Saturday and head to Munich and eventually land in San Francisco, but I also will leave behind my current home.  It is three months after I left California and I find myself at home and comfortable with life, as I know it here.  Bosnia has been wonderful to me and I don’t know if I am truly ready to leave.  Of course, I am ready to see my family, my boyfriend, and my friends, finish grad school, and return to my life.  But I know I will be leaving behind memories and experiences unlike any I have known before.
    

    

    With BOSFAM's Srebrenica women, Vezirka and Milica

    This summer has been exceptional.  I have learned more than I thought possible.  I learned how to get my point across with my limited Bosnian vocabulary and how to tailor my words to fit any situation.  I went from talking about whether or not I am tired or hungry to having full-blown conversations about the simplicity and beauty of life despite cultural barriers (one of my favorites was about the proportionality of a little person).  I learned how to discuss a carpet, the wool that one uses to make such a carpet, and the draft that Bosnians deeply fear.  I learned that I must never go outside with wet hair.  I made friends.  I connected with an ex-pat community and made great friends with the women working at BOSFAM.  I traveled to Eastern Bosnia, Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Croatia, and Montenegro.  Most importantly, I learned the stories of the women who I have come to love.  I learned about their pain, their humility, and their strength.
    

    

    Kahva at BOSFAM

    I wonder if I can fully explain how I am feeling right now.  I will not miss hand washing my clothes or the daily mental drain of understanding the language.  I will miss drinking coffee twice a day and knowing how my presence affects these women.  There is something about the Balkans that has grabbed onto me and has not let go.  In my fourth trip to this region, I am definitely not finished.  From the food to the people to the language, I have fallen in love.  The Balkans will be in my heart permanently.
    

    

    I Love Tuzla

    Who knows what the future will hold?  Thus far I continue to be surprised with the passing of each year.  Four years ago I never thought I would study abroad in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia.  Two years ago I never thought that I would spend my summer in Pittsburgh studying Croatian.  I certainly did not foresee coming back to Bosnia this summer for this peace fellowship.  As I pack my bags, I can’t help but wonder when I will pack them again.  All I know is that I have not said goodbye to Bosnia forever.
    

    

    Heading home

36. Srebrenica: Fighting to Survive

    August 10, 2011 9:25 am Leave a Comment

    Srebrenica is not only a town, but also a reminder of the worst atrocity during the Bosnian war.  It is the town that suffered losses unimaginable to anyone who did not go through it.  While it once was rich in natural resources, it has now become a struggling and mediocre façade of what it once was.  The population was halved and only a handful of the bravest people returned to their hometown.

    

    Thousands of residents of Srebrenica now buried in Potocari

    For the past few days, Julia and I have been interviewing women about their needs and wants for the new BOSFAM center in Srebrenica about what services they use, what they would use, what they need, etc.  One question that I look forward to hearing the response to is: why did you come back to Srebrenica?  With the everlasting memory of your closest relatives buried deep in a cemetery in Potocari, the past is haunting.  Houses are overtaken by trees and stray dogs.  Graves litter the hillside.  Buildings lie empty.  Almost without exception, each woman, no matter her age, always answers the question in the same way.  Srebrenica is my home.  It is my town and I will not let someone else’s stupidity ruin the place where my best memories are.  Each time, I am stunned by the deep connection that this now small town has instilled in so many.  What makes it so special?

    Last week I spent the night at an international peace camp in the Bosnian wilderness. I had expressed interest in seeing the camp and soon thereafter I was promptly gathered and placed into an old jalopy with two strangers and was racing up a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.  On one side of us was a vertical wall of a mountain and below us I could see the biggest canyon in Europe with a green river that snaked through the lush green mountains.  The view was breathtaking.

    

    The green Drina River before me

    The camp was a collection of 10 UNHCR tents and a few wooden structures and no one around for miles.  I was in awe of the pure natural beauty and simplicity of what stretched out around me for as far as I could see.  At night as we sat around a fire of freshly chopped wood, I was stunned and humbled by the sheer number of visible stars above me.

    I started a conversation with the camp’s owner and my chauffeur, Hakija.  He told me that he started the camp for two reasons: to initiate a dialogue between the Serbs and Bosnian Muslims and to reinstate Srebrenica’s fame as a tourist destination in the Balkans and beyond.  He explained that because this was the first year of its operation, dialogue was not something to be pushed, but rather a latent, secondary goal for now.  Drinking homemade milk and sitting on the edge of the Drina River, I finally understood the point that Hakija was trying to prove.  Srebrenica is beautiful.  The land is home to some of the best berries I have ever tasted, the dirt houses minerals such as zinc and silver, and there is even a spring with waters that are famed to have healing powers – a few decades ago, this potent and mineral-rich water that contained elements that tantamounted to emulsified zero valent iron, was bottled and sold in stores throughout the former Yugoslavia.  Most importantly, the local people I have met have been extremely kind and warmhearted.

    

    The water of the “Guber” flows full of iron and magnesium

    As I start the last ten days of my summer in Bosnia, I wonder why I haven’t spent more time in this town.  The first time I visited, I came for a few hours to meet the women who work here and then went back to Tuzla.  The second time, I was here to remember the 8,000 lives that were taken from Srebrenica.  After my hike up to the Crni Guber to partake in the power of the magical waters and the rest of my experiences here, I understand.  I can see what drew people to this town.  While there isn’t the hustle and bustle of the silver mining town from the past, there is a semblance of the vibrant community beneath the surface but suffocated by a bloody reputation.  Beneath the pain of families who endured rape and genocide, the soul of Srebrenica is struggling to stay alive and fights to not become a defunct ghost town.  I hope that for Hakija’s sake and for Srebrenica’s sake people will see the town of Srebrenica for what it is and not for what it was.

37. Roma tradition, alive through art

    August 4, 2011 3:23 pm Leave a Comment

    In all the Roma houses I’ve visited in the villages around Gracanica, I don’t believe I saw any level surface that wasn’t draped with a handmade piece of embroidery, crocheting or beadwork. Artwork, craftwork is everywhere. But it is difficult to find a Roma woman who classifies herself as an “artist.” For most, their crafts are a part of ordinary life, something they fit in in their spare time to embellish their houses, and sell if they have an opportunity. Creating “high art” is a different story. If making a living as an artist is difficult in the most cosmopolitan cities, it’s next to impossible for Roma in Kosovo’s towns and villages, especially for those who have no resources to get fine arts training, supplies, or transportation to places they can sell their works. In Kosovo, Roma with artistic tendencies seem to keep their talents focused on household decoration.

    

    Gjemilja in Gracanica made this example of tentene, a type of crocheting popular among Roma women and others in Kosovo.

    

    Fatima displaying a tentene tablecloth she made by hand using a pattern in a magazine.

    

    Arsida's beadwork - it will be a decoration for a table

    According to Der Spiegel, we’re in the midst of a renaissance in Roma art. I don’t know about the high art world, but from what I can tell, Roma art exists, has existed, has been flourishing as a tradition. This “renaissance” is happening mainly because people outside Roma society have started acknowledging Roma art as more than an ethnographic curiosity. Whether it’s undergoing a rebirth, an awakening or just outside recognition, Farija Mehmeti and her brother Bajram are representing Kosovo in the Roma art movement.

    [I should perhaps note now that I am no art critic, so fear not: there will be no talk of simulacra, post-structuralism or semiotics here.]

    When I first got rolling on this quilt production process, I searched for any Roma, Ashkali or Egyptian women artists who could help with the designs, or at least advise if we ran into trouble turning ideas into pictures. Before the end of my first week in Kosovo, I happened on an online slideshow of bright, vibrant portraits of Roma women. The portraits were sensitive and striking, showing women of different ages, different skin tones, some with flowing hair, others with brightly-colored headscarves, all boldly looking the viewer in the eye. The portraits had recently been exhibited in Kosovo…and had been done by a Kosovar Roma woman artist! She was even, according to the exhibition coverage, the first Roma woman artist to be exhibited in Kosovo. She was exactly who I had been looking for, and I was ready to beg to get her involved with the quilt project. The problem was, I had no way to get in touch with her. Nobody would respond to my messages. Nobody I talked to knew any other Roma artists who would be suitable for the project. I was disappointed, but what to do with the project clock ticking? I didn’t want to bring any more non-RAE voices into the project than necessary (mine was more than enough), so I decided if I couldn’t find an artist of Roma, Ashkali or Egyptian ethnicity, we’d go without to make sure that the images on the quilt would come directly from the communities it was representing.

    So we went ahead forming quilting groups, and after a few weeks had passed and the groups were finishing the designs for their squares, I was glad to see that there had been no need to search for any artist other than the talented women who volunteered to work on the project. One of the women in the Gracanica group, however, was especially helpful with the designs – almost everyone else deferred to her to sketch out their squares. Farija worked quietly during our meetings to outline beautiful pictures of Roma women baking bread in traditional outdoor ovens, washing their babies and sweeping their yards.

    

    Arsida (L) and Farija cooperating on a sketch for a quilt square

    I was so impressed by these scenes of village life – where did she learn to draw? She told me that she liked to paint, had learned how from her older brother, and that she would like to make a living as an artist. By this point, I’d written off and forgotten about the Roma painter I’d learned about online. It wasn’t until I was invited to her home in the small village of Lapina and saw the watercolor portraits of Roma women hanging on her living room wall that I put it together – soft-voiced, modest Farija was the same woman I’d seen proudly showing her portraits in the online slideshow – of course!

    Click on the portrait to see my own slideshow of Farija’s work – portraits and scenes of traditional Roma women’s lives:

    

    I learned Farija has been painting Kosovar Roma women for around ten years, beginning after she watched her brother Bajram discover a love for painting Roma life and developing quite a talent for it. Bajram Mehmeti gained notice partly by his work for Paul Polansky’s books – he provided the illustrations for “Gypsy Taxi.” Between the two of them, they must have hundreds of works stored in the cardboard portfolios they brought out to show me; they devote all the time they can afford to their art.

    The pictures are, quite simply, fantastic. These aren’t scenes you usually see of Roma – ones of beggars sitting on the streets or children with dirt-smudged faces sifting through garbage piles to find scraps of food. Brother and sister both depict Roma history and tradition with brightly-colored scenes of idealized villages, people, work and celebrations. Bajram told me, “I want to show Roma life as it really is, as well as express myself.” These are a couple of Bajram’s pastoral scenes:

    

    For Farija, it’s important to show Roma women as they are today and as they lived in the past. Farija has said she is “inspired by women’s strength because they carry the burdens of the past, present and future.” Her designs for the quilt draw on that same inspiration.

    Farija is interested in traditional life, showing the beautiful dress and quiet life that used to be common to Roma women. The portraits of village life honor Roma women with their vibrancy. They show the strength of women devoting their days to work and caring for their families – washing, cooking, cleaning, serving guests, caring for children. They show how Roma women try to beautify the mundane – how Roma houses are kept very clean and (like many Roma women themselves) are covered with decoration – flowers, bright colors. They venerate tradition even as they points out the hardship of everyday Roma life.

    While the designs are beautifully done, they clearly depict the poverty in which many Roma are living as well. Farija wanted to show how poverty continues to make the lives of Roma women difficult. She points out that small things, like having to wash all the family’s clothes by hand, help keep Roma women tied to the domestic sphere. The amount of housework they have to do provides an argument for why there is no need for them to be educated or to seek outside employment – they have plenty of work to complete inside the home. Farija hopes her designs will encourage those outside her community to think about the way in which Roma are living, and how they can help improve these lives. Her designs suggest that small improvements (like getting washing machines) could have a big impact on daily life. She especially wants this message to travel outside Kosovo. Her ultimate goal is to help raise the position of Roma women in Kosovo.

    

    Farija with a scene of a Roma woman sweeping her yard

    Like her portraits, the quilt squares suggest that the interaction between tradition and modern life is not always easy. Is the traditional way of life bound up with poverty? Farija’s pictures in particular bring up a question that “Jemail” raised in one of the Paul Polansky poems I included in my last post – What aspects of Roma culture and tradition make Roma people distinctly Roma? How can these traditions be protected and honored, and should they all be?  How to reconcile traditions that are at odds with modern life in the majority society?

    Farija herself has had to negotiate between tradition and modern ideas, especially ideas of women’s rights. She loves the beauty of Roma tradition, but she rejects tradition when it costs Roma women their freedom. Farija made a stand, refusing several attempts by her parents to arrange a marriage for her. She maintained that she would only marry a man who respected her, whom she loved. Eventually, she said, her parents stopped trying to force her into marriage. Her younger sister took up the same tactic and was able to resist marriage at a young age.

    Still living in a community bound by the tradition of young marriage, Farija’s decision has had consequences for her. At 32, she lives at home with her parents, brother and sisters. Due to the mentality prevalent in the village, it’s likely that because of her age, only widowers and divorcés would consider marrying her; she would need to find a fellow iconoclast if she wanted to be with someone who would respect her views on marriage. But she seems to be happy with her choice to keep her freedom and follow her own path as an artist. She dreams of becoming a clothing designer; although in our conversations there was always the unspoken acknowledgment that affording to achieve this dream will be very difficult.

    George Soros (whose Open Society Institute initiated the Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale)  and others have made a point of featuring Roma artists to gather attention and momentum for Roma empowerment. They hope to convince the rest of us that the Roma deserve better than the discrimination and persecution that has historically been Europe’s comment on Roma existence. But what about Roma art and craft that doesn’t fit the conventions of contemporary art? It’s worthwhile to look at the artwork of those who haven’t been trained or make their living off gallery shows (at least not yet) – and I think the Kosovo quilts will say this loud and clear. And hopefully, seeing Farija’s designs will encourage more people to support her talent.

    Farija has shown her work in Pristina and Gracanica; Bajram has exhibited in Kosovo as well as in Switzerland and Austria. It’s not easy to gain exposure to their work when they are a couple borders and cultures away from the mainstream European art scene, but it seems that little by little outsiders are starting to take notice. As I was finishing my visit, an artist from Pristina drove up unannounced to meet with Bajram about the possibility of exhibiting; a couple artists from Italy have also taken interest in supporting the siblings. I don’t know what the result will be, but I hope to hear about an exhibition of Farija and Bajram’s work in the Biennale before too long.

     

38. 28 days later… A Community Faces Destruction

    2:28 pm 1 Comment

    Today officially marks 28 days until the final deadline Basildon Council has given the Travellers to leave their homes and community behind.

    

    It has been a busy week at Dale Farm. Not only do there seem to be members of the media swarming the site at all times, but there have been several noteworthy meetings. On Tuesday, the planning application for a site in Laindon that would be able to accommodate some of the residents was refused after 1200 local residents launched a protest against it. The Planning and Development Control Committee also met to consider the personal circumstances of 8 of the most vulnerable residents.   Even after looking closely at the reality facing individuals with severe illnesses and special needs, they voted again overwhelmingly to not make any exceptions and to go ahead with the eviction. (See BBC article.)

    This was generally the message at the 2 subsequent meetings we had with Basildon Council this week. I welcome the fact that Essex Police and key members of the team at the council came onto the site and met with Candy Sheridan and Ann Kobayashi and myself in the newly established office.  It was a breakthrough, in many respects, and it is important to keep the lines of communication open. The main topic on my and the Travellers’ minds, however, is the only topic that cannot be discussed at these meetings; finding an alternative solution to this eviction.

    Similarly, today, Candy and I met with Homelessness Officers at Basildon Council offices to attempt to work together to progress the Travellers’ homeless applications. Again, this was very useful from an administrative and communication point of view, but the reality is that, even in the best case scenario for the Travellers, at the end of this process they will be offered culturally unsuitable accommodation.

    The clock is ticking for the Travellers at Dale Farm and it is unimaginably devastating for me to realise that, in 28 days’ time, this community could be torn apart and gone forever.  

39. Do You Love My Meat? Adventures in Bosnia’s Language

    August 1, 2011 3:08 am 2 Comments

    I have to give credit where credit is due:  not only does David Sedaris accurately portray the long, difficult, and often humbling stages of learning a language, but he also helps me to laugh about my blunders instead of break down in tears.  In Me Talk Pretty One Day Sedaris writes about learning enough French to graduate from toddler-talk to sounding more or less like a character out of Deliverance:

    On my fifth trip to France I limited myself to the words and phrases that people actually use. It’s like using a word frequency counter to reduce the number of words in an article so that its concise and clear. From the dog owners I learned “Lie down,” “Shut up,” and “Who shit on this carpet?” The couple across the road taught me to ask questions correctly, and the grocer taught me to count. Things began to come together, and I went from speaking like an evil baby to speaking like a hillbilly. “Is thems the thoughts of cows?” I’d ask the butcher, pointing to the calves’ brains displayed in the front window. “I want me some lamb chop with handles on ’em.”

    -David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day

    So far, learning the language has been the greatest difficulty of my life here – emotionally and intellectually it leaves me exhausted every. single. day.  I’ve never been too much of a language person, but when in a classroom with a teacher and a structured syllabus I tend to do ok.  Unfortunately for me and most of the people suffering my Bosnian around me, I’ve only had about 24 hours total of formal language instruction.  I quickly found a tutor here, in Tuzla, who is absolutely fabulous and who knows both English and Bosnian better than me.  But there are only so many hours (and maraka – the Bosnian currency) I can spend on being tutored.

    Inevitably, I’ve been left to my own devices to learn this difficult and confusing language.  I’m still wondering just where to start in learning an entire language while balancing work for Advocacy Project, work for BOSFAM, and some semblance of a social life.  Do I start with vocabulary or verbs?  Grammar or pronunciation?  Besides being generally overwhelmed, I have three major enemies in my battle with the language:

    1. My terrible pronunciation (so few vowels in Slavic words and a decade of Italian diction from opera singing means I sound like a Slovenian, according to one friend).
    2. Unfamiliar and frustrating grammar with seven different cases (all you classics majors, I envy you for mastering locative and accusative and genitive and dative, etc..).  Seriously though, why do we need to have three genders, singular and plural, and then seven ways to say both nouns and adjectives?  I wander around Tuzla muttering to myself “which is it?  Is it padila sam na ulici or padila sam na ulicu. (I fell in/on the street – but with two different endings – because I’ve failed to fully memorize the locative case’s endings for feminine nouns).
    3. My terrible memory.  I simply have a sponge for a brain that is already oversaturated with culture, food, work, and news.  Remembering vocabulary feels like lifting the weight of the world and, more than occasionally, I think it’s just a losing battle.  On the plus side, I can remember such useless words as “leptir” (“butterfly”), “šišmiš“ (“bat”), and “paun“ (“peacock”).  If it’s got wings and is nearly never used in conversation, you bet I know it!

    Luckily, I don’t yet know enough of the language to have a complete idea of what is happening around me all the time, so this helps me not realize when someone is trashing my language skills in rapid-fire Bosnian.  Up to this point I also have realized that muttering on, despite sounding like a fool, is probably the most useful thing I can do to improve my speaking.

    Over the past few weeks though, I have begun to understand enough that I can easily identify when someone is saying (to me or anyone else around me) how “she doesn’t understand anything!”  I can now say “Ja razumijen tebe sada” (“I can understand you now!”).  I think being in the dark about my mistakes and how people reacted to them was more fun.  Just now, while writing this blog, I heard my colleagues poke fun at me for always saying “mislim da” (“I think that….”).  Since these are my friends and they are kind and patient with my language, it is fine and even a little funny to point out my idiosyncrasies, but there is a point when I just want to yell “I promise, I really am smart!”

    Some of my earliest mistakes were probably the best.  Instead of asking a friend “do you want my meat” (since I am still trying to be a vegetarian here, though challenges with that abound as well) I asked – across a room full of people – “do you LOVE my meat?”  He said yes, of course.  This was only after I had already asked a lovely, gentle peacebuilder who I know from Banja Luka if he liked my meat.  He and I were both reddened at the cheeks once I had realized what I had asked him.

    Another time, not long after the meat incident, I started to confuse the words “sretna” (happy) with “gladna” (hungry).  This confusion became ultimately apparent when, after my friend Maxime and I successfully scaled a slippery mountain with some Bosnian friends, I proclaimed “Ja sam gladna!”  I meant I was happy to have made it, to be in Bosnia surrounded by beautiful landscape and friends, to be eating fresh, wild raspberries.  I said “I was hungry” instead.  I think they got the point though.

    I’m not really sure when the torture will end.  I don’t expect it to cease for at least another 6 months, if not much, much longer.  I don’t particularly care if I don’t sound like an intellectual, but I would really like to be able to use more than the 10 or so adjectives I’ve successfully memorized.  I’d also like to be able to understand everything Tima, one of our older weavers, says so she stops telling me that I don’t understand anything to my face.  Ouch.

    If there are any language learners out there please give me some information, some advice, some hope!  I don’t know what to expect of myself in the relationship with this Slavic language, but right now I would really like to break up with it.  If I could dump the Bosnian language, I would.  But I realize that learning this language is more than essential to my work here, and my personal life.  Every intellectual challenge – from Smith’s tough classes, to my field research in South Africa, to learning and lobbying on Jubilee’s international economic policy reform – has been easy next to learning this damn language.  So, u Pomoć (help!).  Right now I think I’m stuck between the evil baby stage and the hillbilly stage – hopefully a thoughtful, yet spiteful teenage stage that David Sedaris has yet to write about will come soon.  I think that might more accurately match my current sentiments toward the language.

40. “Gypsy Taxi” driver

    July 29, 2011 8:51 am Leave a Comment

    Paul Polansky is a solid, beefy guy, an ex-boxer, who I’d even go so far as to describe as a bit Hemingway-esque. He’s a former journalist who skipped America in protest of Vietnam and has been an expat ever since. Hisen heard he was in town for the day and took me to meet him at a gas station pizzeria off the highway.

    This was the American author I’d been hearing about since the day I met Hisen, the one who had hired him during the war to travel Kosovo and help document the situation, and then the stories of the then-region’s Roma. The one who had told Hisen’s own story and others’ in Not a Refugee and Gypsy Taxi; who had marched with Hisen and hundreds of other Roma from the camps in Mitrovica to Macedonia during the war and lived in Hisen’s village for close to a decade. He has been, and still is, one of the strongest international advocates for Roma, and especially Kosovo’s Roma. Although his advocacy takes many forms, he is a writer first, and the images of Roma life and struggle in his his free-form poetry pulling from experiences over his years living and working with Roma in Kosovo and the Czech Republic are impossible to dismiss.

    Originally hired by UNHCR to investigate the possibility of Roma hoarding weapons in the Mitrovica camps set up for Roma IDPs and returnees, Paul was far more interested in the living conditions of the Roma, and began his ongoing campaign to bring the horrific conditions in the camps to light and make UNHCR accountable for the situation the Roma there were trapped in. Paul doesn’t try to put a tactful face on what he has seen as a betrayal of Kosovo’s Roma by the international community, namely the UN. Nowhere in Kosovo has that betrayal been clearer than in the lead-contaminated camps (which have now all been closed, although 10-20 families remain in Osterode because they fear for their safety in the Albanian side of Mitrovica). Paul described, a he put it, the loss of an entire generation of Roma children in the poisoned camps in this report from 2009.

    He remains skeptical about gadzo-led efforts to help/integrate/save the Roma, talking bitterly about Roma empowerment programs led by international organizations that pour money into translators, expat salaries, transportation, security, while in the meantime Roma families could use a tiny fraction of that money to invest in their own businesses. He says it is still hard to get UNHCR to hire Roma.

    Even after hearing his background, I wasn’t sufficiently prepared for Paul’s overwhelming knowledge of Kosovo’s Roma. Within a few minutes after Hisen and I’d joined him at his table, he was boasting that he had taught Roma people their own history. They usually can’t trace their ancestry or traditions back past their great-grandparents. Paul, on the other hand, has it down pat all the way back to India. He pointed at Hisen. “Classic Lohari – blacksmith,” he said, explaining Hisen’s roots in an Indian blacksmith caste.

    He has collected hundreds of Wikipedia pages worth of cultural memes and historical footprints of the Roma, and says he has been able to trace European Roma all the way back to their origins in India, going back one village at a time. In some cases, he has found specific cultural practices Roma hold today that match ones that only exist in specific places along their route from India. He gave me an example: when he was living in Preoce, one night Hisen asked Paul to take him and his young daughter to a local healer because the daughter had an ear infection. Over Paul’s protests to take the girl to a “real” doctor, Hisen insisted that this healer had an excellent reputation and would cure his daughter more surely than a doctor in Pristina. So off they went to the local healer, who examined the girl, left the room and came back with a straw. She stuck it in Hisen’s daughter’s ear and proceeded to suck out the white worms that were “causing” the daughter’s earache. The trick actually worked – the earache was gone. Paul, thinking this was interesting, investigated the practice of healers curing earaches by pretending to suck worms out of peoples’ ears, and tracked it to a very specific region in India. He says has done the same with several other practices whose origins Roma people themselves couldn’t explain. He’s made several trips to India to complete the tracking, and says he has multiple books worth of information yet to be published.

    Paul has become very close with the Roma communities he’s worked with over the years, and has a perspective on Roma life unique to most outsiders. He’s the godparent of two of Hisen’s children, and Hisen says he’s so close to Paul that he knows “how the man is breathing.” So Paul’s poems go beyond showing the Roma as flat stereotypes, naïve innocents trapped by suffering.  He tries to depict Roma and their culture “warts and all,” as he says in the introduction to Gypsy Taxi.

    His poems point out that in some cases, Roma culture (or, at least, the culture in and around Preoce, where Paul was based) does not fit with the typical human rights agenda or even with the norms of other cultures around them. The difficulty in changing this, as Roma in Paul’s poems point out time and again, is that culture and tradition are the things that are keeping the Roma from assimilating, from disappearing – after being persecuted, ignored, forced out, poisoned and made to live out the stereotypes of garbage pickers, their culture is all they have left. How should Roma and the different groups working to change their situation reconcile this? It’s a very important question for people trying to bring different communities up to “modern” standards of living that include certain norms and beliefs.

    His examples also highlight the differences between Roma in different parts of Kosovo, and definitely between Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians today. Roma from Prizren would not recognize many of the traditions and habits Paul documents in his poems about Roma in Preoce; based on what I’ve heard from Ashkali and Egyptian friends, the people described in the book would seem very foreign to them, even if they do actually share a common heritage if you go back far enough. What then does that say about the push to treat the “RAE community” as one group, and use a common strategy for addressing their common problems? Even if the symptoms are the same, problems might have different causes stemming from different cultures, situations, histories, etc. – and therefore require more carefully tailored solutions. Solutions that start with the Roma themselves, not internationals. At this point, since so much of the data on the problems faced by Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians treat them as one group (and there’s so little well-collected and comprehensive data on them to begin with), it’s really difficult to say whether the common solutions being devised apply.

    Here are a couple of my favorite poems of Paul’s:

    THE WELL

    They caught me in the marketplace where my people used to sell clothes, where Albanians now sell contraband.
    Four men threw me into the back seat of a blue Lada, yelling, “We told you, no more Gypsies in Prishtina.”

    As I was pushed down on the floor,
    I felt the gun barrel in my left ear. It was so cold
    I jerked just as someone pulled the trigger.
    Blood splattered the side of my face
    from the wound in my shoulder.
    I collapsed, pretending to be dead.

    I prayed to my dear, deceased mother, to all mulos, that these men wouldn’t see from where the blood was oozing. When we arrived, they dragged me out by my feet. My head crashed on the ground, bouncing over several stones.

    They threw me head-first into a well.
    I never reached the water.
    There were too many bodies.
    I lay crumpled up, almost unconscious
    until the smell and sting of wet lime
    brought me back to my senses.

    AFTER THE WAR*

    after Hasan got a chance
    to negotiate the purchase
    of his new girlfriend
    he asked me to help him
    finalize the price

    took Jemail with us
    he was a respected as a good broker
    when two parties couldn’t agree

    we all sat on the floor in a circle
    the father said he’d finally agreed
    to sell his daughter
    if his price was met
    wanted 1,000 for himself
    didn’t care about the traditional clothes and gold
    for his daughter

    Hasan said he was a refugee
    the Albanians had burned down his home
    had no place to live
    very little money
    did have a job
    but couldn’t pay 1,000 euro

    negotiations lasted for two hours
    father wouldn’t compromise
    finally we called a break
    I went outside with Hasan and Jemail
    to discuss the situation

    Hasan said he wouldn’t pay
    he wasn’t buying a cow
    Jemail said he had to follow tradition
    it was the only thing
    Roma had left

    after the war.

    *from Gypsy Taxi, by Paul Polansky

41. Discovering Preoce

    July 25, 2011 2:30 pm Leave a Comment

    Five of the women who are working on the Gracanica quilt are from the village of Preoce. Every week they come to the Voice of Roma center in Gracanica, we chat as best we can about the work, maybe a bit about the family, any news. But I live in Pristina – do I have any idea what their lives look like in wherever Preoce is? Not really. So Hisen, a program coordinator from Voice of Roma, invited me out to see the village last weekend. I discovered that Preoce is a small half-Roma, half-Serb village that’s less than 10 minutes by car from Pristina but seems to be totally unknown to Pristina Albanians (even cab drivers need very detailed instructions on how to find the place, although it’s not far off the road to the airport). It’s so unusual to see Albanians in the village that when Hisen’s wife saw him talking to my Pristina cab driver, for a minute she mistook Hisen for an Albanian as well.

    

    Passing a Serb house on the road into Preoce

    The nicer houses in the village, in general, belong to the Serbs, although I don’t think anyone who lives there is well-off. Today things are peaceful, Roma kids and Serbian kids go to the same village school, and according to Hisen Serbs and Roma are good neighbors, but they don’t live in mixed neighborhoods – there is a “last” Serb house, and then the Roma houses begin. Hisen’s house is the last on the paved street going through the main Roma neighborhood. Branching off the paved road are dirt paths leading to fenced-in dirt yards and squat brick and white plaster houses where during the day people who aren’t out tending fields or doing other work sit in the entryways, chatting and trying to beat the midday heat. Burly chickens and geese go visiting as well – I have no idea how people keep track of which ones belong to which house when it’s feast time.

    There are always a couple of houses standing empty, abandoned by families who were able to leave Kosovo for places they hoped would provide better opportunities. Those who are forced back most often try to leave again as soon as they can – better to try their luck as illegal immigrants in western Europe rather than add to the ranks of the unemployed in the village.

    [youtube ELoyJuGizz4 Roma (non)Returnees in Preoce]

    Voice of Roma is visible all over the village. There’s the 2-room learning center where the local kids have English classes when VoR can find a volunteer teacher, the streetlamps VoR installed (and which Kosovo’s electricity provider has shut off because, as they told Hisen, they can’t figure out how to measure how much power the lamps use…). Some of the sheep running around gardens and the power cultivators roaring into the fields are VoR grants to help the villagers at least subsist off the land, and maybe even do better. Seeing all that was an interesting complement to the theoretical work I’m surrounded by most days in the office – here, “development” means finding solutions to the physical hardships of everyday life, whereas the work I’m involved with deals with mainly intangibles like attitudes, data, and policy. Now, Hisen is planning to open a small boutique hotel in Gracanica (sometime next year, depending on the size of the bribe he and his partners will have to pay to get the building permit). Once the hotel is built, though, and word of his tour guide skills gets around, it should be a huge success. He had a fully stocked program ready for me on Sunday – 14 hours of activities, to be exact (although some of them were a surprise for both of us). We started out at the education center, and then stopped to meet with a group of women who were interested in the quilting project but hadn’t been able to go to our meetings. We moved on to the house of the shy, extremely talented painter who has designed most of the quilt panels (more on her in a later post). I got to sit in their cool, shaded living rooms and drink cup after cup of Fanta offered to me in little painted glasses; to meet babies, sons, daughters, nephews, grandmothers. I watched them work on the beaded flower and star decorations that it seems all the Roma women I’ve met were born knowing how to make.

    But really, the person I learned most about was Hisen – especially once the day took a sudden turn and we ended up on a 4-hour roadtrip that had us climbing to a hilltop 13^th century fortress in Novo Brdo, peering in an unlocked 16^th century tomb and then walking around recently unearthed Roman graves(!). Hisen has been a lifeline for me on the quilting project. As busy as he is, he immediately took interest in the project and has since been a translator, driver, personal shopper and, of course, tour guide almost whenever I’ve needed it. He takes his work seriously but usually has a joke ready, and swears zealously in English. He even gave me the shirt off his back to cover my bare shoulders so that the nuns would let me inside Gracanica’s famous 13^th century Orthodox church. (My camera had run out of batteries by then, so there’s (un)fortunately no documentation of this to get Hisen in trouble. But I assure you it was kosher).

    By all accounts of his biography, Hisen is a man whose back should have been broken years ago. I don’t know much of his history before the war, but the years since 1998 have been a struggle to keep moving forward despite huge odds. At one point he had a chance to escape the hardships of Kosovo and stay in Germany – while he was a refugee there during the war, a German doctor became convinced they were soulmates and should get married – but to Hisen it didn’t feel right; he needed to be home. He went back to Kosovo, lived in the lead-contaminated camps in Plementina until he couldn’t stand it any longer, and then was one of hundreds of Kosovar Roma who marched from the camps to Gracanica and Preoce. When the Serbs living there refused to let the Roma return to their houses, the Roma continued to the Macedonian border to seek asylum.

    Hisen continued to get more and more active in supporting the Roma people. He was hired by American writer Paul Polansky at 10 deutch marks a day (about 7 bucks then) to help Polansky document the trauma the Roma were experiencing. At a time when it was dangerous for Kosovo’s Roma to show their faces in their own villages, he was traveling around the country documenting and delivering supplies and assistance.

    There were kidnapping attempts. Death threats. So many close escapes. One day he was trying to get food home to his family in Fushe Kosove. Walking along the train tracks leading him home, he spotted two bodies lying next to the tracks, and two Serb police, guns in hand, approaching him. They met next to the bodies. They began questioning him threateningly, asking who he was, why he was out, if he knew the dead men. Finally Hisen told them, “If you’re going to shoot me, just shoot me.” The game had gone on long enough. My first thought when he told me that was, how many days of constant fear for your life do you have to live through to be able to say that and mean it? He made it through those dangerous times, started a family, and (fingers crossed) will be a successful hotelier soon. Today he faces the constant pressure of being the breadwinner for his wife, four young children and extended family – an amazing feat for anyone in Kosovo these days, not to mention Roma. As he’s driving me back to Pristina around midnight, the jokes fall away and he starts to talk about the difficulty of having this on his head. His brother’s family may have to return from Macedonia and have nowhere to go other than Hisen’s house; other members of the family are taking advantage of Hisen’s success. He’s tired and worries that it may be too much for him.

    

    Hisen surfs the edge of the Novo Brdo fortress.

    Still he offers his time gladly whenever I need a bit of translation or help with an errand. He goes out of his way to help not just because he’s friendly, which he is, and because it gives him a break from the usual everyday stresses, which it does, but also because he trusts me as someone who’s here to work honestly for better conditions for himself, his family and the rest of the Roma in Kosovo. And so out of respect for my intentions, he will do his best to help me succeed and make my time here worthwhile. I felt honored to hear him explain it this way, one of the times that he, as usual, refused to accept my “thank you” for something helpful he had done. But what a responsibility as well. The responsibility to the communities I’m working with is something I’ve felt very strongly since I got the fellowship and began to plan my work. I think about it every day. But his statement really underscored it for me – particularly the trust that I have to build/hopefully am building for this work to be meaningful. It’s wonderful to know that Hisen is willing to grant me that trust.

42. Adventures in Cooking?

    12:18 pm 234 Comments

    As I sit here rotating my meals between boiled hot dogs and cabbage filled pita (a flaky phyllo dough disc of heaven), it is time that I write about my successes, failures, and comedic attempts at cooking in Bosnia.

    From burek to grah to cevapi, Bosnian dishes are not easily replicated without an iron fisted Bosnian grandmother directing your every move.  There are certain things that I use in my cooking that Bosnia does not offer or even carry in the supermarkets.  Rather than complain, I enjoy each meal because I never know if my creation will be edible or not.

    

    One of my first attempts at "cooking"

    Last time I lived in the Balkans I had the luxury of living with a family.  I had a host-mother who would make delicious meals every single day for a family of eight.  Back home in California, I cook weekly Sunday night dinners for my boyfriend.  It has been an exercise in trying new meals and techniques, but has also helped to develop a more creative side in me.  To be sure, I’m no Chef Ramsey, but I can get busy provided that I have a few key ingredients and appliances.  That’s where the problem arises for me in Bosnia.

    That being said, however, Julia and I are experts in choosing interesting food items at the supermarket.  These can range from simply selecting an item based on its appearance to having heard about something and buying it for its reputation to buying it simply because there is an entire shelf full of it (the more there is of something, the better it must be… right?).  I have a fairly decent grasp of the language, but this grasp is considerably looser when food is thrown into the mix.  Ham, in a Muslim society, is not pork; it is made from chicken.  Cheese types include Travnik, pizza, and homemade.  And, to add more “creativity” into the mix, we cook with two hot plates.  One simply has an on-off switch and the other has adjustable settings, thank goodness.

    

    Pasta with veggies and some type of cheese

    Surprisingly enough, we have discovered a few things that we can cook: pasta with pizza cheese, powdered soup mix, pasta with red sauce and vegetables, and granola.  This success is further amplified by the fact that we both have very different tastes in food.  She hardly eats meat, and I hate tomatoes, peas, tuna, and beans (everything she loves).  We have managed to work around these facts of life and have yet to make something the other refuses to eat.

    

    Another cheesy pasta - this one was delicious!

    Over the past two months I have made some dishes that I will never eat again (the most recent of which being a strange, viscous soup with hot sauce and egg noodles) and others that I look forward to making (like our adapted mac and cheese).  Food is a very important element in every society and extremely so in the Balkans.  While I may not be the best Bosnian housewife or chef on any level, I pride myself in the fact that I trudge on, making mistakes and slowly finding out what works and what absolutely does not.

43. Želiš pomfrits s tim? (You Want Fries with That?)

    July 23, 2011 8:51 am 4 Comments

    Fast food and war criminals.  These are Bosnia’s two big stories this week.  Sarajevo opened the country’s first McDonalds on July 20, the same day as the arrest of the last major war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague.

    Goran Hadzic is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, including involvement with the massacre of nearly 300 non-Serb men and boys in the Croatian town of Vukovar during the 1991 Croatian-Serbian conflict.  While I applaud the arrest of this man, it is no secret that Serbia has finally “captured” him to assist with its courting of the European Union during the accession process.  According to the New York Times, Serbian Present Boris Tadic proclaimed that the arrest meant the completion of Serbia’s “legal [and] moral duties.”  So that is that?  Time to move on and forget what happened less than a generation ago?

    I don’t believe that Serbia should have to continually sit in the perpetrator’s seat – it is neither good for regional relations nor the identity of the Serbian people who generally had nothing to do with the acts of vicious war criminals.  But a government should never be finished with its “moral duties.”  Victims from all sides and all countries must live with their losses, not to mention the destroyed economy, infrastructure, and social welfare system, so it seems counterproductive for the Serbian to simply put a lid on it because they’ve turned over one war criminal to the Hague.

    A good friend of mine works with a Bosnian Diaspora organization called the Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Upon the arrest of Hadzic, she sent out a press release that most succinctly expressed concerns I have seen throughout Bosnia.  “While Serbia has fulfilled its international obligation by capturing Hadzic, it must now open a new chapter and focus on the truth and reconciliation process within the region in order for sustainable peace and prosperity to occur.”

    So as the last major war criminal was turned over to the Hague, thousands in Sarajevo lined up proudly to have their first Bosnian-based Big Mac.  “We’re a normal country now!” proclaims a taxi driver in the Financial Times blog on the opening of the fast-food chain.  So many things make me sad about this sentence that I could write an entirely different blog that might depress myself and my readers, so I will let you determine the most disturbing aspect of such a phrase for yourself.  The major concern about the McDonalds for me though, is the sudden influx of Foreign Direct Investment.  On the whole, the opening of McDonalds signals that the market is ready for increased FDI; I worry that large foreign entities bringing in millions or billions of dollars will increase political corruption and decrease local ownership of the Bosnian economy.

    For a country whose politics are run almost completely on ethnic-based nepotism, more money can only further divide the government and its citizens.  Even cell phone numbers here are ethnically divided – three companies owned by the three major identity groups have turned giving your phone number into an ethnic exercise (I own a 066 number, which means I own a “Serb” number).  With the way the current system exists, new and copious amounts of money cannot simply be divided equally…. some will win and some will lose out on those profits, and most likely it will fall upon ethnic lines.  I, rather pessimistically, imagine that money from FDI will benefit top-level officials and their own ethnic group lackeys, while local Bosnian businesses from all identity groups will be unable to compete.

    This week’s news does not provide a sunny outlook, but interesting and a little odd nonetheless.  It seems like the war defines everything, even penetrating the opening of McDonalds.  Only now, after nearly two months in the country, can I see how the media and public narrative still revolves around 1992-1995.  The international news doesn’t help this case at all – the only time I see Bosnia mentioned in any international coverage is when a story recalls death, genocide, and bombs.  I know that Bosnia hold more, but for now I can’t help but think: “you want fries with that [war criminal]?”

44. A Fling with Flia

    July 19, 2011 5:35 am 340 Comments

    (Note: These last 2 weeks have been monstrously busy – the usual quilting drama, field visits, proposal deadlines, 13th century monuments, 2 bouts of food poisoning, AP visitors, Albanian lessons, ….too many different activities to count each day before I collapse into bed and wait for exhaustion to overcome the sticky nighttime mugginess. And naturally, the blog has suffered. So I’m jumping back in with a cultural experience, for a little change of pace…)

    Whew. With fewer than three weeks to go before I trade Pristina road dust for L.A. smog, I finally got to check eating flia, the quintessential Kosovar/Albanian summertime food, off my must-do list. And not only did I get to eat it fresh off the coals, I got to help make it. Ferdane, my friend from Balkan Sunflowers, invited me to a flia-making party at her house in Fushe Kosove. So Friday afternoon perpetual Peace Fellow Kerry McBroom, who came out to Kosovo to help me through the quilting process last week, and I went out to Ferdane’s mahalla to learn the fine art of flia-making.

    

    Ferdane's house in an Ashkali section of Fushe Kosova.

    (Ironically, when we walked into Ferdane’s living room, her two younger sisters were sitting around with Joanna, a Balkan Sunflowers coordinator from the States, discussing whether they identify as Roma, Ashkali or Egyptian. You might remember in the last post that featured Ferdane, she said she was Ashkali. On flia day she identified herself as Egyptian. She said that’s how similar she considered them – she could easily be one or the other in a given conversation. So that’s one more note on the complexity of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian identity here in Kosovo…)

    After a bit more identity talk we got down to the business of making flia. Flia, for the uninitiated, consists of layer upon layer of baked dough greased up with a film of kefir-sour cream-oil mixture in between each layer. The trick that makes it good is that each layer is baked individually, and, if it’s authentic (like ours was, of course) it’s baked outside with a fire-heated metal lid weighted down with ash broiling the dough golden.

    Kerry, as the oldest in the group, had the honor of wearing a white headscarf that apparently made her head flia-maker. She took the job seriously.

    

    Kerry getting into the role of lead cook

    The batter’s just flour and water (a tub of flour and “enough” water, to be exact); the filling is a bottle of kefir, a couple containers of sour cream, oil and salt. Which is good – the cooking part is so involved that the recipe should be a snap. We mixed up the batter and the filling, then headed outside to where Ferdane and her mom had built a fire in the yard and were prepping the baking lid.

    

    Ferdane ashing the flia lid so it would hold in more heat

    The baking process is where flia-making becomes a two-hour communal activity. You can’t just put the batter in an oven and be done with it (or you can, but it’s apparently not as good). The batter goes into the pan in strips, and once there are enough strips to make the pan look like a cart wheel, it’s time to set the 20+ pound lid on the top of the pan to bake the layer.

    

    Ferdane showed us how to make perfect flia batter strips. Ours weren't always so pretty.

    Tiny Ferdane, naturally, whipped the thing around like it was a pillow, while all my grunts and sensible knee bending didn’t stop me from almost dropping the entire ash pile into the growing flia each time I had to maneuver the lid.

    Once the layer is cooked, it’s time to spread the filling on, and then top it with another layer of batter, ladling it in the spaces not covered by the last layer.

    

    Ferdane wielded the giant lid like a pro.

    

    Kerry and I took turns on filling/batter layering duty.

    Put the lid back on and repeat the cycle 30 or 40 times. After a couple rounds we reached an unspoken agreement that the three American girls would do the batter-ladling and filling-spreading, and Ferdane would do the heavy lifting. She was nice enough not to call us out for being weaklings!
    It’s not so wonderful to be standing or squatting around a hot fire when it’s already 90+ degrees outside, but we had plenty of time to rehash the week’s work gossip, discuss ailments, chat with interested neighbors, watch the sunset, fill up on watermelon – not a bad way to unwind after a busy week. And at the end of it all, there was enough bubbling, steaming flia to feed a family of seven for three days!

    

    The finished product - hot, bubbly flia.

    And the verdict? Crispy, chewy, oily doughy things are almost always worth eating, so no surprises there. I don’t know if I’ll be investing in a custom flia oven for my New York apartment, but I definitely wouldn’t turn down another invitation to a Fushe Kosove flia party.

     

45. No Big Fat Gypsy Eviction Here. We are Human Beings.

    July 18, 2011 3:35 pm 2 Comments

    Last week marked the official opening of the office in the St. Christopher’s Community Centre on site at Dale Farm.  So far, it only consists of a table, some chairs, a sign-in sheet and a kettle, but we hope to be kitted out with at least a computer, printer and broadband this week.  Adding to the crucifixes and portraits of Mary that already decorated the walls of the centre are new posters with messages such as “£18 Million wasted on Dale Farm. No sites identified. Who is really to blame?” and “Tell us where to go and we will go. If not here, then where?”

    

    Someone has to be in the office at all times to sign visitors in and to answer any questions the residents have about their precarious situation. Today, it was 11 year-old Dale Farm resident, Eileen who was manning the office.  Unlike most of the adults at Dale Farm, Eileen can read and write and was proudly showing me and my 3 year-old daughter, Molly, how much she had learnt so far at Crays Hill Primary School. She even drew Molly a picture of a princess that has now become her most prized possession.The office will serve as a central meeting point for residents facing eviction to gather for moral support, to get daily updates on their legal situation and to make sure that their homelessness applications are up-to-date. We hope that, after two years of asking Basildon Council to agree to have officers from its Homelessness Department on site, this will finally take place. The office can serve as a hub for officers to meet with residents and more effectively process their homeless applications. Furthermore, their presence on site would be an important gesture to show the Travellers that Basildon Council is taking its homelessness obligations seriously.

    Father Dan, the priest at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Wickford, blessed the office after the final in the series of nine prayer services he has led on site at Dale Farm over the last nine days.

     

     

46. Mars Mira and Srebrenica

    4:49 am 2 Comments

    Last weekend was one I will never forget.  Even a week later I’m not sure that I am fully recovered.  I was exhausted to the point of collapse and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced.  I had been pushed to my limit both physically and emotionally.

    

    Srebrenica, July 11, 1995

    Sunday, July 10, I joined former BOSFAM peace fellow Alison Sluiter and a group of international students on the last day of the Mars Mira (March of Peace) through the Bosnian countryside.  The march is the same route that the Bosnian Muslims took when they escaped Srebrenica and tried to make it to the free territory of Tuzla.  Thousands were killed along the way.  Each year thousands of people hike from Nezuk to Potocari to remember the people who died.  I did not participate in the full three days, but even after one day on this strenuous hike, my respect for those who traversed it 16 years ago swelled.

    

    6,000 participants on the Peace March

    We hiked in 100º F weather for over 17 miles (some are saying it is closer to 20 miles).  While most of the time I struggled to put one foot in front of the other, I surprised myself.  I was not the last one to complete the march.  I arrived almost unable to walk and with blisters covering the soles of my feet.  Only today am I able to walk without a bit of a limp.

    

    Julia and I in our hiking attire

    However, I was able to see a side of Bosnia that is invisible to many.  I met great people and spent a night with strangers who were not only willing but also honored that so many international people had decided to remember the genocide in such an active and exhausting way.  Even though I may never participate in Mars Mira again, I am so happy that I did it this year.

    

    Some of the 613 coffins to be buried in Potocari

    July 11, 1995 has been inescapable since I arrived in Tuzla.  I knew that it would be difficult to empathize but to also understand the trauma of so many without attending the memorial in Potocari.  This year, 60,000 people crowded around over 5,000 graves as 613 new coffins were interred.  I had never before seen so many emotions in one place.  Sadness, anger, and grief poured out from absolutely everyone.  As four men carried a coffin to its final resting place, several women came toward me.  One was about to faint from the stress and the heat.  In that moment, I was truly able to see the pain that still exists 16 years later.

    

    The Memorial service at Potocari

    Even with learning and reading about the Bosnian war, I was unable to receive such a provoking and emotional understanding of the grief and trauma of this state.  Seeing thousands of families burying their loved ones together paints a faint picture of the suffering Bosnia has gone through since the war started.  As I sit here trying to write this blog, I feel as if my words cannot give this country, this weekend, and my emotions the weight and respect that they need.  I am still trying to sort out my feelings and how it affected me.

    

    Remembering the victims

47. There is a simple solution at Dale Farm: provide a culturally-adequate site

    July 14, 2011 3:37 am Leave a Comment

    “All persons, groups and communities have the right to resettlement, which includes the right to alternative land of better or equal quality and housing that must satisfy the following criteria for adequacy:  accessibility, affordability, habitability, security of tenure, cultural adequacy, suitability of location, and access to essential services such as health and education.” Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment 4: The Right to Adequate Housing, par. 8.

    The residents at Dale Farm are fed up with homeless applications. Even before I got involved at Dale Farm over two years ago, many of the Travellers were already part of a long, frustrating homelessness process they did not understand. This process has been ongoing ever since, and a few other supporters and I, as their advocates, have been faced with a system that does not make provision for Travellers.

    

    When we were going into Basildon Council for her homelessness interview a confused Mary Ann said to me, “I am not homeless. I have a home. It is the Council that is making me homeless.” It was not only this contradiction that was the problem, but also that the Homelessness Department and its policies/offerings are solely designed to accommodate settled people. Each Dale Farm resident, at their interview, made it clear that they did not consider themselves homeless, that they could not survive without the support of their extended family and that they would not be able to live in bricks and mortar. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions of the Homelessness Department, the best-case scenario for the Travellers is that they are offered a house or flat, isolated from their extended family, at the end of the process. This may seem reasonable to settled people, but it is unfathomable for these Travellers.

    Two of the families at Dale Farm who have been offered bricks and mortar have appealed the decision, urging the courts to rule that Basildon Council must provide them with culturally-adequate accommodation. The Travellers believe that what they are asking for would be a much lower-cost solution for the Council than providing them with houses. As Nora said to me, “There are settled people who need those houses and flats. All we are asking for is a small piece of ground to put our caravan. The Council won’t have to do anything.”  Barbara explained further, “It is like telling settled people that they have to live in caravans.” Their appeal was unsuccessful at the county level, but is now being appealed to the High Court.

    Since this case, which has the potential to change the law and require councils to provide culturally-adequate housing, is currently in limbo, Dale Farm Travellers have been put in an impossible position.  The homelessness process has essentially failed them. They will be made homeless, as not a single resident has yet been prepared to choose a solution that will force them to leave behind their entire way of life and to abandon their extended family members and community. Shouldn’t the UK government be stepping in to do everything in its power to both ensure that these people are not made homeless and that they are not forced to forfeit their culture in the process?

    There is a ‘peaceful’ long-term resolution to this situation. The Dale Farm Travellers have continuously said that they will ‘move off peacefully” (as MP John Baron has continuously asked them to do) if a culturally-appropriate site can be identified for them to lawfully live on. Not only is this the humanitarian solution consistent with the UK’s international obligations, but it would also avoid the immediate millions that would be spent on an eviction and the millions that will be required to deal with its aftermath.

     

     

48. There are many ways to protect the green belt. Evicting Dale Farm Travellers is not one of them.

    July 10, 2011 2:33 pm Leave a Comment

    I was at Dale Farm yesterday for the first in a series of Activity Weekends, arranged by Dale Farm Solidarity to get supporters mobilised and organised in the lead up to the eviction. 

    

    As I was waiting for meetings to start, I had a chat with Dale Farm resident, John, who was showing off his boxing gloves and looking for bugs with his friends (John, John and Tommy) outside one of the industrial buildings from the old scrapyard. The building remains standing directly next to the small plot he lives on with his parents and sister. Of course, we didn’t talk about the eviction. Breeda, the mother of one of the boys, said “the young kids aren’t able to understand what’s happening and it won’t set in until the bulldozers come in, they are forced onto the road and they can’t go to the school they love anymore.” So we talked about the different kinds of bugs and worms they had managed to catch that day.

    

    For me, the abandoned building they were playing in front of serves as an important reminder that this site was not a green field that was occupied and turned into concrete by the Travellers.  The site was an old car breakers’ yard (at the end of a legal Traveller site), deep in concrete and in a bad condition when residents bought the land and moved onto it.  As soon as you visit Dale Farm and have a look around, it becomes clear that this eviction can’t really be about the preservation of green belt.  (See former AP fellow, James Dasinger’s account of what he deems “The Greenbelt Myth“.)

    So, what is this eviction about? And why is the UK Government endorsing this extortionately expensive campaign by Basildon Council, which will make an entire group homeless and will offer no short- or long-term solution for the Travellers or for local settled people. Surely, John and the rest of the Dale Farm residents deserve an answer to these straight-forward questions.

49. Support Dale Farm Travellers

    July 6, 2011 3:52 pm Leave a Comment

    If you want to support the residents at Dale Farm, here are a few ways you can get involved. They need your help now more than ever.

    

    Activity Weekends

    Starting this Saturday, 9 July, supporters will be meeting at Dale Farm every week from 11 a.m. to discuss :

    * Planning
    * Introductions and discussions with Dale Farm residents
    * Helping build obstacles to make eviction more difficult
    * Legal observer & human rights training
    * Media training, including photography, film making, reportage
    * Peaceful resistance and non-violent civil disobedience workshops

    Join Camp Constant, a group of friends and supporters of Dale Farm who will live at Dale Farm to support residents from the last weekend in August.

    Become a Human Rights Monitor. See the Dale Farm Legal Monitors facebook page for more details.

    Receive regular updates about the campaign to resist the eviction of Dale Farm, by subscribing to the announcements list here.

    Join the Dale Farm Solidarity facebook group and tell your friends to join too.

    Follow these people on twitter and retweet the latest news on Dale Farm:

    @letdalefarmlive

    @susanjcg

    @richardhowitt

    Write letters or send e-mails to members of Basildon District Council and Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities.

    Sign the petition to stop the Dale Farm Eviction.

50. Are They Really Victims?

    5:25 am 2 Comments

    In six days I will join my fellow BOSFAM women at the Potocari memorial to commemorate the genocide.  For the past week there has been a palpable shift in attitudes around here.  The news is also gearing up for the anniversary and I cannot help but notice how freely the word victim is tossed around.

    

    The word victim connotes one who has not only suffered but has also been damaged and destroyed.  This so-called victim is usually helpless and weak.  A victim has been wronged, but a victim has also accepted the pain and suffering.  It is almost something comfortable and a feeling of safety by those who know nothing besides abuse and hardship.

    What attracted me to BOSFAM, however, was the simple fact that these women are not victims.  They don’t sit around wallowing in their pain or in their past.  Tima and Zifa are anything but victims.  Their strength is more than many of us will ever know – the pure strength to not give up and to not live in the past, which is so easy to do.

    To pigeonhole someone because of her past has proven detrimental for a country like Bosnia where so many have suffered so intensely.  The victim is someone to be coddled and protected.  This does not allow said person to stand and walk, let alone to grow.  BBC and Balkan Insight discuss the survivors of the Srebrenica massacre with the same pity that is reserved for the victims themselves.  But the survivors are just that.  They have survived and they have overcome their losses.  Their past is something hideous that is remembered and honored, but it is not something that defines them.

    

    Honoring the past

    The country as a whole could stand to recognize this and learn from Tima and Zifa.  They have overcome the deaths of husbands, brothers, and sons.  Their houses were destroyed, and they were forced to move away from the only town they ever called home.  They started from nothing and rebuilt their lives one day at a time.  If they have been able to do all this, and to do all this without hate, why are they still victims?  They have not succumbed to anything nor have they let the past define them.

51. Prayer Service at Dale Farm

    July 5, 2011 8:32 pm 2 Comments

    

    Residents facing eviction and local supporters gathered together today outside Mary Ann’s chalet for a special prayer service, led by their local priest, Father Dan. The Irish Travellers at Dale Farm are all devout Catholics and, over the past ten years, have become a fixed part of the Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in nearby Wickford.

    The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain has today formally condemned the eviction and the Bishop of Brentwood will soon be issuing a formal statement to the same effect.
    

52. Something special about Prizren, something special about Iniciativa 6

    3:03 pm 1 Comment

    Without fail, each time I return to Pristina from a visit to Prizren, I take my seat on the bus feeling relaxed, happy and energized. It’s not just that Prizren is a nice place to visit (although it is – it’s a lovely town with lots of historic charm set among lush green hills; it’s often referred to as “the jewel of Kosovo”). But more than being happy to have a little break from “the big city,” I’m consistently delighted and impressed by the group of fifteen women and girls who are creating Prizren’s contribution to the Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian advocacy quilt that we’ll complete before the end of my fellowship.

    They are all members of the Iniciativa 6 center that seeks to empower Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (primarily children and youth) through education, health and vocational training programs.

    Last week was my third visit to Iniciativa’s home base, located out of the city center in one of Prizren’s several Roma mahallas (neighborhoods). The place, a repurposed family home situated between two vacant lots, radiates positive energy – it’s full of laughing children playing and smiling teenagers and adults happily working on painting the attic, cleaning the kitchens or doing some craft project. At first glance, it could easily pass as Kosovo’s answer to 19 Kids and Counting. (Although that could just be me going through TLC withdrawal…)

    When my new Albanian translator, Odeta, and I arrived this last time, a Turkish KFOR unit was distributing a shipment of school notebooks to a crowd of little Iniciativa members. The kids, pumped up from the combination of foreigners, free books and probably some candy to go with it, mobbed us. They pulled at our clothes, demanded autographs, threatened to rip apart the bags of snacks we’d brought for the meeting. Odeta looked like she was worried about making it out of the crowd alive. But I’ve learned that even though it might appear chaotic at first, the people at Iniciativa always have a plan. Sure enough, within seconds we were plucked out of the mob by the older girls to head to the meeting room upstairs and get down to business.
    

    

    
    The purpose of this visit was to buy the materials they’ll need to make the quilt squares. So a group of seven of us set off for the city center, toward the bazaar.  The 22-year-old group leader, a woman who’s always got a plan, told me she could get the best deal on fabric – as long as I kept quiet and didn’t let the shopkeepers think I was an international with euro-lined pockets. So when we got to the marketplace I resisted snapping photos of the stalls jammed with shimmering fabrics, heavily embroidered wedding vests and sequin-covered everything. The leader looked back at me every few feet and winked, reminding me to keep our secret. The other girls giggled. We all crowded into a stall stocked with enough beaded finery for 300 spangled Kosovar weddings, and after a few minutes of the leader haggling – success! We walked out with an armload of fabric, enough for all their quilt squares, at a third of the price that I’d seen for the same stuff in Pristina.

    Sure, this was just the start of a two-hour odyssey through the avenues and back streets of Prizren to pick up the rest of the materials, but she knew exactly what she needed and how to get it at the best price. Thriftiness is another quality I admire, so I was happy to go along for the ride while the girls – literally – danced and sang their way through town.

    

    

    During my meetings with them I get treated to enthusiastic smiles from the girls, lots of giggles, warm hugs from the program director Drita. But the amazing thing isn’t their good natures, but how well they work together, and with such a sense of purpose. Those who know me know that I’m a fan of structure; these girls have me beat. The girls’ group, “Oaza” (oasis), made up of 15-20 girls and women representing 2 or 3 generations and a wide range of educational and family backgrounds, has been working together on various projects for about 6 months, and cooperates seamlessly. With all their cheeriness, the word I hear most is “serious” – they are serious about their projects, education, their futures, helping others in their community. Drita and the group are always eager to get to work and excited about making it meaningful. Seeing their energy, it’s hard not to be completely optimistic about the future of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women in Kosovo.

    I always feel like I’m in very good company in Prizren. I need to come up with an excuse to go see them more than once a week!

    

53. 28 days’ notice

    July 4, 2011 2:47 pm 1 Comment

    Today, I received the call I’ve been dreading since I started working with the Travellers at Dale Farm. Michelle, one of the residents, rang to tell me that Basildon Council (BDC) was at the site, issuing the 28-day notice letters. I headed down there, hoping that it was just another of the many false alarms we’ve had over the years. As I approached, I could see the women of Dale Farm gathered underneath the “We Won’t Go!” banner that marks the entrance to the contested yards.  People were understandably distressed, scared and angry.  Noreen handed me the letter and asked me to read it aloud, which confirmed that BDC had handed them their notice, giving them until 31 August to leave their homes before a September eviction.

    

    Basildon Council is ignoring the undeniable toll this eviction will take on the lives of these women and their families. There is no question that by evicting these individuals from the homes they have made at Dale Farm over the past ten years, BDC will be making them homeless.  There has been no attempt by the BDC to find culturally suitable alternative accommodation for even the most vulnerable residents.  BDC admits its legal responsibility to find alternative school places for children and alternative medical services for those who need it, but is forcing an eviction that will make these commitments impossible to satisfy. Margaret asked me how, if homeless and on the road, she was going to find a suitable school place for her son with Down’s Syndrome, who is currently well cared for at the Pioneer School in Basildon. Jeany asked me how she was going to attend doctor’s appointments for her heart condition and have much-needed operations on her spine and hip if she is forced onto the road with nowhere legal to stop.

    These human beings will not disappear once evicted. The humanitarian impact will be massive, and BDC will be responsible for a community of people, homeless, with no reasonable access to the education or healthcare that are their basic human rights.

54. Dale Farm Travellers Face Constant Abuse

    July 1, 2011 9:05 am Leave a Comment

    Following the news that Essex Police have now secured £4.65 million from the Home Office, Basildon Council seems more determined than ever to go ahead with its £18 million eviction campaign at Dale Farm. Councillors agreed the final funding arrangements for the eviction at a meeting last night, and the 86 Traveller families fear that the 28-day notice letters could follow any day.

    

    This eviction will be the largest the UK has ever seen and the humanitarian impact will undoubtedly be significant, particularly given that Basildon Council has chosen the controversial bailiff firm, Constant & Co., to remove the Travellers. Even Constant & Co.’s smaller-scale evictions of Travellers at Meadowlands (see pt. 2 of the video here), Twin Oaks, and Hovefields have been brutal, with allegations that Constant ignored health and safety regulations, burned chalets and caravans, and racially abused residents. Mr Justice Andrew Collins called their methods into question during a 2008 judicial review, and declared it “inappropriate” for Basildon Council to continue using the company. Nevertheless, Basildon Council has stuck with the firm.

    Furthermore, in Basildon Council’s own Statement Regarding the Proposed Eviction from its Legal Services Manager, Lorraine Brown, it promised to “ensure that as a part of the procurement process for the appointment of bailiffs…that health and safety, equality duties, partnership working, experience and previous record of conduct are factors that will be assessed.”  Given these requirements, it is difficult to understand how Basildon Council can have selected Constant & Co. a company with an undeniably problematic record with Traveller evictions in all of the areas mentioned (which has been publicly highlighted by a High Court judge, the Deputy Children’s Commissioner and the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing). How does a company that boasts of their ‘unrivalled experience’ in evicting a particular ethnic group propose to meet their equality duties to that group?

    

    The question now is how Basildon Council and Constant & Co. plan to adhere to agreed human rights standards and to minimise the humanitarian impact of such a large-scale eviction. The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing’s Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement outlines agreed standards for ensuring respect of human rights during an eviction process. Not only are States obligated to ensure that “evictions should not result in individuals being rendered homeless” and that “the human right to adequate housing should be guaranteed without discrimination based on ethnic or social origin”, but the document also provides specific guidelines for ensuring human rights during evictions. According to the guidelines, States should ensure the presence of government officials and neutral observers, protect the right to life, dignity and security, make special arrangements to ensure the rights of women and children, avoid evictions in inclement weather, at night, prior to school examinations or during religious occasions, and to ensure the protection of people and possessions from violence or destruction.

    So far, neither Basildon Council nor Constant & Co. have commented on how they propose to guarantee that human rights standards are met during the eviction. The UK Deputy Children’s Commissioner has, on several occasions, asked the council what it intends to do to safeguard children during demolition and what alternative accommodation is being offered them, but no satisfactory answer has yet been received.  Given the brutality of past Constant & Co. Traveller evictions, the lack of attention by Basildon Council given to recognised human rights standards and the rising tensions amongst Travellers who own the land at Dale Farm and have nowhere else to go, this eviction is a humanitarian catastrophe in the making.

55. Starting the patchwork

    June 27, 2011 3:06 pm 1 Comment

    Last week the group of women I’m working with in Gracanica and I had our first real brainstorming day to start building up the story they want their part of the quilt to tell. I left it quite open-ended when it was time to start making preliminary drawings – it’s up to them to decide what aspect of their lives they want to present – and it was interesting to see how each woman interpreted our opening discussion about what sets Roma (these women are all Roma) women apart from others in Kosovo, the persistent problems they face from outside and within their community, what they want from their lives.

    

    Women from our Gracanica group spent a morning working on their quilt square designs in the Voice of Roma office.

    Two of the group chose to show Roma women as they were. A woman who makes embroidery panels of traditional scenes of Roma life drew a woman in traditional Roma dress (covered head, apron over a long skirt) making flija, a traditional Albanian dough and meat layered pie that in the old days (and in the drawing) would be made outdoors in a pan over a fire. I unfortunately have yet to taste the real thing; her drawing looked delicious.

    A woman from a nearby village who makes a small living as an artist drew a portrait of an idealized Roma woman, with flowered headscarf, earrings, long eyelashes. These two drawings showed a domesticity that was simple, beautiful.

    The youngest member of the group thought toward her future. She dreams of being an architect, and drew the house she would like to build for herself someday. This doesn’t sound so revolutionary, until you consider her circumstances. As a Roma girl about to finish high school, she is already exceptional. Attending university would put her in a tiny minority of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women who have the education to potentially join the professional middle class. Her next hurdle is to win a scholarship so she can afford to study in Pristina.

    The boldest of the group, an activist from a small village outside of Gracanica, wanted to directly address a troubling issue that bears heavily on the lives of many women and girls from the three communities: the cultural mandate that new brides be virgins when they are married. This tradition holds in Roma communities across the region. RROGRAEK Director Shpresa (who was translating) told me that in eastern Kosovo (including Gracanica), a new couple must still hang their wedding night bedsheet out of their window the morning after their first night together, displaying it for the entire town. If there is no blood stain on the sheet to prove that the new bride had been a virgin, the groom’s family can reject the girl, sending her back to her own family, and she will be permanently, publicly, shamed, as well as probably beaten, or worse. She will probably then be married off to an older man, perhaps a widower, because no young man’s family will accept her. While this practice is apparently receding in western Kosovo, even in those more progressive areas the family of the groom may want to see the sheet privately to be sure their son has married a worthy woman.

    This tradition isn’t limited to the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities – it’s an old Albanian custom as well – but most Albanian families don’t use the virginity test as final proof of the bride’s worth.

    A few of the other women in the group joined in the conversation, agreeing that the virginity issue is one of the most important for Roma women because the consequences of not being a virgin can be so dire. They were all from towns and villages where this is their reality. It underscores how little choice many women from these communities have in the major events of their lives: ruled over by powerful patriarchal traditions, girls are shuttled from cage to cage.

    The group said that the younger generations may be starting to see virginity as less of a requirement and more of a desirable quality; this study done in the region (not including Kosovo) is a bit less conclusive. For now, anyway, “dishonorable” Roma brides continue to be pilloried, unless they’re able to scrape together enough money to renew their virginity.

    Taken together, I think that the group’s ideas represent very well the intersection that Roma women find themselves at – they are proud of their traditions, but are also aware that some of them hold them back from being independent, maybe even from being happy. Some have strong ideas for their futures but know that economic and social realities may make those dreams impossible. There are so many competing forces shaping how Roma women see themselves and their futures. How to navigate the crossroads is the challenge. I’m excited to see where the project takes us next…

56. Life and Loss in Bosnia: That is That

    June 24, 2011 5:49 am 8 Comments

    How can we ever live with the slaughter of 8,000 men and boys on 11 July, 1995?  One method is remembrance.  On the 11^th of every month, nearly one hundred women walk through Tuzla and convene at the fountain in the middle of old town.  The atmosphere is solemn and congenial at the same time – the women come together to remember their loved ones lost during the Srebrenica genocide, but because it occurs each month there is a level of normalization that allows the women to catch up with each other.
    

    

    
    Zifa, one of our beloved BOSFAM weavers, is not a regular at this gathering.  Quinn (my fellow-fellow at BOSFAM) and I, however, did not know this.  When Zifa asked us if we’d like to go to the gathering, we said yes thinking we would accompany her on a regular journey.  Not the case.  In Bosnia, a country with the highest levels of hospitality I’ve ever known, “do you want to go” really means “I will go out of my way because I think you might be interested in seeing [insert any Bosnian event or landmark].”

    We found out that Zifa doesn’t usually attend only after we returned to BOSFAM.  Why?  Because this memorial is like a funeral procession.  BOSFAM helped women survivors to sow the names of the lost on pieces of fabric, and made it into a long string similar to Buddhist prayer flags.  At the top of the procession is a banner with photographs of the men killed.  There is a photo on the banner of Zifa’s son, who was 25 when he was murdered in the forests outside of Srebrenica.  Zifa has an understandably difficult time seeing her son’s photo.  I knew that Zifa lost her son, as well as her two brothers and many nephews, and this information often brought me to silence.  To see Zifa put herself through this for us though, her ljepotice (“pretty ones”), brought a landslide of emotions – of love, guilt, deep sorrow, and sympathy.  I was so proud to be Zifa’s “pretty one” as we walked back through town to BOSFAM.

    Upon our return we realized our trip had been out of the ordinary for Zifa.  She took a tablet to calm her nerves and laid down, scarf over her face.  At this moment, I felt a need to protect Zifa from anymore pain life might bring her.  Never before had I so fiercely wanted to rewind history and change its course – my own, personal losses seemed bearable if I could only go back and tell Zifa’s son to get out of Srebrenica a week or a month earlier.

    

    All I can say though is zao mi je (“I’m sorry”).  Even with better Bosnian, it might be all I can ever say to these women, because I simply don’t understand what they’re going through and I certainly can’t shed any light on why this terrible thing happened to them.  As I stood in the center of town, holding one of the flags memorializing a man killed, I turned to my neighbor.  This stranger was my mom’s age, and I spoke a bit with her in my basic Bosnian.  She lost two sons – one was 24 – my age.  Suddenly, I found myself looking at a picture of this young man she always keeps in her wallet.  A man who could have been any of my male friends back in Washington, DC.  She and I stood, both at a loss for words.  I said I was so sorry, that I couldn’t understand how it all happened, and she replied to je to.  That is that.

    Before leaving the gathering, I turned to the woman I had befriended and thanked her.  I said I might see her in a month at the burial ceremony in Srebrenica.  We held hands, we hugged and she kissed my cheek.  I’m not sure who was more moved – I suspect it was me – but what had passed between us reminded me that solidarity is important.  My small attempts to express my feelings had built a bridge between me and the woman.  A relationship such as this, based solely on respect, compassion, and love, can ease the pain for a moment or two.  The loss of my father at the age of twelve taught me that sometimes a moment or two, a pause in the pain, is just enough to keep us going.

    

    That is life here in Tuzla.  You might not always see it, but there are ghosts that follow around people.    Don’t get me wrong, everyone who has experienced a loss or trauma of any kind has a history that they must learn to manage throughout life.  I know these struggles intimately.  But a town of 40,000 refugees who fled ethnic cleansing and genocide carries a weight unique unto itself.  So if to je to, that is life, whether we like it or not, why not try and find some meaning in it all?  My small connections with the woman at the event, and with Zifa, have brought meaning to their and my own losses.  Author Milan Kundera says it best in my favorite book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being:

    “The heaviest of burdens crushes us, we sink beneath it, it pins us to the ground.  But in love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man’s body.  The heaviest of burdens is therefore simultaneously an image of life’s most intense fulfillment. The heavier the burden, the closer our lives come to the earth, the more real and truthful they become…”

57. Kundër Hajnisë

    June 22, 2011 2:41 pm Leave a Comment

    

    Today’s demonstration, “Kundër Hajnisë” (“Against the Thieves” in Kosovo dialect) went off without a hitch. I, being the good, rule-respecting Fellow I am, stayed out of the action, but luckily my office building is 100 feet or so from the where the stage was set up, and I had a good view from the balcony. A bit after noon, a throng of protesters and members of the Vetevendosjë! (“Self-determination!”) party carrying banners and flags, and blasting deafening whistles, marched down the pedestrian Mother Teresa Street in central Pristina, stopped across from the government building, and cheered and booed accordingly to the words of a couple of guys standing up on a grandstand with bullhorns. Police had set up barricades and were standing by, but no rubber bullets were fired, no tear gas was thrown, and the ambulance drivers there at the ready could have gotten an afternoon nap. After the rally everyone went back to work (or back to their usual café, basically the same thing).

    Why does this merit a blog post, then, if nothing was remarkable? Because in Kosovo public political demonstrations are virtually taboo, which I think is disappointing in a country with such visible government corruption. I can’t comment on Vetevendosjë!’s platform (it was a bit disconcerting to see nothing but Albanian flags when the party, as I understand it, is supposed to be about Kosovo’s, not just Albanians’, self-determination), but there’s no doubt that a public statement against graft is necessary in a place where corrupt institutions are holding back the hopes and talents of Kosovo’s young generation. So I thought it was great to see a peaceful public action that addressed a legitimate public issue.

    But that doesn’t seem to be the mainstream sentiment. All week, signs announcing the rally had been going up around town, and I heard people talking a bit nervously about it. Vetevendosjë! has held a reputation as a trouble-maker since its massive 2007 rally got out of control and resulted in the death of two demonstrators.

    It’s easy to see why people who have been through Kosovo’s history of the last two decades would be wary of anything that could spark public violence. But peaceful public assembly should be a favorite instrument in an activist’s toolbox, and it seems like it’s time more politically-minded people in Kosovo cultivated it. I’m of the opinion that rallies, protests, peaceful civil disobedience, etc, can be galvanizing, inspiring, and most of all useful, tools to keep institutions in step with the public’s wishes. So it was especially disappointing to hear that, apparently, one of the main voices responsible for discouraging public demonstrations is American: U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell, who as the representative of the U.S. government is very influential (or “like the voice of God” as one activist I talked to put it) has apparently spoken out against such rallies. (I couldn’t find any direct statements backing this up in a quick Google search, so admittedly this is hearsay…)

    When I first arrived in Kosovo and was trying to decide how we could get the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian advocacy quilt I’m helping to produce have the most impact, the first thing that I thought of was to stage a rally (or several rallies in multiple towns) and use the quilt as a powerful visual statement to go with a speech or two by Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women leaders. A Roma journalist I went to for advice suggested that we make the quilt’s creation into a public action – to have women spend half a day sitting and stitching in a central square, forcing residents to notice their presence and their message. Both these ideas were quickly squelched. I was told that Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women wouldn’t understand the point of such an action, wouldn’t want to make such a public statement. The director of the NGO Voice of Roma even said that he would fear for the safety of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women demonstrating in Pristina. Given what I know of the Kosovo Women’s Network’s demonstrations on controversial women’s rights issues, I hope that those fears would be unfounded, but I’m really not sure.

    As an outsider, I felt that it wasn’t my place to push the issue, especially if a demonstration would be in any way dangerous, but it’s hard to accept that these communities don’t seem to be ready to make a visible public stand for their rights. I can respect a culture of non-confrontation, but culture shouldn’t be an excuse for being voiceless. Without greater visibility of women from these communities, there’s zero chance of their acceptance. It may certainly be true that I don’t have a nuanced enough understanding of the situation to see why public action is a bad idea – it could be the case that these communities aren’t ready to back up such an action with a real campaign; that the cultural exhibitions that have been becoming more frequent are the best way to start; that working through the usual political channels will be effective. And public demonstrations of course aren’t the end-all solution to powerlessness. But it seems like women actually getting out into the streets and speaking out for themselves would be a great way to gain some momentum – and why leave out a potentially useful tactic? I’m interested to see if my view has changed by the time I finish my internship. For now, I can’t help thinking about how fabulous it would be to see a group of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women marching down Mother Teresa Street in front of shocked café patrons taking their afternoon coffees…

    

58. The Chance to Move Forward

    June 21, 2011 12:54 pm 3 Comments

    Genocide. It is something that the women of BOSFAM deal with on a daily basis. No one in Bosnia was left unaffected from the war. And these women lost their closest family members: sons, brothers, husbands.

    One woman, Tima, wears a hijab. When you first meet her, she seems reserved and almost harsh. She stands tall and proud and I recently found out why. She is a simple woman with not much education behind her. However, she raised all her children to be highly educated and successful individuals. They are her ultimate accomplishment amplified only by the loss of her husband in July of 1995 when Srebrenica fell to the Bosnian Serbs. That was when she put on the hijab and has not taken it off since.

    

    Tima: truly a strong woman

    Last week I visited Potocari for the first time. It is the place in which 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered, shot point blank, in warehouses and thrown into mass graves around the country. On the way to the new BOSFAM center in Srebrenica, we stopped at the memorial cemetery in Potocari. It was almost completely deserted, much different than what I will encounter on July 11 when tens of thousands of mourners come to bury their loved ones.

    

    The (nonexhaustive) list of names at the Potocari Memorial

    Thousands of simple white graves stretched out before me. They seemed to go on for miles. I could sense a definite shift in Beba’s attitude. She lost two nephews and a brother-in-law and they were buried somewhere in the expanse before us. In less than a month we will be back to Potocari with many others. I have been trying to mentally prepare myself since the day I received confirmation of this fellowship, but I know that nothing I can possibly conceive of will compare to this experience in two and a half weeks. I have coffee every morning with women like Tima who were personally affected by the brutality of the war. I cannot imagine the pain through which they have gone and that they have surpassed.

    

    Thousands of graves stretch before me

    I cannot help but be completely inspired by Beba and her drive to help and encourage women of all ages and, more importantly, of all ethnicities. While sitting in the Srebrenica center with a blond woman, Beba turned to me and asked: “What is the difference between Milica and myself?” I looked at her like it was a trick question. I had been attempting to understand bits of their conversation, usually with no luck, so the question caught me completely off guard. Beba looked at my surprise and said, “Exactly. Nothing! She is a Serb and I am a Bosniak. There is no difference.”

    Beba lost almost everything she had during the war. Her house in Srebrenica was destroyed. Twice. Instead of letting hate for the enemy control the rest of her life, she sought to help her country and found a way in which to do so. She has opened two centers for women in Bosnia – one in the Federation and the other in the Serbian Republic (which is based out of her parents’ house). Not only have these places provided all women with income generation, but she has vowed to never close her doors on those in need. Even when most of the members of the Tuzla center will attend the memorial in Potocari, BOSFAM will remain open for those wishing to seek comfort.

    

    The new BOSFAM center in Srebrenica

    Many talk about “helping people” and doing something for “the greater good”. Beba is one of those people who has done something. And she hasn’t just done something. She has given countless women forms of expression and a new, open, and inviting community. But it can’t come from nothing. The women who lost their sons, brothers, and husbands saw an opportunity and embraced the chance to heal and move forward.

59. From the field: women’s literacy training in Fushe Kosova

    June 19, 2011 3:30 pm 291 Comments

    (I know I said the last post was supposed to be more about the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women in Kosovo, but I got sidetracked by Flurije’s story! So now I’m moving along…)

    This week I finally started my field visits (not counting a quick meeting in Gracanica, a town about 20 minutes outside of Pristina, to speak with Voice of Roma last Friday). I was very happy to be out exploring. Although I’m happy to spend my days picking up Albanian slang from the staff at the Kosovo Gender Studies Center while I’m editing grant proposals and having fabulous 1-euro byrek me spinaq lunches from the shop down the street, I didn’t come here to spend 40 hours a week in an office!

    The goal of these visits has been to find partners for the project I’m doing with RROGRAEK – working with women from these communities to create an advocacy quilt that expresses their hopes for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women’s empowerment – and for me, it’s been a chance to start getting more than a textbook idea of what being a woman in these communities looks like in different parts of the country.

    My first visit, to observe a literacy program for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women in the town of Fushe Kosova, helped to put me in touch with one of the most basic and most poignant struggles most women from these communities face – getting an education.

    As educated, literate NGO workers, RROGRAEK’s staff, Shpresa (who is Roma) and Diana (who is Egyptian) don’t represent the average women from their communities. According to UNICEF, only 13% of Kosovar Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians (boys and girls) between the ages of 16 and 19 are in school; only about 1% attends university. Kosovar Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women are among the least literate in the region. 69% in the 25-34 age group are literate, and the numbers are actually worse for the younger generation – only 56% of women in the 15-24 age group are literate. (I would think because of the upheaval during the war – I don’t know if this will be part of a longer-lasting trend). With a profile like this, it’s easy to see how Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women remain trapped by poverty and powerlessness. I was excited to have the chance to visit a community-run program that’s trying to change these numbers.

    

    Ferdane (second from left) with her Balkan Sunflowers literacy group

    The program is run out of the Balkan Sunflowers learning center in Fushe Kosova, just a few kilometers outside Pristina, where 370 children, mainly from Roma and Ashkali communities, get free pre-kindergarten classes, homework help, and summer camp. Ferdane, the 25-year-old Ashkali woman who runs the program, took me to the compound’s backyard and introduced me to the day’s group. Eight girls between 12 and 16, who were sitting around a plastic play table under the cherry trees, smiled at me shyly and then went back to their workbook exercises. Once they finished their work, they were excited to show me some of the complicated beadwork they’d also done at the center (Balkan Sunflowers gives them materials to make handicrafts as a motivation to stick with the literacy course when it gets difficult).

    

    A literacy group member shows off a beaded wedding belt and table ornament the group made

    I learned that some had had a bit of primary school, others none at all. Ferdane proudly told me how at first she had had to actually hold the hand of one girl so she could form letters, and that now that girl was filling out crossword puzzles and diligently working her way through the course that would bring her up to a fifth-grade reading level.

    Ferdane said that in the winter the class was full of women of all ages; in the summer, they have too much work to do at home, families come visit from abroad, and schoolwork lapses. Her experience, she says, confirms the reasons often reported for women’s lack of education: “The big problem for many is family… Always women here need to care for the house, for younger sisters, brothers… family is always the problem…. They only motivate the boys to go to school.”

    In these communities, cultural norms and all the immediate necessities of daily life can drown out messages from the government and NGOs that girls have a right to go to school and become educated women. Ferdane says that, at least, the women she’s been working with over the past two years have learned that education is important, and that they look to college-educated Ferdane not as an outsider – as they did when Ferdane first started teaching – but as a role model.

60. U Tuzli (In Tuzla)

    June 14, 2011 12:21 pm 3 Comments

    

    Tuzla is a beautiful city, and not at all what I thought it might look, smell, and feel like.  It is much busier than I imagined, though everyone seems to know each other as if in a small village.  I probably should not have underestimated the pace and size, as it is the third largest city in Bosnia.  In a way, it reminds me of another European city I’ve lived in – Cork is one of the larger cities in Ireland, but feels like an intimate community that is full of character, colors, and out of the way places to discover.  Thus far, Tuzla feels the same.  The buildings range from orange to green to red, and the locals at the open-air market always have a smile (sometimes toothless) on their faces for me.

    After a week with BOSFAM, I absolutely feel that I’ve been  adopted into this carefully cultivated, diverse “Bosnian Family” (from which BOSFAM derives its name).  BOSFAM was started during the recent war – founder Munira “Beba” Hadzic recognized a pressing need for women survivors of ethnic cleansing, rape as a weapon of war, and genocide to have a safe place to process their trauma and relate to others who lived  through similar events.  BOSFAM was born in 1994 as that space, providing a community where women could share with each other but also give their minds a much needed break through weaving traditional Bosnian carpets and other handicrafts.  The organization is  currently based in Tuzla, where many of the Bosnian Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) settled during and after the war.  In addition to providing a psycho-social outlet for women survivors, it now provides income-generating projects through the sale of such handicrafts.  Their work is beautiful – each carpet, scarf, or pair of slippers is handmade with love and deep concentration.

    

    The women, for it is only women who work here, come from different ages and ethnic backgrounds.  Yet despite differences, it seems that everyone understands the challenging and sometimes heavy issues BOSFAM has been chartered to address.

    

    The very men who orchestrated the Srebrenica genocide, Radovan Karadzic and recently-captured Ratko Mladic, have been all over the news. Because of this, and because much of my upcoming work will take place in Srebrenica, I want to give some attention to the July, 1995 events that occurred in and around the town.

    Srebrenica is a town in the east of Bosnia, practically within earshot of the Serbian border.  During the early years of the war, the town swelled in size with IDPs escaping from smaller towns and villages that were suffering from ethnic cleansing.  The majority of these people were Bosnian Muslims, called Bosniaks, who were fleeing from the Serbian and Bosnian-Serb Army.  In 1993, the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Bosnia (UNPROFOR) turned Srebrenica into one of the six total “safe areas” in the country – providing humanitarian aid and a modest level of security for its inhabitants.  However because of the incredible 40,000+, mostly Bosniak residents, Srebrenica became a perfect target for decimation by Serb politicians, military, and paramilitary bent on creating an “ethnically pure” Serb state.

    In spring of 1995, the Serbs in eastern Bosnia increased their military efforts and in July 1995 successfully took the town of Srebrenica.  On July 11, 1995 the town fell and UN Peacekeepers watched as Serb paramilitary separated the women and young children from the men and boys; the women were shipped out on buses to towns in the Bosniak-held territory, and the men and boys were slaughtered over the course of a week.  In factories, barns, and on sports fields, Srebrenica’s male Muslim population was eliminated.  Other Bosniak men who tried to escape through the woods from Srebenica into free territory were also hunted down by soldiers, or killed by landmines planted in the forest.  In total, more than 8,000 people were killed.  Each year on July 11, tens of thousands of Bosnians and internationals come together to remember, mourn, and bury their dead.  BOSFAM works with women who survived this unimaginable trauma – supporting the women the 364 days of the year when the international community turns away from the victims who still live with this haunting past.

    One of these survivors is Zifa.  Unfortunately, her male relatives did not survive the genocide – two of her brothers, many nephews, and her twenty-five year old son, were killed by Serb paramilitary.  Zifa greets me every morning with a huge, four-tooth smile.  It lights up her face, and I do everything I can simply not to hug her each time I walk into the room.  I will be sure to write about Zifa in the future, for she deserves far more than a paragraph mentioning her in a short blog entry about Tuzla.

    

    Much of my day with Zifa and the other women, who range from twenty-somethings to women in their sixties, centers around drinking Bosnian coffee.  Much like Turkish coffee, this precious entity is something between espresso and a delicious, caffeinated sludge.  Don’t take that last sip from your tiny glass or you will be chewing through a mouthful of coffee grinds!  While it’s not too hard to stop from choking on the coffee grinds, choking on the Bosnian language is a daily, even hourly, occurrence.

    Tomorrow though, will probably be a new and longer chapter in my time at BOSFAM.  Our tireless, strong Direktor Beba has returned from a funding trip to Slovakia.  She has a lot of ideas that will shape my work at BOSFAM, and tomorrow we go to Srebrenica to see a new BOSFAM center that has just opened.  I can tell that Tuzla will hold a lot for me – a lot of challenges, a lot of rewards, a lot of tears, and a lot of smiles.  Hopefully, I can help these women as much as they’ve already helped me, though my first week has been so lovely that I doubt much of anything can live up to it.

    To learn more about Srebrenica, see the BBC’s timeline and related pages for the event.

61. Seven Days, Six Nights; Twelve Years

    June 13, 2011 3:39 pm 1 Comment

    I met with a potential Albanian teacher, Flurije, today after work. It may be a little ridiculous to try to pick up a new language for a two-month stay, but I’m excited to learn what I can. It was a beautiful breezy afternoon, and we were sitting in a sidewalk cafe on the pedestrian Mother Theresa street, sipping Kosovo macchiatos and making small talk. She was delighted I was American, a common reaction in Pristina. She gave me a warm, twinkly smile – she didn’t have to tell me she’d been a primary school teacher for 25 years after I saw that smile! – and reminded me that it was the holiday commemorating Liberation Day (June 12, 1999, the day that NATO troops entered Kosovo to take control as Serb forces withdrew). Americans were extra-popular today. If I were smarter I could probably get a lot of bar tabs paid by keeping my passport not-so-subtly sticking out of my purse.

    I mentioned that I hadn’t seen much in the way of celebration – just a few strings of NATO country flags suspended over streets in the center of town. Flurije laughed, “Yes, I suppose it’s not such a big deal after twelve years!”

    

    Today I heard Flurije's story

    But then she turned to look down the street we were sitting on – consequently the street that dead-ends with the Kosovo Women’s Network building at the end of the block. “That building there, the beautiful one,” she motioned to a nicely painted apartment building maybe fifty feet away, “that is where I spent the entire war. With my husband, our three daughters, my father-in-law and mother-in-law, together.” I was surprised – I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone (knowingly) who lived in the capital during the entire war. “We tried to leave,” she continued. “We went to the border. We spent seven days and six nights next to the border. With no food, no water… finally, they turned us back.” She paused, still smiling a bit apologetically. “It was horrible… We would see the Serb paramilitaries out walking. There were one or two food stores, and when I went, I took all three of my daughters with me.” She held two clenched fists down in memory of clinging to her small children. “I was too scared to go alone. I couldn’t let my husband go alone. So we all went together.”

    “We were happy when we heard the bombs,” she said. “Those were our….” “Rescuers,” I supplied. “Yes,” she nodded.

    She shared a few more memories from the war, and then I steered the conversation toward Kosovo’s present when I sensed it was time to move on. And then there we were, chatting about Pristina’s ubiquitous street construction, sipping macchiatos and enjoying the breeze.

    I’ve had this feeling plenty of times traveling throughout the former Yugoslavia – I’m sure everyone who’s been here has – of unintentionally trying to superimpose some idea of what it actually felt like to be trapped in a war-ravaged city on top of whatever lovely, peaceful, happy central square I’m looking over. It never feels less horrible, less surreal to imagine.

    I always find myself trying to understand how differently time would move under those conditions. To think, there was one day, one seemingly random day, when shooting started, and everything fell apart. For Flurije, there were seven days and six nights frozen on the Kosovo-Macedonia border, living on fear alone. And then there was one day when the shooting stopped. I end up wondering, “How long does it take for your own street to stop feeling like a warzone? When does it become your city once again? How long is it before you can trust a stranger again?”

    Working with Roma in Kosovo, I have some new thoughts about Liberation Day. It was the day that a kind of new campaign began against Pristina’s Roma. In the days after displaced Albanians began flooding back into the city, Roma, who were considered to be Serb sympathizers, began to flee first out of fear, and then because of threats and actual mass violence. Along with murders, there were several documented instances of KLA members raping Roma women. The same expulsions and violence happened throughout the country, as “liberated” Kosovo became a renewed hell for the Roma. I wonder how/if that history figures into how they think about this day now? How has it changed the time it’s taken – and is still taking – to heal their wounds from the war?

62. “Vi ste moje ljepotice”

    12:55 pm 7 Comments

    Yesterday was a day of many emotions.  In the morning, I embarked upon an adventure with one of the young women of BOSFAM, Biljana.  She took us up to Slana Banja (literally meaning “Salty Spa”, but it’s more of a park area) and over to see the two salt lakes that Tuzla has.

    I have learned in my week here that when Biljana and I set out on a walk somewhere, I should never expect it to be short and sweet.  She is very exact in making sure that I understand and see everything that Tuzla has to offer.  It is also mentally draining in that the only thing she knows how to say in English is “no speak English”.  On Thursday, we were supposed to go to the post office.  This turned into a two hour-long trek around the city visiting two mosques and an orthodox cathedral.  Moral of the story is that I should have known what was in store.

    I was completely stunned with the lakes. It was a little slice of the tropics in the middle of Bosnia. Biljana finagled our way into the park for free so “the foreigners” could see how pretty Tuzla is.

    

    One of the salt lakes in Tuzla

    Then things got physical.  She had us hiking and climbing steps up to the top of a small mountain (I should remind readers that while I am from California, I do not take kindly to humidity even when it is only technically 70 degrees Fahrenheit outside).  It was so worth it.  We had a front row view of the nicest vista in town.  I could see all of Tuzla stretched before me like a perfect postcard.

    

    View of Tuzla on our hike

    On our walk back, we stopped to eat some sour cherries and take more pictures.  Biljana had worn me out.  And it was only 11am.  We returned to BOSFAM and had our ritual Bosnian coffee (some would attempt to call this mud, but I assure you, it is delicious).  Then, one of the weavers approached me.  Zifa speaks less English than Biljana but told me that there was an event in the city in an hour.  It was in remembrance of Srebrenica.  I had previously garnered that Zifa had lost a son and two brothers in the genocide in 1995, so I knew this was important to her.  I gathered my things to get ready to leave.

    When I first met Zifa, I immediately knew that I would like her.  She has a very warm and inviting personality and is constantly smiling.  The more I find out about her, the more I am impressed with her strength.

    The event in the city happens every month on the eleventh as a constant reminder of Srebrenica and a plea that it never happens again.  Mostly women attend and carry colorful cushions of the names of those killed and still left unaccounted for.  They stand in silence at the main square for a few minutes, pray, and then it is over.

    As we walked back to BOSFAM, I thanked Zifa for bringing us with her and sharing this experience with us.  She smiled at me and said, “Vi ste moje ljepotice.”  You are my beauties.

    We returned and Zifa got back to work on her loom and I went upstairs to visit with a few of the other women.  That was when I heard something that would really solidify my love for Zifa.  She never goes to the square for this protest because she sees the picture of her son’s face whom she lost 16 years ago.  It is too difficult.  She only went because we were here.  I wanted to hug her, I wanted to cry, and I wanted to just say “thank you” a million times over.  I wanted to show her how much it meant to me that she showed me her past in such an intimate way.  All I could do was to barely articulate, “Hvala.” Thank you.

    Below is my youtube video about the protest in the main square.

    Remembering Srebrenica

63. Roma, Ashka…what? A primer in progress

    June 12, 2011 2:57 pm 1 Comment

    Most people I’ve told about this internship get what I mean when I say I’m working with Roma – in the West (at least in PC circles) “Roma” is firmly taking over as the correct term for the derogatory “gypsy,” even if the image of who these people are hasn’t necessarily updated with the name.  When I get to “Ashkali” and “Egyptian” though, I’ve usually lost whoever I’m talking to. What’s an Ashkali, and why am I concerned about Egyptians in Kosovo?

    The response to “Who are these people?” depends on who you ask – and I definitely don’t have a solid answer. But the story of these groups’ existence in Kosovo is one of divergence, convergence, and political machinations and persecution that’s quite confusing to outsiders, if not to those who are living it. It’s been extremely interesting to learn about these identities, picking up bits here and there. I’ll be adding to this as I learn more, but here’s my basic version, two weeks in:

    The Roma: Roma in Kosovo are members of a people who migrated from India to Europe over a thousand years ago, and have been in Kosovo for at least 700 years. They speak the Romani language, usually in addition to either Serbian or Albanian – although more often Serb. Because of their perceived support of the Serbs, they were the victims of a violent backlash when Albanians returned to Kosovo at the end of the 1999 conflict (even though they also faced persecution by the Serbs in some areas as well). There are different subgroups among Kosovo Roma, but they all identify as Roma or Gypsy. They live in different enclaves around the country – in Prizren, Gračanica, Mitrovica, Gjilan, and others. Since the end of the war, there are very few in Pristina.

    The Ashkali: Non-Roma became aware of this group as distinct from Roma during the 1999 war, when Ashkalis declared themselves separate from the often Serbian-speaking Roma to avoid persecution from the majority Albanians. (Of course, there’s no clear line of loyalty here – some Ashkalis supported the Serbs as well.) Ashkalis trace their origins from Iran, saying that when they arrived in the Balkans in the 4^th century they picked up the language of the Illyrians living there, which is why they speak Albanian as their first language today. They live primarily in the center of Kosovo and in the east.

    The Egyptians: They emerged as a self-declared group in fits and starts from the 1970s through the 90s, claiming Egyptian heritage that separates them from Roma and Ashkalis. Albanian is the first language for most. Their enclaves are mainly in the west of Kosovo.

    Before 1999, there were 150,000 – 200,000 members of these three groups in Kosovo – a sizeable percentage of Kosovo’s population of around two million. The overwhelming majority fled for their lives during the conflict, and few have returned (even fewer voluntarily) since. Now there are between 35,000 and 40,000 members of these communities in Kosovo; I haven’t found a reliable figure for each group.

    

    Map of Kosovo's ethnic minorities, 2002. Author: Philippe Rekacewicz, UNEP/GRID-Arendal. Sources: UNMIK; Ninth assessment of the situation of ethnic minorities in Kosovo (2002), OSCE-UNHCR; Kosovo Humanitarian Community Information Center, Kosovo road Atlas.

    Together, they are “among the most marginalized groups in Kosovo” (this is their constant label – more on this later). As a group, they face exclusion in almost every sphere of life in Kosovo – most live in poverty, 98-100% are officially unemployed, they lack access to basic services like healthcare, education, and resources to claim their rights.

    Because they face similar issues of exclusion and supposedly have similar heritage, the three communities have been grouped together by the international community and the government under a convenient acronym – RAE – so that aid programs are sure to address the needs of all three groups. You rarely see a program just addressed at Roma; I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ashkali or Egyptians mentioned without at least one of the other groups.  So while they’re nominally considered separate, the international community is signaling that these are all basically the same people, with the same problems, same needs.

    What’s the real story?
    The members of these communities who I’ve talked to have very different opinions on where the lines separating these identities should be drawn.

    Some have told me that the division between the three groups is falsely accentuated. A trio of Roma journalists working for a national Romani-language radio program I spoke with each told me that the differences weren’t substantial. “We are all gypises,” one of them, Daut Qulangjiu, said with a smile. His colleague, Avdi Misini, told me that the labels of Ashkali and Egyptian were inventions of Milosevic, who in the 1980s and 90s wanted to divide the Roma for political reasons. (Apparently, the total number of Roma (including Ashkali and Egyptians) in Yugoslavian Kosovo outnumbered the Serbs in the region. So, rather than accept that Serbs were a minority among the minorities, Milosevic created/played up an emerging division in the Roma to put the Serbs in the dominant minority position.) This timeframe coincides with Egyptian and Ashkali appearance as accepted minorities, but the Egyptians, at least, had petitioned to become a recognized ethnic group earlier.

    He went on to say that self-identified Ashkali and Egyptians have their history wrong. This is in line with those who say that Ashkalis are Roma who simply “lost” the Romani language and so speak Albanian, and that the legend of any Egyptian origins is just a legend – that that group is made up of Albanized Roma as well.

    Both Misini and Qulangjiu emphasized that the three groups intermarry because none labels the other two as “gadje” (“other”), and that they’re so mixed that they’re functionally one community – a Rom may have Ashkali cousins and an Egyptian wife, and even within the same family people might self identify differently – an Egyptian might have one Ashkali brother and a Roma sister. The message I got from this: it’s important to maintain solidarity among these three groups – emphasizing the differences just makes them weaker and easier to manipulate. A very legitimate point considering the basically nonexistent position of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo politics!

    An Ashkali NGO director (whose name I didn’t get permission to use) had very different feelings. He prickled at the labeling of the three groups the “RAE community.” According to him, it’s rightfully the “Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communitIES.” He told me that his niece, also an NGO worker and an Ashkali, refuses to participate in interviews about the “RAE” people, insisting that her identity as Ashkali be recognized separately. He said that the idea that all three came to Europe from India is ignorant – an easy way to categorize Balkan people with darker skin. Generalizing them into RAE denies them of their heritage and their right to have their identity recognized and respected.

    I’ve started to pick up on a resentment about this melding of three peoples into one group from other representatives of these communities as well. Some have mentioned that it’s now impossible to get funding for projects that only address the needs of one of these communities, that it’s implied to be discriminatory to not include all. It sounds like it’s worthwhile to ask, Could this attempt by international organizations to be inclusive be sowing resentment between the three groups? In treating these groups as one, are we missing the complexity that each group may be facing different challenges that need different solutions?

    My initial take on it
    My stance is that self-identification matters. I know that the international community loves convenient acronyms, but labels should be used with care. Maybe it’s time to reexamine why this one came about, and how it’s affecting these communities.

    One last thought on the question of who the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians of Kosovo are. We can say that what defines them is partly blood, partly culture, heritage, maybe language, and self-identification.

    What are things that don’t define the Roma, Ashkali or Egyptian people? Poverty, lack of education, silence, powerlessness. It may sound ridiculously obvious, but I think that this is an important point to make. It’s easy to accept the common picture many have of Roma across Europe, reinforced by countless reports on the terrible situations they face – to picture people who are illiterate, desperately poor, probably unkempt and living in squalid conditions, powerless, foreign to every country. Google images for “Kosovo Roma” and see what you find: how often are we challenged to think of Roma (and, now that we’re aware, Ashkali and Egyptians) that don’t meet these stereotypes? These might be the conditions of many Roma – but they don’t constitute a definition.

    I’ve spent the last two weeks meeting Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians who defy these common perceptions – among them Shpresa and Diana of RROGRAEK and all the young Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian students who came to RROGRAEK’s last training. These individuals, and their work, should challenge the majority to include Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians as more than a static stereotype and a permanent “other” in its picture of Kosovo’s present and future.

    Next post: moving on from identity to the current situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians in Kosovo.

    Also, for a vivid peek at Roma culture in Kosovo, check out the excellent Balkanproject.org – it has dozens of fantastic interviews with Roma from around Kosovo, often with audio and video recordings, plus a large collection of articles on different facets of Roma life and culture up to 2004.

64. It’s all happening at Appleby Horse Fair

    12:37 pm 1 Comment

    I have just returned from my second trip to Appleby Horse Fair, an annual event that has been fixed in the calendars of Romany and Irish Traveller families since the 18^th century.

    The fair is much more than just an opportunity for Romany and Travellers to conduct business (mainly buying and selling horses) and to meet up with friends and family. It is a proud celebration of their history and culture and by persistently honouring this longstanding tradition, they are taking a stand to preserve a way of life that is threatened with extinction in the UK.  Used to being the outsiders in their everyday lives, at Appleby Horse Fair, for one week every year, Romany and Travellers represent the dominant culture; here, they are able to proudly display their cultural traditions to settled visitors.

    Visiting and, importantly, staying at Appleby is a vibrant, humbling, and slightly crazy experience, that I would recommend to anyone interested in Romany/Traveller culture.  I have made friends who have helped me to pitch my tent in the middle of the night, shared their culture and history with me, showed me the importance they place on their relationship with their horses, and sang to me by the campfire until the early hours of the morning. It was one of the best experiences I have had till date cause as the night progressed I got to hear more about horses, Hearing them speak about their horses made me feel as though they were equal or even more like the dog’s people keep at home for pets for them. It is an amazing experience, and I plan to meet up with my friends and become part of the landscape of Appleby every year.

    I can’t see how anyone could come away from the Appleby experience and still believe that this culture is not worth preserving.

    Click here for a slideshow of my images from Appleby.

65. The Beauty and Pain of Tuzla

    June 9, 2011 8:10 am 4 Comments

    Walking through Tuzla, I am struck by how colorful and beautiful this place is. It’s situated in a valley and surrounded by green hills. The buildings are pink, yellow, and blue and decorate the main square like flowers. However, the past is inescapable here. Some, not all, buildings are riddled with bullet holes and I can see two large cemeteries from my bedroom window. I briefly visited a park up in the woods that is home to over five different memorials from World War II to the most recent pain that the Balkans felt in the 1990s. It all looms in the background, as a reminder that there was a time when this small, beautiful town saw horrors that no one ever thought would ever surface.

    Yesterday consisted of a visit to the International Commission on Missing Persons and a tour by their forensic anthropologist and my newfound friend, Laura Yazedjian. Seeing the 3,500 plastic and paper bags holding the bones of those massacred in this beautiful country 16 years before brought a new perspective. Maybe it was just in my mind, but I could smell a faint presence of death in the refrigerated room as I tried to put myself in the place of the victims and those affected.

    

    Inside of the refrigerated room.

    As I left the facility with my colleague, there was a strange silence between the two of us. We tried to make small talk, but in light of what we had actually witnessed, it was difficult. While Laura spoke, the leg, hip, and skull bones of a 19-year-old boy lay stretched before us on the examination table. During the war, the mass graves were dug up and reburied in other places to conceal the remains and to make it much more difficult to find and to identify in the future. This pivotal visit turned what was a myopic and detached perception of the war into a much more personal and informed understanding of the traumas I will be facing with the strong women of BOSFAM.

    

    The bones of the 19-year-old boy in front of us.

    I have gained neither the trust nor the language capacity to be comfortable to approach the women about the unspoken past. However, in light of the upcoming preparations for the annual visit to Srebrenica, I know that it will only be a matter of time until I am called to upon to simply be a warm and open force available to listen and learn from these incredible people.

66. Welcome to Bosnia!

    5:45 am 6 Comments

    I arrived in Bosnia on May 28^th.  After nearly a year of being away, I sat in the propeller plane full of nerves.  I was energized by what I saw: a country lush with green mountains and clear, blue rivers.  To me, Bosnia really is the most beautiful place I have ever had the privilege of visiting.  My first video blog is simply to share the beauty and, in a way, begin to deconstruct the stereotypes of Bosnia as only a war torn and “lost” country.

    [youtube gAPgLaya6gc]

    I know that multitudes of challenges will present themselves to me, but I find that in difficult times I can return to Bosnia’s land and people and feel restored and ready to face the next day.

    More to come soon, including a brief stay in the hospital, the language barrier, news on Mladic’s trial in the Hague, and my first days in Tuzla…  In the meantime, check out my latest photographs from Bosnia here on flickr.

67. Live-Blogging the Kosova Women’s Network member’s meeting

    June 6, 2011 2:29 am Leave a Comment

    I’m attempting to live-blog the bi-monthly meeting of the Kosova Women’s Network at the Pristina Grand Hotel, thanks to simultaneous English translation – fancy!

    The scene: 50+ women representing organizations from throughout Kosovo – Kosovar Albanian, Serb, Roma, and also a few internationals, gathered to reflect on the work of the past 2 months and plan for the next.

    11:20am: Igballe (Igo) Rogova, founder and director of the KWN, quickly pulls everyone from their cigarettes at the cafe tables and starts off the meeting, commanding the room with a straightforward manner and a few laughs.

    11:25am: what happened with the Network in the last 2 months? Igo (Rogova, founder and director of the KWN) reflects on KWN’s objections to the rather irregular election process bringing Kosovo’s new woman president to power. But says she’s very happy that Kosovo’s men have responded so favorably to having a female president!

    11:33am: Igo goes through the list of new candidates to be elected to the KWN board this meeting. A great opportunity to learn about some of the leading women activists in Kosovo!

    11:41am: Discussing the forming of municipality-based advocacy groups for women’s rights to engage women politicians.

    11:42: Igo brings up one of the network’s major latest initiatives – to bring attention to the case of Diana, a Kosovar woman killed by her ex-husband after the authorities ignored her requests for a restraining order against him. Diana was murdered in broad daylight in the street, shot in front of witnesses, but her ex-husband has not yet been arrested, and the future of the investigation could languish if groups like the KWN doesn’t pressure the authorities. The KWN has worked through a petition and pending legal action to prevent such murders from continuing in Kosovo. KWN will continue to support this cause –  “We won’t shut up!” Igo says. “We will advocate that the law will be implemented and that justice will happen as it should.”

    11:48am: Shpresa Agushi, director of The Network of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian Women’s Organizations of Kosovo has a chance to speak about RROGRAEK and how it has been reactivated since 2007. A great chance to make new allies from within KWN – happy to see some women writing down the details of RROGRAEK’s conference on repatriated Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian women coming up on Wednesday!

    11:56am: Igo: We need to reestablish the Kosovo Women’s lobby – avoid some problems of competition that existed before. This can be an extremely important step in raising the network’s influence with women in parliament.

    12:00pm: The women gathered complete their ballots for the new board (“Not in three hours, like in Albania!” jokes Igo). It occurs to me that in her flowing, white mandarin-collared shirt, Igo at the helm of the meeting looks not unlike an evangelist. It’s hard not to admire how she directs attention and keeps the meeting flowing fast – strong but relaxed.

    12:05pm. Voting done and ballots go to the committee to be counted immediately. That was efficient!

    12:10pm: Results are in: unfortunately, I can’t understand the names of the winner!

    12:12pm: It’s great to have this experienced, capable network as an example for RROGRAEK as it continues to grow.

    12:12pm: Igo: “I have to gradually leave from the post of director…” so it can be sustained. The network’s search for a deputy director continues. Igo apparently has dreams of the Parliament…!

    12:13pm: Time to break into working groups to discuss strategy going forward in areas of women’s economic empowerment, health, and domestic violence – a meeting where things actually get done!

    12:46pm: only 30 minutes for discussion. Igo runs a tight ship!

    1:00pm: few more announcements and that’s it!

68. Training for Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian activists – and for me

    June 5, 2011 2:59 pm Leave a Comment

    I’ve been in Pristina for a full week now, and am starting to feel my feet under me. It took a couple days to get started, but on my third day here in Kosovo, I finally got a taste of what my work here will be about.

    Last Sunday, fresh off the plane, I wandered through the city’s clumped-spaghetti tangle of semi-paved streets in a dehydrated, sleep-deprived daze, getting vaguely excited when I recognized parks, bars and burek stands I’d visited 5 years before. On Monday, I found that the heads of the two organizations I’m working with, the Kosova Women’s Network (KWN) and the Network of Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian Women’s Organizations of Kosovo (RROGRAEK), were both unexpectedly out of the office, so instead of meeting with them, I met the rest of the lovely KWN staff over lunch, and then headed over to the Kosovar Gender Studies Center, where RROGRAEK has carved office space out of the Center’s kitchen. I read the Center’s work on women in Kosovo’s media, learned project manager Sibil’s new favorite song and even went to see a potential apartment with finance manager Driton.  But despite the warm welcome, I generally had that “bump on a log” feeling. That’s to be expected on the first day anywhere, but after the last frantic weeks of the semester, sitting at a desk for two hours and not producing anything felt very wrong. I also left the office almost as clueless about RROGRAEK and what my role there would be as I was when I boarded the plane in New York. (Note: astute blog readers may be wondering why I’m now saying I work with RROGRAEK, when my last post said I’d be working with Romane Romnja. I learn new things every day – it’s RROGRAEK).

    

    Then on Tuesday I got to dive in, attending (and at least somewhat assisting) the monthly training/meeting that I learned RROGRAEK organizes for representatives from its 25 or so member organizations. The trainings teach activists essential skills for fundraising, advocacy, monitoring national and international projects, and more. A bit of explanation of what RROGRAEK is and why it’s doing this: RROGRAEK is an organization that connects and empowers Roma civil society organizations throughout Kosovo. Its founder, Shpresa Agushi, a Roma woman originally from picturesque Prizren, has led the organization in some form, sometimes paid, sometimes not, since 2000. RROGRAEK’s, and Shpresa’s, goal is to help Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian (RAE) women (more on the distinction later) from throughout Kosovo to advocate on their own behalf and end their marginalization. It’s a tall order in this new country, where some Roma who were internally displaced during and after the 1999 war still live in an area where lead in the soil and water blackens their teeth and distorts their children’s bodies, and where Roma forced to return from Western Europe face exclusion and persecution.

    On Tuesday, RROGRAEK invited its members to the UN Women headquarters in Pristina to learn how to write effective project funding proposals from Kushtrim Shaipi, “one of the best” in the field, according to Shpresa. Kushtrim, who knows a thing or two about what donors want after years of working with the Soros Foundations and consulting for several other big-name donors, told me that funding applications he’s seen from RAE organizations are often weak. No wonder, when RAE organizations rarely have access to the kind of training Kushtrim was offering, and funding proposals usually have to be in English, which few Roma in Kosovo speak.

    Knowing the basics of dealing with grantmakers is critical because international funding is the lifeline for most NGOs in Kosovo, and small organizations that lack savvy proposal writers and compliance managers (basically all Roma-led organizations) are sunk. As a tiny organization trying to tackle the whole body of RAE women’s issues, RROGRAEK itself continually struggles to keep its head above water. (As the native English speaker in residence for the summer, I hope I can have some impact on that!)

    Even if it can’t always keep up with its own funding needs, RROGRAEK is dedicated to helping other RAE organizations improve the situation of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians throughout Kosovo. Shpresa pays special attention to empowering the next generation of RAE leaders, and it was exciting to see several Roma student activists diligently taking notes and creating sample proposals alongside the veteran activists who participated in the training. Bleta, a 22-year-old law student, and Atdhe, a 22-year-old computer science student (and the lone male at the session) both said the training had been very helpful, and that they were looking forward to next month’s.

    After almost four hours of learning how to navigate the international funding machine, a long-time Roma activist who works in Kosovo’s Ministry of Education stopped everything with The Big Question: Yes, it’s worthwhile to learn how to write proposals, she said (I’m loosely paraphrasing here), but what if donors don’t want to fund what the RAE communities need? Donors don’t understand the situation of RAE people in Kosovo well enough to match their funding programs to what RAE activists are proposing, she argued. There is little data on the RAE communities in Kosovo available, RAE people have few representatives in government to advocate on their behalf, and RAE groups have a difficult time communicating their needs to English-speaking donors. How can we bridge this gap in understanding so that more donors offer to fund real empowerment programs, and how can RAE organizations survive in the meantime? Another challenge, she said: most donors expect their grantees to be able to function at a certain level from the beginning – to have some equipment, to be able to report, to have sophisticated financial records. Many RAE-led groups don’t have that capacity, and so continue to be marginalized by the system as it is. If donors don’t adapt their requirements, how can RAE NGOs even get into the game? Do RAE activists have to accept the machine as it is, can they make it work for them, or do they have to find another way to achieve their goals?

    She spoke with rising passion, even getting up from her seat to impress her point on the young activists seated around her. Her words were left hanging as the training adjourned; there’s no neat, easy answer to her questions. Some donors are fabulous and work hard to be supportive advocates. Some donors are bound by ideology or bureaucracy; others simply don’t know what the people they’re trying to help really need.

    As Shpresa and I make the rounds to RROGRAEK’s current and potential funders over the next few weeks, I’m interested to see how they respond to Shpresa’s vision of what Kosovo’s RAE communities need. The only thing to do is to keep talking, keep informing, keep pushing….

69. Even by its own standards, Basildon Council fails Traveller community

    June 3, 2011 4:04 am 1 Comment

    Basildon District Council’s (BDC) has voted for the third time to carry out a ‘direct action’ (eviction) at Dale Farm. This time, the decision was made by BDC’s Development Control Committee and, according to committee chairman, Stephen Hillier, “follows the members’ careful review of each individual case and the updated personal circumstances…” (See BBC article on the decision.)

    

    It is not possible that the Committee members have carefully reviewed the personal circumstances of the Dale Farm residents who they voted again to evict. 

    With no help from the council, the Travellers (most of whom cannot read or write) were unreasonably given two weeks during the Easter holiday to complete lengthy forms detailing their personal circumstances, and to submit letters to doctors and schools requesting more information be sent to BDC.  Hoping that this updated information would be reviewed properly, advocates for the Travellers spent days collecting the information from residents who happened not to be travelling during the Easter period.  The completed forms were submitted by the deadline agreed with BDC, but it has been confirmed by a Council representative that the Committee, understandably, have not yet received many of the professional opinions they requested from doctors and schools. And with the information they did have, the Committee adjourned for 40 minutes for members to review the meeting documents; an Options Report and 6 enclosures, one of which was Personal Circumstances Information (detailed forms and supplementary letters for up to 86 families).  (See the official decision from the Committee here.) Not only was the information incomplete, it is also safe to assume that this is not enough time to “carefully review each individual case”.

    Given the personal circumstances of Dale Farm residents, BDC cannot fulfil its duties and responsibilities to Dale Farm residents if they are evicted.

    As Mr. Hillier guarantees that “the committee made a fair, unbiased judgment… with full regard to all relevant matters”, it would be logical to assume that the Committee fully regarded its “duties and responsibilities to the families and individuals subject to the direct action” as outlined in this Statement Regarding Proposed Eviction by BDC Legal Services Manager, Lorraine Browne.  In the statement, BDC are obligated to “provide practical and sustained support for the families affected. Examples of such action would include:

    a.      Facilitating identification of alternative school places…

    b.      Facilitating identification of alternative health providers…

    c.       Ensuring individuals have a sufficient amount of prescribed medication…

    d.      Ensuring that regular care services … are delivered…

    e.      Facilitating introduction…to religious leaders and communities…”

    As stated in the Committee decision, the Council’s homelessness duties were highlighted in the discussion. The Committee is therefore aware that, as can be verified by BDC’s Homelessness Department, the eviction will make Dale Farm residents homeless. How then does the Committee propose that BDC provide sustained support in facilitating school places, health providers/medication, care services, introductions to religious leaders and communities… if the Travellers are forced out of the area and onto the road indefinitely? If the Committee had genuinely reviewed the personal circumstances of the residents, it would have found out that there are many ill people and pregnant women who require regular medical attention (some awaiting operations at Basildon Hospital).  Residents who cannot read rely on their established relationship with the local pharmacy, which has developed a colour-coding system to ensure they take the right medication. There are many children attending school (and more to start next year) who will have no access to education if on the road.

    If Basildon Council takes the personal circumstances of Dale Farm residents and its legal duties and responsibilities seriously, how can they go ahead with an eviction? The only way BDC can fulfil its obligations is if an alternative site, where the Travellers will have regular and appropriate access to doctors, schools, care providers, churches…, is designated for them to live on.

    As reported in the Essex Chronicle, “Basildon Council has insisted it will seek a peaceful resolution at the site.” Dale Farm Travellers can only hope that this is an indication that BDC also sees that the provision of an alternative site is the peaceful, practical and legal decision. Not only would this solution allow BDC to carry out its own duties and responsibilities effectively, but would also demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the new EU strategy to integrate Gypsies and Travellers. The UK has been given until the end of this year to draw up a national plan to ensure that every homeless Traveller has access to suitable accommodation.

70. Idem u Tuzlu

    May 26, 2011 6:50 pm 2 Comments

    Arriving on the East Coast at the end of May, I was excited to be embarking upon my journey for the summer.  However, excited is a vast understatement.  I am thrilled to be returning to the Balkans and yet I am anxious and nervous to see what this new opportunity will bring me in terms of education, emotions, and experience.  As a student for the past 18 years, I now wrestle with the ever-approach reality of “growing up” and becoming an “adult” as I enter the last year of my graduate studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.  This is my first practical step toward a meaningful and passionate career in conflict resolution and with the Balkans.

    After having studied abroad in Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2008 during my undergraduate career, I found myself drawn to this region both academically and personally.  This summer brings an opportunity to work with remarkable women in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina at BOSFAM as they continue to strive to reconcile the horrors of the past and the trauma of the war in the 1990s with the present and the future.  Many of these women lost brothers, fathers, sons, uncles, and many members of their families in the brutal massacre outside of Srebrenica.  They weave carpets and make quilts in order to tell their stories and be heard.  Dealing with the past is an issue many from war-torn countries face and struggle to overcome.  It is difficult for me, as a student of conflict resolution, to try to put myself in these shoes and be empathetic to their past, however, it is a critical step to delving deeper into the lives of others.

    The further and deeper I get into my studies, the more overwhelmed and interested I become.  How can I be accepted when I come from such a different past and can be so easily seen as an outsider?  How can I understand these women and what they have gone through?  How can I even help?  My questions continue to grow and multiply and my answers only lead to more and more questions.  But yet, somehow, I am fine with this (thankfully so, since I have a feeling this will be the first of many times I wrangle with my questions and hesitations).  I walk into my training and fellowship with an open and energetic mind, willing and accepting of the experiences and people that await me.

71. Goodbye DC, Zdravo Tuzla

    May 24, 2011 7:47 am 5 Comments

    I think it has finally hit me that I’m moving to Bosnia for six months in only a matter of days.  I’ve spent some time with my mother in New Jersey, where she lives, and now I am returning to Washington DC for the Advocacy Project’s Peace Fellow training.  This time I come to DC as a visitor though, after two years of residency.  It’s surreal, to say the least.

    However confused my mind is about the coming weeks of transition, I am excited, energized, and just a little nervous about working with BOSFAM in Tuzla.  BOSFAM, founded during the war, is an community-based organization aimed at providing emotional and financial support to women displaced during the cleansing and genocide through the weaving of traditional Bosnian carpets.

    To some extent I know what to expect from Bosnia on a superficial level.  I’ve spent a total of two months in Bosnia and Herzegovina over the past three summers – summer which have affected my world view and permanently ingrained a sort of ‘calling’ to work in the field of conflict resolution.  I can’t wait to get back to the country of green mountains, river-filled valleys, and villages with mosques, orthodox cathedrals, and catholic cathedrals dotting the horizon.  I’m excited to eat cheese filled-pastry called sirnica and mushrooms picked locally.

    On the other hand, two months is not enough time to really get to know a place.  I assume this will ring painfully true as I start my long journey to learn the Bosnian language.  So far I’ve had a class here or there, and a helpful book I picked up during my last trip to Sarajevo.  I know how to say critical phrases like “I need food/sleep/coffee” or “Where is the bus to Tuzla?”  Any more than that however, and I become lost in a whirl of consonants mashed together in a way that often confounds English-speakers.  Everyone says I’ll make leaps and bounds with the language once I am immersed in it, and at this point the only thing to do is hope they are right! Despite that very daunting challenge, I continue to grow excited to meet BOSFAM’s founder, Beba Hadzic, and the other weavers.  All who have come into contact with Beba and the other women comment on their strength and energy, and I look forward to diving in and engaging with them during my fellowship.

    Right now, I feel very blessed to be going on such an incredible adventure.  I had seen the organization’s quilts when I had visited Srebrenica for the annual burial and memorial for the 8,000 men and boys killed starting July 11, 1995 in this UN “safe zone.”  I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to be a part of that work, and make a modest contribution to rebuilding Srebrenica after the horrendous war-time trauma.  This week, as I pack my last bags and check to see that my ticket reservations and passport are in my carry-on, I’ll have a bittersweet moment to contemplate: goodbye to my home, job, and friends in DC, and zdravo to my fellowship and all it may entail.

72. Returning to Kosovo

    May 23, 2011 7:35 pm Leave a Comment

    Sitting in a friend’s studio apartment, listening to traffic pass on the busy Washington, D.C. street outside, Kosovo feels very far away. It feels even farther when I think of how much has changed in the newborn country since my last – and only – visit in 2006. The 2008 declaration of independence completed the split the Albanian majority began in 1990; the “young Europeans” now have a constitution, a new flag, even a female president.

    When I was last in Kosovo, I was just beginning to learn about development and human rights. My visit helped spark an interest in conflict resolution and civic empowerment that has led me to study these issues at Columbia. I’m excited to finally be getting hands-on experience in a grassroots organization abroad; I’m honored to have the opportunity to support the women of the Kosova Women’s Network and Romane Romnja as they work for Roma women’s rights. I’m a bit nervous at the challenge ahead, but I’m looking forward to tackling it.

    Today, the first day of AP orientation in D.C., was the day that my fellowship began to feel real.  But it is still hard to imagine what will be waiting for me when I step through the doors of Prishtina International in less than a week.

73. Why is local prejudice against Dale Farm Travellers so acceptable?

    April 24, 2011 8:24 am 61 Comments

    

    Unfortunately, it is not at all unusual to encounter “nuke the site” and “bomb the bastards” comments about Dale Farm Travellers on the Echo website or on right-wing blogs like AmbushPredator’s. How has it come to a point where blatantly racist (and often genocidal) views have both become tolerated by my local community and seemingly welcomed by a local media website?

    Following a link I put on twitter to an example of the many comments on her blog which I consider to be racist towards Travellers, I engaged in the following twitter conversation with @AmbushPredator:

    Me – @AmbushPredator and cronies once again exemplifying local prejudice facing DaleFarm Travellers http://t.co/J2RnAbU (See  Anonymous comment)

    AmbushPredator – Local people (and myself) would just like them to OBEY THE LAW like everyone else. What’s so hard to understand?

    Me – I am local as well. DaleFarm Travellers just want somewhere to live together 
     
    AmbushPredator – And you’re in the minority – the locals overwhelmingly want the planning laws upheld….hence the reason for the ragtag little invasion force of campaigners from places where they don’t have to live with them.

    Me–  Many local people support DaleFarm Travellers.

    AmbushPredator – There will be an eviction, there will finally be peace for the poor long-suffering folks who’ve had to put up with this…

    Me–  Any “suffering” you have undergone should be taken seriously but you can’t blame all DaleFarm Travellers.

    Me – I respect that there are many sides to DaleFarm issue but don’t respect “nuke the site” comments http://t.co/J2RnAbU

    AmbushPredator – If you really respected the other’s opinions, you’d be persuading them to go not to stay.

    Me – DaleFarm Travellers along with Basildon Council are trying to find alternative sites.

    Me – DaleFarm Travellers are not villains. I am sad that you will be rejoicing that anyone would be made homeless.

    AmbushPredator – I don’t like squatters either. Go figure. #breakingthelawisbadmkay

    AmbushPredator – Some of them already have them, as the ‘Echo’ has pointed out.

    Me – #Basildon Council agrees that many DaleFarm Travellers will be made homeless by their eviction

    AmbushPredator – ‘Many’ but not all. And, frankly, *shrug*. It’s gone on long enough and wasted too much public money for me to care…

    Me – I agree it is waste of public money and wouldn’t be necessary if councils provided required legal sites for Travellers

    AmbushPredator – …law-breaking has consequences, and it’s time to face them.
     
    Me – Planning laws were not designed to make people homeless

    AmbushPredator – No, they were designed to ensure people obeyed the law. Everyone else does without a bleeding-heart focus group pleading for them to be spared the consequences of their actions. Time it was applied to these people too, EQUALLY.
     
    Me – The law should be applied equally. Unfair that 90% of Traveller planning apps are denied in comparison to 20% overall.

    AmbushPredator – Not unfair at all. Their reputation precedes them, after all. Maybe they should work on their image problems?

    I am still left wondering if she not only encourages but also agrees with the “nuke the site” type comments that appear so frequently in response to her Dale Farm blogs.

    The Echo site finally took off this comment from Eric the Red, Leigh-on-Sea (2:45p.m. Sun 17 April 2011)

    “I think the late Kenny Everett had the best idea. “Round ‘em all up: put ‘em in a fiel.d and BOMB the ba$tards.”

74. Dale Farm resident, Viviana (age 4) tells her story through photography

    April 15, 2011 2:44 pm Leave a Comment

    The children of Dale Farm are engaging in an exciting new photography project (Dale Farm: My Community, My Family), which aims to provide a platform for them to tell their story whilst at the same time to improve upon their skills in photography, literacy and ICT.

    Viviana, age 4, has done a fantastic job with her gallery of images.

75. Tragedy at the Towngate

    March 15, 2011 4:16 pm Leave a Comment

    

    Last night’s ‘extraordinary’ Basildon District Council meeting on the situation at Dale Farm, which was appropriately staged in the Towngate Theatre, was a tragedy from the outset. As they sat passively in the audience facing a stage dominated by 28 Conservative council members, it was immediately clear to the Travellers present at the meeting that their fate had already been decided. The Travellers felt like they had been the only ones left out of the in joke, as members of the local settled community laughed throughout Labour/Lib Dem arguments and cheered when they heard the news that the Travellers’ homes would be demolished. Tony Ball, Council Leader, and his Conservative colleagues voted unanimously to use up to £8 million of council funds (one-third of their entire budget) to move forward with the eviction.

    

    The main reasons for supporting the ‘direct action’ against the 86 Traveller families were:

    1.       We must protect our greenbelt land.

    As several Conservative Councillors spoke passionately about protecting greenbelt land, I was left wondering whether or not they had ever visited Dale Farm. Surely anyone who had visited the site (a small, former scrapyard attached to an existing legal Traveller site) would realize that this is not about protecting greenbelt.

    2.       There should not be one law for one group and another for everyone else.

    If this is true, why are 90% of planning applications made by Travellers in the UK refused by councils compared to 20% overall? The Travellers own the land at Dale Farm and have made numerous attempts to go through the normal planning process, but were refused each time.

    3.       We will uphold planning law at any cost.

    As Councillor Davies (Lab) asked, why is Tony Ball personally obsessed with this issue to the point where he has promised to resign if he does not fulfil his promise to evict? Spending a third of the budget on this costly personal mission will obviously mean that services will have to be cut and jobs lost.

    

    All measures have not yet been exhausted. The Travellers at Dale Farm are still engaging with the council and have continuously agreed to leave peacefully as soon as suitable, culturally-appropriate sites are identified. Why would the council want to spend £8 million to put them on the side of the road, which will only cause more problems for local residents, before these discussions have been concluded?

     

     

     

     

     

     

76. Travellers question costly eviction

    March 14, 2011 6:26 am 2 Comments

    Tensions are understandably running high at Dale Farm today, as their fate is now in the hands of those voting in tonight’s Basildon District Council (BDC) meeting. As I talk with the Travellers, these are three of the questions that keep coming up:

    1. How can they vote to evict us if they have admitted that the eviction will make us homeless?

    No matter what Jon Austin writes in the Echo, they do not have plots in Cambridge and they will be forced to live on the side of the road if evicted from Dale Farm. Through a lengthy and detailed process carried out by its Homeless Department, BDC has recognised  its obligation to the individuals who will be made homeless by its own eviction. It seems logical that they would fulfil this obligation first, which would render the eviction unnecessary. 

    2. Why would they spend up to £20 million that they do not have, when we have agreed to move peacefully once suitable alternatives are identified?

    All the Travellers want is somewhere with planning permission to live together as a community. It seems premature to begin this costly process before negotiations to identify alternative sites have been completed.

    3. Why would BDC vote for something that will adversely affect its own constituents?

    Senior Council officials admit that “the costs are so high the council is concerned it may not be able to deliver all normal services during and after the eviction.” Given this statement by its own leaders, how can BDC vote to go ahead when all other measures have not yet been exhausted?

    At a special meeting tonight, Basildon District Council will vote on the Dale Farm issue and decide whether or not to serve 28 days notice of eviction. At 6:30 pm there will be a protest outside the Basildon District Council office. Towngate Theatre, St. Martin’s Square, Basildon SS14 1DL .

77. Latest about the Dale Farm situation in the news

    March 6, 2011 5:30 am 1 Comment

    Have a look at this BBC News article, which suggests that Basildon District Council (BDC) must fund the eviction operation at Dale Farm on its own and will not receive  the £3 million they requested from the government.  Tony Ball, BDC leader, insists that the council has £5 million available for the operation and has even committed to “resign as council leader if it is the council’s fault that the site is not cleared by spring this year.” It is not yet clear whether or not BDC will receive the £10 million required from the government for policing the eviction (which seems unlikely following this news) or what effect this will have on a decision to evict.  Dale Farm Travellers are now awaiting the results of the crucial vote at the council meeting on 14 March, which may decide their fate.

    If you want to get involved and support the Travellers, see the events planned for this week leading up to the BDC meeting. Supporters will also be protesting outside BDC offices on 14 March. Click here for details.

78. “They are making us look like some sort of aliens…”

    March 4, 2011 2:03 pm Leave a Comment

    Millions of Britons will now have to find something else to do with their Tuesday evenings. The Travellers at Dale Farm are heaving a sigh of relief that Big Fat Gypsy Weddings is finally over, but must face in its aftermath the possibility that it has left a long-term negative impression of them and their culture on the British consciousness. The general consensus at Dale Farm and throughout the wider Gypsy/Traveller community (see the Travellers’ Times Big Fat Gypsy Protest) is that they have been largely misrepresented by the Channel Four series. Although the programme promised to cover all aspects of Traveller life, it was alarming how much of the 5 hours was taken up with talk of dresses and expensive weddings; far too much screentime was given over to the dressmaker, masquerading as an expert on all things Gypsy/Traveller, rather than hearing from a wider, more representative collection of actual members of the Gypsy/Traveller community.  The women of Dale Farm don’t think that the series has shown the most important aspects of the wedding for them, which marks the beginning of a woman’s new life with her husband, celebrating the importance they place on family life and the continuation of their culture. 

    Yes, there are Traveller women who do like to wear big wedding dresses and some young Traveller girls like to wear dancing costumes and fake tan when attending parties. Can we move on from that now? The programme missed the point: Having spent over 2 years getting to know many of the residents, I can say that this is certainly one of the least interesting things about them.  The women at Dale Farm are much more than their choice of clothes.  Furthermore, the women I know do not consider their life one of drudgery. Yes, they do indeed take their role as mothers and homemakers very seriously, but they also hold their families and communities together. As many of the men are away working most of the time, several generations of women work together to manage every aspect of the community members’ daily lives.  They take the lead in the political and religious arenas and are making strides to ensure that the next generation is more educated than they are. 

    As Reena, one of the Traveller women at Dale Farm, put it, “They have made us look like some sort of aliens.” What has struck me since I have been going to Dale Farm is how much we, in the settled community, have in common with them. Many of the women I know well have young children, as I do, and it is impossible to overlook the commonalities. On an everyday basis, we continuously feed, clean up and try to remain sane amongst chaos caused by our children. But as Kelly said to me, “they are worth it” and so we are pre-occupied with protecting them, providing a better life for them but at the same time instilling in them the traditions that are important to us and go some way to defining us.

     

    It has been difficult to look past the sensational in the programme; there have only been momentary glimpses of the Travellers’ humanity.   It focussed largely on sweeping generalisations based on the extremes they found within this complex and varied community. Perhaps even more damaging, the programme has left the impression that travellers can all afford such extravagant, expensive weddings and this has fuelled outrage amongst some in the settled community, leading to unhelpful and ill-informed articles in tabloids speculating incorrectly and inappropriately about their finances. Although some Gypsies and Travellers are well off, as I see first-hand every time I visit Dale Farm, many are not. It would have been more useful if the programme had avoided deceptive generalisations and gone beyond the sensational; this only serves to strengthen the barrier that already exists between many Traveller and settled communities throughout the UK.  If members of the settled community had seen more of the reality of the Travellers’ everyday lives, perhaps they would start to find some common ground and attempt to move forward in a more positive and effective way.

     

    I will shortly be posting an audio clip of interviews with several women at Dale Farm about the programme.

79. Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

    January 24, 2011 4:35 pm Leave a Comment

    I found the first in the newest Channel 4 series, “Big Fat Gypsy Weddings” a lot more interesting than last year’s snapshot. Channel 4 has definitely improved upon their access from their last attempt, but it is not true that Travellers are reluctant to discuss their views and culture. I have found them remarkably open, welcoming and straight-forward. This programme seemed to feature more views of Travellers rather than a heavy focus on dressmaking, but the aim (again) was to leave the viewer wide-eyed and open-mouthed as they marvel at scantily clad girls and enormous dresses.  I was sceptical that some of the customs being discussed (i.e. grabbing) may not be commonplace throughout the wider Traveller community. In the same vein, it was mentioned that there is a difference between the Roma and Irish Travellers (who in my experience, do not like to be called Gypsies), but thus far, no differentiation has been made between the two cultures.  

     

    In its opening, the series promises that it will cover all aspects of Traveller life.  I look forward to seeing a more far-reaching portrayal in the upcoming programmes, moving beyond the superficial and focussing more directly on the motivations behind their choice to live outside the mainstream, as well as on the issues that threaten the Gypsy and Traveller way of life. Definitely tune in tomorrow to see coverage of Dale Farm and the evictions at Hovefields.   

    For a more subtle and less sensationalised portrayal of Traveller weddings, please check out Mary Turner’s excellent photo essay on the weddings of several Dale Farm residents.Click here to hear Dale Farm residents talk about weddings.     

80. We will all miss John Flynn.

    November 11, 2010 7:36 am 2 Comments

    I was so sad to hear about the tragic death of Dale Farm resident, John Flynn, last week. He was a beloved and integral member of the community, a man of integrity, devoted to his wife, children and grandchildren. I will remember him as a man who was always smiling, and was welcoming and looked out for me even when I was a complete stranger to him during my first visits to Dale Farm.

    

    His death occurred whilst he was awaiting the latest court ruling that would decide his and his family’s fate and affect their ability to continue their way of life.  The Homeless Department of Basildon District Council (BDC) has concluded that he and his wife (along with many others at Dale Farm) will be made homeless if an eviction ensues, and they therefore have a legal obligation to provide them with suitable accommodation.  John and Mary (along with another couple, Barbara and John Sheridan) appealed to Southend County Court asking that the BDC provide culturally appropriate accommodation to Travellers (a plot of land suitable for a trailer) as opposed to standard bricks and mortar.  John and Mary have lived in a trailer and travelled their entire lives, until their age, limited mobility and poor health now no longer allow it. For the past seven years, they have lived on a small plot of land at Dale Farm next to their grown children who look after them on a daily basis.

    Now, just days after his death, Mary has found out that Judge Dedman refused her appeal and she may be forced into a flat on her own if an eviction goes ahead. There is increasing worry that, particularly since the evictions at Hovefields, this could be an imminent reality for Mary as residents could receive their 28-day notice letters from BDC any day.

     It is simple. The Travellers at Dale Farm unanimously want one thing – a plot of land where they can live together as a community; a place where they can preserve what is left of their way of life.  For the Travellers, it goes without question that they will take full responsibility for looking after each other when they need it. If they are spread across the country in flats amongst settled people, not only will they be forced to abandon their entire way of living, but scarier and more immediate for the Travellers, they will not be able to look after and take care of their loved ones. Who is going to take care of Mary if she is to take the flat she is offered? They are certain that she will be looked after at Dale Farm, but what evidence is there that settled people would even want her around, let alone be kind enough to a Traveller to look after her?

    John Flynn will be greatly missed.  For Mary, facing a future without him, which will be decided by people who hardly understand her or her way of life, must be a very scary prospect indeed.

     

     

81. More evictions of Hovefields Travellers started this week

    September 10, 2010 4:11 am 2 Comments

    Despite protests from residents and supporters, bailiffs and bulldozers descended on Hovefields on Tuesday, 7 September, to clear seven pitches and to forcibly remove the Traveller families living on them.  Several of the families were in the process of pursuing homeless applications with Basildon District Council in anticipation of such an eviction. As there has not yet been a response to these applications by the Council, the families are left with nowhere to go following their removal from their homes at Hovefields. 

    

    The eviction from their homes on Tuesday was just the beginning of an ongoing series of evictions for the Hovefield Travellers. Four of the families (including seven children and a pregnant woman) have been moved on at least three times by police using Section 61 powers from the 1994 Crimal Justice Act.  At least one of the Section 61 notices was served by police to the families in the middle of the night.  The families have attempted to stop on unoccupied Home and Communities Agency land, as they had been informed that the Agency had offered the land to Basildon District Council specifically for Travellers. 

    

82. Article in Billericay and Wickford Gazette

    July 17, 2010 5:52 am 2 Comments

    Natalie Hoodless, Chief Reporter for the Essex Chronicle, was nice enough to interview me a few weeks ago and here is the resulting article in the Billericay & Wickford Gazette. 

    

83. Bailiffs bulldozed Traveller yards at Hovefields, Wickford

    June 30, 2010 4:34 pm Leave a Comment

    Click here for the Dale Farm Housing Association’s press release about Constant & Co.’s demolition of several (mostly vacant) yards yesterday at Hovefields. 

    

    Hovefields, June 2010. Photo by Mary Turner.Hovefields, 2010. Photo by Mary Turner.

84. More comments from locals about Dale Farm

    June 22, 2010 8:08 am Leave a Comment

    It is unfortunate how some of my fellow residents feel about the Travellers at Dale Farm.  Have a look at this blog from “Ambush Predator”.

85. Article in Basildon Echo/Recorder

    June 21, 2010 3:38 pm 75 Comments

    I will give a fuller response as soon as I have time, but for now, here is a link to the article and comments in the local press about the work I am doing at Dale Farm.

86. Dale Farm: A Community in Transition

    June 15, 2010 5:18 pm Leave a Comment

    The residents of Dale Farm were informed that the UK’s highest court of appeal, the House of Lords, will not hear their appeal to remain at Dale Farm, and that there may be no protection from eviction whilst they pursue other legal avenues. Unless their neighbours can be encouraged to engage with the Travellers, recognise their humanity (and the fundamental rights that go with it) and support their residence at Dale Farm, I fear, as the Travellers do, that the Traveller community will be scattered across the country, separating families and creating yet more obstacles to them exercising their traditional way of life.

    This collection of photos tells the story of a community in transition; a community that is uncertain of its future. Most of the Travellers at Dale Farm have lived much of their lives on the road, but recognising the advantages of easily accessible healthcare and education for their children, they are adapting to a changing world and living a settled life for much of the year. Throughout this transition, they are trying to preserve the Traveller culture, stay together as a community and protect their children from the ills of a settled life.

    For the Travellers at Dale Farm, this transition comes with added complications, because they are under the constant threat of eviction for contravening planning law and building on green belt land. They are uncertain every night whether or not they will be evicted from their homes in the morning, which causes them much worry and strain. Due to this uncertain situation, they have therefore not developed any sort of permanent relationship with their environment and much of the site is dilapidated and in disarray. 

    Underlying this collection of photos are the strong family and community bonds that keep them together throughout the uncertainty of the looming eviction that threatens to break them apart.  The Travellers at Dale Farm remain strong and dignified despite their precarious living situation, overt prejudice from their neighbours and their ongoing struggle to preserve their way of life in a society designed for settled, literate people. 

    

    Click here to see all the photos in this collection.

87. AP Summer Fellowship: Here we go!

    May 26, 2010 6:49 pm 1 Comment

    The Advocacy Project Peace Fellowship sprang into my life in one beautiful, stunning moment of synchronous convergence. There is a bit of magic in all this madness. But first things first.

    For my entire professional life after college, I have been an educator, working primarily with immigrant and refugee populations in my US home state of Oregon. My focus, as an immigrant myself, has been on empowering immigrant communities by teaching language and relevant, practical employment-related skills as well as history, literature and creative expression through writing and drama.

    For some time now, however, I have been longing to have a broader, yet more tangible impact in the areas of racial and social justice–locally in the city of Portland and in my country of birth, the Czech Republic, which I left at the age of thirteen.

    Even though I moved away from the Czech Republic as a child, I have kept a solid connection with my family, a large part of which still lives there, and with my culture. The issue that I have felt the strongest about in my original home country has always been that of discrimination against the Roma people. Why?

    

    I am white. I have not had any close friends from the Roma community. I have never been to the home of a Roma family. But still, my heart breaks when I hear the racist comments and slurs that many Czechs, including my friends, relatives and politicians, utter. I shutter with fear when I read personal accounts of racially-motivated violence. I am dismayed and angry at the discrepancies between the conditions of most white people and those of the Roma people in Czech society. The results of a long history of institutional racism are, in many cases, blatant: inequities in education, employment, housing, health care–in short, in every sector of society.

    This needs to change.

    So, here is where a bit of magic comes in. Wanting to forge a deeper connection and to find a way to make a difference, I wrote up a mission statement for myself and found images–post cards, book covers, photographs– that represented the kind of work I envisioned immersing myself in to help advocate for the Roma community “back home.” I created a sort of a visual collage of these, which I displayed in my room, thereby declaring my intention to the world. This after years of keeping abreast of and occasionally blogging about the issues and the political climate in the Czech Republic.

    Next, I typed in a few related key words into Google, and voile: the AP Summer Peace Fellowship with Dzeno Association in Prague popped up on top of the search list. The deadline for application was the following week. The fellowship description fit perfectly with the kind of work I was hoping for: working in conjunction with a community-based, minority-run press agency to create content to raise awareness about Roma rights issues internationally.

    So, here I am, with my sleeves pulled up, ready and thrilled to do the work.

    

    The adventure begins.

    

88. Introducing the Travellers at Dale Farm

    April 20, 2010 7:27 am 10 Comments

    I have now been involved with the Irish Traveller community at Dale Farm (or Oak Lane as the residents know it) for over a year. It is amazing what a difference one year can make to your life. I went from knowing virtually nothing about this group of people who live only a few miles down the road to feeling fortunate for knowing them and becoming personally invested in their future. 

    I first became involved last year when I began a documentary photography project on everyday life and the sensitive political situation at Dale Farm for my photography course.  Since moving to the area, I have been shocked at how socially acceptable it was to be openly prejudiced against the Travellers and I was fascinated to personally meet the individuals who have been largely demonised and dehumanised by my local community. Over the past year, I have amassed a large collection of photos, some of which I will share as the blog progresses. I do not seek to romanticise the Travellers; rather, I hope to provide an accurate and accessible record of their lives, so that their neighbours can see them as they truly are and are forced to confront their prejudices. 

    Here are a few portraits I took at Dale Farm one Sunday afternoon a few months ago. I pinned a white sheet to a tall fence and photographed willing participants who happened to walk by. The aim was to take the residents out of their everyday surroundings and focus squarely on them as individuals. If you are a photography fan, you might notice the influence of Avedon’s In the American West series. 

         

        

    Click here to view more in this series.

      

         

         

         

      

89. BOSFAM Update

    September 29, 2009 5:24 am 4 Comments

    Hello to all blog-followers!  I have to apologize for a long delay in posting and wanted to let everyone know what I have been up to in Tuzla over the past few weeks.

    Following the Fashion Show, which turned out to be a great success, BOSFAM returned to its normal activities of handicraft production and psycho-social support.  The Fashion Show was covered by several Bosnian news outlets and you can see some pictures at the following URL:
    http://www.tip.ba/2009/08/10/%CB%9Dmuzika-i-moda-mladi-i-ljeto%CB%9D/.            It was a great evening and BOSFAM’s staff and members were very pleased by the turn-out.

    My colleague Kelsey Bristow returned to Washington, DC shortly after the Fashion Show and I am now living alone in the BOSFAM apartment. Things are definitely much quieter – and lonlier – without Kelsey around, but she is busy completing her senior year at Georgetown University.  We both hope that she will be able to return to BOSFAM next summer.  Kelsey still plans on putting together some video from the Fashion Show and our daily activities which I will be sure to post as soon as I receive it.

    My recent work at BOSFAM has focused on providing English translations for several sections of our new website – please check it out and comment at
    www.bosfam.ba , writing grant proposals and researching funding opportunities for BOSFAM, and trying very hard to obtain a Bosnian visa.  After six hours at the hospital yesterday compiling all the necessary signatures for the health certificate (one of only many forms necessary for the visa application), I sincerely hope that this process will soon reach its conclusion.

    Although I have yet to receive any definitive answers regarding several grant proposals, I have gotten some positive feedback and am feeling generally optimistic about my fundraising efforts.  In the eyes of international donors, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not nearly as trendy (for lack of a better word) as it was in the ’90s, which can make fundraising for a small organization like BOSFAM quite a challenging process.  However, Beba Hadžić’s (BOSFAM’s Director) motto is “We will survive,” and I am sure that she is right.

    I am looking forward to a trip to Linz, Austria in a few weeks to promote BOSFAM’s work.  We have been invited by the Zentrum der zeitgemaessen Initiativen – Austria, a group which promotes intercultural friendship between Bosnians and Austrians.  I have been surprised by how useful my knowledge of German is here, and am certain it will come in handy while in Linz.  If you can read German or Bosnian, I would encourage you to check out ZZI’s website and all the creative and useful projects they support:
    http://www.zzi.at.

    That is all the news from BOSFAM for now, and I will do my best to become a productive blogger once again.  I look forward to your comments, questions, and suggestions concerning ongoing work in Tuzla and BOSFAM’s projects.  Veliki pozdrav iz Tuzle (Greetings from Tuzla)!

90. Getting out of the circle : « In Vranje, nothing can be done to help the victims »

    September 22, 2009 1:32 am 2 Comments

    Unsettled family relationships trigger for many family tragedies… Here, everybody still remembers the case of Bujanovac, in Vranje region, a town lost in the middle of the Serbian southern mountains. In Vranje, on March 16, 2008, Boban Mitic, 34, killed his wife, Suzanna, 24, their two children respectively aged of 2 and 3 and their grandmother. Only the third girl, severely injured in the eye and left almost blind, and the grandfather, last arrived on the scene and saved due to the lack of bullets left in Boban’s cartridge, survived this tragic event.

    I had decided to tell you about this case: About the open death threats pronounced several times against Suzanna but also against the members of organizations who worked with her. About the inaction of the social services in charge of protecting this family. About the feeling of “SOS Vranje hotline” members who supported this family and met with her one day before the tragedy. Touching and touched staff I had the opportunity to meet with… I had decided to make a specific blog about it. But on second thoughts, why Boban Mitic from Vranje ? Why not Nikola Radosavljević from Jabukovca (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabukovac_killings) or Dragan Cedic from Leskovac (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragan_%C4%8Cedi%C4%87) ?

    And at the end, what should be said about these stories, what matters and should be kept from them, more than their details are their conclusions. In Vranje, for example, the conclusion is painful since no lesson has been drawn from the disappearance of this whole family. Despite the loss of these lives, despite the unfairness of the situation, according to the words of an activist, today, « we still cannot help these women in needs ». And she started relating the cases of battered women she’s currently dealing with, threatened of death by their husbands, and unable to find any kind of help facing up this lethal danger. These cases make us run the risk of seeing history repeating itself … And because of this, they deserve to be told. Because at one point, it is necessary to get out the circle of impotence and impunity Vranje represents. The video realized with members of SOS Vranje, summarizing the current situation can be found on the French version of this post, below this one. It cannot leaves us remaining stony-faced and calls for immediate action.

    If you are a regular and attentive reader, maybe you have noticed the wordplay which stands for the title of this blog…Remember, “out of circle” is also the name of the organization dealing with domestic violence against the disabled… I therefore take the opportunity to add the video I realized with them, specifically dealing with the use of firearms in this phenomenon of domestic violence. Once against, comments and thoughts are more than welcomed.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT1zmULFQGI

91. Proud to be Roma.

    September 11, 2009 8:08 am 2 Comments

    I find myself once again back amongst mountains, cheese, and chocolates, but there is much left to tell; lingering thoughts prevent me from entirely rejoining the world of Swiss punctuality.   

    “The powerful stigma associated with being ‘Gypsy’ in the Czech Republic drives many ethnically ‘underground’ for official information and registry purposes”: It seems like a lifetime ago that I reflected upon the case of Roma pressurised into concealing their ethnicity in order to attain Czech citizenship in my predeparture blog entry. Two months in Prague and the implications of this ‘ethnic underground’ – stretching far beyond ticking boxes on census questionnaires, have become all too apparent to me…

    Far-right extremism is one manifestation of the anti-Romani sentiment that has festered in the Czech lands since 1989. Less visible is the echoing of such attitudes of the majority in the self-perception of the Roma minority. Self-esteem has taken a battering as derogatory stereotypes have become partly absorbed into Roma identity. The time I have spent with Anna Chválová from the NGO Romodrom revealed to me both the far reaching effects of deflated egos and one possible remedy. I first met Anna at a conference on increasing Roma participation in political and public life. Drawn from the outset to the enthusiasm which radiated from her, I sought to learn more. Language difficulties were bridged as we danced to Romani music and she proceeded to tell me of her work.

    

    Tired of the lack of space for innovation within the Czech school system, Anna had left the kindergarten she was working at to start a free time children’s club (Klub 9) for Roma children. Much emphasis is placed on overcoming the gross disparities between Roma and non-Roma in Czech schools in terms of both opportunities and outcomes. Yet above all, the programme Anna runs three days a week in Prague’s Vysočany district provides an alternative to roaming the streets. Not all the children who attend are from ghettos, but most come from impoverished households. Painting, acting, playing games, improving their writing skills; minor as they may sound, the services Anna provides gives these children opportunities they would otherwise never have had. “I used to wonder why some of the children spent so much time in the bathroom…then I realised they were washing themselves – they had no access to such facilities in their own home”. Klub 9 may be small (18m² max.) but it has become an integral part of the local Roma community on so many levels.

    

    “Do you like Romani children?” the kids asked me when I visited Anna at Klub 9. The question caught me by surprise. Teaching gymnastics in an ethnically diverse part of London, I’d become virtually colour-blind; ask me to describe a child and the words cheeky, timid or naughty would spring to mind infinitely quicker than ‘black’ or ‘white’. Klub 9’s Roma children in contrast are incredibly aware that they are different and Anna does not believe that convincing them otherwise is the way forward. Instead, ‘difference’ must be transformed into something worth celebrating. Ethnicity tends to be hidden by comparably well integrated Romani children and further excludes those from the ghetto who are generally more in touch with their Romani heritage. Whilst their ethnicity is a barrier of sorts for both, denying it is not the answer. Roma must learn to be proud of their cultural roots if they are to perceive themselves as equals in mainstream Czech society.

    “Our aim is to nurture pride and self-belief by highlighting what these children can do”. Anna is constantly praising the children she works with and their faces, adorned with expressions of admiration, self-confidence and happiness, are proof that her efforts are paying off.

    

    Nonetheless, I feel I must end on a negative. Anna’s enthusiasm and dedication alone cannot end the plight of the Roma. Tears well in her eyes as she tells of the helplessness she feels when bright Romani children are still sent to ‘special’ remedial schools after failing the entry test to the mainstream basic school. Speaking Romani at home and unable to attend kindergarten for financial reasons, Roma are disadvantaged from the outset. Klub 9 offers help to prepare children for the basic school examination, but as Anna herself points out, it is those already relatively successfully integrated who regularly turn up at Klub 9; those who desperately need the kind of support Anna offers do not come.

92. Sortir du cercle : « A Vranje, on ne peut rien faire pour aider les victimes ».

    September 4, 2009 3:53 am Leave a Comment

    Les relations familiales instables sont un terreau fertile pour les tragédies…

    Ici, tout le monde se souvient du cas de Bujanovac, dans la région de Vranje, ville perdue au milieu des montagnes du Sud de Serbie. A Vranje, le 16 mars 2008, Boban Mitic, 34 ans, tuait sa compagne, Suzanna, 24 ans, leurs deux enfants de 2 et 3 ans et leur grand-mère. De cette folie meurtrière, ne survécurent qu’une troisième petite fille, touchée à l’œil et demeurée aveugle, et le grand père, arrivé en dernier sur les lieux du massacre et sauvé par l’absence de balles dans la cartouche de Boban…  

    

    J’avais décidé de vous parler de cette affaire. Des multiples menaces de mort perpétrées au vu et au su de tous, contre Susanna mais aussi contre les membres des associations l’ayant accompagnée. De l’inaction des services en charge de la protection des familles. Du ressenti des membres de « SOS Vranje » qui ont suivi cette famille et l’ont rencontrée pour la dernière fois, le jour précédent le drame. Personnes touchées, touchantes et que j’ai rencontrées… J’avais décidé d’en faire un blog spécifique… Mais réflexion faite, pourquoi Boban Mitic de Vranje et pas Nikola Radosavljević de Jabukovca (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabukovac_killings) ou Dragan Cedic, de Leskovac (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragan_%C4%8Cedi%C4%87) ?

    Et puis surtout, de ces histoires finalement, ce qu’il faut vous dire, ce qu’il faut retenir, plus que les détails, c’est leurs conclusions. A Vranje, par exemple, la conclusion est douloureuse puisqu’aucune leçon n’a été tirée de la disparition de cette famille. Malgré la perte de ces vies, malgré l’injustice de la situation, aujourd’hui encore, selon les mots d’une activiste, « on ne peut toujours pas aider ces femmes en détresse ».  Et de me raconter les cas de femmes battues qu’elle traite actuellement, menacées de mort par leurs maris et incapables de trouver quelconque protection face à ce danger létal… Cas qui risqueraient fortement de voir l’histoire se reproduire… Qui méritent donc qu’on en parle, parce qu’il faut bien sortir du cercle de l’impuissance et de l’impunité à un moment donné… Voici donc la vidéo réalisée avec les membres de « SOS Vranje », qui ne peut laisser de marbre et appelle à l’action…

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FiZ6ujRtU4

    Peut-être avez-vous remarqué, si vous êtes lecteur régulier et attentif, le jeu de mot qui tient dans le titre de ce blog … souvenez vous, « Sortir du Cercle », c’est également le nom de l’association luttant contre la violence domestique envers les personnes handicapées.. j’en profite donc pour y ajouter la vidéo réalisée avec eux, traitant spécifiquement des armes à feux… et que vous trouverez dans la version anglaise de ce post, en dessus de celui-ci…

93. Carrot eaten…what now?

    September 2, 2009 11:28 pm Leave a Comment

    My daily walks along the Vltava River watching a setting sun catch the ripples before it slowly dips behind the myriad of rooftops and church spires, are numbered. The cloud that looms over my head has grown in the months that have passed. I’d underestimated the extent of the “Gypsy problem” before arriving in Prague…having since seen for myself just the tip of the injustice iceberg, my idealistic (some would say naive) temperament has taken a battering. Yet I am able to find solace of sorts in the knowledge that the inspirational people I have met who dedicate their lives to Roma rights remain undeterred; setbacks are not cause to give up hope, but additional reason to fight.

    I had the opportunity once again to meet with Kumar Vishwanathan, head of the NGO Life Together when he travelled to Prague to discuss the problematic new law making welfare payments partially conditional upon doing community service. Sitting in an authentic local in the backstreets of Malá Strana we were joined by Radka Soukupová, former Director of the Czech Government Council for Roma Community Affairs and Klára Laurenčíková, Deputy Minister of Education. As the conversation turned to existing frictions between central and local government, the party politics infiltrated civil service and the pervasiveness of stubborn mentalities, I was reminded once more of the shortcomings of democratic reality. As an undergraduate European Studies student I had been taught of the power that the lucrative reward of EU membership could potentially wield. The discussions I now eagerly followed confirmed much of what I had read but also highlighted ‘europeanisation’s’ limitations. The EU has been able to influence domestic policy and programs on the treatment of minorities with the ‘carrot’ (of Phare financing/EU accession) and ‘stick’ (of conditionality) approach and has given specific attention to improving the condition of the Roma. The question is what happens when much of the carrot has been devoured? European Structural funds provide an incentive of sorts, yet the money has failed to reach those who are in desperate need of assistance and progress has stagnated. “What would the Europe’s tax payers say if they knew their money was being squandered?” asks Kumar. With the Czech Republic now an EU member state it seems as though a major motivation behind the provision of Roma support has elapsed, without which political will is simply insufficient.

    

    We were joined by the political artist Tamara Moyzes and Vera Roubalova, psychologist and signatory of Charter 77 – the profoundly important human rights movement in Czechoslovakia. As I tried to hide the enormous sense of privilege which now enveloped me, talk turned to the issue of institutional care. Research suggests that out of every 10,000 newborn children, 62 are placed into care in the Czech Republic…in the UK the figure is just 2. Hitting Roma particularly hard, it is one legacy of an overly paternalistic state which lives on in the unquestioning minds of many occupying positions of trust Kumar Vishwanathan argues. According to him, the astonishingly high figures are not an indication that Czech children are more neglected; but that the system is not tuned to properly help families hold on to their children when faced with crisis. Most children are taken into care for ‘social reasons’ such as housing rather than a result of abuse or neglect. Caring parents are left childless and the institutions into which their offspring are placed overrun…the practice is unjust, cruel and a drain on resources.

    Time has caught up with me once again, but I leave you with the work of Tamara Moyzes. She collaborated with other artists to put on an art exhibition to draw attention to the extent of the problem of excessive institutional care. Rodinná Pohoda (Family Happiness) ran in the Nostický Palace in Malá Strana until May of this year. Her life-size poster visualising the act of placing children in care captures the emotions involved better than words ever could:

     

94. That vital ingredient called trust.

    August 28, 2009 2:03 pm Leave a Comment

    Socially excluded locality – the PC term for ghetto and racial segregation at its most visible. Writing reports for Dzeno I am continually confronted with the phrase: three words assigned the insurmountable task of capturing the essence of the 330 or so residential enclaves inhabited by much of the Czech Republic’s Roma where access to formal employment, education and adequate housing is limited. The label is useful in the world of the written, but what about the world of Roma reality? Returning once more to my experiences in Ostrava last week (albeit a mere snapshot) may help bridge that gap between the two realms:

    Wind in my hair, we turn off the main road and enter another universe. Dust sprays as a lone car crosses our path, the tattooed arm of its toothless driver waving from the open window. The vehicle disappears over the horizon, its body glistening in the warm glow of the afternoon sun. We drive on. Type the phrase “Roma ghetto” into Google’s image search and you are inundated with pictures of dilapidated housing and mounds of rubbish, yet what now lay before us contradicted even the most popular hits. Amongst a cluster of large, elegant red houses dating back to the late 1920s children played, teenagers chilled, tapping their feet to gypsy beats and an elderly couple sat in the shade of a beautiful willow tree. Each wrinkle, dimple and blemish on the faces of those who watched as we parked had a story all of its own. Extreme poverty could momentarily be forgotten with the wealth of colours, aromas, sounds and of life itself. The car came to a halt, seatbelts were unclasped.  Kumar’s words “you cannot fight for rights wearing a mask” still ringing in my ears, I started unzipping my camera case…then stopped. Why? Let me explain…

    Kumar Vishwanathan had taken me along to a community meeting in one of Ostrava’s ‘excluded localities’. A crisis meeting had been called after a family had been threatened with eviction from the social housing in which they had been residing for some time. A local NGO working in conjunction with the local municipality plans to renovate the family’s home but has made no guarantee that the same family will be allowed to return following the reconstruction. With the NGO under contract for only 2 years, local Roma are rightly concerned that the venture is just privatization in disguise. Roma left homeless after the decision of corrupt officials to sell off properties to friends and family has become an all too regular occurrence in the area. The meeting had been summoned to discuss how best to counter the impending eviction. 

    As soon as I opened my car door it was blatant that something was wrong. Met by anxious looking Roma we learnt that our arrival had coincided with a rare and unexpected visit from the municipality’s mayor and the NGO involved in the prospective renovation. They pointed to a window across the street; we were being filmed. A camera lens had never struck me as particularly threatening, but the angst that glistened in the local’s eyes made me realise just how intruding it can be. Kumar turned to me: “You see now the importance of trust Christina?” My camera slipped to the bottom of my bag. “Trust is something that has to be built” he continued “it provides the foundation upon which we work”. What we had just witnessed demonstrated that without that vital ingredient, even the best intentions can be counterproductive. Filming without first asking and gaining the community’s trust was not only intimidating but had hindered the chance for constructive dialogue.

    Once the mayor and NGO had left, the community meeting began outside the house that was to be renovated. Kumar, innovative as always, had stuck a large piece of paper to a rusting garage door and encouraged inhabitants of all ages to elect spokespersons and to discuss ideas for further action. Yet the upset caused by the unexpected visitors had left the Roma agitated and it all ended prematurely after it was agreed when they would next get together. The agonizing wait for the family facing eviction continues.   

    I myself left from Ostrava without a single photograph. What I did gain – a greater understanding of the complex dynamics of advocating for Roma rights, was undoubtedly far more valuable. Without an open channel of communication between stakeholders (Roma, NGOs and governmental bodies) based on trust, the chances of overcoming the limited access to formal employment, education and adequate housing of those living in ‘socially excluded localities’ are next to none.

95. MY GREATEST MEMORY ASSOCIATED WITH WOMEN IN BLACK

    August 27, 2009 12:18 pm 1 Comment

    I wanted to end my Advocacy Project Blog by discussing a moment that was very important for me in Belgrade.  During my fellowship, one of the interview questions Donna and I asked activists was “What is your greatest memory associated with Women in Black?”  I first wanted to show you a clip of what WIB activists said but due to some technical difficulties I’m going to have to skip the video for now.  But just to give you a glimpse, WIB activists often answered the question by referring to Srebrenica Commemorations or by discussing the friendship and solidarity they have gained by being a part of WIB.

    My own personal greatest memory associated with Women in Black was the second Srebrenica Vigil Women in Black coordinated on July 10^th, 2009.  I spoke about my experience at this vigil in an earlier blog post.  I am thankful that I was fortunate enough to express solidarity with Srebrenica victims’ families.  The Serb nationalist group that was standing in opposition to us on that day gave me an even greater conviction that political activism is essential.  The world cannot become a better and safer place until more of us contribute to the politics of our nations and to the politics of the international community as a whole.  We also need to be sure to educate younger generations about the importance of being politically involved – an element of our society that is often lacking, especially in the U.S.

    This specific vigil made me positive that Women in Black is working towards something that is very essential in Serbian society: goodness and morality.  While you probably won’t find these two words in a list of WIB’s top ten goals, I really think their endeavors can be summed up as such.  WIB is basically asking its people to stand up for what is right and stand up against a regime that has committed mass atrocities.  It really doesn’t seem like too much to ask.

    I really hope that my work in Belgrade was able to contribute to WIB’s agenda and that the organization reaches its goals in the near future!

    

96. MY IMPRESSIONS OF SERBIA

    August 26, 2009 2:28 pm Leave a Comment

    The question that I was most often asked in Serbia was “What are your impressions of Serbia?”  It took me a long time to figure out the answer to this question, and now that I’m back in New York I’m still not sure if I have a precise answer.

    During my trip I was fortunate enough to be located in Belgrade which is the largest city in the Balkans region.  I loved being located in a central city where I felt connected to the rest of the world.  Belgrade was like any other city with movies, plays, restaurants, activities in the public square, bars and lots and lots of lovely cafes.  As a tourist walking down the streets of Belgrade you wouldn’t necessarily notice that Serbia is a country that’s still suffering from the wars of the 1990s.  But once you dig a little deeper you notice that even though the wars have been over for years, their effects are still lingering very strongly in Serbian society.  These effects are even more easily seen once you travel outside of the city into the rural areas of the country.  Unemployment levels are high and many individuals reminisce about how life was under Tito’s regime.  While things were of course not perfect under Tito, it seems like people were a lot happier under his socialist government.  I heard too many people reminisce about times before the war, when life was easier and more enjoyable for them.

    During my trips to Potocari, Srebrenica, Tuzla, Sarajevo, Pristina, Mitrovica and Prizren, I noticed that people in the Balkans region altogether live in highly politicized environments.  It’s as if the wars ended just yesterday.

    Without a doubt, Serbia still has a lot of work to do in terms of facing the past and changing its regime.  The overthrow of Milosevic was just one step in the right direction.  While this step was essential to a better future for the Balkans, it was only the beginning.

    Fortunately, Women in Black is the top organization leading the way in taking additional steps towards a better future for Serbia, and for the Balkans altogether.  Let’s just hope that the people of Serbia start listening and follow in its footsteps.

97. Travelling East.

    August 25, 2009 3:54 am Leave a Comment

    “Ostrava hlavní nádraží”: the announcement resonated around the ageing train compartment. Awaking abruptly, I frantically gathered my belongings and jumped onto the sun drenched platform of the Czech Republic’s third largest city. As my legs grew reaccustomed to bearing my weight after the four hour train journey eastwards from Prague, my senses grappled with the unfamiliar.

    Ostrava is a city still living in the shadow of its unsettled past. The legacy of history is etched on the earnest faces of those I passed on my way to the station exit: quite a contrast from Prague’s gaggles of overexcited tourists. Ostrava cannot hide the scars of centuries of upheaval. The deportation of Jews and Czech Roma during Nazi occupation, the expulsion of Germans in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement after World War II and the subsequent immigration of peoples from elsewhere under the Soviet radar have contributed to its unique ethnic composition. Its economy – traditionally dominated by coal and steel production, has struggled to cope with the decline in heavy industry; unemployment is well above the country’s average. The mix of economic difficulties and ethnic discord seems to have proven lethal and ideal fuel for a strident neo-Nazi movement.

    The picture I paint may sound inflated – overly strong vocabulary obscuring reality, and yet rereading my words, I find myself asking whether I am in fact guilty of understating. My arrival in the city situated less than 100km away from Auschwitz coincided with the news that the names of 2 witnesses to the Vitkov case (a horrific arson attack in a town not far from Ostrava against a Roma family in April where a 2 year old girl was left fighting for her life) had been published on a neo-Nazi website which called for revenge against the informants…the Prague bubble I had grown used to living in burst with a ferocious pop.

    

    I was met at the train station by Kumar Vishwanathan, head of Life Together, an Ostrava-based NGO for Roma rights which has around 6,000 beneficiaries in the region. After disastrous floods in 1997 many Roma in Ostrava had been left homeless; local authorities were quick to rehouse non-Roma elsewhere in the city but provided only cramped, squalid temporary accommodation for the Romany families. Kumar – working up till then as a teacher in a nearby provincial town and originally from Southern India, spontaneously decided to help for 2 months…he never left.

    

    Kumar’s great modesty and serenity cannot hide the enormity of the impact he and his NGO have had; my conversation with him as we walked together through Ostrava was intermitted with greetings and admiring gazes from passersby. Yet despite Kumar’s endeavours, improvements in the situation of Ostrava’s Roma have been negligible at best. The day I spent with him was a sharp reminder that fighting for Roma rights is never-ending and encompasses ongoing struggles in all spheres of life.

    “Praha hlavní nádraží”: the announcement reverberates around a marginally more modern train compartment as I find myself once more in the Czech capital. As abruptly as I was awoken upon arrival in Ostrava I must end blogging for today and focus on the daily ritual that frantically searching for my house keys has become. I hope to resume my tales of the East over the next week…the words ‘eviction’, ‘unemployment’, ‘forced sterilisation’, ‘discrimination’, ‘usury’, ‘street children’ and ‘exclusion’ send an even larger chill down by spine after a glimpse of how they interlace to form reality for so many Roma in Ostrava.

98. Travellers Consider Move to Site in Central Essex

    August 18, 2009 10:25 am Leave a Comment

    August 18, 2009, Basildon, UK: The Dale Farm Travellers are considering moving north to an industrial site in central Essex, according to local UK newspaper the Daily Gazette.

    The Travellers, who are set to be evicted from their homes in Basildon after years of legal wrangling, have asked the local council if the new site, neat Witham, is suitable to relocate several families who stand to lose their homes.

    Read the full story here.

99. Luck ain’t the half of it.

    6:08 am Leave a Comment

    “I was beaten by other children…I was the only Roma child to survive more than 3 months in the ordinary school…other children went to the special schools…I was just lucky.” (Marie Gailova)

    “Aged 5 a psychologist deemed it most appropriate to send me to special school…my determined mother insisted otherwise…even with good grades, basic school as the only Roma in the class was problematic…other children would not look me in the face if they saw me outside school…I would not have survived without the 2 Czech girls I befriended…I was just lucky.” (Lucie Horváthová)

    Lucie Horváthová and Marie Gailova come to similar conclusions about their educational experiences as Roma in communist Czechoslovakia. I frowned as I first heard them attributing their remarkable achievements to chance, yet as I have learnt more about their childhoods and those of others like them, I have come to realise that the use of the word ‘luck‘ is not merely an expression of modesty…

    

    Schooling for Roma in the Czech Republic was – and remains – a lottery where the odds are stacked against success. Under Communism, the practice of channeling Roma into schools for children with mental disabilities called ‘special schools’ was widespread. Democratic rhetoric may espouse the principal of equality but regime change has not resulted in the stop of such segregation. A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in 2006 forced the Czech government to acknowledge that 75% of Czech Roma were placed in special schools and that Romani children with average or above average intellect often ended up in such establishments.

    Official recognition of continuing de facto segregation is a positive step, but until now little has changed; gross disparities between Roma and non-Roma in Czech schools in terms of both opportunities and outcomes persist. Too much remains in the hands of good fortune.

    Lucie Horváthová is an example of what is possible when that element of luck is combined with determination, intellect, passion, hard work, humour and a good heart. As a Roma from the Czech city of Pardubice, she has overcome great odds. Her strong character cannot hide the emotions that are awoken as she tells of her past. She finds it hard to comprehend how the child, told by a psychologist at the age of 5 that she would benefit from going to special school because of an apparent inability to master the Czech language (Romani is her native toungue), now sits talking of her experiences working as a local government advisor, as a candidate for the local green party and most recently for the Czech Cabinet of the Minister for Human Rights and Minorities…all in fluent ENGLISH.

    Lucie Horváthová ‘s words are tinged with a mixture of sadness, anger, gratitude, pride and bewilderment:

    • Lucie is grateful to the few friends she did have at school that helped her to block out the prejudice with which she was confronted on a daily basis and to complete her education.
    • Since becoming a master’s student of social anthropology, Lucie is angered by the suggestion that she has only got as far in life as she has because she is Roma. She has had to work as hard as the next person at university and asks simply to be treated as normal.
    • Lucie is proud to be Roma and all that it entails; the langauge, the traditions, the songs, the food, the community feeling, and respect for the elderly – all are of profound importance to her. Yet she is also aware of problems existing within the Roma community; during her time as a local government Roma advisor she was sandwiched between the administration and poor and often problematic Roma families. She was often left frustrated by both parties.

    The Lucie Horváthová of today is anything but purely a product of potluck. Nonetheless, appreciation of the fact that life could have been very different without that element of good fortune is what drives her work as a voice for the Roma; “it is my destiny to be active” she insists.

    Lucie believes firmly that the Roma situation needs to be addressed immediately but not in isolation – exclusively ‘Roma’ solutions could worsen problems in the country. In the video I leave you with she talks of the dangers of dwelling on the negative and the need for emphasising the success stories of Roma integration. The initiative she presents, Gypsy Spirit 2009, is one idea of how to give progress a voice.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muMpkKJ344I

100. live from the women balcony: stories of death threats

     August 14, 2009 3:49 am Leave a Comment

     If there’s no global record and inquiries, there’s however local studies, that can provide us with an idea of the use of guns in domestic violence. In a report entitled « family protection in cases of domestic violence, Belgrade Courts’ practice », published last year by the Center of the Autonomous Woman Center in collaboration with Nis School for communication and education of women, numbers are shocking. Out of the 120 cases of domestic violence judged by the Belgrade Courts in 2007, one third took place in houses where there was a gun.

     In 19,5 % of these houses equipped with guns, firearms were used as a mean of producing violence toward the women. Psychological violence with death threats: the idea that one should have to live everyday with the idea that maybe tomorrow, it would be over. Physical violence, when the arm was used as an object to hurt, wound. Or sometimes kill and end up on the newspapers headlines.

     Another useful source in our quest of profiling armed domestic violence is of course the staff who works with the consequences of this phenomenon: members of associations working with battered women. I met several times with the activists of the Autonomous Women Center which quickly became a weekly regular stop for me. Visitors are welcomed on the Women Balcony, a small haven of peace on 5 m2… where they are offered coffee, juices… and where stories are told…

     I give you their testimonies as regard situations they dealt with throughout their years of work. The first video is general and gives an overview of the phenomenon. You’ll find it on the French post, below this one. The second one could be entitled « Sample of stories » and tells concrete cases, associated with the stories I had shared with the Ombudsman…

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DjO_LCz84k&feature=channel

101. En direct du “balcon des femmes”, des histoires de menaces de mort…

     3:32 am Leave a Comment

     S’il n’existe pas d’enquêtes, de chiffres globaux ,exacts, il existe cependant des études, concentrées, qui peuvent donner une idée de l’utilisation de ces armes à feu comme moyen de violence domestique. Dans un rapport intitulé « protection de la famille dans les cas de violence domestique, pratique des cours de Belgrade », publié l’année dernière par le centre des femmes autonomes en collaboration avec le centre de recherche pour l’éducation et la communication des femmes de Nis (ville du Sud Est de la Serbie), la réalité du phénomène apparait. Des 120 affaires de violence domestique jugées par les cours de Belgrade, en 2007,  le tiers prit place dans des foyers qui abritaient une arme.

     Dans 19,5 % de ces cas, l’arme était utilisée comme moyen de violence à la maison. Violence psychologique avec des menaces de morts. : l’idée qu’il faille vivre au quotidien en ayant à l’esprit que demain peut-être, les menaces seront mises à exécution et tout sera fini. Violence physique, que l’arme soit utilisée comme objet pour frapper, qu’elle blesse. Ou parfois qu’elle tue, et qu’elle finisse à la une des journaux…

     Une autre source utile dans notre quête sur la réalité des armes à feux associées aux violences conjugales, est bien sur le personnel qui travaille avec les conséquences du phénomène : les membres d’associations pour les femmes battues. J’ai rencontré plusieurs fois les activistes du Centre pour les femmes autonomes, qui est bien vite devenu ma visite hebdomadaire régulière. On y est accueilli sur le balcon des femmes, un petit havre de paix de 5 m2… On y sert le café, on y boit du jus de fruit, on y raconte ses histoires…

     

     Je vous livre donc leur témoignage quant aux situations de violence domestique armée qu’elles ont pu rencontrer pendant leurs années de labeur. La première vidéo est générale et donne une vue d’ensemble sur le phénomène.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwFdB4lSZHE

     La deuxième pourrait s’intituler « histoires choisies » et regroupe des cas concrets, associés aux cas que j’avais évoqués, avec le médiateur de la République.. vous la retrouverez dans la version anglais de ce post, en dessus de celui ci.

102. www.pros-cons.com

     August 13, 2009 2:37 pm Leave a Comment

     The internet has undoubtedly become a valuable tool in giving voice to the voiceless. The World Wide Web; a colossal stage upon which stories of despair, suffering, misfortune, persecution as well as bravery, joy and hope, can be retold to a potentially vast audience. If just one person’s eyes are prised open to see the issues faced by marginalised societies, something has been achieved.

     NGOs and the Roma community in the Czech Republic have embraced the opportunities of cyberspace – blogs, news reports, commentaries, photos, event announcements and English speaking updates are uploaded continuously. The internet has become THE means to expose deprivation and discrimination, to demonstrate what is being done to generate change, to enable the communication and discussion of new ideas, to promote the Romany language and culture…the list goes on. Sadly, there is a rather large BUT, one which became all too evident as I visited the NGO Romodrom as they set up their summer camp for socially deprived Roma children.

     I am still struggling to find the words that adequately describe my weekend in the Czech countryside with this most extraordinary group of people. Music, crackling campfires, laughter, delicious food, patience and generosity triggered a thawing of the language impasse and I began to understand just a little more of life as a Roma in the Czech Republic. I hope that blogs to come will allow me to share it.

     The one thing I can promise is that the letters that appear on the screen before you in forthcoming entries will NOT always be accompanied by vivid photographs. I would like you to remember why, why an eagerness to converse coexists with a reluctance to be caught on film. The reason in a nutshell? The internet. That same tool that gives voice to the voiceless also gives voice to hate. Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, Twitter and online forums: as the Roma use the new platforms to air grievances, their appetite for change and pride in their culture, the far-right also take advantage of the opportunities cyberspace has to offer. I do not wish to turn this into a debate about the boundaries of free speech, but the freedom is undoubtedly a right which comes with responsibility. The intimidation of those who have taken up the enormous challenge of ending the plight of the Roma by posting vulgar and abusive commentaries on the web is cowardly and simply wrong.

     

     Remember this black box when reflecting on sparse blog entries. The internet opens many doors, yet particularly for the Roma – where problems such as unemployment, ghettoisation and a lack of education are compounded by (and so often also a consequence of) entrenched prejudice, what lies beyond can’t unequivocally be labelled “progress”.

103. Monthly Rallies in Serbia Push for Srebrenica Remembrance

     1:04 pm Leave a Comment

     August 13, 2009, Belgrade, Serbia: Activists from several Serbian organizations — including Advocacy Project partner Women in Black — rallied outside of President Boris Tadic’s house on August 11 to press the leader to officially recognize the Srebrenica genocide.

     The organizations are calling on Tadic to proclaim July 11 Srebrenica Genocide Remembrance Day. The fourteenth anniversary of the 1995 genocide was marked this July 11, and demonsrators said they’d be back on the 11th of each month until they get an answer from the Serbian government.

     “We are demanding support for the request of July 11 being a day to remember the Srebrenica genocide victims in Serbia as well and paying respect to them,” the organizations stated in a letter to Tadic.

     The letter reminds the President that the European Parliament adopted a resolution on January 15, 2009 proclaiming July 11 a day of remembrance for Srebrenica, and stated that because Serbia wants to join the EU, that has also become the obligation of the Serbian government.

     “We are expressing our firm conviction that respecting and recognizing the victims of the worst crime among crimes and the beginning of building shared remembrance in which all war crimes victims from the territory of the former Yugoslavia will be included is our common obligation,” the letter states.

     The demand was sent to Tadic by the Humanitarian Law Center, Women in Black, the Helsinki Human Rights Committee in Serbia, the Center for Developing Legal Studies, the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, the Fund for Open Societies and the Center for Cultural Decontamination.

     More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were murdered at Srebrenica in July 1995, when Bosnian Serb forces seized the town.

     Click here to read the full article.

104. Džanas peskero drom.

     August 12, 2009 4:44 am Leave a Comment

     Džanas peskero drom – we know our way: The slogan of Romodrom, a Czech NGO protecting the rights of Roma and other socially vulnerable groups and helping integrate disadvantaged members into society. I first met the organisation’s Chairwoman when I visited Romodrom’s base in Prague…

     Stepping off the bustling street, I entered an infinitely busier office. Ms. Marie Gailova strode briskly towards me sporting an infectious smile and proudly wearing her determination and generosity laden personality on her sleeve. A warm handshake was followed by an enthusiastic introduction to the organisation she had set up in 2001 following her work in a suburb of Prague called Uhrineves. 15 Romany families had been living in a ghetto without running water, electricity, gas or adequate food provisions after their source of employment – a brick kiln, had been closed down. The children received no education and appalling living conditions were accompanied by exclusion from mainstream society. Ms. Gailova soon realised that resolving the housing situation was only the start. Her fieldwork convinced Ms. Gailova that more needed to be done to address the complex social problems of individual families. Romodrom was founded to do just that. In an interview at the NGO’s summer camp around 40km outside of Prague, Ms.Gailova explained to me the organisation’s activities and the challenges it faces:

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3DpRT36Lgs

105. Faleminderit!

     3:19 am Leave a Comment

     I have had to leave Kosovo rather unexpectedly due to a family emergency. I do not believe that this is goodbye, so instead I will say thank you.

     Thank you Igo, for welcoming me into your organization and allowing me to share in your work this summer.  You have truly inspired me.

     Thank you Nicole, for teaching me to pronounce faleminderit and making me laugh when I needed it the most.

     Thank you Alba, for sharing your love of music with me.

     Thank you Besa, for your constant kindness.

     Thank you Adelina, for your openness, honesty and compassion.

     Thank you Dafina and Zana, for your friendship. I miss you both already!

     Thank you readers, for sharing in this experience with me. I hope that together, we can dispel the misconceptions that so many hold about Kosovo.

     And, last but not least, thank you Kosovo, for the experience of a lifetime.

106. Dale Farm Residents and Supporters Protest Against Eviction

     August 10, 2009 10:54 am Leave a Comment

     August 10, 2009, Basildon, UK: Residents of the Traveller community at Dale Farm and their supporters gathered today at noon outside Bailsdon Centre to protest the planned eviction of more than 100 Traveller families.

     Carrying the flags of the United Nations, the Romani nation, and many countries, the group demonstrated outside of town hall, urging a freeze on the Basildon Council’s forced eviction plans.

     The Travellers contend the eviction will cost more than 3 million pounds, and say it amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Gypsy community. Travellers have been consistent targets of racism and discrimination in the UK, despite the fact that most were born in the UK and are British citizens.

     During the protest, the Travellers presented a legal memorandum outlining the Council’s obligation under international law to seek an alternative to bulldozing their community. The memorandum, drawn up by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, with the help of the Univeristy of Essex Faculty of Law, says Dale Farm families have a strong claim under international law to be resettled — and not thrown out on the road, as the council intends.

     Last week, the Council was told by the UK Government that it must provide land for a minimum of 62 caravan pitches, to enable Traveller families refused permits
     to live on their own properties to take up legal residence in Basildon.

     “We hope commonsense will prevail,” said Dale Farm Housing Association president Richard Sheridan. “It would cost the councilnothing to leave us in peace in our own homes.”

     So far, talks with Basildon officials, continuing this week, have produced no offer of accommodation or land.

     The Dale Farm crisis began in 2005 when it was determined the Travellers were living on Green Belt land that is environmentally protected from development. Eviction orders were issued in 2005 and 2007. The most recent threat began after the UK Court of Appeal ruled in January that the Travellers could be legally evicted.

     The Dale Farm Housing Association is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP has supported the Travellers since 2005 and previously sent two Peace Fellows to volunteer at Dale Farm.

107. Authorities speak about armed domestic violence…

     August 9, 2009 3:17 am Leave a Comment

     At the Center for counseling against domestic violence, newspapers are read and records are kept. Sad statistics, taken from the « news in brief » section. Considering the frequency, maybe they would fit better in the « society » pages ?

     In 2009, the number of injured women by their partners is impressive. The story doesn’t tell if these victims lived under the threat of a gun but they give a clear idea of the size of the phenomenon of domestic violence, and the brutality of the experienced situations. In January, out of the 20 cases reported in the press, 13 women were injured. The next two months counted respectively 6 and 9 wounded women, which represents on average, 2 women wounded a week. In April, this average went up to 1 woman injured every two days, with a record number of 16 cases covered by the press. In summary, the record of this first half of the year isn’t glorious. Out of the 97 cases the press wrote about, dealing with domestic violence, 51 women were wounded. (source http://www.naslovi.net/hronika/).

     It’s hard to evaluate the number of cases including a weapon. Because these numbers are gathered by the Center for counseling against domestic violence, which, as I explained before, doesn’t take into account the “firearm” dimension in its analysis;

     In these circumstances, this lack of data, I decided to interrogate authorities, in order to test their knowledge of the issue. Therefore, I met with Jecka Nedejkov from the social services of Belgrade. Her office is situated in Zemun, district I’ve talked to you about in a previous blog ( because it’s also the place where the office of « Single mother » is, my first professional meeting ). Two weeks ago, Zemun was making the headlines of newspapers: A man had pulled out his gun in the street and started shooting in the air several times… 

     Jeka Nedeljkov is specialized in cases of domestic violence ; She is also the person to see when it comes to situations ending in divorces. She insists :  « No decision dealing with family problems is taken without my consultation ». Guns in domestic violence ? She knows… And explains with a great eloquence and an impressive clearness situations she had and is still dealing with. The pressure, the escalade…

     Zorica Mrsevic is specialized in gender issues and works as the Deputy Ombudsman of Serbia. In democracies, this institution is an interface between citizens and their authorities, a platform of defense for the latter against the first. Zorica Mrsevic knows this phenomenon of guns in domestic violence… Her staff inquired on a couple of cases of that matter…

     I invite you to have a look at their visual testimonies. You’ll find the video I realized below this post, in the French version of this blog (entitled “les pouvoirs publics parlent de la violence domestique armée”). Suggestions are of course more than welcome!

108. les pouvoirs publics parlent de la violence domestique armée…

     3:01 am Leave a Comment

     Au centre de conseil contre la violence domestique, on lit les journaux et on tient les comptes. Tristes comptes, tirés de la rubrique « faits divers ». Vu la fréquence, peut-être auraient-ils plus leur place dans la rubrique « société » ?

     En 2009, le nombre de femmes blessées par leurs partenaires est impressionnant. L’histoire ne dit pas si ces victimes vivaient aussi sous la menace d’une arme mais ils donnent une bonne idée de l’ampleur de la violence conjugale physique et de la brutalité des situations vécues ici. En janvier, sur les 20 cas reportés par la presse de violence conjugale, on dénombrait 13 femmes blessées. Les deux mois suivants comptaient respectivement 6 et 9 femmes blessées, ce qui représente, en moyenne, deux femmes par semaine. En avril, cette moyenne montait à 1 femme blessée tous les deux jours, avec un chiffre record de 16 cas couverts par la presse. En somme, le bilan de cette moitie d année 2009 n est pas glorieux. Sur les 97 cas reportés par les journaux, afférant à des cas de violence domestique, 51 femmes ont été blessées. (source http://www.naslovi.net/hronika/). Il est difficile d’estimer le nombre de cas incluant un pistolet. Puisque ces chiffres m’ont été communiqués par le Centre de conseil contre la violence domestique. Qui, comme je vous l’ai déjà expliqué dans un blog précédent, ne tient pas compte du facteur « arme à feu » dans son analyse.

     Dans ces circonstances, cette absence de données, j’ai décidé d’interroger les pouvoirs publics, afin de tester leur connaissance sur cette problématique. J’ai donc rencontré Jecka Nedejkov, du service social de la ville de Belgrade. Son bureau est situé dans le district de Zemun, ville dont je vous avais déjà parlé dans un précédent blog ; ( car c’est aussi le lieu de domiciliation des « mères seules » , qui fut ma première visite « professionnelle » ). Il y a deux semaines, Zemun faisait ici le titre des journaux : Un individu a dégainé son arme en pleine rue et a tiré plusieurs fois en l’air… 

     Jeka Nedeljkov est spécialisée dans les cas de violence domestique ; Elle gère également  les situations ayant abouti sur un divorce et insiste : « Aucune décision afférant à des cas de problèmes familiaux ne se prend sans ma consultation ». Les armes à feu dans la violence domestique ? Elle connait… Et d’expliquer avec une éloquence et une clarté impressionnantes, les situations qu’elle a pu rencontrer ou qu’elle rencontre encore… La pression, l’escalade…

     Zorica Mrsevic est spécialisée dans les questions de genre et travaille au bureau du Médiateur de la République de Serbie. Dans les démocraties, cette institution est une interface entre les citoyens et leurs autorités, une plateforme de défense des premiers face aux seconds. Zorica Mrsevic sait que ce phénomène de violence domestique armée existe. Son équipe a même enquêté sur le sujet..

     Je vous propose de retrouver leurs témoignages. Et vous invite bien entendu à réagir !

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rZrtTMiVAc

109. AP Staff, Interns Meet with Bosnian Ambassador

     August 7, 2009 12:58 pm Leave a Comment

     August 7, 2009, Washington, DC: Staff and interns of The Advocacy Project (AP) met with Ambassador Damir Džanko, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Embassy, on Friday to thank him for his attendance at the Srebrenica commemoration event and discuss ways to work together in the future.

     AP presented Mr Dzanko with a souvenir carpet made by the weavers of Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), an AP partner in Tuzla.

     Elmina Kulasic, Executive Director of the Bosniak-American Advisory Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH) was also present at the meeting. BAACBH is a strategic partner of AP.

     AP staff members discussed numerous projects with the ambassador, including how to promote the work of BOSFAM, and ways of supporting Bosnia’s multicultural legacy and continued peace. AP looks forward to a lasting partnership of cooperation and support with the Bosnian-American community.

     

     

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0YXoOoA48

110. Preparing for the Fashion Show

     6:15 am 5 Comments

     Everyone at BOSFAM has had their hands full over the past week preparing for the annual BOSFAM Fashion Show. This coming Monday evening, models from the ABC Modeling Agency in Tuzla will showcase BOSFAM’s clothing on the newly reopened “Freedom Square.”

     

     In addition to the fashion show, the Tuzla University Singing Club and three different dance groups (Flamenco, Sandoval, and Valentino) will perform. The fashion show is a great chance for BOSFAM to promote its products among the local population and I would encourage anyone in Tuzla following my blog to attend.

     Here at the details:

     WHEN: Monday, August 10th at 8 PM
     WHERE: Trg Slobode, Tuzla, BiH

     For those who cannot attend, I will be sure to put up some video and photos following the event.

111. “Glupi Rat” (“Stupid War”)

     August 6, 2009 7:23 am 3 Comments

     In early July, I had the opportunity to travel to Mostar, a city in the southern part of BiH with my co-fellows Kelsey Bristow (BOSFAM) and Donna Harati (Women in Black – Serbia). Mostar was heavily damaged during the war and the entire region of Herzegovina experienced violent conflict between ethnic Croats and Bosniaks (Muslims). While in Mostar, we stayed with Majda, a Bosniak whose husband was killed by a sniper.

     Majda’s son lives in Canada, and the only way she can earn money is by renting out rooms in her apartment to tourists. Before the war, she was employed as a mechanical engineer near Mostar, her son attended primary school, and her husband worked (also as an engineer) for the Yugoslav airline company.

     I give Majda as an example to illustrate how the war completely destroyed the lives of so many people, including those who did not die as a result. What does Majda have now? She sees her son once a year and her husband is dead. She cannot put her intelligence and technical expertise to good use by renting out rooms in an apartment. Mostar remains ethnically divided by the Neretva River and Majda no longer has contact to her former friends who are ethnically Croat. This is the day to day reality Majda faces fourteen years after the war in BiH officially ended.

     “Glupi rat,” Majda said to me as we sat on her lovely balcony overlooking Mostar, the Neretva, and the surrounding mountains. I nodded in agreement and tried to explain (in Bosnian) some of the projects BOSFAM is working on to her. She had heard of BOSFAM and made a comment about the lack of initiatives which exist for women victims of war. I could tell something was upsetting her and asked what was wrong. Majda, like many others in Bosnia, feels that the international community has more or less abandoned BiH now that the country no longer makes the news on a regular basis. “The war was bad everywhere,” she said, “and people are still trying to recover and we all still need help.”

     Speaking with Majda reminded me not only of the war’s far-reaching consequences throughout the country, but also of the importance of vigorous and continued commitment to BiH on the part of the international community. While fourteen years may seem like a long time on one hand, it is not long enough to expect life to return to normal. Majda’s life, in fact, will never return to the way it was. Reconstructing a multi-ethnic BiH and healing the wounds of war will require several generations, if not longer. Majda’s life experiences mirror those of many of the women who currently work at BOSFAM, and in particular those of Beba Hadzic, BOSFAM’s director.

     Beba is also highly educated and had a great job prior to the war (as the principal of Srebrenica’s elementary schools). Beba often says that she never believed war was possible in BiH, but it happened. The important question now is how Bosnians and the international community can best work together to rebuild what was lost. It will doubtless be a long and difficult process, but organizations like BOSFAM and people like Majda have the right principles at heart. With the appropriate support and long-term vision, Beba and Majda’s grandchildren may have the opportunity to enjoy the same quality of life their grandparents can only fondly remember.

112. Operation Storm

     August 5, 2009 4:31 am Leave a Comment

     Yesterday marked the 14^th anniversary of “Operation Storm”, the Croatian army offensive that exiled more than 250,000 ethnic Serbs from Croatia. Although exact figures are still disputed, it is believed that around 2,000 Serbs were killed, with an estimated 1,200 of those being civilians. Approximately 20,000 Serb-owned homes in Croatia were burned. Three former Croatian generals are currently standing trial at the Hague Tribunal for crimes committed during Operation Storm. They are: Ante Gotovina, Ivan Čermak and Mladen Markač.

     For Croatians, the operation was a key military victory that allowed them to recapture Serb-held territory. Even though the Croatian president has stripped the generals on trial in the Hague of their military medals, Croatians celebrate August 4^th every year as a state holiday dubbed “Day of Gratitude to the Homeland Defenders”. In Serbia, the country mourns the victims of the military operation.

     The diametrically opposed commemorations of the day definitely demonstrate how divisive war can be, but instead of focusing on the fact that atrocities were committed on all sides during the Yugoslav war, I wanted to write about Operation Storm to once again showcase Women In Black’s steadfast dedication to solidarity with all victim’s families. Two of WIB’s most active members attended the commemoration service at St. Marko’s Church in Belgrade. Although they told me that the service has become increasingly politicized, with a priest devoting most of his liturgy to talk about how Kosovo is the “heart” of Serbia, WIB does not discern between victims. A victim is a victim, whether he or she was Bosnian, Croatian, or Serbian, and although WIB might not agree with how the commemorations are conducted, remembering every single victim who died due to actions motivated by nationalism and militarism is of utmost importance.

     The two WIB members were approached at the service and told that the police would escort them on their walk back since they had been identified as “targets”. It’s really a shame that some allow their hate to infiltrate even the most solemn of occasions, such as a service for victims of war atrocities, and capitalize on tragedy in order to promote dangerous nationalist rhetoric, but that is unfortunately the reality WIB members face in Serbia. Yet, as always, they persevere and refuse to allow hate to interfere with their commitment to peaceful commemoration of all victims of war crimes, regardless of national boundaries.

113. EXPLORING KOSOVO

     August 4, 2009 3:33 am 1 Comment

     I decided to spend this last weekend, my last weekend in the Balkans, exploring Kosovo.  For a brief background on the politics surrounding the relationship between Serbia and Kosovo, please refer to my previous blog post.

     It was a great feeling going from Serbia, a country where Americans are not very well-liked, mainly due to the bombing campaign coordinated by NATO, to Kosovo, a country where Americans are LOVED. I actually don’t think I’ve ever been to another country where Americans were so highly regarded.

     I could feel the love even through a music video I saw on one of my many bus rides of the weekend.  Behind the singer, three flags were displayed: from left to right they were Kosovo, Albania and the U.S.

     Here’s a quick photo summary of my weekend in the country.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

114. Grey area of laws very costly for battered women

     1:38 am 1 Comment

     The problem of women living under the threat of a gun in Serbia lies in the two following questions: How do you acquire a weapon and what are the criteria to refuse it to the applicant?

      First queerness. Of all pieces of information to be submitted to fulfill the gun acquisition application, no medical examination is required. If a certificate indicating that the person knows how to handle a firearm must be submitted by an homologous center, it doesn’t come along with a medical exam, checking out the physical, mental health but also, the integrity of the applicant. Shouldn’t we always make sure that the user of a potentially deadly object has all its capacities to use it with cautiousness and accurately? This is even more true in Serbia where all the persons I met on the way pointed out that men who have come back from wars (today aged between 35-55) were traumatized, brutalized and brutal, sometimes suffering from post traumatic troubles. According to studies led by behavioral psychology, the latter have been recently associated to violent behavior that reproduce the horrors experienced.

      Criteria to refuse a gun also casts doubt on the viability of the process. More or less, they are all oriented toward the potential danger a gun represents in the public space, with in line of sights, the injuries that can be caused to a third party… In this evaluation, the big forgotten group is the very close family members. Thus, according to Article 8, second paragraph of the law on weapons and ammunitions, (amended for the last time in 2005), a gun can’t be delivered for a person convicted of crimes that can be qualified of “grave” (against constitutional order, territorial integrity and sovereignty, high representatives of the State, terrorism… ). If the word is badly chosen, « intermediary crimes » are also obstacles to the acquisition of a firearm ( taking part in fights; kidnapping; rape; robbery; provoking general danger; violent behavior, etc…)

      Other specific provisions deny the access of a firearm to under-aged individuals, to individuals under an on-going criminal procedure, or, more surprising, to individuals who are unable to work… But nothing, nothing on the existence of a past or present situation of domestic violence. In sum, the permit to acquire a firearm will be refused to a person who caused troubles in the public space or to third partes. But the very existence of troubles in family relations, as known as they can be, won’t be a criteria to deny access to a gun. This is regrettable, all the more so the argument isn’t logic : domestic violence, often reported to the police without initiating judicial proceedings, includes the situations mentioned below: fights, marital rapes, violent behaviors creating dangers for others.. all this is, sadly, usual in situations of domestic violence.

      It’s easy to imagine what situations can come out of these negligence. Possibility is given to men, whose eventual pathologies are not detected, to acquire a weapon, setting aside the possible perturbed family relations they can find themselves in… This is even more dramatic when considering the immediacy of the procedure : there’s no investigation regarding the circumstances and reasons for the acquisition of a weapon, and there’s no intermediary period between the delivery of the permit and the acquisition of the weapon. (Article 9 of the law mentioned above). Permit is valid for 5 years, which is quite long considering the fact that individuals’ situations can change dramatically within this period. (Article 11)

      Finally, there’s a need to turn now to the criminal code. It’s obvious that sanction mechanisms following perpetrating of domestic violence, detailed on article 194, are very light. Thus, direct brutalization or threat to attempt to the life of a family member is punished of a year in jail, this time being tripled in the case of a dangerous object or firearm was used. But there’s no specific provision clearly asking the seizure of the weapon in that very particular case….

      The changes we fight for consist in linking guns and domestic violence legislations.

      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECG9F-PR7M8

       Making a record of domestic violence becoming a criteria for denying the access to a gun in the first place. Seizing the weapon in cases when domestic violence exists, in a second step. And finally, considering the number of domestic violence ending in killing of women or families, in the heat of the moment, on an impulse, it is necessary to refine the procedure to take better account of individual situations: by realizing a circumstance inquiry with family members, neighbors, competent institutions ; By letting a month period passes between the acquisition of the permit and the acquisition of the gun; By checking that mental health is stable; Finally, the prorogation of the permit should be submitted for exam every two years, to ensure a better follow-up of the evolution of families’ situations.

115. Des vides juridiques très couteux pour les femmes

     1:22 am 241 Comments

     Le problème des femmes vivant sous la menace d’une arme en Serbie trouve sa réponse principale dans les deux questions suivantes : Comment acquière-t-on une arme et quels sont les critères pour en refuser l’accès à un demandeur ?

     Première bizarrerie. De toutes les pièces à soumettre pour le dossier de demande d’une arme, aucun examen médical n’est demandé. Si une attestation d’un centre homologué certifiant que la personne sait se servir d’une arme, doit être effectivement soumise, elle n’est pas accompagnée d’examens médicaux vérifiant l’intégrité, la santé mentale ou physique des demandeurs.  Ne devrait-on pas toujours vérifier que l’utilisateur d’un objet potentiellement mortel, dispose de toutes ses capacités pour l’utiliser avec le plus de précaution et de justesse possibles ? Ceci est d’autant plus vrai en Serbie ou beaucoup de mes interlocuteurs ont pointé du doigt le fait que les hommes revenus de la guerre (âgés aujourd’hui de 35 à 55 ans) étaient traumatisés, brutalisés et brutaux, souffrant parfois de troubles post-traumatiques. Ces derniers étant associés, selon les dernières études menées en psychologie, à des comportements violents qui reproduisent les horreurs subies.

     Les critères de refus d’un permis d’arme posent également question. Ils sont tous plus ou moins orientés vers le danger potentiel que représente le port d’une arme dans l’espace public, avec en ligne de mire, le dommage qui peut être causé aux tiers … les grands oubliés de cette évaluation étant les membres de la famille proche eux-mêmes. Ainsi, selon l’article 8, paragraphe 2 de la loi sur les armes et les munitions (amendée pour la dernière fois en 2005), une arme ne peut être délivrée à une personne condamnée pour des crimes qu’on qualifiera de graves (contre l’ordre constitutionnel, l’intégrité territoriale et souveraine, les hauts représentants de l’Etat, le terrorisme, etc…). Si le mot est mal choisi, les crimes « intermédiaires » font eux aussi obstacles à l’acquisition d’une arme à feu. (participation à des bagarres, viols, kidnapping, provocation d’un danger, comportement violent, etc..)

     

     D’autres provisions spécifiques refusent l’accès d’une arme aux personnes mineures, aux personnes qui seraient sous le coup d’une procédure judiciaire, ou, plus étonnant, aux personnes qui n’ont pas la capacité de travailler… mais rien, rien, sur l’existence d’un passé ou d’un présent de violence domestique. En somme, on refusera le port d’arme à une personne qui a causé des troubles dans l’espace public. Mais l’existence de troubles dans les relations familiales, si connue soit-elle, ne sera pas un critère de déni. Un homme violent à la maison peut acquérir une arme tant qu’il n’a pas été condamné pour violences dans l’espace public. Ceci est d’autant plus regrettable que l’argument ne tient pas : la violence domestique, bien souvent reportée à la police mais sans aller jusqu’à entamer une procédure de poursuite, inclue les situations citées ci-dessus: les bagarres, les viols, les comportements violents aboutissant à des dangers pour autrui, sont des situations usuelles dans les cas de violence familiale…  

     On imagine aisément sur quoi ces négligences peuvent aboutir. On donne la possibilité à des hommes, dont on ne décèle pas les éventuelles pathologies mentales, d’obtenir une arme, en complète abstraction des situations familiales perturbées dans lesquels ils peuvent évoluer… Ceci peut être d’autant plus dramatique que la procédure privilégie l’immédiateté : Il n’existe pas d’enquête de circonstance relative aux raisons d’acquisition d’une arme, ni de période intermédiaire entre la délivrance du permis et l’acquisition de l’arme (Article 9 de la loi sur les armes et les de 2005 ). Le permis est valide pour une période de cinq ans, ce qui est relativement long compte tenu du fait que les individus peuvent changer grandement dans ce laps de temps (Article 11 de la loi sur les armes)

     Enfin, il convient de se pencher sur le code pénal. On pourra noter que les mécanismes de punition suite à des cas de violence domestique, détaillés à l’article 194, sont légers. Ainsi, la brutalisation directe, ou la menace d’attenter à la vie d’un des membres de la famille est punie d’un an d’emprisonnement, cette peine montant à trois ans maximum dans le cas ou un objet dangereux ou une arme a été utilisée. Pourtant, aucune provision spécifique ne prévoit clairement que le dit objet, l’arme, soit saisie par les autorités compétentes…

     Les changements pour lesquels nous nous battons consistent à lier les deux phénomènes. Accepter que l’existence d’une situation de violence domestique devienne un critère de refus pour accorder une arme.  Et retirer les armes à feux des mains de ceux qui produisent de la violence au sein de leurs familles. Dire que, compte tenu du nombre de violences domestiques se terminant par des meurtres, à chaud, sur un coup de tête, il est nécessaire d’affiner la procédure pour prendre mieux en compte les situations individuelles : En réalisant une enquête de circonstance auprès des membres de la famille, des voisins, des institutions compétentes ; En laissant s’écouler une période d’un mois entre l’obtention du permis et l’obtention de l’arme ; En vérifiant que l’état mental du demandeur est stable. La prorogation du permis d’arme devrait être soumise à examen tous les deux ans, afin d’assurer un meilleur suivi de l’évolution des situations familiales….

116. “We Didn’t Stop, Not One Minute”

     August 3, 2009 6:00 am Leave a Comment

     Recently, the Kosovo Women’s Network hosted 15 members of German civil society as part of German-run workshop entitled “Civil Society in Kosovo.” The group consisted of a vast array of professionals, including journalists, teachers, psychologists, sociologists and an electrical engineer. One gentleman even identified himself as a grandfather. All spoke of their interactions with refugees and immigrants from the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo in particular as the inspiration for their trip to the newborn country.

     

     In particular, the group was interested in the activities of civil society in Kosovo both during and after the war. The Kosovo Women’s Network’s Executive Director Igo Rogova spoke inspirationally on the strength and spirit of Kosovar civil society during this period.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfHdtxkUCAg

     Incredibly, members of Kosovar civil society, including the Kosovo Women’s Network, recognized the reality of the situation of Kosovo immediately after the war. While they needed time to heal, the importance of reconciliation between ethnic groups was never forgotten. That is why, from the very beginning, the Kosovo Women’s Network implemented a policy of inclusion. For example, even before the network had any Serbian member organizations, funds were used to translate documents into the Serbian language. Soon after, Kosovo-Serbs began reaching out to the Kosovo Women’s Network for help in launching their own organizations. Recently, 15 Kosovo-Serb women’s organizations banded together to form the Kosovo Serb Women’s Network and have joined the Kosovo Women’s Network.

     The workshop resulted not only in the dissemination of information about the activities of the Kosovo Women’s Network but in the forging of new relationships. Many members of the group came with questions on how to aid the Kosovar refugees and immigrants they worked with and befriended and left with the contact information of KWN member organizations.  The group was encouraged to contact the Kosovo Women’s Network and its members in the future to maintain the newly established ties.

117. The Ghettoization of Kosovo

     1:37 am Leave a Comment

     VISAS.

     These days in the Balkans, visas are all anyone seems to be talking about. Specifically, the European Union’s new policy on visa-free travel from the region has galvanized the population, as passport holders from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia are to be exempt from visa entrance requirements to EU-countries by the end of the year.

     Noticeably excluded from the visa liberalization process are the nations of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo. However, while European officials stated that Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina will join Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia in visa free travel by the end of 2010, no timeline for Kosovo’s inclusion has been given.

     Officially, the aforementioned countries have been denied visa liberalization due to their failure to meet criteria established by the EU, such as the introduction of biometric passports, membership in Europol, and measures against corruption, including organized crime. Unofficially, many in Kosovo believe that politics has played a significant role in the EU’s decision to bypass visa liberalization in Kosovo.  

     While five EU-members have not recognized Kosovo’s independence, many Kosovars believe that this is not what is hindering visa liberalization in Kosovo; rather, they believe the driving impetus is prejudice. Many within Europe view Kosovo as a lawless nation, run by organized crime and characterized by a black market in drugs, organs and sex slaves. They are worried, many Kosovars argue, that visa liberalization will cause a mass exodus from Kosovo, bringing these problems with it.

     But what exactly does this mean for ordinary Kosovars?

     For many, visa liberalization is viewed as a crucial step on the path towards integration into the EU. Failing to keep up with their neighbors in this respect will result in the continuing and even increasing global isolation of the citizens of Kosovo.

     And many are not willing to accept this.

     For example, Forum 2015 (www.forumi2015.org), a local-based think tank, organized a debate, entitled “To Live in the Ghetto.” Here, experts compared the isolation of Kosovo to that of Afghanistan, saying that Kosovars can only travel to four nations without acquiring a visa (Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia and Turkey), while Afghans can travel to twenty nations without a visa. Again, the belief that Kosovo was denied visa liberalization due to political rather than technical reasons was expressed.

     The Kosovo Women’s Network, as part of the Regional Women’s Lobby for Peace, Security and Justice in Southeastern Europe, has issued a call to the EU to include Kosovo in it’s policy of visa liberalization in the Balkans.

     They stated, in part, “We are: United to contribute to overcoming the consequences of wars and bringing together the people of this part of the Balkans, despite the fact that in our environment there are women who have lost loved members of families, even half of their families; Committed to supporting reconciliation between the people of this part of the Balkans for the sake of creating a future equal, without discrimination, for all peoples of the Western Balkans and the entire region of Southeast Europe; Welcoming the decision of the European Commission to liberalize the visa regime for  Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, while at the same time surprised at the  serious and discriminatory decisions of the EU to leave Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina on the “black list;” and, Surprised that, despite the fact that we were already once victims of war, we are now  faced with the ghettoization of our countries, especially since the European Union has established its mission in Kosovo and also has a presence in Albania and in Bosnia and Herzegovina and is in a position to observe all the progress achieved.

118. Staircase reflections: The invisible sore thumb.

     August 2, 2009 2:11 pm Leave a Comment

     1 step 2 step 3 step 4…tired baby screams, a mother sighs…17, 18, 19…smell of simmering onions diffuses up the stairwell…45, 46…lovers part with a kiss…79, 80, 81…blaring TV laughter fills the airwaves…93, 94…key turns in lock; home sweet home. I’m still weighing up the pros and cons of living on the 6^th floor, but the one thing mounting those steps does guarantee (aside from a racing pulse) is time for reflection.

     I spent last weekend with the organization Romodrom as they prepared for their summer camp for socially deprived Roma children. I am at present stirring the cauldron of adjectives and won’t start serving until I get a mix that accurately captures the generosity, music, campfire stories, laughter, good food and beautiful countryside to which I was treated. Instead, I turn to staircase contemplations and one particular niggle that dominates my climb to flat no. 24, namely that I am advocating for the rights of an invisible minority.

     As I have become more familiar with the city and its inhabitants, I am struck by the lack of awareness about the situation of the Roma. Unlike the unavoidable swarms of tourists, Roma – living mainly in one particular city district, Žižkov – remain out of sight, out of mind for the majority of Prague’s population. The picture is similar elsewhere in the country. Aside from allowing prejudices to fester, geographical concentration ensures that statistics which stick out like a sore thumb on paper (up to 56% of Roma of working age are neither employed nor actively looking for a job) remain in reality unseen by most. The incessant application of the label ‘different‘ is accompanied by little firsthand experience and an element of apathy; the d word used as an explanation for the Roma’s difficulties which ‘just are’.

     A media campaign by Dutch photographer Juul Hondius in 1998 aimed at stimulating public debate on racial violence and discrimination in the Czech Republic against Roma. Provocative posters covered city walls fighting what was described as a preference to ignore by making Roma visible on the streets of Prague.

     

     A follow-up project photographed the posters sometime later in order to document positive/negative response to the campaign. I’ll leave you to interpret the results for yourselves but for me, they are a vivid illustration of how the pervasiveness of the Roma plight is intertwined with society’s inherently short attention span.

      

119. Srebrenica Carpets

     July 31, 2009 5:40 am 4 Comments

     Just a short video of Sajma weaving some small Srebrenica carpets:

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0wUtQCkb9k

120. DIPLOMACY AND ETHICS – CAN THEY BE THE SOLUTION?

     July 29, 2009 1:31 pm 2 Comments

     A few weeks ago I saw an interview on BBC that made me a bit angry. It was an interview with Erik Solheim, who is Norway’s Minister of International Development. I was very irritated at how the host of Hard Talk, Stephen Sackur, kept insinuating that Norway has been counter-productive by negotiating with leaders of rebel groups, such as the leader of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. During the whole interview I felt like Sackur kept attacking Solheim for Norway’s diplomatic, non-violent peace efforts. Sackur was continually condescending when he should have instead been applauding Norway. When it came to the Sri Lankan situation in specific, Sackur even stated that “it’s obvious that in the end, the solution was a military one…” Why such negativity towards diplomacy? If you’re interested you can watch a clip of the interview below and let me know if you agree with my assessment.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8OZyXQeE78

     While I agree that it is important to be cautious in one’s approach towards diplomatic relations with rebel groups, I also think that it is imperative to engage in peace talks with them. If we had more discussion over disagreements than the violence we generally have today, there would be so much more peace in the world. Responding to violence with just more violence is not always the answer.

     So over the past few weeks I have been thinking about the role of ethics in international relations. I have been trying to figure out if it is possible for a country to make ethical choices without giving up its success and without making itself vulnerable. Or even more simply, is it possible for a country to live ethically and survive in this harsh world? Must politics and ethics be mutually exclusive or can both co-exist?

     The Nordic countries such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark etc. give me hope that it is possible to live ethically and with the best of intentions and to simultaneously avoid harm. But I think that part of why the Nordic countries have been successful in this area is because they’re not continually searching for greater power. I think it is a lot less feasible for a country like the United States, continually wanting to stay the number one superpower of the world, to always act ethically and still retain the same power. So I guess in this scenario the question comes down to what is more important – power or ethics? I’m sure you can guess what I personally think is more important, but unfortunately many others would probably disagree.

     To make the issue further complex, it is often debatable what the ethical decision even is. For example, in 1999 when Serbia was at war with Kosovo, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched a bombing campaign against Serbia in order to stop the military action and repression that was taking place in Kosovo. I personally struggle with when someone should decide to take up arms in defense of others, or even in defense of themselves. While the NATO bombings in Serbia are controversial for many reasons, they still raise the general question of whether it is okay for other countries to use military force in order to stop mass atrocities that are taking place. Or have leaders resorted to using violence too quickly? Isn’t it possible that diplomacy, and diplomacy alone, can lead to peace in war-torn countries?

     I really want to believe that diplomacy is enough but I’m still not sure if it is. Still, I have a lot of respect for peace mediators and countries such as Norway that make an impressive, non-violent effort to help other countries resolve their disagreements. If everyone would take the path of non-violence, then simple diplomacy could go a long way.

121. Assaults and guns in invisible places…

     8:41 am Leave a Comment

     On the logo of the Center for handicap « Out of Circle » from Belgrade, the “Circle” is represented by the wheel of a wheelchair. The center is specialized in the fight against discrimination and violence towards disabled people. The Center of Women in Action of Velika Plana is a feminist and operational association. I would very often remember these two places throughout my trip in NGOs. When I presented the project, I found enthusiasm as a response. With very shocking numbers and situations threw in. Explanations.

     In Velika Plana, small rural village about one hour and a half driving from Belgrade, Jovanka and Alessandra explain to me. In 2003, the added a hotline to the counseling they were already offering to the women victims of domestic violence. For a better covering of their needs but also because the phenomenon is important here. I ask them how many cases involve the use of firearms . « Around 60% , if you consider direct and indirect threats. The rest mainly involves other objects ». I, probably as you are now, was seized with questions. I kept on thinking and asked. Why such a contrast with all the previous numbers I had heard before ? What factors made the difference with other places?

     Alcohol was mentioned. Masculinity was mentioned. To these, I would certainly add the « village effect », because the geographic element usually explains a lot of human attitude. One needs to imagine Velika Plana. One main street that seems to never end, intersecting with smaller, narrower, and deserted alleyways. If one enters any of them, it appears that  apart from rare small stores, only houses and gardens populate the landscape. The typical example of a small village, rural, where everybody knows everybody. And like very often in those kind of cases, patriarchal. Physical violence against women in houses isn’t rare as the 800 calls the association got last year show. So is gun ownership. Ironically, both representatives of the Ombudsman of Serbia and of the social services, with whom I was to meet later, spontaneously used the same image to depict guns and countryside.« A trophy» on the shelf of the chimney. And finally, I know this image. French countryside is peopled with inveterate hunters, proud of their long rifles. In France, it is estimated that 400 women are killed each year by their partner. But the story doesn’t say with what.

     Needless to say, it raised quite a few eyebrows when the Center for women in action opened in 1999. Not only it was going to fight for women, and notably battered women, but it was also the first non lucrative association ever founded on the village… 

     But still, even when writing those lines to you, I’m still surprised at the size of the phenomenon. 60%, it’s absurd.

     Same speech in the association « Out of circle »,which made me face a reality I would have never imagined. That disabled people could suffer discriminations, I was aware. But I had truly never thought about someone trying to deliberately hurt them. Psychologically or physically. I was dumbfounded. Olivera explains : « Here, the number of years of jail a rapist is given is reduced when it is committed on a disabled person ». 

     Olivera goes on : « 3 /4 of the cases we deal with include domestic violence. If the disability results of birth, the closer family is generally responsible for mistreatment.  In the case of “life accident”, the partner is more likely to be the perpetrator. Guns?  She acquiesces with her Head and timidly starts to tell me a couple of stories. She adds : “This population is victimized twice. There’s no shelter equipped to take care of disabled adults. There are three choices : To live under violence and under the threat of a gun, go to families when they are willing to take this responsibility, integrate, if lucky, an institution with available capacities. (rest homes…) ”

     Olivera will eventually finish with these words, that stayed with me on my way : “A firegun is the same threat for a disabled or for a valid woman. But the consequence is different because a disabled woman can’t decide to escape from it and save her life ».

122. What Would Tito Do?

     1:01 am 1 Comment

     Since the 14th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide has passed, things have slowed down here at BOSFAM.  Well, slowed down in regards to preparing for presentations, events, etc., but have been busy writing proposals.  BOSFAM and AP’s goal is to have a Srebrenica weaving center up and going by July 11 next year for the 15th anniversary.

     About a week and a half ago, the EU Commission recommended Serbia, Macedonia, and Montenegro’s citizens to be able to travel freely with in the EU without visas.  This is HUGE.  A common frustration among my friends here is that they cannot travel or it is very hard to obtain a visa.  And of course, I bet you noticed BiH is absent from that list of countries.  Well, okay, BiH’s politicians need to get their stuff together, that is blatantly true.  However, since Croatia has already been granted visa-free travel within the EU that means Croats living in BiH can travel freely if they hold a Croatian passport (which, even if a person has never lived in Croatia, he can receive a Croatian passport).   And now the same will be true for Bosnian Serbs.  Now the only ethnic group (well, not only – we cannot forget the Roma) not able to travel without visas is the Bosniak population.

     This situation seems questionable to many Bosniaks.  It has already heightened tensions in the country and many people are questioning why BiH has not been granted visa free travel.  Some groups claim that the EU is anti-Muslim and the EU commission left out BiH for that purpose.  Others are plain frustrated that their neighbors can enjoy a seemingly basic freedom to travel, while they can only enter a handful of countries without visas.  The EU commission claims that the decision to leave BiH off the list of consideration for visa free travel was not due to the religion or ethnicity of Bosniaks, but rather because the politicians in Sarajevo have not been able to come to conclusions and pass measures required for visa free travel.

     I gotta say, though, I agree with and believe the EU commission.  I’ve already made clear my stance on Bosnian politicians in previous posts.  But looking at the situation objectively, BiH does not meet the standards to gain visa free travel in the EU.  Perhaps this situation will force the politicians in Sarajevo to act in the best interest of their people.

     So, we come back to the title of my blog, “What Would Tito Do?”  Tito has come up a lot in my conversations lately, especially in regards to visa free travel, unemployment (over 35% unemployment in BiH), and living conditions.  There are very different perceptions of Tito in Tuzla.  Most people my age and a bit older see the time Tito was in power as a golden age for all of the former Yugoslavia.  According to a friend, his parents didn’t have to pay for health care or even their housing.  However, there was definitely a bitter side to Tito’s rule.  His communist regime was without a doubt oppressive.   Suppression of religion seemed to only increase nationalist sentiments by the time he died in 1981.  These, like much of my impressions, are just that – impressions, but not absolute fact.  Perhaps people are so frustrated now, because they see the current ethnic tensions more oppressive than the “Golden Age” when employment wasn’t as much of a problem and ethnic groups were seen as “equals.”  And unfortunately for me, it’s hard to defend the current politicians and their policies.

123. Finding the words.

     July 27, 2009 1:40 pm 1 Comment

     Blog references to my boss – the pragmatic yet determined Mr. Ivan Veselý, have until now been preoccupied with his nicotine intake. I’ve hesitated in devoting an entry to him sooner because I feel my words can only do the subject matter an injustice. Only now do I realize that the wait for the last embers in Ivan’s overflowing ash tray to die out is in vain; his wealth of personal experience and the brilliant inferences he draws from it are endless and will never fit nice and neatly into a single post.

     Born in 1965 in a Roma camp in present-day eastern Slovakia, Mr. Veselý went on to become a professional soldier in the Slovak Socialist Republic, reaching the post of first lieutenant. After the Velvet Revolution Veselý himself fell victim to neo-Nazi violence. The incident in 1994 alerted him to the extent of the challenges facing Roma in the Czech Republic and convinced him to engage further with their plight. He has since emerged as a magnetic, dynamic and controversial figure who has made numerous concrete, positive steps attempting to make the life of Czech Roma easier.

     Veselý’s unique outlook, which stems from his equally distinctive background, sets him apart and makes him a key asset to the promotion of Roma Rights. I myself came to Prague aware of my well embedded preconceptions of the accepted norms of democracy, equality and justice. Mr. Veselý does not shy away from reminding me of this and persistently urges me to think outside that little box otherwise known as the western education system.

     The interview with which I leave you for now I shot last week at Dženo. It is intended to introduce the man himself, give another perspective on the Roma problematic and provide a taste of the work of the Dženo Association.  

     Without further ado I say nashledanou and present to you Mr. Ivan Veselý:

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ax6xsEdOtM

124. Activism

     1:06 am 64 Comments

     Activism is one of those words that usually conjures strong images in the minds of those who hear it. The word is often associated with protests, marches, demonstrations, strikes, slogans, and chants. Of course, every thing I just listed most definitely constitutes very important forms of activism, but my time at WIB has taught me that activism is far more nuanced and personal than the most oft-cited examples of the word. From our interviews I’ve learned that most WIB members do not define their activism by particular actions they have taken but rather by the state of mind they inhabit and by the approach they take to the world around them.

     The five minute video below will allow you to hear these views first hand, but one of my favorite articulations of activism as an all-encompassing approach to life comes from Svencka, a socio-linguistics professor in the town of Novi Sad who explained that she is an activist because she uses her professional position in academia as a means of dismantling patriarchy in our everyday language. Some might fail to consider her an activist because she is not marching and chanting against patriarchy every day, but this simplistic notion of activism fails to realize that people like Svencka act to bring social change in more subtly subversive ways. Being here has really helped me define what activism means to me and what kind of an activist I would like to strive to be throughout my life. I hope the video below will prompt you to think about what activism means to you.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nhzYPYSWfU

     The very last comment in the video is perhaps not the most uplifting, but I chose to end the video with those words because to me, they portray the very real dilemmas of those who approach activism as a constant, all-encompassing endeavor. Such an approach is draining, especially when the changes one is working toward seem distant and unlikely to occur. Women In Black activists have been going strong since 1991, but it’s important to consider the emotional toll such work can take.

125. NATIONALISM VERSUS SELF-DETERMINATION

     July 26, 2009 11:58 am 3 Comments

     There is a fine line between citizens that are nationalists and citizens that are exercising their right to self-determination.  According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, self-determination is the “determination by the people of a territorial unit of their own future political status.”  Nationalism, on the other hand, is defined as “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially: a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups.”  In my time in Belgrade, I have had many conversations about the difference between these two terms.  While Women in Black activists generally denounce nationalism, they usually agree with citizens’ right to self-determination.

     Personally, I also think that we need to stop thinking of ourselves as Americans, Serbs, Croats, Arabs, etc and instead start thinking of ourselves as just human beings, plain and simple.  We’ve outlawed racist actions in the United States, but many individuals don’t realize that strong nationalism often leads to racism on a global scale, too often justified by a country’s border lines.

     A country that is currently treading this fine line between nationalism and self-determination is Kosovo.  Excuse my ignorance but before my arrival in Belgrade I didn’t know that the status of Kosovo as a country, was even an issue.  Perhaps this ignorance stems from the fact that the United States recognizes Kosovo as a distinct country.  Unfortunately, Serbia does not.  Kosovo, a territory with a population that is 88% Albanian and only 7% Serbian, declared independence from Serbia in February 2008.  This was Kosovo’s second attempt at independence; this was provoked partially by the burning of homes, rape and mass murders of Albanians at the hand of Serbian authorities.  If I remember correctly from my International Law class from the fall, succession from a country is only allowed under international law if a group’s human rights are being violated and no other solution can be found.  In the case of Kosovo, it seems that it was justified to secede after the Serb authorities committed mass atrocities.

     Currently, 62 out of the 192 United Nations member states recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state.  But the United Nations has not recognized the country, mainly due to Russia’s opposition to recognition.  And since Russia has veto power through it’s seat on the Security Council, it is unlikely that the UN will recognize Kosovo anytime soon.  Unfortunately, citizens of Kosovo are unable to travel to many parts of the world since many countries do not recognize a Kosovo Passport.

     In one of my earlier blog posts I spoke about the role that governments and laws should be playing in protecting citizens.  But when a government so clearly fails to protect its people, and is actually the one causing harm, shouldn’t citizens have the right to govern themselves and claim independence?  How did we become a world in which we are not allowed to ask for our basic human rights and exercise the liberty of governing ourselves?

126. Les coups, les armes, et ces lieux que l’on ne voit pas…

     July 24, 2009 1:05 pm 245 Comments

     Sur le logo du Centre du handicap « Sortir du cercle » de Belgrade, le « cercle » est représenté par une roue de fauteuil roulant. Le centre est spécialisé dans la lutte contre les discriminations et la violence faites aux personnes souffrant de handicaps. Le centre des femmes en action de Velika Plana est une association féministe et opérationnelle. Ces deux lieux allaient rester dans mon esprit tout au long du parcours. Lorsque j’ai présenté le projet, j’ai tout de suite trouvé de l’enthousiasme en réponse.  Et à la clé, des chiffres et situations très choquantes.  Explications.

     A Velika Plana, petite commune rurale, a environ une heure et demi de Belgrade,  Jovanka et Alessandra m’expliquent En 2003, un numéro vert est venu compléter l’action de conseil entreprise par leur association en matière de violence domestique. Pour une meilleure prise en charge mais aussi devant l’ampleur du phénomène. Je leur demande une estimation des cas incluant l’utilisation d’armes à feux.  « Environ 60% , si l’on prend en compte les menaces directes et indirectes. Le reste des 40% inclue d’autres objets». Je m’étonne, comme vous certainement, à l’annonce de ces chiffres, et questionne sans relache. Pourquoi un tel contraste par rapport aux chiffres que j’avais entendu avant ? Quels facteurs pouvaient faire la différence avec d’autres endroits?

     On me répond l’alcool, la masculinité. J’ajouterai certainement pour l’analyse, le facteur « campagne », parce que l’élément géographique explique bien des comportements. Il faut s’imaginer Velika Plana. Une grande rue qui ne semble jamais s’achever , entrecoupée de plus petites,  étroites et désertes. Si l’on s’embarque dans l’une d’elle, on se rend bien vite compte qu’à part de rares commerces, ce sont surtout des habitations et petits jardins qui peuplent le territoire.  L’exemple type du petit village, rural, ou tout le monde se connait. Et comme bien souvent dans ces cas la, patriarcal. Les coups dans les maisons ne sont pas rares.  L’association reçoit plus de 600 appels par an. La détention d’armes à feux aussi y est banale. Presqu’ironiquement, les représentants du médiateur de la République de Serbie et des services sociaux, que j’allais rencontrer plus tard, utilisèrent spontanément la même image pour décrire le phénomène des armes à feux dans les campagnes, comme Velika Plana : celle d’un « trophée » qui traine sur une cheminée. UN « souvenir » de guerre parfois.  Et finalement, l’image je la connais. Les campagnes françaises sont peuplées d’invétérés chasseurs, fiers de leurs long fusils. En France, on estime qu’environ 400 femmes sont assassinées chaque année par leurs partenaires. Mais l’histoire ne dit pas avec quoi.

     Le centre des femmes en action a du faire jaser lorsqu’il a ouvert ses portes en 1999. Outre le fait qu’il allait se battre pour les femmes, et notamment les femmes battues, il fut également la première association à but non lucratif jamais fondée sur la Commune… Mais même en écrivant ces quelques lignes, je m’étonne encore de l’étendue du phénomène. 60%, c’est aberrant. 

     Même discours dans l’association  « Sortir du Cercle », qui a été un vrai choc, me confrontant à une réalité que je ne soupçonnais pas. Que les personnes handicapées puissent souffrir de discriminations, je savais. Mais il ne m’était jamais venu à l’esprit que quelqu’un puisse vouloir leur faire du mal directement. Psychologiquement ou physiquement.  Je tombe de haut. Olivera m’explique : « Ici, la peine de prison infligée suite à un viol est réduite lorsque celui-ci est commis sur une personne handicapée ». 

     Olivera poursuit : « 3 /4 des cas que nous traitons ici incluent des cas de violence familiale. Si l’handicap est de naissance, c’est souvent la famille proche qui en est à l’origine des violences. Au contraire, c’est généralement le partenaire dans les cas d’un accident de vie».  Des armes ? Elle acquiesce de la tête et se lance, timidement, dans quelques récits. Elle poursuit: “Cette population est victimisée par deux fois. Il n’y a pas de foyers équipés ou prêts à accepter des adultes handicapés . Il n’y a donc que trois choix : Vivre sous les coups et la menace d’une arme et ne pouvoir s’en échapper,  rentrer chez des proches, à compter qu’ils acceptent, ou en cas de « chance », intégrer tout autre institution ayant des capacités d’accueil (maison de retraite…) »

     Deux ou trois histoires plus tard, Olivera dira cette phrase, qui est restée longtemps dans mes pensées: “Une arme à feu représente la même menace pour une personne handicapée que pour une femme valide. Mais la conséquence est différente parce qu’une femme handicapée ne peut pas fuir ».

127. THE KOLAR FAMILY AND ITS IMPACT

     July 22, 2009 5:01 pm 2 Comments

     Too often I hear individuals say that their small actions won’t make a difference in this large world.  And they use this as an excuse to follow the actions of the mainstream.  I personally believe that each individual can make an impact, however large or small, on the happenings of the world.  And the more individuals that change their lifestyles for the better, the better the world becomes as a whole.

     My recent trip to Sarajevo, Bosnia provided me with proof of my belief that each individual can make a difference.  In this specific instance, it was actually the work of an entire family that saved thousands of lives and ended up saving the city of Sarajevo from Serbian control. Follow birrongsurialpacas for more updates.

     During my trip I visited the Tunnel Museum, which gets its name for a 800 meter long tunnel that was built in the backyard of the Kolar family’s home.  During the Bosnian War, the Bosnian Capital of Sarajevo was seized by Serbian forces and all routes in and out of the city were blocked off.  This is what spurred the digging of the tunnel.

     While the tunnel was dug by Bosnian volunteers, the Kolar family made a great contribution by allowing the digging in their backyard and supporting work surrounding the tunnel.  This act is even more heroic during war-torn times where any punishment is possible towards people taking part in resistance activities.

     Once the tunnel was ready, it was about 800 meters long and about 1.5 meters high and wide.  About 1 million people passed through this tunnel to and from the Sarajevo airport, which was under UN control.  About 20 million tons of food was brought into Sarajevo through this tunnel.  The tunnel also allowed for humanitarian aid to enter Bosnia and helped the Bosnian army acquire weapons from the outside world.  (Facts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo_Tunnel)

     “The memory of the tunnel is being kept alive by the Kolar family, whose house was the starting point of the construction… The family itself helped to dig it and has kept all of the tools and materials that were used in the process.” (Quote from http://www.wieninternational.at/en/node/13830)

     I’m glad to see that the Kolar family is able to run the museum itself, rather than having to give it up to the Bosnian government.

     In conclusion, I just want to say that each person’s individual contribution to activism is extremely important.  Whether that contribution is lending a backyard to create an escape route, or boycotting a pair of sneakers that were made by slave labor, each individual can (and should) make a difference.  We need to make others more cognizant of the fact that they can make a large impact by simply making conscious choices and realizing that if they want to, they can have a say in the way the world works.

128. Mars Mira

     2:42 am 255 Comments

     This time two weeks ago, I was busy inappropriately packing my backpack for the Peace Route, or Mars Mira. I can now safely say that I am 100% physically recovered from the strenuous three-day hike.  Having naively believed I would be walking on paved roads for three days, rather than through small streams, over fallen trees, and up one of the largest mountains in the Podrinja (the eastern region of BiH which borders Serbia), I failed to bring my hiking boots, and opted instead for my normal sneakers. Next year I will know better.

     Mars Mira is both a physical and mental challenge for the growing number of participants who partake each year. From July 8 – 10, 2009, over 4,000 individuals retraced the route which Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) used to flee from the Serb-besieged “UN Safe Area” of Srebrenica to Bosniak-controlled territory in Tuzla. On Mars Mira, participants begin in Nezuk, a small village located in the Federation, and walk to Potocari, where the Memorial Center for the victims of the genocide is located. The route is slightly over 110 kilometers (about 70 miles) long and is completed in 30-40 km per day stretches. As Kelsey and I boarded the bus for Nezuk at 6 AM in Tuzla, we really had no idea what we were in for.

     But, as is typical of my experience in BiH, we quickly found incredibly kind companions who assisted us with everything from carrying our backpacks to making sure we had food and comfortable places to sleep at night. The generosity and helpfulness of the individuals I met along the Peace Route mirrors the behavior of almost everyone I have met in this country so far. 

     

     The Podrinja is one of the most beautiful regions in BiH, but also where many of the worst war-time atrocities occurred. Littered among the gorgeous views are the red skull-and-cross-bones signs warning of leftover unexploded ordinances. For the three day march, organizers are allowed to erect small signs indicating the location of exhumed mass graves and the number of victims found within them. These sites deserve a permanent memorial rather than the flimsy paper which is tied to a plywood stake. Undoubtedly, these signs are quickly removed or demolished by the local Bosnian Serb population following Mars Mira. Large Serbian flags flew over every Orthodox church visible along the Peace Route, and on the second day, several Bosnian Serb villagers set a field of dry grass on fire in an attempt to deter the marchers.

     I am happy to report that not a single participant on the Peace Route reacted in a violent or destructive manner despite obvious provocations. These actions clarified for me the extent of ethnic divisions in BiH and the apparent state of denial in which a significant proportion of the population continues to live.

     

     I would imagine the Bosnian Serb reaction to Mars Mira is most offensive to those who participated in the original march, also known as the “Death March” from Srebrenica to Tuzla. Many of the men, even those who are very old, make the trip from Nezuk to Potocari each year to remember their deceased friends and relatives. They provide first-hand testimony along the march at the stations where breaks are taken. Hearing their stories is heart-wrenching – one young man who was 12 in 1995 described hiding behind bushes while watching his father and brother get shot point blank in the back of the head. Listening to the story was troubling enough and then the man motioned to the left with his hand. He could still identify the exact spot where his brother and father were murdered 14 years later. Both have yet to be identified and buried at Potocari.

     

     I would like to encourage everyone interested to consider attending the genocide commemoration in Potocari on July 11th, and participating in Mars Mira if possible. It was a very meaningful experience for me and the participation of internationals means a great deal to Bosnians. You can read more about the Peace Route at <marsmira.org>. 

     

129. domestic violence: a societal disease that needs a proper diagnostic

     July 20, 2009 1:08 pm 4 Comments

     My batteries being recharged after my visit to « Self-Supporting mothers », I told myself maybe the job would be easier than I first thought…. Easy to say!

     The next day was marked on my agenda with a red cross. The Counseling center against domestic violence, one of the biggest associations of Belgrade, having a hotline for battered women at its disposal, and managing two shelters for victims of domestic violence. (out of the nine existing in Serbia).  I had hoped this encounter would be a gold mine of information. What a disappointment!

      First they explained to me their vision as regards the use of “guns” in the phenomenon of domestic violence: « firearms don’t represent a specific threat, a particular danger. Agressors can use a knife, a chair. Every object can be a source of violence and death, it only depends of the frequency and strength with which they are used ». I try to refocus and explain that, to me, it’s hard, almost impossible to forbid everyone from having any kind of object at home. But that a firearm, on the contrary, is an evident means to produce violence. o explain that it is less normal to find in a house, when comparing to chairs or knives. And that because of that, it’s easier to eradicate this aspect of domestic violence than any other.  

      When I started inquiring about the reality of the phenomenon, concrete case histories, they answered that, apart from the regular newspaper headlines relating to family killings, nothing came to their minds. No, they didn’t know of any particular case, among their folders, dealing with this matter. They explained domestic violence has increased a great deal after the wars and the return home of destroyed husbands, traumatized, who reproduced at home what they had experienced on the battle field. And if sometimes, they could have brought back guns with them, it was only to protect themselves and deal with post-traumatic stress that wore them down.

      Of course, women could be afraid. A violent husband, who sleeps with a gun hidden under his pillow… But let’s not have them worried, it wouldn’t be against them that the firearm would be used in the first place.

      How to interprete this gap ? Research shows that 10% of shelters’ population who had to flee from brutal behaviours also lived under the threat of a gun, how was it possible to explain that in the middle of the capital, Belgrade, this number was close to zero? It was only gradually throughout the interview that I began to see the answer. I learned that, in a mind not to « re-victimize » the women who came to seek help, the opening of a folder took place only after one single interview, and the request by the women themselves for additional meetings. Even more surprising, an employee explained to me, « We don’t want them to feel oppressed by our questions so we don’t ask any. We don’t ask for additional details. We take what we are given without asking for more ».

      I feel like adding : «What about what you are not given ? It doesn’t exist? ». Collecting information is a crucial step to understanding the multiple facets of a problem thoroughly. It’s only once the problem is properly exposed that the time to address it can come. To me, asking questions with the aim to put under the light the totality of suffering an individual has experienced isn’t an intrusive behavior towards victims. Of course, there’s something about the way to question that must include a great deal of delicacy. I think revealing the whole truth and the whole facts is positive to the individual, who can then free themselves from the previous traumatizing experiences they lived through; recognize, point out, and « digest » all facets of one’s past, then try to turn over a new leaf. It’s also positive for those around them, because certain individual situations are in fact, when looked at closely, societal pathologies. And to apprehend them, it is then necessary to develop global solutions. In this sense, domestic violence, with guns or without, is a societal disease that needs to be given a proper diagnostic. Collecting information is, in that sense, essential.  

      So what was true and what was false ? Was I trying to photograph a phenomenon that didn’t exist in reality, apart from headlines newspapers ? The next two visits were going to point out the reality of the phenomenon… Stay connected, to be followed on the next blog. .

130. La violence domestique, une maladie de société qu’il faut diagnostiquer

     3:29 am 239 Comments

     Ressourcée de ma visite aux « Femmes seules », je me suis dit en sortant que l’expérience allait peut être s’avérer plus facile qu’elle ne le paraissait au premier abord… un peu vite dit.

     Le jour suivant était sur mon agenda marqué d’une croix rouge. Le centre de conseil contre la violence domestique , l’une des plus grosses associations de Belgrade, disposant d’une hotline à la disposition des femmes battues, et gérant deux centres d’accueil pour les victimes de violence conjugale.  (sur les neuf existants en Serbie). J’espérais que le lieu se révélerait être une mine d’or d’information. Quelle déception ! Elles m’expliquent tout d’abord leurs visions quant à la place des armes à feu dans la violence domestique : « les armes à feux ne représentent pas un danger spécifique, une menace particulière. Les agresseurs peuvent utiliser un couteau, une chaise. Chaque objet peut être source de violence et de mort, n’en dépendent que la fréquence et la force avec laquelle ils sont utilisés ». Je recadre et explique qu’à mon sens, Il est difficile d’interdire a tout un chacun d’avoir quelconque objet chez soi ; Mais qu’un pistolet, a contrario, apparait évidemment comme un moyen de produire de la violence.  Qu’il a moins sa place dans une maison qu’un couteau ou qu’une chaise. Et qu’a ce titre, on peut plus aisément « éradiquer » cet aspect de la violence domestique.

     Lorsque j’évoquai encore la réalité du phénomène, les cas concrets, elles répondirent qu’à part les grands titres des journaux, rien ne leur venait à l’esprit. Non, elles ne connaissaient pas de cas parmi leurs dossiers relevant de ce sujet. Elles expliquèrent que la violence domestique avait certes connu une recrudescence après les années 1990 et le retour dans les foyers, de maris brisés et traumatisés qui reproduisaient les attitudes violentes dont ils avaient fait l’expérience pendant la guerre. Et si quelquefois il leur est arrivé, me disent-elles, de ramener avec eux des pistolets, c’était uniquement pour se protéger et gérer le stress post- traumatique qui les rongeait.  Bien sur, les femmes pouvaient avoir peur. Un mari violent, qui dort une arme cachée sous l’oreiller… Mais qu’elles se rassurent, ce n’était pas contre elle qu’elle serait utilisée en premier lieu.

     Comment expliquer ce décalage ? Les recherches montrant que 10% des pensionnaires de foyers construits pour héberger ceux qui ont fui les coups vivaient aussi sous la menace d’une arme, comment expliquer, qu’en plein centre de Belgrade, la capitale, ce chiffre était proche du zéro ? Je n’aurai la réponse que graduellement, au fur et à mesure de l’entretien… J’appris ainsi que dans un souci de ne pas « re-victimiser » les femmes qui viennent chercher de l’aide, l’ouverture du dossier s’effectue après un seul et unique entretien, sauf cas ou ce sont les femmes elles même qui demandent des visites additionnelles. Plus surprenant encore, une employée m’explique : « On ne veut pas qu’elles se sentent oppressées de questions alors on n’en pose pas. On ne demande pas de détails. On prend ce qu’on nous livre sans en demander plus ».

     J’ai envie d’ajouter.  « Et ce qu’on ne livre pas, ça n’existe pas ? ». La collecte d’information est une étape cruciale pour cerner les contours d’un problème et le comprendre en profondeur. Et ce n’est qu’une fois que la formulation du problème est correctement pausée qu’on peut s’attacher à le résoudre.  A mon sens, questionner pour mettre à jour la totalité des souffrances ne relève pas d’une attitude intrusive et néfaste pour les victimes. Bien sur, il y a la manière de questionner, qui doit inclure toute la délicatesse du monde. Mais je pense que l’établissement de la totalité des faits est positif pour l’individu, qui peut ainsi se libérer de tous les maux qui l’ont traumatisé, reconnaitre et « digérer » toutes les facettes de son passé pour essayer ensuite de tourner la page. C’est aussi positif pour ceux autour de lui, parce que certaines situations individuelles sont en fait, à bien y regarder, des pathologies de la société. Et il est alors nécessaire, pour les appréhender, de développer des solutions globales. En ce sens, la violence domestique, arme au poing au pas, est une maladie de la société, qui a besoin d’être proprement diagnostiquée.   La collecte d’information est à ce titre, essentielle.

     Alors ou était le vrai, ou était le faux ? Etais-je en train de photographier un phénomène qui n’existait pas réellement ,en dehors des titres de journaux ? Les deux visites suivantes allaient pointer du doigt la réalité du phénomène… Rendez vous au blog suivant.

131. Single mothers never alone again

     July 18, 2009 5:10 am Leave a Comment

     I must admit it. I haven’t blogged much lately. But I strongly hope the future blogs to come, on which I’m working, will be of great interest to you.

     Let’s start at the beginning. Dusica Radisic. The first meeting with a member of a local organization advocating for women rights. And also the first person I fell for of the voyage. Dusica founded the association « Self-supporting mothers » in 1995, after being on duty several years on the SOS hotline of the Center for autonomous women, of which I will tell you more about in a coming blog.  She describes this experience as difficult but full of solidarity and mostly rewarding. But when Dusica used to go home, after spending hours listening, curing and directing women on the phone , something was going home with her. The feeling that, what these women had in common despite of the various situations and suffering they were going through whose origins were all different, what these women had in common was the state of loneliness they found themselves in. At the end, the result was unrelenting , almost compulsory: the weight of facing the daily onus of a whole family by yourself. To be at the same time a father, a mother, the head of the family, and the main supplier for everyone needs. And this is a situation Dusica knew too well… A Serb from Kosovo, she has had to leave her country after being discriminated in work, and after losing her husband in the Croatian war  ; Battered by her second husband in Serbia; The condition of single mother, Dusica knew…

     But with efforts, she got away with that situation and finally told herself something needed to be done for these women. And so, she created “Self-supporting mother”. (but fathers are of course more than welcomed). You’re probably wondering what this organization does. Workshops, mainly. ( cooking, sewing, knitting, art). Therapy through dialogue, exchange, because Dusica strongly believes being creative is also a way to exorcise. And that by keeping one’s hands, body, busy, it’s easier to let go what poisons the mind. She explains that everybody knows everybody and that once women start to get out of it, dealing with problem one by one, they can then turn to new incomers and help them out. They can serve as a source of advices as well as examples to follow.

     These workshops also lead to small embroidery sales that provide women with an extra stipend to complement their earnings.  Get your wallets ready, I’m bringing back one for everyone.

     

     « My number ? It’s not in the phone book. Its word of mouth. But I answer it from 7 am to 11 pm. Women in that situation give me a call, we chat for a bit, I give them information, and they can pop by the house.  (Oh, yeah because Dusica also « lends » her house, or should I say her latest husband’s, to the association. She lets out a sight : « you know, it’s not work. It’s a vocation»).

     As regard the purpose of my visit to « Self supporting mother », Dusica once again revealed herself very useful. Two Turkish coffees, an orange juice and a couple of cigarettes later, I was questioning… Domestic violence? Commonplace… « Yes Dusica, but the use of firearms ?  Do you know ?» « Of course, I know. Of course, I’ve heard stories. Of course I will give you a hand… »

132. Jump aboard.

     July 17, 2009 2:59 pm 4 Comments

     Bus timetables in London? Don’t bother. The phrase ‘just like London buses’ is no mere figure of speech: those loveable red double-deckers just do come along in twos…or threes, or fours…  A drop of humour, an ounce of patience and a pinch of apathy is the only antidote.

     Bus timetables in Switzerland? One minute delay equates to scandal. The only downside is that impeccable punctuality may inadvertently induce intolerance in even the most well-trained Londoner.

     Timetables and Roma? Has Christina finally lost it? Feel free to question my sanity and in the meantime I’ll get to the point. Dividing much of my time between Switzerland and the UK I have become aware not only of subtle cultural differences but also the semi-automatic process of adaption one undergoes as one travels. We’re no chameleons, but we do adjust to certain norms – bus timetable credibility as well as the more profound.

     The general perception in Europe is that Roma refuse to conform to social standards; they may have adjusted their tolerance levels in accordance with the reliability of buses but they insist on pursuing lifestyles destructive to majority values. How to overcome social inequalities? Roma just need to adapt, conform, assimilate, evolve, integrate. Bingo, problem solved.

     Oh if only upward social mobility was as fluid as bus punctuality tolerance levels. Using ‘difference’ to explain Roma impoverishment, social tension and conflicts, migration, and the failure of integration initiatives detracts from the fact that Roma are excluded from the very means that would eliminate their social marginalisation, such as education and employment.

     Romodrom is a partner organisation of the Dzeno Association which directly addresses the hurdles that stand in the way of progress. At Romodrom, they brush aside futile chicken-or-the-egg-type-discussions on social deprivation to address its root causes. Their work includes counselling prisoners and their families, social work and programs for children which focus on improving Czech language skills. Having been given the opportunity to observe the work of Romodrom over the coming months, I hope in future blogs to elaborate on their efforts as well as the scale of the challenges ahead. So stay tuned.  

     Wait! What about bus timetables in Prague I hear you cry? I think it suffices to say one neither has to resort to the London cocktail of wit, patience and indifference nor fight the onset of intolerance like in Switzerland.

133. Des mères seules plus jamais seules…

     10:21 am 1 Comment

     J’avoue ne pas avoir beaucoup écrit récemment mais ce n’est que partie remise. Et j’ose espérer que les prochains blogs à venir, sur lesquels je travaille, sauront vous intéresser tout autant.

     Commençons par le commencement. Dusica Radisic. Ma première rencontre avec un membre d’association locale oeuvrant pour les femmes.  Et aussi le premier coup de cœur du périple.  Dusica a fondé l’organisation “Les femmes seules »  en 1995, après avoir assuré, pendant de nombreuses années, la permanence d’une SOS hotline à Belgrade, dans un centre dont je vous parlerai prochainement, « le centre des femmes autonomes ».  Elle décrit cette expérience comme difficile mais remplie de solidarité et très enrichissante. Mais lorsque Dusica rentrait chez elle, après avoir passé des heures à écouter, aiguiller et soigner des femmes au téléphone toute la journée, quelque chose en elle ne la quittait pas. Le sentiment que, ce que ces femmes avaient en commun, malgré les situations, problèmes et souffrances très diverses endurées ayant pour origine des problèmes  différents, ce que ces femmes avaient en commun, c’était la solitude dans laquelle elles se trouvaient. Au final, le résultat demeurait implacable, presque obligatoire :  le poids d’affronter seule les obligations quotidiennes de toute une famille. D’être à la fois père, mère, chef de maison, et subvenir aux besoins de tous . Et c’est une situation que Dusica ne connaissait que trop bien…  Serbe du Kosovo, ayant du quitté son pays pour cause de discriminations à l’emploi, et après avoir perdu son mari à la guerre ; Battue par son second mari en Serbie ; La condition de femme seule, Dusica connait…

     Mais a force d’efforts, elle s’en est sortie et s’est dit qu’il était temps de fonder une association qui apporterait de l’aide aux femmes « seules ». (mais les pères sont également admis). Que fait-elle cette association, me demanderez vous ? Elle organise des ateliers (de cuisine, de couture, de relaxation). La thérapie par la parole et l’échange, car Dusica croit fort qu’être créatif c’est aussi une manière d’exorciser. Et qu’en occupant ses doigts, son corps, on laisse parler et sortir plus facilement ce qu’il y a dans sa tête. Elle explique que tout le monde se connait, et qu’une fois que les femmes commencent à s’en sortir, à régler un à un leurs problèmes, elles peuvent à leur tour donner de vrais conseils aux nouvelles venues, et servir d’exemple.

     Ces ateliers débouchent aussi sur des petites ventes de broderies qui procurent un petit revenu de complément pour ces femmes.  Préparez vos portefeuilles, j’en ramène une pour chacun.

     

     “Mon numéro ? il n’est dans aucun annuaire. C’est du bouche à oreille. Mais j’y réponds de 7H du matin à 11H du soir. Les femmes dans cette situation me passent un coup de fil, on discute un peu, je leur donne des informations, et puis elles peuvent passer à la maison” (Ah, oui, aussi, parce que Dusica « prête » sa maison ou plutôt celle de son dernier mari, à l’association. Et de préciser au passage « Tu sais, ce n’est pas un travail, hein, c’est une vocation »).

     Quant à l’objet de ma visite aux « Femmes Seules » , Dusica s’est encore montrée d’un secours certain. Deux cafés turques, un jus d’orange et quelques cigarettes plus tard, je questionnai… La violence domestique ? Banal… « Oui Dusica, mais l’utilisation d’armes à feux ? Vous connaissez? » « Bien sur que je connais. Courant. Bien sur que j’ai entendu des histoires. Bien sur que je vais t’aider… »

134. “I Will Take This Table and Put it in Front of the Municipalities!”

     July 16, 2009 12:37 am Leave a Comment

     This week, I was able to visit the office of the Blind Women’s Committee of Kosovo, here in Pristina.  The timing was essential, as in a few more weeks they will no longer have an office for anyone to visit.

     The Blind Women’s Committee of Kosovo has existed since 1948. Its mission is to advocate for the emancipation of blind women in Kosovo and their full integration into Kosovar society. It is one that the Blind Women’s Committee is dedicated to, even in the face of war. Forced out of their office during the conflict, the members of the Blind Women’s Committee carried out their work from private homes, never wavering in their commitment.

     Now, the Blind Women’s Committee faces an equally devastating challenge – a lack of funding.

     The Blind Women’s Committee’s office is bare, with just one room and a long table with chairs. There is just one computer in the whole office, a donation from the Kosovo Women’s Network. Staff members come to the office every day, even though they currently have no project to work on. But that will not continue for much longer, as the rent is only paid for until the end of July.

     The few projects the Blind Women’s Committee has implemented, including blind training (such as mobility training and teaching Braille) have been very successful. So why can’t they find donors? They have even repeatedly requested support from the government of Kosovo without receiving even one reply.

     Watch the video below to hear Bajramshahe Jetullahu, the Executive Director of the Blind Women’s Committee of Kosovo, speak about possible reasons behind this lack of funding.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdBVxJewO-Q

     And what will Bajramshahe do when she can no longer go to her office and work? She will position her table in front of government buildings in Pristina and work from there! She will not abandon her mission to protect the rights of blind women in Kosovo.

135. I kissed the hand of a Saint!

     12:35 am Leave a Comment

     I recently visited the Visoki Decani monastery of the Serbian Orthodox church, located just outside the city of Peja/Pec (in Kosovo, names of places are given in both Albanian and Serbian). Serbian King Stefan Uros III, whose son went on to build the Serbian Empire that existed from 1346 through 1371, erected the monastery in the fourteenth century. Stefan was canonized in 1339 and his body enshrined in the monastery he built (although his mausoleum is not usually open to the public, I happened to visit at the same time as an Orthodox priest from Romania and so was able to kiss his hand).

     

     The monastery is heralded as the largest and best preserved Medieval church in the entire Balkans and, in 2004, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (as the UN doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s independence, the site is listed as the “Medieval Monuments in Kosovo” under the country of Serbia – http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/724).

     It is also a “hot spot” of tensions between Kosovo and Serbia. For that reason, a force of KFOR troops (from Italy) are stationed there.

     So, why is a church known for its frescos and a unique mix of styles of architecture (including Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine – I studied art history) in need of protection by NATO troops?

     

     The answer, as some in Kosovo say, is that the church is being used as political propaganda. The government of Serbia considers Visoki Decani monastery as the cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy and, as Orthodox Christianity is at the heart of the Serbian ethnic identity, the cradle of Serbian civilization as well.  In short, the Vikoski Decani monastery forms the basis for the “Kosovo is Serbia” argument.

     Consider Serbian President Boris Tadic’s message delivered during his trip to the Visoki Decani monastery this past April. He stated, “My message today in Visoki Decani is a message of peace, peace for the Serbs, peace for the Albanians and all those who live in Kosovo, in our Serbia.”

     (It is interesting to note that President Tadic required permission to visit the Visoki Decani monastery. Of course, he refused to submit a request to the government of Kosovo, as that would be seen as recognition of its legitimacy. Instead, he operated through intermediaries in the European Union, who in turn encouraged Kosovo to grant him authorization to enter the country.)

     Tadic’s so-called message of peace continues to ignore the political will of the Albanian majority in Kosovo and the reality of an independent Kosovo. It is therefore not altogether surprising that the monastery has been subject to violent attacks, the most recent of which occurred in March 2007.

136. Video Footage and Photos from Potocari

     July 14, 2009 5:39 am 8 Comments

     Check out this short YouTube video AP Fellow Kelsey Bristow and I created following our attendance of the commemoration ceremony at Srebrenica-Potocari on July 11, 2009.  I hope it will give everyone following my blog a better sense of what my experience on Saturday was like.  Many thanks to Kelsey for her hard work on this!

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iihWM-RRdc

137. SREBRENICA COMMEMORATION – JULY 11th, 2009

     12:14 am Leave a Comment

     Each year on July 11^th, many activists and officials from around the world attend the Srebrenica Genocide Commemoration in Potocari, Bosnia.  This year I had the honor of joining Women in Black on their trip to the commemoration.  You can see a quick summary of the day’s events in the video below (pay special attention to the caskets towards the end).

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1vl7KkWlmA

     As you saw in the video, even though it’s been fourteen years since the genocide, victims’ bodies and body parts are still being found.  Fourteen years later and families are still burying 534 bodies!  Fourteen years later and these families are just getting the chance to get closure from the atrocities?  And there are so many families that will still find their mother’s or father’s or son’s or daughter’s or sister’s or brother’s body, or maybe just a finger or a leg.  How are they ever supposed to get closure and move on?  Fourteen years seems like a long time and seems long enough to recover and heal.  But I don’t know how these families can move on when they have yet to find their family members and bury them.  I don’t have words to express the sadness of this situation.

     I don’t think there’s anything an activist organization can do to heal the wounds of victims’ families, but I do think that activists can do their best to offer families support.  Women in Black has been the only Serbian organization to show solidarity to victims’ families.  And it is clear that this solidarity and support is appreciated by Bosnians.  Let me explain.

     At the commemoration, I was fortunate enough to meet the U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia, a Congressman from Ohio and his wife.  My co-fellow, Donna, and I were talking about how much easier it is to meet international officials when you are abroad than when you are in your own country.  Since the number of English-speaking individuals, especially from America, is so limited here, Donna and I always get introduced to other Americans in the vicinity.  This happens when there is another student like ourselves around, or even when there are high-up officials like the Ambassador and Congressman – it’s great.  We most likely would not have been introduced to them back home.

     Even though I’m going off on a tangent, the reason I bring this up is because of something very special the Congressman’s wife, Laurie, said to me and Donna.  WIB left Belgrade at 6am but still arrived to the commemoration a few minutes late due to heavy traffic right outside of Potocari.  So Laurie told us that a collective gasp came over the crowd when WIB walked on to the site.  This was another moment that made me very proud of the organization I’m working with this summer.  To know that WIB is making a difference to the families of victims is reason enough to love the work they are doing.

     It’s also great that Bosnians support WIB’s work, even though many of the activists are Serbian.  I’m happy to see that Bosnians have not gotten wrapped up into nationalistic stereotypes by holding grudges against all Serbians because of the atrocities that certain Serbs committed against them.

138. Srebrenica and WIB

     July 13, 2009 5:22 pm 2 Comments

     How do I blog about genocide? That’s the question that’s been on my mind since I returned from the Srebrenica genocide commemoration that was held on July 11th. How can I possibly describe what it’s like to see casket after casket after casket after casket after casket after casket after casket after casket being carried by family members? How could I do justice to the experience of holding the wrinkled hand of a Bosnian woman who lost both of her children during the war.  I am afraid that anything I write will come off as trite, but the truth is, there is nothing trite about Srebrenica. Grief and sorrow still envelop the place, yet the love that I experienced at Srebrenica will stay with me just as much as the pain that I felt.

     We have been asking all of the network members we interview what they see as the relevance of Women In Black now that the war is over. Across the board, everyone has said that they feel that WIB’s work is of particular (some say even greater) importance now. Being at Srebrenica with WIB really illustrated this for me. Fourteen years after the genocide was committed, and WIB is still the only bus that travels to the commemoration from Serbia. We had the opportunity to meet United States Congressman Turner from Dayton, Ohio and his wife, Laurie, at the commemoration, and she told us that there was an audible collective gasp when WIB walked into the memorial grounds. Their presence and solidarity with the victims’ families is so precious. It proves that not all individuals allow their country’s nationalist and hateful rhetoric to define them- some resist and allow their humanity to prevail.

     I saw this the day before the commemoration as well as WIB held their annual Srebrenica vigil in Belgrade. Members of Obraz, an extremely nationalist group that counts Mladic as a hero, surrounded the vigil site. The police served as a barricade between the vigil and the Obraz members, yet their profane shouts were audible throughout the vigil. They said unimaginable things such as “we will rape you with your roses”, “black whores”, and “go back to Bosnia”. Never have I been confronted with such hate so directly. I simply could not process it. My mind stopped working. Obraz was hate and the WIB members were love. Never before had I seen a contrast so clearly. One of the WIB activists told me that she was unaffected by the cries of Obraz because she was there to focus on the commemoration of the victims of the genocide. She knew one victim personally, so she focused all her energy and thoughts on commemorating that individual, overpowering the hateful cries of Obraz. That is love. That is Women In Black.
     
     I hope the pictures and videos below will give you a better sense of WIB’s dedication to commemorating the Srebrenica genocide.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1vl7KkWlmA

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVxbSVbSzyU&feature=channel

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJZphHRmMKc&feature=channel

139. Ah, this post has been building up for a while…

     11:48 am 7 Comments

     What I’m about to write is probably going to tick (tick, for the sake of anti-vulgarity) some people off, so I’m sorry if I offend anyone ahead of time.  Also, it’s probably going to be long and rambling – I will lighten things up with my next blog, I swear.  My inspiration, if you will, for this blog comes from a couple of sources.  First, I’ve been listening to and reading many essays from the radio program “This I Believe.”  The program originally aired in the 1950’s and returned for a four year run recently.  It features Americans—“extraordinary” and “ordinary”—stating what they believe.  The program is not a religious one and the beliefs people share range from believing in people, things, places, and of course “God.”  The whole, “This I Believe,” idea has really taken off and many teachers assign essays to their students with this theme.  The second “inspiration” comes from a comment McKenzie, a past AP/Bosfam fellow, made on one of my past blog entries.  To remind everyone, this is what she said:

     “I was an intern in BOSFAM in summer 2005.  I am interested to see your     perspective on the quote from a serb general that the Dayton accords are just a pause between 2 wars.  I have to say, I thought it was a horrible thing to say, but as I have watched the country (and Serbia and Kosovo) I am not so sure it is not accurate.  There is still so much division there.

     After attending the Srebrenica/Potocari memorial on Saturday, I feel I am ready to address that comment.

     I am an indecisive person, but one thing I have just about always believed in was people.  Okay, it’s not as corny as it sounds.  This I believe: I believe in people’s potential to change.  I believe that all people, no matter how “evil” they may seem, are essentially good.  Between these two beliefs—that people can change and they (we) are all inherently good—made me optimistic to come to Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Okay, call me naïve!!! I’m so used to it by now.  Call me doe-eyed and overly optimistic.  I’m really not.  For all the faith I have in people, I have been and seen other people be wronged many times over.  But when no one can really be sure of the existence of a “higher power,” why not have faith in some thing—some people—that are real, tangible things?  So, call me what you will.

     These beliefs, however, have been challenged and figuratively, beat up and punched in the face many times since I’ve arrived to BiH.  The way they’ve been challenged is largely related to McKenzie’s comment.  Sometimes it feels like time has stood still here.  I’ve been told before the war, there was not nearly as much tension between Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs as there is now, 14 years after the war ended. And I hate to say it—I mean hate hate hate—but I have developed my own frustrations and biases against certain groups of people.  It’s not hard to dislike a group of people when they show little to no respect for the others.  All three ethnic groups are guilty of this lack of respect for each other.  In Mostar the Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) are so divided they are considering developing a two-mayor political system.  The citizens of the city are litereally divided at birth—Croats on one side and Bosniaks on the other.

     But I have to say the worst and most sickening displays of complete lack of respect occurred over the weekend as Bosniaks commemorated the victims of the genocide at Srebrenica.  Each year on 11 July as Bosniaks gather to re-bury newly identified bodies, Serbs from towns on both sides of the River Drina (from Serbia and Republika Srpska) hold a regatta.  All throughout the area you can find Serbs celebrating… CELEBRATING.  Weddings, parties, boat races—you name it.  Okay, I know 11 July fell on a Saturday this year and hey, people tend to hold celebrations on the weekend.  But they do this EVERY YEAR.  Come on people, seriously?

     And on 12 July every year, Serbs celebrate the fall of Srebrenica.  The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice have declared the events in and around Srebrenica a genocide.  GENOCIDE.  They are celebrating a GENOCIDE.  So, to address McKenzie’s comment, I unfortunately do believe that the Dayton Accords signify a pause between wars.  Dodik, the prime minister of Republika Srpska, uses war as a constant threat against the Federation of BiH.  One person has told me that Dodik is Milosevic, Karadic, and Mladic “wrapped into one person.” Those are not my words, for the record.  But that is the perception of many Bosniaks.  I, by NO means, am saying that the politicians from the Bosniak or Croat populations are any better or worse.  Each is obviously pushing his own agenda and it often gets in the way of moving the country forward.  I do not mean that “moving forward” is necessarily becoming more “Western;” but with, say, EU membership, comes a LOT of benefits to the country as a whole.  So, sure, moving towards a more cohesive, progressive country would probably be detrimental to Dodik, Silajdzic, etc’s personal egos and agendas.  But maybe, JUST MAYBE, one day politicians (I know they all pretty much suck—but they’re especially bad here—especially this summer) will really take the interest of “their people” into account and not their own glory as the country continues to fail.

     So, I’ll finish with how my beliefs have changed.  This I believe: I believe in the kindness and adaptability of individuals.  I also now believe that a group of people holding the same negative and wrong (according to the rest of the world, save Serbia) attitude, may not ever change; or they’ll do it kicking and screaming and take years, if not generations to change.   When the Serbs in BiH recognize and respect the genocide that took place 14 years ago, then maybe I’ll believe these years of “resolution” and “reconstruction” have not been in vain.  And then maybe I’ll believe in the capability of groups of people to change, too.

     PS – I am actually not “angry” (even though this is saved on my computer as “Angry Blog”), but extremely frustrated and sad at the situation here.

     

     

140. “Never Again” Happened Again

     9:23 am 1 Comment

     As details of the Nazi campaign to systematically eradicate the world’s Jewish population emerged after World War II, the world cried out “Never again!”

     But in 1995, genocide occurred once again (and not for the first time since the Shoah), this time while the international community and a United Nations peacekeeping force watched.

     The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) describes the war that ravaged Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995 as the deadliest of all the conflicts that surrounded the breakup of Yugoslavia. During the conflict, persons of all ethnicities were subject to atrocities committed by all sides struggling for power. However, the Srebrenica Genocide stands out not only as a symbol of the failure (others say betrayal) of the international community, but of humanity as well.

     (The Srebrenica Genocide is also called the Srebrenica Massacre. However, I will continue to refer to the events as the Srebrenica Genocide, because I believe in the power of words. For me at least, substituting the word “massacre” for “genocide” only minimizes the events that occurred there, allowing revisionists to deny the truth.)

     The circumstances of the war in Bosnia that ultimately led to the Srebrenica Genocide are exceedingly complex and difficult to decipher. In 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugolsavia. Serbia responded with military action and, mobilizing the Bosnian Serb community, occupied 70% of the country by April of that year. In its attempt to solidify “Greater Serbia,” Serb forces targeted Bosniaks, or Bosnian Muslims. Soon, Bosnian Croats turned on their Muslim neighbors and the conflict becomes three-sided.

     In 1993, with the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 819, Srebrenica was officially declared a “safe area” for civilians. However, this did not stop Serb aggression. Humanitarian aid was prevented from reaching the enclave and in 1995, forces began laying siege upon Srebrenica. Bosniaks fled to the UN base at Potocari for protection, where they found none. Witnesses describe the Dutch peacekeeping force stationed there as at best, allowing Serb forces to “slaughter them,” and at worst, helping them to do so. Survivors are even suing the Dutch government and the UN for failing to protect them (For more information on the actions of the Dutchbat at Srebrenica and the lawsuit of victims, see http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2007/06/un-dutch-cowards-on-trial-analysis.html). Ultimately, 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered and many Bosniak women brutally raped.

     On the 14^th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide, once again, the world cries out, this time “Never Forget!”

     

     I had intended on attending the Peace March and the commemorative events with my fellow Advocacy Project Fellows Alison and Kelsey of Bosfam and Simran and Donna of Women and Black. However, due to political reasons, I am not permitted to travel through Serbia, which is necessary for me to get to Bosnia. Instead, I took the opportunity to speak with women here in Kosovo on the Srebrenica Genocide.

     This is what they had to say:

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hqRpbaNtlU

141. July 11th 2009

     6:08 am 60 Comments

     Although I thought I was mentally prepared for the events of last week, sitting down this morning to write, I feel as though I am still processing everything I saw, heard, and felt at Potocari. The experience of attending the commemoration service for this year’s newly identified victims of the Srebrenica genocide has had a profound impact on me – one that I feel I am hardly capable of adequately describing in several hundred words.

     The remains of 534 individuals were buried this Saturday at the memorial center in Potocari, a village near Srebrenica in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). As coffin after coffin went by in what seemed like a never-ending procession, I struggled to think about what this meant to the families of victims who had come to Potocari that day to bury their loved ones. The individuals buried included boys as young as 14; children whose lives were cut short in the worst possible of ways. Others were old men who left behind entire families. How are their wives, sisters, and daughters expected to cope with this kind of loss?

     Beba Hadzic, BOSFAM’s Director, introduced me to a 14-year-old girl who was at Potocari to bury a father she had never known. She was only six months old when the genocide occurred. I cannot personally grasp what she must have been feeling on Saturday. The only real memory of her father she will have for entire life will be the day that she watched the remnants of his body go into a hole in the ground.

     While there may be comfort in searching for explanations, there is no logical reason why human beings would do such a thing to one another. It simply does not make sense. I am overwhelmed by the pain the survivors must deal with everyday, and hope that those who recently buried their friends and relatives are able to find closure. My wish, like that of the organization I have the privilege to currently work with, is that there will never be another Srebrenica anywhere, ever again.

     

142. THE WAR BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE – WHICH ONE WILL WIN?

     5:25 am 3 Comments

     Every July, Women in Black’s (WIB) work focuses on commemorating the atrocities that took place on July 11^th, 1995 in Srebrenica, Bosnia.  In 1995, 8,000 Bosnian men and boys were killed in Srebrenica, a town considered a UN safe area.  This past July 10^th, a day before the big day of commemoration, WIB held two vigils in remembrance of the victims of Srebrenica, and to show support and solidarity to the families of victims.

     The first vigil took place from 12pm to 1pm in a park in Belgrade.  WIB stood silent and held up banners asking the public to never forget the victims of Srebrenica.  Serbian police attended this vigil to ensure WIB’s safety and make sure that no one harassed or hurt WIB activists.  That afternoon, everything went smoothly.

     Unfortunately, the second vigil of the day, at 7:30pm in Republic Square, Belgrade’s main public square, was met with a lot more animosity.  When we got to the square there was a group of Serbian nationalists standing in the square, waiting for our arrival.  What happened after illustrated stark parallels between love and hate.  WIB was working on spreading more love in the world, while Serbian nationalists were simply promoting hate.

     WIB’s actual vigil was beautiful: Women in Black activists stood next to each other surrounding a blanket with imprinted roses.  Each activist also held a rose, each one symbolizing a victim of the Srebrenica Genocide.  In silence, WIB commemorated the 8,000 men and boys that were killed.

     Even though the commemoration was beautiful, it was extremely difficult to not listen to the hate being spewed by the individuals standing on the other side.  Policemen were standing in a line blocking WIB from the crowd for protection.  The relationship between WIB and policemen is complicated as it’s unclear whether the police are there just to protect WIB, or to make sure they don’t get out of line.  Still, in this specific scenario, I was proud of the protection the police provided.

     In front of the policemen, however, Serb nationalists were singing Serbian nationalistic songs, repeatedly chanting “Serbia,” and even making threats to all the WIB activists present.  While the nationalists were speaking in Serbian, it didn’t take more than a second to feel the hate that was emanating from them.  My dear activist friends translated to me many of the things that the nationalists said to us.  Here’s a sample: “whores in black,” “witches in black,” “bitches in black.”  They also mentioned something about killing homosexuals, and threatened to rape the activists with the roses they were holding.  While these things in themselves are disgusting and horrific, I think the worst part was that they were holding up pictures of Karadzic and Mladic and chanting their names in praise!

     Karadzic and Mladic are war criminals that committed numerous war atrocities during the Bosnian War.  Karadzic is currently on trial for war crimes, including genocide, at the International Criminal Court of the former Yugoslavia.  Mladic was the commander of the Army of Republika Srpska, the units that committed the Srebrenica genocide, and is unfortunately still at large.

     This was both my saddest moment in Belgrade, as well as my proudest moment to be a part of Women in Black.  My mind just can’t comprehend how so many people can praise individuals like Karadzic and Mladic??  I’m trying to understand – is it ignorance? Is it lack of education? Is it immaturity? Is it plain stupidity?  I really don’t know the answer.  And of course, it was so sad to see WIB activists be threatened and cursed at like this.  These activists are such brave individuals with great hearts, and the last thing they deserve is to hear such insults while doing something good by standing up against evil.

     Another issue I could not understand was why the Serb nationalists felt the need to continue chanting “Serbia.”  Why the nationalistic insistence?  Is Serbia such a great nation that it can heartlessly kill thousands of people and still garner support?  While the WIB vigil of course has numerous political implications behind it, the real purpose of it was to remember the victims of Srebrenica, to show comradery to their families, and pay respect to all those who suffered.  The point of the vigil was not to bring down the Serbian government or punish perpetrators, but it was simply to commemorate and remember.  Although we can never truly understand the depth of victims’ families sorrow, we can understand that the pain they have suffered, of losing their children to crimes of hate, is the worst pain a parent can feel.  But this nationalist group would not stop shouting profanities and nationalistic chants at us – they would not even let us simply commemorate and mourn the loss of thousands of lives.

     Of course I am a supporter of free speech and a demonstration of free speech was shown by both WIB and Serb nationalists on July 10^th, 2009.  Everyone has the right to their own opinion, and there is no doubt about that in my mind.  But it’s heartbreaking to see how so many people’s beliefs are simply full of hate and evil.

     The vigil was an experience I will never forget.  I highly commend Women in Black for fighting such hate and not losing hope when confronted with such offensive remarks.

     You can see a clip of the WIB vigil as well as the nationalistic demonstration below.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJKoXyHaPNU

143. Bosnian Diaspora Group Commemorates Srebrenica Genocide

     July 10, 2009 11:32 am Leave a Comment

     July 10, 2009, Washington, DC: The Bosnian American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH) will commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide with an event on Capitol Hill today.

     More than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed on July 11, 1995, when Bosnian Serbs seized the city of Srebrenica, which had been a UN-protected safe haven during the conflict.

     Today’s event will feature a clip from the film, “A Cry from the Grave,” as well as remarks from BAACBH Executive Director Elmina Kulasic; Damir Dzanko, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Bosnian Embassy; Bridget Conley-Zilkic, Director of Research and Projects at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Committee on Conscience; Trisha Rines, from the Office of Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson; and Nerina Cevra, International Advocacy Officer for Survivor Corps.

     The event will be held from 1 to 2 p.m. in the Rayburn House Office Building. BAACBH is a partner of The Advocacy Project.

     As part of the event, BAACBH will also display a memorial quilt made by the women of Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), an AP partner based in Tuzla, Bosnia. Many of BOSFAM’s weavers lost relatives in the massacre and were displaced from their homes after the war in the 1990s. Each of the quilt’s panels honors an individual victim.

144. Serbia and Palestine: Strange Bedfellows?

     3:49 am 3 Comments

     On July 7, Mahmoud Abbas, who is referred to as the President of Palestine in the Balkan press, met with officials of the Serbian government in Belgrade. Abbas publically reaffirmed “the traditional longstanding friendship between the Serbian and Palestinian peoples” and stated that Serbia could contribute to the Middle East peace process.

     Abbas stated, “I am counting on you, Mr. President [Boris Tadic], to continue supporting efforts to reach a solution in the Middle East through talks with Israel that will enable Israel and Palestine to live side-by-side and cooperate as neighbors.” He then addressed the status of Kosovo, saying “The Kosovo issue is before the International Court [of Justice] and I believe that that is the right way to resolve every problem. That is our stance.”

     

     On the part of Serbia, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic issued a statement thanking President Abbas for “the support he extends Serbia in preserving its territorial integrity and sovereignty.” President Tadic even announced plans for a scholarship initiative for Palestinian students.

     I have to admit, this initially confused me. Past experience caused me to (wrongly) assume that Palestine would see the similarities in their situation to that of Kosovo and politically align with the newborn country.

     For example, during my time in Ireland, I had the opportunity to study the history of Northern Ireland and eventually visit Belfast. Northern Ireland is home to The Troubles, where the population is divided along political and religious lines, resulting in a LONG history of violence (read Tim Pat Coogan’s “The Troubles” for a historical overview of the situation in Northern Ireland). They see their situation mirrored in the Middle East and have chosen sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Republicans (who are mainly Catholic, and want a unified and independent Ireland) support the Palestinians, while the Unionists (who are mainly Protestant, and want to maintain their ties with the United Kingdom) support the Israelis. This is most clearly demonstrated in the political murals that are found throughout the city, such as the one below.

     

     (The writing in the mural to the left says “Palestine…The largest concentration camp in the world!!! 3.3 million innocent people tortured, denied their freedom!” The Arabic writing in the mural to the right is a translation of a Republican slogan, Tiocfaidh ár Lá or “our day will come.”)

     Then, it dawned on me. I may not be a politician, but Abbas sure is.

     Cultivating ties with Serbia is brilliant political maneuvering. Serbia is closely allied with Russia, Syria and Egypt, all major world players. Maintaining and strengthening good relations with these three nations will result in an increase in actual support for the Palestinian cause on the international stage.  Serbia and Russia regard Kosovo’s declaration of independence illegal, and while other Middle Eastern nations have recognized the government of Kosovo (the most recent being Jordan), Egypt and Syria are not among them. In fact, Egypt even prevented a delegation of Kosovar officials from participating in the 2008 Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that was held in Cairo.

     Of course, some in Kosovo have suggested that Palestinians are just jealous.

145. Guilt and Forgiveness

     1:17 am 86 Comments

     Although the entire conference was full of interesting, reflective, and thought-provoking comments and dialogue, two hours were devoted solely to dialogue between the conference participants. The issue of guilt seemed to dominate the conversation. Stasha spoke at great length about the contradictions inherent in a feminist ethics of care. She has been criticized by many feminists for championing a feminist ethics of care that entails asking for forgiveness from the victims of war crimes perpetrated by Serbs. Some feel that focusing on guilt and forgiveness and “taking care of others” reinforces patriarchal notions of how women should behave and feel. I think Women In Black Serbia somewhat resolves the “problem” by welcoming male members. For them, the feminist ethics of care is not about how women should behave, but about how human beings should behave. As one participant noted, they want their empathy to be “perceived as a form of civil society”.

     The exchange that most vividly stands out in my mind from the conference is the following:

     C. Kumar (Special guest and international coordinator of women’s courts, which I urge you to check out here): “It is important to not allow guilt to become paralyzing. If we are non-state actors, why are we taking on the burdens of state actors such as the military and the crimes they committed. I can still go to Srebrenica out of love, instead of out of guilt. Of course, I could never put myself in your shoes.”

     Stasha: “The context of the specific situation in the Former Yugoslavia is extremely important to consider.”

     Mariya (WIB activist): “Asking for forgiveness is part of a tradition that is deeply rooted in this area. Yes, it is patriarchal, but we are changing this aspect of the habit. There (in Srebrenica), I am perceived as a member of that nation (Serbia). They see me as part of a mess that is not individualized, so when I go there as part of that mess, the first thing I must ask for is forgiveness. This is the first contact I have with these women, so the first thing I must ask for is forgiveness.”

     I understand Kumar’s concern about guilt becoming paralyzing. When she said that, I immediately thought of the picture below.

     

     The Pulitzer prize winning photographer, Kevin Carter, committed suicide shortly after taking the photo. Although no one can know the exact reasons for his decision, many have speculated that he did it because he simply could not bear the guilt he felt for not having been able to do anything for that child. I often think about that picture and about Kevin Carter. Even though I know I could never feel the specific emotions he was experiencing, sometimes I think that I can feel his despair, and I wonder why more people aren’t going mad from guilt and horror as Kevin Carter did. However, Kevin Carter’s guilt ultimately did paralyze him- it rendered him so hopeless that he took his own life, curtailing any possible actions he could have taken to redress the problems he saw in the world.

     I don’t see WIB members as heading in that direction of extreme paralysis. That is why they are so remarkable- they are unbelievably strong and resilient. Further, they do not simply dwell on their guilt- they act upon it and take actions such as traveling to Srebrenica and asking for forgiveness from the families of the victims in order to stand in solidarity with them. I do think Kumar is right in that WIB members are somewhat obsessive about their guilt, but in a society where the majority of the population is either in total denial of the crimes that were committed or feels no guilt about them, I think WIB members feel that they have to compensate for all the guilt those people don’t feel. It’s not fair. WIB members didn’t do anything. They didn’t perpetrate those crimes. They were opposed to them from the beginning. As Kumar said, they are non-state actors. Yet, the state committed the crimes in their name. As Mariya’s comments demonstrate, WIB members understand that they are often perceived by those in Bosnia as being part of the nation of Serbia. Ironically, one of the best ways that they can distinguish themselves from the state that committed such horrible crimes is by taking ownership of those crimes and asking forgiveness for them.

     I hope that one day WIB members can go to Srebrenica out of love and free of guilt, but for now, I think the Serbians who travel there and the Bosnians who graciously receive them are both helping each other by going through a process of open forgiveness. As Stasha said, solidarity is not about charity, and it’s okay for the Serbian women to admit that visiting the families of victims helps to relieve their feelings of shame and guilt just as it is okay for the families of victims to admit that the fact that WIB members visit them greatly strengthens them (a Bosnian woman who hadn’t been to Serbia in 20 years was at the conference, and she said, ‘it gave me enormous strength that WIB came’). I see it as a mutually beneficial process that embodies the solidarity aspect of feminism.

146. Crossing the Lines

     July 9, 2009 5:13 pm Leave a Comment

     The past few days have been extremely busy at WIB. Activists have been coming in from Spain, Italy, India, and Sweden, just to name a few places, in preparation for the trip to Srebrenica for the genocide commemoration. In July of 1995, 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed by units of the Army of Republika Srpska under the command of General Ratko Mladic. Srebrenica had been declared a “safe area” by the United Nations, and 400 armed Dutch peacekeepers were present at the time.

     There are many events leading up to Saturday’s trip. Today, there was an all-day conference on the topic of transitional justice. It was awesome. I thought every single part of the day was fascinating. I will write more about different aspects of the conference in blogs in the near future, but for now, I wanted to focus on the play, entitled Crossing the Lines, that closed the conference. The conference was held at Dah Theater in Belgrade. The motto of Dah Theater is, “In the contemporary world, destruction and violence can only be opposed by the creation of sense”. Since their founding in 1991, the group has tried to address questions regarding the role theater should play in times of darkness. They tackle such questions through experimental theater, research, and workshops. The group strives to be independent, which has unfortunately but predictably (or unfortunately predictably) been a challenge throughout the years. Rumor has it that the current government wants to shut the group down for good.

     There was a panel discussion with the actresses during the day, and it was clear that they were truly passionate about the power of art to change everything. Crossing the Lines is based on a Women In Black publication entitled “Women’s Side of War”, which chronicles in harrowing details the stories of women affected by the Bosnian war. For the play, around fifteen stories were selected from the book and adapted into a theater production. One actress commented, “the show helped me make peace with myself. With my country, with my feelings of guilt and responsibility.”

     

     The first scene of the play

     Although most of the play was in Serbian/Bosnian, the emotions were palpable. (sidenote: I am apparently still completely incompetent with my Serbian phone because even though I thought I had put it on silent, it went off during the play…mortifying!)  My words can’t possibly do the play justice, so suffice it to say that it was an extremely powerful play that really delved into the human aspects of the conflict. Even though Women In Black focuses more on direct activism while Dah Theater primarily utilizes theatrical tools, they share common goals and visions, so it was really cool and inspiring to see them partner to create such a moving work of art. I kind of saw it as a cycle of social action. Women In Black put together the book, members of Dah read it and are inspired to develp a play based on it, WIB members go to see the play and are in turn moved and inspired by the stories. At the end of the day, the stories still take center-stage. This was the third time one of the activists saw the play, and she said it was her best experience with it because she could really feel the emotions this time. She explained that the first time she saw the play, the actresses were so emotionally distraught with the subject matter in the days preceding their performances, that their performances became compeltely rational and void of emotion. They were afraid to allow themselves into their work. Yet, it seems like this is the rare professional endeavor where it is both welcome and necessary to allow personal emotions to permeate the craft.

     

     The last scene of the play: "Salt"

     The poem below is from “Women’s Side of War”:

     Crossing the lines
     Out of lines
     Means different colors
     Sounds
     Ways
     Crossing the days
     The thoughts
     Souls
     Crossing every time
     Every day
     Crossing together
     The senseless war
     Crossing history
     So They put the lines
     Words of women’s future
     Remind us
     Remembering life in peace
     Crossing the south and the north
     The east and the west
     Balkan
     We walk across the earth
     Out of lines
     When we see wach other
     We know
     We are together
     When we think of each other
     Miles far from
     Together
     Remembering our dreams and goals
     The wholeness
     Despite lines and sides
     Senseless war
     Wear not alone
     Imagine
     Out of lines.

147. Blue Bolsheviks and a Czech’s best friend.

     3:33 pm Leave a Comment

     (Note to self: by all means gaze up at the beautiful house façades bathed in sunlight and do gasp in awe as you spot another wonderful gothic or baroque creation…just don’t forget to keep one eye on the pavement. Dog’s rule this city and poor innocent newcomers who haven’t quite mastered the art of excrement-dogging will pay the price.)  

     “Blue Bolsheviks!” were the words that greeted me as I entered the office this morning. Somewhat startled, I realised as Mr Ivan Vesely began to elaborate that no, this wasn’t a Czech ‘good morning’ equivalent stemming from communist times: he was referring to the pile of paperwork on his desk which now obscured my view of a somewhat exasperated Mr Vesely. “You know Christina; I had fewer forms to fill out under the bureaucratic machine of the army. Now considering I spent 2-3 days per week writing reports as a commander of over 100 soldiers, that is saying something”. Dzeno relies heavily on project funding, yet the necessary paperwork is incredibly time consuming. Ivan Vesely shrugs his shoulders, mutters “the blue Bolsheviks have the money” and gets on with it. Any remaining romantic images I had of advocating for such a just cause vanish as I am reminded of the continuous trials and tribulations faced by small minority rights organisations like Dzeno.  A particularly large dose of pragmatism is the order of the day.

     The realities of Roma rights activism hit home. The mound of paperwork is nothing compared to the enormity of the problems with which the Roma community is confronted. Given the current preoccupation with employment and migration, Roma all over Europe are in real danger of becoming almost institutionalised scapegoats for economic woes. The disturbing upsurge in far-right extremism in Central and Eastern Europe which Colby Pacheco – Dzeno’s 2008 Peace Fellow – described in his blog has persisted. November of last year saw 500 members and supporters of the far-right Workers Party clash with police as they attempted to march through a Roma suburb in the Czech town of Litvinov. In April this year, a 2-year-old was left fighting for her life following an arson attack on a Romani house in Vitkov, also in the Czech Republic. These incidences alongside recent racial attacks on Roma in Northern Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia warrant immediate action on local, national and international levels.

     “Slow down Christina, slow down”. Mr Vesely’s wise words are hard to swallow.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rphbBls13-o

148. Bosnian Diaspora Welcomes New Ambassador

     July 8, 2009 7:07 am Leave a Comment

     July 8, 2009, Washington, DC: The Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia & Herzegovina (BAACBH) will hold a welcoming reception this week for Mitar Kujundzic, the new Bosnian ambassador to the United States.

     The reception will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, July 9 at the Rayburn House Office Building. Mr Kujundzic and BAACBH Executive Director Elmina Kulasic will speak.

     BAACBH is a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

149. The shadow victims at light

     July 7, 2009 1:00 pm Leave a Comment

     For the French readers who got on the boat with us for this blogging adventure in English, the language is somewhat a barrier they overcome with more or less trouble…  So I decided to thank you all for your contribution, by giving you the honor of a blog in French.  Si here you, as a première, the summary of the episodes since the end of the conference, sprinkled with attractive academic contributions ! Just to give you a taster, of course…

     Once the event was finished, another kind of work started for me. In the NGO technical jargon, the 18^th June conference would be considered as an action of the top-down kind. That is to say, social change is triggered through addressing power centers, politics. By lobbying, diffusing information, the aim is to set the change rolling within those decision making centers.  This traditional approach to advocacy consists in “changing society from the top”, by adopting laws which will then change the acts and behaviors of all the society members;  Another trend, if you allow me to speak like this,  conceives social change on a reversed model.  Drawing from a « bottom-Up » approach, its advocates consider the first priority should be to change people’s mindset and habits, and that what should follow will follow. Being as pragmatic as possible, -we will consider that no action can be considered too small- and that because of this, the association of these two dimensions is nothing but beneficial. Working for IANSA has given me the chance to test a little both of both sides…    

     I tasted the « top-down »  with the 18th June conference were all reporters from media circles were present.  And I can only hope the authorities who came to it (-and notably the public prosecutor of Belgrade or one of their representatives) will keep in mind the recommendations of our three experts when it comes to judging an affair dealing with armed domestic violence.  

     I have now been working for more than a week on the second side of the project.  The Bottom up dimension that  Advocacy Project proposes is obvious.  The latter gives itself as a main objective to « give a voice to those who can’t ». Write their stories. Advocate for people to know they exist. Pick out the victims. And broadcast, broadcast, broadcast, the gathered testimonies to the largest audience possible.   Why? Because as my mother says: “ When somebody still talks about you, you’re not yet totally dead”.  Advocacy project aims at making of every one of us, through the telling of a singular story, aware citizens who can act.    

     Far away from public relations, I have now  turned to the interior and private sphere, seeking testimonies of situations of armed domestic violence.  The subject matter, you’ll agree, is of a sensitive nature. That is not to mention that to tell a story,  not only you need to write it, but also, you need to have people agreeing on sharing it with others, offering it to the eyes of the world when those very people are struggling to cope.    

     This is why I came this week, in search of contacts, and I was cautious enough to take the widest sample of representatives.  Because thought I still sincerely hope , after talking to you so much about armed domestic violence, to be able to associate a face, a voice, a story, I’m not sure this entreprise will be possible. I’m working on it, I promise. But don’t worry. There are other actors in our story who will be able to tell us more about that phenomenon: let’s not forget the indirect victims, social workers, associations’ members,  witnesses… judges, why not, who could have heard about it.  There’s a need to establish with every one of them, a relation of trust and free speech.  So this is my schedule for the week.  After identifying  useful power  centers in Belgrade and around (and this included deciphering Cyrillic when websites refuse to be polyglot ),  I completed my novice journalist agenda … And I am therefore ready for a crazy week full of appointments!

150. “To the families of the genocide victims we owe the truth – to the victims, remembrance.”

     6:32 am 8 Comments

     Just a warning: I have a feeling there will be a lot of ranting in this blog, but I think it’s necessary to convey the frustration I (and many people in BiH) feel about the 1990’s war and 11 July 1995 Srebrenica genocide.

     You gotta love Hollywood for all the different kinds of movies it makes.  I’m not even trying to be totally sarcastic.  For all the romantic comedies, horror movies, and action films it produces, sometimes it does attempt to make a film about a “real” subject.  However, often times the “truth” of the event is skewed in the resulting film, because of either political issues or “artistic license.”  Hollywood has tried to take on genocide.  Who hasn’t seen Schindler’s List or Hotel Rwanda?  For all the films I have seen about different genocides, I have never been able to grasp the concept of what it really is.  Even after taking courses with units on genocide, I now know I had no idea what it means (that is not to say that I do now, but at least I’m gaining a better understanding).

     I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that all the women at BOSFAM are from Srebrenica or surrounding areas.  They are all victims of the war and the genocide that occurred in Srebrenica on 11 July 1995.  For those of you (I was one of you before I came to BiH) who are not too familiar with the genocide at Srebrenica, take a look here or here.  Basically, what was supposed to be a UN guarded “safe” zone ended up being the location where over 8,000 Bosnian Muslims were killed on 11 July 1995.  It was mostly men who were killed, but babies, children, women, and the elderly were also tortured and murdered on that date.

     

     The Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) carried out the genocide.  With my next statement, I by NO means think what the VRS was acceptable or even humane, but it’s one thing to kill 8,000 people, but it’s another to destroy tens of thousands of lives of the survivors of Srebrenica.  The wives, children, sisters, and other relatives of those massacred at Srebrenica are still dealing with very deep wounds 14 years later.  Two posts ago I discussed missing persons in BiH.  However awful it is to still have no idea where-in what grave, river, or valley-your loved ones are, the survivors are still rebuilding their lives and culture and grieving their losses.

     

     As 11 July quickly approaches, I am becoming increasingly annoyed with reading my friends’ Facebook and Twitter statuses.  For those of you who don’t know what “FML” means, please look it up.  For those of you that do, I cannot tell you how sick it has made me to read statuses like, “I have to work a double shift today. FML,” or “I have to take an 18 hour flight to Australia. FML.”  I’m sorry, but GIVE ME A BREAK.  The war in the 1990’s and the genocide did not just claim lives, but also a large part of Bosnian Muslim culture and mentality.  The library in Sarajevo is a clear example of the culture lost, as it has yet to be completely restored.  Many mosques were destroyed with valuable writings and architecture as well.

     The most devastating effect of the war, genocide, and ethnic cleansing-according to me, anyway-was the destruction of ethnic harmony in BiH.  Many people have told me that before the war Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Bosnian Serbs, and Croats lived and worked together.  However, neighbors began to turn on each other and many Serbs fled to Serbia and the Republika Srpska and many Bosniaks sought refuge in Croatia and other countries.  An ongoing conversation I’ve been having with my friend, Davor, is whether or not you can blame a war on just the leaders, just the general “people,” or both.  He often argues that, “You can’t have a war without people.”  I often retort, “But if the leaders use propaganda and other psychological strategies to turn neighbors against each other, is it really the people’s fault?”  We’re at a stalemate.  Either way, the war has really divided the country.  Tuzla is apparently the most “progressive” of BiH and people of all ethnicities live together.  Still, its population is mainly Bosniak.  Mostar, on the other hand, is extremely divided.  On the covers of the few travel guides to BiH, the bridge (Stari Most) in Mostar is usually the picture representing the country.  Its beauty, however, is minimized when you realize the Neretva River it covers completely divides Mostar between Croats and Bosniaks.  From schools, restaurants, and places of worship (of course, Croats in the Catholic churches and Bosniaks in mosques), the city is completely divided still after 14 years.

     

     For those of you, who think you can imagine this division, let me remind you that there is absolutely no difference in appearance between Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs.  The differences are mainly in religion.  When the Balkans was Yugoslavia, these divisions were not nearly as stark as they are now.  Now in BiH, divisions between ethnic groups, as in Mostar, are very common.  The country is comprised of two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska (RS).  I’ll let you guess where the majority of the Serbs live.

     The ethnic divisions are not only in the “people” level, but BiH’s political system was designed to reflect the ethnic divisions in the country.  A three person, rotating presidency of one Bosniak, one Serb, and one Croat is just one part of a complex and big government.  Right now, as there often is in BiH, there is political tension between the Federation and the RS, because as time goes on the Dayton Accords dictate that power from the entities must be transferred to the country of BiH.  While the war probably could not have ended without certain stipulations in the Dayton Accords, 14 years later, it is making for a very politically heated summer.

     

     So, that was probably the most disjointed blog ever, but I needed to try to explain why and how the divisions in BiH are still such a big deal.  On Saturday, 11 July while many Bosniaks, some Croats and Serbs, and internationals commemorate the 8,000 people who died at Srebrenica, some towns on the River Drina between the RS and Serbia will be holding a regatta.  Perhaps when other ethnic groups stop holding celebrations on 11 July, the Bosniaks who were massacred on that day will be properly remembered and honored.

151. My new favorite city

     1:44 am 4 Comments

     Oh, Tuzla, how you have already stolen my heart and made me already dread the thought of leaving you at the end of the summer.  A few people told me before I arrived here that BiH has the best of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean and so far, I agree.  So maybe the slow pace of Tuzla needs to be picked up in order for things to get done, but on a sunny afternoon, an hour at an outdoor café suits me just fine.  And its traditional food, reminiscent of the Eastern European cuisine I sampled as a child growing up with a Polish grandmother, is so tasty that I pity vegetarians who venture into the country.

     

     I have already fallen in love with this city.  However, many of the young people I’ve met think I’m completely insane for saying that.  To many of them, their city is small, second-rate compared to Sarajevo, and a place to be no one.  As Ena (my English speaking savior) tells me, she and her friends call it “mahala” or a place where everyone knows everyone and everyone gossips.  Okay, so I do get that.  I feel the same way about where I grew up (Delaware has the highest per capita rate of private schools in the U.S. – there’s bound to be a lot of mahala).  But Tuzla is just so much more than a small town where everyone knows your name.

     Because the Serbs did not take Tuzla during the war, many Bosnians from around the region took refuge in Tuzla and remain here today.  While it is unfortunate that so many people are displaced from their homes, it makes Tuzla a city with a diverse ethnic population and colorful city life.  Tuzla-according to some locals, but I of course cannot claim these are opinions held by all its inhabitants-is a city of tolerance and progression (at least in the younger generation).  It is my understanding that unlike the tension found in Sarajevo, Tuzla remains generally free of ethnic tensions between Serbs, Bosniaks, and Croats.  That’s a big deal considering BiH has a three-president rotating presidency (once I understand that, I will try to explain it in the blog).

     

     

     As for Tuzla being a place to be no one, I have to completely challenge that statement.  Home to dozens of NGO’s, Tuzla has produced very remarkable people who want to-and have-change the course BiH is headed from a country tangled in recovering from war, a corrupt government, and ethnic tensions to a prosperous and transparent nation.  A lot of work still needs to be done to achieve that transformation, but the individuals I have met make me confident BiH will get there eventually.  That, to me, is being someone and a really amazing someone at that.

     All of these aspects make Tuzla the perfect setting for BOSFAM.  For an organization that strives to create understanding between ethnic groups, Tuzla offers a diverse sample of the population of BiH.  And while hopefully BOSFAM will receive grant money to reopen a center in Srebrenica, Tuzla offers an atmosphere of understanding and welcoming citizens.

     

     

     As you can probably tell, I am already very fond of Tuzla.  Is it a “sexy” destination – no, not many people even know where it is.  However, as far as destinations to witness some really amazing transformations taking place in a country stuck in its own complicated past, Tuzla is at the top of my list.

152. Conference on Missing Persons: What Now?

     1:13 am 2 Comments

     About a week and a half ago Beba took Alison and I to a conference on missing persons in BiH (sorry, I know it’s a bit late to be posting this).  The conference was organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, an association BOSFAM frequently works with to organize events and awareness of the genocide in Srebrenica.  Luckily for us, the conference was conducted in both English and Bosnian and headsets were available with live translations of presentations.  The conference was not only extremely informative on the process of identifying victims buried in mass graves, but also offered me insight into the effects of the emotionally charged issue.

     After the war ended in 1995, there were about 30,000 missing persons in BiH.  About 8,000 of those people were victims of the genocide in Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.   With such high numbers of missing persons, it is no wonder that just about everyone I have met in BiH is missing at least one loved one (often it’s multiple people).  It was not enough for the Serbs and Yugoslav People’s Army to commit mass murders and genocide, but they buried those they killed in mass graves.  And as if that wasn’t enough, mass graves were dug up multiple times to move bodies from one grave to another.  A result of these secondary, tertiary, etc graves: one person can be found in five graves.  At the end of the war, because of the lack of DNA testing, it was virtually impossible to make accurate identifications.  However, by the early 2000’s DNA testing was utilized to make accurate identifications.

     Ever since the breakthrough of using DNA-based identifications, the issue of finding and identifying missing persons has become a very difficult and emotionally charged issue in BiH.  The Missing Persons Institute (MPI) in BiH works with ICMP to identify bodies and up until now, once 70% of a person’s remains are found, they can be buried.  Identified by blood samples from relatives, 12,508 identifications have been made since 2001.  Obviously, that’s a big success considering it is a large portion of the missing persons.  However, now that they are finishing exhuming bodies from found mass graves, the problem becomes how many remains constitute a “found” missing person.  There is a lot of disagreement amongst families of missing persons.  At this point when just about all of the known mass graves have been found and exhumed, the question is whether or not 70% should still be the number MPI goes by.

     Obviously, with any issue like this one, there are differing opinions and it brings up all sorts of other questions.  If not all remains are identified, should they be put in an ossuary; if a bone from a found missing person is found after burial, should the remains be dug up and re-buried (and if so, how many times); should a family be notified if just one bone is found of their loved one?

     At the conference, it was clear that this issue of “what now?” with remaining missing persons will not be resolved easily or quietly.  So many women and men attending the conference expressed the need to find closure through finding and burying their loved ones.  This is an issue that many families in BiH deal with and all of the women at BOSFAM are affected by the decisions made on the subject of missing persons.

     *statistics and numbers from ICMP

153. Roma from Rome?

     July 6, 2009 2:14 pm 88 Comments

     It seems as though I may have been a little hasty in taking the first plunge into the depths of everything Roma: I was asked yesterday whether Roma were originally from Rome. All I managed in reply was a suppressed snigger. With hindsight such a response was unfair; the comment wasn’t so much naïve as just exemplifying how little most of us know about the Roma. I’d applied for the Dzeno Fellowship precisely because any Roma facts I could recall were vastly outnumbered by presumptions emanating from the few encounters I’d had with gold toothed Roma insistent upon washing my car windscreen. The Roma-Rome question reminded me of this and highlighted the need for a short excursion into the past before embarking upon the contemporary tale of discrimination and exclusion. What follows isn’t a definitive guide (there’s always wiki!) but just some Roma essentials…

     If the Roma aren’t from Rome, then where?

     Interestingly the word ‘gypsy’ itself (used synonymously for Roma and regarded by many as derogatory) has its origins in misunderstanding: It derives from ‘Egyptian’ as in the Middle Ages Roma were believed to have come to Europe from Egypt. In fact, linguistic and genetic evidence indicates they originated from the Indian subcontinent, emigrating from India towards the northwest no earlier than the 11th century. By the 14th century Roma reached the Balkans and Bohemia and by the 15th, they arrived in Germany, France, Italy and Spain and Portugal. Today, Roma and Sinti make up the largest minority in Europe with some 10 to 12 million members. Those of eastern European descent are called “Roma” and those of central European origin are referred to as “Sinti”.

     

     And they travel around a lot, right?

     In the minds of many, Roma and Sinti are still associated with homeless “nomads”. Yet for many centuries – particularly in Europe – they have been integrated in and are citizens of their respective countries of nationality. Most European Governments recognise Roma and Sinti as national minorities who, in addition to the national culture of the majority, also cultivate their own cultural identity, including their traditional language, Romany.

     So the discrimination the Dzeno Association aims at addressing is something new?     

     On the contrary: Since their arrival in Europe, hostility and xenophobia have culminated in Roma being subject to slavery, ethnic cleansing, children abduction and forced labour. The more recent past has bore witness to the systematic attempt at genocide of the Roma by the Nazis during World War II and the assimilation schemes and restrictions of cultural freedom under Communist rule in Eastern Europe. Despite democratisation and Europeanisation in Central and Eastern Europe, Roma today face discrimination in the form of exclusion from employment, housing, education and health care and have been the victims of numerous violent racially motivated attacks. The recent electoral successes of right extremist parties across Europe make their plight even more of a pressing issue.

     

154. AP Hosts Srebrenica Remembrance Event in Washington

     1:44 pm Leave a Comment

     July 6, 2009, Washington, DC:  The Advocacy Project (AP) will host an event commemorating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre on Tuesday, July 14.

     The event will feature a memorial quilt made by the women of Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), an AP partner based in Tuzla, Bosnia. Many of BOSFAM’s weavers lost relatives in the massacre, and each of the quilt’s panels honors an individual victim.

     There will also be a multimedia presentation that includes video and photos from 2009 Peace Fellows who attended the July 11 burial ceremony for recently-identified victims in Potocari, Bosnia.

     Srebrenica, a Muslim enclave, was designated a UN safe haven during the war in the Balkans. But on July 11, 1995, a lightly-armed Dutch peacekeeping force capitulated to the Bosnian Serbs, who seized the town and murdered over 8,000 men and boys over the age of 15. The women and children were bused out of Srebrenica to Muslim-controlled territory.

     To date, about 2,900 massacre victims have been re-buried, and hundreds more will be added to the total during this year’s ceremony.

     The Washington event will be held  from 5:30 to 8 p.m. July 14 at AP’s offices, located at 1326 14th St. NW.

     BOSFAM souvenir carpets and refreshments will be available for purchase. Proceeds from the event will benefit BOSFAM and AP’s fellowship program.

155. “Let the Art Join Us”

     12:44 pm Leave a Comment

     This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Valire Buza, the Executive Director of KWN-member organization Lira. I was both excited and nervous as I prepared for our meeting. I knew little about the organization, as an exhaustive internet search yielded NO information on the organization or it’s activities. So, I set off to meet Valire at a local café in Pristina, my only clue being the translation of “Lira” from Albanian to English (it means “free”).

     When I arrived, Valire warmly embraced me.  For the next hour, and through the use of a (wonderful) translator who wished not to be identified, we discussed her organization.

     In that time, I learned several important facts.

     1. Lira’s mission is to promote the integration of women of all ethnicities into the social and cultural activities of Kosovar society.

     However, their approach is a unique one.

     Lira’s preferred medium of social integration is MUSIC. Their projects have included the creation of a traveling multi-ethnic women’s choir, the establishment of a multi-ethnic community arts center for women and children in Pristina, and the staging of concerts.  And what kind of music does Lira think has the power to bring diverse groups of women together? Check out the video below to find out!

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JrlifYNq2k

     2. Nearly a decade of experience is not enough! Even though Lira was established in 2000 (with the original goal of alleviating the trauma of war among all women), the organization is still struggling to build its institutional capacity. Finding funding is not easy, especially in Kosovo. To hear about Lira’s biggest challenge, and how the organization thinks membership in the Kosovo Women’s Network can help them overcome this particular obstacle, watch the short video below.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAKPJrtyY7A

     Lastly,

     3. The tense political situation between the governments of Kosovo and Serbia is greatly impacting the participation of Kosovar Serbs in Kosovar society.  

     Serbian officials exert significant influence over the Serbian minority still residing in Kosovo (and, some even suggest, over international institutions such as UNMIK and Eulex – see the picture of graffiti that is recreated all over Kosovo and it’s capital city).

     

     Authorities in Serbia have called upon the Serbian minority to abstain from participating in Kosovo’s political, social and cultural institutions. A highly publicized example has been the desertion – and return – of over 300 Serbian police officers to the Kosovo police force. The officers left the force in protest of Kosovo’s declaration of independence last year. However, Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo, Goran Bogdanovic, has publically stated that Serbia is involved in negotiating their return and that they are working on establishing a separate chain of command for Serbian police officers since Serbia and the Serbian minority in Kosovo do not recognize the government of Kosovo as legitimate.

     So what does this mean for Lira? To hear their perspective on the involvement of Kosovar-Serb women in their organization and activities, see the video below.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59_bdW3osZI

     Again, I would like to thank Valire and her translator for meeting with me and giving me such excellent points to think about.

156. PRIJATNO U SRBIJA!

     July 3, 2009 4:59 am 5 Comments

     Title Translation: BON APPETIT IN SERBIA!

     Many people have asked what I, being a pescetarian, have been eating in Serbia so I thought I would write about it.  The first few days I was here, it was quite difficult to find vegetarian options on the go, especially since I couldn’t comprehend the Serbian signs listing food and was also unable to ask for meatless items in Serbian.  But over the past few weeks I have learned how to say “nay meso?” meaning “no meat?” and have found a few good fast food options that I can pick up on the way to work.  For one, I was lucky enough to have a falafel and fries place right down the street from my apartment.  I also often eat a spinach and egg pie that reminds me of quiche.

     But generally, Serbian food includes a lot of meat as well as a lot of oil.  Almost all sandwiches include some form of meat, but even more surprising, it’s often difficult to find a piece of vegetarian pizza.  Plain cheese pizza seems to be a hard to find catch.  But even though Serbian food focuses so heavily on meat and oil, it at least consists of all organic meat and vegetables.  While I haven’t tasted the meat here, I have heard that it is a lot better than ours in America.  And I can say from personal experience that the local tomatoes and various fruits and vegetables are full of flavor.

     My experience in Belgrade, specifically at the local green market, has made me really think about how many chemical and hormones are injected into us through the food we eat in the U.S.  Even if we try to eat healthy by eating fruits and vegetables, we’re still eating chemicals and hormones that simultaneously harm our bodies.  And if we decide to purchase organic items in order to avoid such chemicals, it hurts our wallets.  It’s quite sad that in order to eat healthy in America we need to spend more money.  I really think that it should be the opposite.  It should be cheaper to eat healthy – healthy food should be the norm, not the exception.  And if we want to “treat” ourselves by eating something unhealthy, we should expect to pay more for it.  It should be similar to the concept of taxing cigarettes – we should have increased incentive to eat healthier, rather than greater incentive to save money and thus eat food that causes us harm in the long run.

     I just want to end by sharing a clip of the Zeleni Venac City Market, my local green market, as it makes me wish I had something similar back home, without it costing an arm and a leg.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y_B_QucyYI

157. No romanticisation. No condemnation.

     July 2, 2009 3:47 pm 3 Comments

     I took a huge step yesterday and went…grocery shopping. Momentarily daunted by the vast array of dairy products which lay before me, I made my move and triumphantly lifted off the shelf what I hoped was yoghurt. Victory celebrations were cut short (the imaginary Mexican wave had only rippled half way down the shopping aisle) by a tap on the shoulder. I turned to face an overly friendly member of staff frantically pointing to a low fat alternative. Trying hard not to be offended, I explained I spoke no Czech. Grinning, the shop assistant paused, nodded and then proudly announced: “cheap, take this…cheaper, good AND cheap”.

     Having been in Prague for only a few days, it is too soon to make sweeping judgments about the city’s inhabitants. Yet the yoghurt incident reflects much of what I have witnessed so far; an eagerness to help and an admiration (or is it perhaps sympathy?) for anyone attempting to speak their language. It is hard to imagine that abhorrence as strong as that towards Roma can emanate from this same society….

     I have refrained until now from delving into the world of “Antigypsyism” and the situation of Roma in Central and Eastern Europe in any great detail. As gingerly as I first entered the supermarket I will now – blog by blog – begin to navigate my way through the web of tradition, culture, language, migration, discrimination, social deprivation, violence (I could go on) and prejudice. I begin by reiterating the words of EU commissioner Vladimír Špidla who insists that neither romanticisation nor condemnation provide the answer to the Roma problematic. There is no black and white. Dialogue is required and uncomfortable truths regarding all parties involved need to be addressed.

     

     The lyrics of the internationally successful Czech Romano hip-hop group Gypsy.cz is one example; an attempt at self-reflection of sorts. Band members Radoslav Banga and Vojta Lavicka maintain that whilst European society segregated the Roma people in the past, the real problem today is that Gypsies don’t want to integrate. By focusing on the role Roma themselves have in determining their own fate, Gypsy.cz may be in danger of neglecting the bigger picture. Nevertheless, their views do demonstrate the need for a multidimensional approach – one surpassing in scope even the supermarket’s impressive dairy selection.

     I leave you for now with a little taste of what is possible:

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tseT9oOd4pY

158. Visiting Srebrenica

     7:23 am 118 Comments

     Beba, Kelsey, and I traveled to Srebrenica on a rainy Tuesday during my first week in Tuzla. After having spent such a long time thinking about Srebrenica and working with BOSFAM and other Bosniak Diaspora organizations, this was a painful, but important experience for me to have.

     It is easy to spot the former front-lines of the conflict as you drive out of Tuzla. One moment, everything appears normal, but then you drive through a small tunnel and are once again faced with one bombed-out, burned-down house after another. It does not take long to get from Tuzla to the Federation/Republika Srpska (RS) border. As we passed the “Welcome to Republika Srpska” sign, Beba pointed out a small village on our left.

     This was the first village to have minority returnees (Bosniaks) to the RS following the war’s end. Returning home was, and continues to be, a courageous thing to do, especially in this former no-man’s land. Beba told us that these women used to joke that their chickens could much more easily go back and forth between the Federation and RS than they could.

     We were soon in Zvornik and could see Serbia on the other side of the Drina River. After having driven by countless ruined homes next to sparkling new, foreign-financed mosques and churches, I was surprised to see what appeared to be a very old minaret standing. This mosque was not destroyed because it is on the Serbian side of the Drina in Mali Zvornik. When Yugoslavia existed, Zvornik was connected to its sister-city across the river. Today, you need a passport, and sometimes even a visa, simply to cross the bridge to the other side.

     

     In Kravica we passed the agricultural cooperative warehouses where over one-thousand men and boys were killed on the afternoon of July 13th. Last year, when a group of women went to place flowers at the entrance to the warehouses, they were detained by RS police and prevented from doing so. The women will try once again to commemorate their deceased relatives this year, but whether or not they will be allowed by the police to enter the Kravica warehouses is unknown.

     Potocari somehow snuck up on me. I thought we were still in Bratunac when all of sudden Beba told me to look to the right and not the left. I was looking to the left because I had spotted the old DutchBat UN barracks at the Potocari battery factory and figured we must be close. Thousands of white and green graves extended from only a few feet from the road all the way up the hillside. Over 500 more people whose remains have been identified will be buried at Potocari this July 11th.

     

     

     It was easy to see that international attention focuses on Potocari on July 11th only – there were perhaps five other visitors at the memorial. We walked around for a bit reading the different names and birth years. In many places you could tell that a father and son were buried side by side. Sometimes there was a space between them and Beba told us this usually means that their is another family member, maybe another son, or a grandfather, whose remains have not yet been identified.

     We left Srebrenica and went on to a much more pleasant activity – a visit to Magbula!

     Magbula Divovic lives on the side of a lovely hill overlooking Potocari. I had heard many stories about her from Beba and Iain Guest (AP’s Executive Director) and was excited to meet her. What I did not know about Magbula was that she grows almost every kind of fruit I have ever seen in her garden. In addition to the normal coffee and some delicious cake, we were offered raspberries, blackberries, plums, and cherries!

     

     You can tell from the instant you meet Magbula that she’s a very energetic lady. She hardly sat the whole time as she animatedly told Beba about her relatives, a carpet for her granddaughter which she is working on, and a recent delegation of Croat women who came to visit Potocari. It was a pleasure for me to meet Magbula, and I hope that someday soon there will be a BOSFAM branch in Srebrenica so that she won’t be all alone while weaving.

     It had begun to pour and so our tour of the town of Srebrenica was not as extensive as it normally would have been. Beba drove us around to the school where she used to the work and showed us the street she grew up on. As a former teacher, Beba remembers when Srebrenica was a lively place, full of children. As we drove up and down Srebrenica’s main street, the city appeared dead. This may have been mostly due to the weather, but when I think of the current differences between Tuzla and Srebrenica, it is easy for me to understand why so many IDPs would prefer not to return to their former homes.

     

     We returned to Tuzla through the downpour. After hydroplaning at least three times, Beba told me not to worry – she used to drive a UN Land Rover around during the war. I told her that she could drive however she liked in a Land Rover, but that I would prefer not to end up in the Drina! Needless to say, we made it back to Tuzla alright. I am sure my next visit to Srebrenica – for the July 11th commemoration – will be very different. However, I think it was important to see Potocari, and the town of Srebrenica, as they are most days of the year – gray, empty, and I fear, forgotten.

159. Tuzla so far

     6:08 am 70 Comments

     I have been in Tuzla for only two weeks, but somehow it already feels much longer than that.  Everyone I have met has been so friendly and accepting – despite my lack of Bosnian-speaking abilities – especially the women at BOSFAM.  I think they may be starting to get annoyed with the fact that all I can comment on is the weather and my sisters’ names, and ages! Oh well, language learning is a slow process and I will persevere.

     My days so far have been spent finding my way around Tuzla, visiting Srebrenica, and helping Beba with a few of the many issues the BOSFAM website has. We are updating the webshop and increasing BOSFAM’s presence on World of Good, an ebay-administered site for entrepreneurs directly involved in social justice initiatives. I will be sure to post the link for BOSFAM on my blog as soon as this is complete.

     Another thing I’ve been working on is increasing communication between all AP partner organizations in the Balkans. To this end, I have been in frequent contact with Donna Harati and Simran Sachdev (volunteering with Women in Black in Belgrade, Serbia) and Tiffany Ommundsen (volunteering with the Kosova Women’s Network in Pristina, Kosova).

     Donna is arriving by bus this evening and will travel to Vogosca-Sarajevo with us tomorrow. BOSFAM is presenting the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt project in Vogosca as part of the “Our Manifest: We Will Not Forget Srebrenica” program organized by the Municipality of Srebrenica, Association Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa Enclaves, and Women of the Podrinje. All six AP Peace Fellows in the Balkans will meet up on July 11th at the memorial service in Potocari for the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica.

160. At the heart of the matter.

     June 30, 2009 11:58 am 4 Comments

     DISILLUSIONMENT [click of a PC mouse]

     ANGER [ash falls from a cigarette butt]

     PASSION [coffee vigorously stirred]

     DETERMINATION [short sharp words down the telephone line]

     AND DRIVE.

     Mr Ivan Vesely does not conceal his emotions as he speaks of the Roma cause.

     His pragmatism is not to be mistaken for indifference or surrender. “Stagnant” may be the term he uses to capture Roma Rights developments over the past 20 years, yet his experiences since the Velvet Revolution seem to act as a remarkable source of energy. “Dzeno Association is situated in the heart of Prague and seeks to go address the very heart of the issue”. A frequently furrowed brow hides the persistent sparkle of resilience and optimism in his eyes. It was that very twinkle that left me leaving Dzeno after my induction intrigued, moved and inspired in spite of the arduous task ahead.

     

     I spoke in my first blog about the pervasiveness of stereotypes. One day in Prague and I have already been exposed to the enormity of the ‘Gypsy’ stereotype and the prejudice it breeds. Ivan’s 20 year narrative is brought to life as Roma board trams in the city – bodies stiffen, bags are clutched and wary glances follow the newcomers’ every move. The issue is not whether these reactions are really unfounded; but that such attitudes are themselves part of the problem. The roots of the Roma’s current socio-economic situation are deep and multifaceted. Exposing the discrimination is one way of beginning to disentangle and address the complexities involved.

     Advocacy Project training had taught us that we were there not to attempt to move mountains (I lack the arm power anyway), but to equip marginalised communities with the tools they need to make themselves heard. The first morning with Ivan had demonstrated the seeming futility of such tools in the face of the profound hurdles standing in the way of promoting the rights of minorities such as the Roma. Nevertheless, exposing the injustices IS the beginning of a long process empowering peoples and inducing change. My blog isn’t going to have a grandiose fairytale-like “and they all lived happily ever after” ending. I hope instead to draw attention to the scale of the issue at hand and encourage you the reader to think hard about your own presumptions…does “hooped-earrings, travelling, stealing, windscreen wiping and tax-evasion” really cover it all?

161. Greatest Memory Associated with WIB

     5:51 am 206 Comments

     During our first week in Serbia, one of WIB’s activists passed away in Leskovac. The death came suddenly and unexpectedly and greatly affected WIB members. Shortly after the funeral, Stasha came to us with a long list of network members she wanted us to interview on camera. She explained that it was important to document the stories and experiences of the members in order to always have recollections of the people who have been a part of the organization. Although we knew from the beginning that our time here would mainly revolve around a video project, we weren’t sure if we would be making a documentary or short video stories, but we are now set on interviewing as many people as possible to build up WIB’s video archives. WIB has members who are skilled in video editing etc who will take over once we leave. So far, we have interviewed a dozen members and anticipate conducting around 30 interviews in total. It’s a project that really excites me and rarely feels like “work” since we basically have interesting and stimulating conversations with gracious network members who have had amazing experiences- not too shabby.

     Last week, we interviewed two high level academics who have been involved with WIB since the beginning. Although pretty much everything they said was fascinating to me, I wanted to share their answers to the question, “what is your greatest memory associated with Women In Black” with you.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSE_Mu9hvrw

     At the time, it was striking to me that they both essentially had the same answer to the question even though they were being interviewed separately. Looking back at the clips though, I really shouldn’t have been surprised. The experience was so powerful and truly showcased the bravery of WIB members. Since I spend so much time in the office with WIB members doing somewhat mundane things like drinking coffee or scheduling interviews, I forget just how brave these individuals really are. As Professor Dulic explained, WIB members really served as the “guinea pigs” or “punching bags” of Serbia for a time as they went against all the prevailing nationalist, militaristic, and fascist tendencies. Yet, as Professor Vodinelic pointed out, WIB members never contemplate giving up- they get back up and persevere, and that’s why they’re still here today.

     On another note, I wanted to touch on a comment Professor Vodinelic made about the “tacit support” of the police. The relationship between WIB and the Serbian police is complex and ever-evolving, I doubt I’ll come to fully understand it before I leave, but I have picked up some insight from talking to various WIB members. As Professor Vodinelic explained, the police were much more sympathetic with the opposition than with WIB in the early days- to the point of being accomplices in inciting violence on the demonstrators. Today, a good number of police officers accompany WIB to every demonstration/protest. On the surface, the reason is “protection”, and some members have said that the police have recently done a good job of keeping troublemakers away. However, the police also film every WIB activity. They claim that it’s to protect WIB by having footage of any incident that may occur. Stasha and others have no doubt that the police are actually filming to monitor the activity of the group. The activists I spoke to stressed that they don’t have a problem with the officers as individuals, and they actually have developed relationships with some of them where they feel comfortable joking around with each other. Nevertheless, I think most WIB members would be hard pressed to consider the police allies although perhaps they don’t consider them enemies as they did before.

     

     Police at a WIB street action in mid-June. Police are always present at WIB street actions. The relationship between police and WIB is complex.

162. Mettre en lumière les victimes de l’ombre

     1:07 am 95 Comments

     Parce que mes lecteurs Français se sont lancés avec moi dans l’aventure du blog en anglais, et l’on sait ce qu’il en coute pour certains… J’ai décidé de vous remercier de votre contribution en vous faisant l’honneur,  d’un blog en français. Voici donc pour vous, en avant première,  le résumé des épisodes depuis le lancement de la conférence, saupoudrées d’alléchantes contributions académiques ! Pour le clin d’œil, bien entendu…

     Une fois l’évènement terminé, une autre forme de travail a commencé pour moi.  Dans le jargon des ONG, la conférence du 18 Juin entrerait dans la catégorie des actions de type dites « top-down », c’est-à-dire qu’on tente de produire du changement social en s’adressant directement aux centres de pouvoir, aux politiques. On utilise le lobbying, l’information, et on essaie d’atteindre les centres décisionnels. C’est l’approche traditionnelle de l’ « advocacy » ou « changer la société par le haut » en faisant des lois qui modifieront alors les comportements de tous les membres de la société.  Un autre courant, si je puis m’exprimer ainsi,  pense quant à lui le processus de changement  social,  de manière inversée. Partant d’une approche « Bottom-Up » ,du bas,  ses partisans considèrent qu’il faut d’abord changer les mentalités, pratiques, comportements des gens, et que le reste suivra.  En étant le plus pragmatique possible, on admettra qu’il n’y a pas de petite actions et qu’a ce titre, l’association des deux dimensions ne peut être que bénéfique.  Travailler pour IANSA m’a donné la possibilité de tâter un peu de ces deux dimensions.   

     J’ai creusé la première dimension « top-down » avec la conférence du 18 juin ou étaient conviés les principaux représentants du cercle médiatique.  Et je ne peux qu’espérer qu’à l’avenir, les pouvoirs publics ayant également assisté à cet événement (le procureur de Belgrade ou l’un de ses missionnaires notamment) auront à l’esprit les recommandations de nos trois experts lorsqu’il s’agira de statuer dans les affaires conjugales relevant de la violence armée. 

     Je travaille maintenant depuis une semaine sur la deuxième facette du projet.  La dimension « bottom-up » d’Advocacy Project, l’ONG qui m’envoie (à la différence d’IANSA qui m’emploie, pour simplifier) est évidente. Cette dernière se donne ainsi comme objectif principal de « donner une voix à ceux qui n’en ont pas ».  Ecrire leur histoire. Faire connaitre leur existence. Repérer les victimes. Et puis diffuser, diffuser, diffuser, les témoignages ainsi obtenus, au plus grand nombre de personnes.  Pourquoi ? Parce que comme le dit ma mère « Quand on parle encore de vous, on n’est pas encore complètement mort » . Connaitre.  Advovacy project vise à faire de nous, à partir d’une histoire singulière, des citoyens qui savent et peuvent agir.   

     Loin des relations publiques , je me tourne donc désormais vers la sphère intérieure et privée, à la recherche de témoignages de situations de violence domestique armée.  Le sujet est, vous en conviendrez, de nature sensible.  D’autant plus que pour raconter une histoire, il faut non seulement l’écrire mais il faut aussi accepter de la partager, de l’offrir aux yeux du monde et de se montrer soi, aussi fragile qu’on est pu l’être .

     Je suis donc partie cette semaine, à la recherche de contacts, et j’ai pris soin de prendre une fourchette large d’interlocuteurs.  Car si j’espère sincèrement, après vous avoir tant parlé de ce phénomène de violence domestique armée, pouvoir vous y associer un visage, une voix, une histoire, je ne sais pas si l’entreprise est réalisable. J’y travaille, c’est promis.  Mais rassurez vous. il y a plusieurs acteurs dans notre histoire qui pourront eux aussi nous en dire plus sur ce phénomène : on ne saurait oublier les victimes indirectes, les travailleurs sociaux, les membres d’associations,  les témoins…  voire les juges, pourquoi pas, ayant pu avoir vent d’affaires de ce type. Il s’agit d’établir avec chacun d’entre eux une relation de confiance et de libre échange.  Voila donc mon emploi depuis une semaine.  Après avoir identifié les centres pertinents opérant à Belgrade et aux alentours (et cela a parfois impliqué de déchiffrer le cyrillique lorsque les sites web se sont refusés à être polyglottes ), j’ai noirci mon agenda d’apprenti-journaliste… Et suis donc en partance pour une semaine de folie pleine de rendez vous !

163. Ethics. Accountability. Transparency.

     June 29, 2009 9:45 am 2 Comments

     These are loaded words. If I were so inclined, I could spend months, probably even years of my life philosophizing on what each of these three terms mean in all of their different proclivities. But in the world of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), these concepts serve as the benchmarks of organizational development.

     So, are you ready for a crash course in NGO management?

     First, there is no one definition of a non-governmental organization (I get this question all the time!). The Kosovo Women’s Network defines a non-governmental organization as one that does not support any specific political party and works to serve the society in which it exists based on it’s own particular needs. To this definition, the Kosovo Women’s Network has also included a commitment to non-violence and equality regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and age. (I subscribe to this particular definition not only because it is the one used by my host organization but also because it reflects my own personal understanding of why we in the field do what we do – for the benefit of the STAKEHOLDERS).

     I’m sure those of you who are unfamiliar with NGOs are wondering why ethics, accountability and transparency are necessary for an NGO to be both productive and efficient. As I have hinted to above, NGOs measure their success in a unique way – they look at how their work is meeting the demands of their beneficiaries or target group in particular and society in general. So, if they cannot maintain the support of both, they cannot do their jobs. The way for NGOs to ensure their continued trust and involvement is to be open to them.

     But, how are these benchmarks to be achieved, especially in the context of a network of over 80 organizations? To address that issue, the Kosovo Women’s Network developed a code of conduct (also called the Ethical and Accountability Code) in 2006, becoming the first NGO in Kosovo to do so. The code of conduct addresses several main target areas, including mission and program, good governance, human resources, financial transparency and accountability, civic responsibility, and partnership and networking.

     

     Highlights include: the development of a clearly defined mission with input from stakeholders; annual evaluation of the organization’s activities and their contribution to the achievement of mission objectives; the creation of a comprehensive policy manual by the Executive Board; the establishment of standards of employee behavior, including behavior that contributes to the public image of NGOs; the adoption of written policies regarding conflicts of interest, such as misuse of funds, and acceptable sources of funding based on the organization’s mission; the publication of the organization’s annual budgets and the cost-effectiveness of its activities; the provision of adequate information on issues to the public and media; and an agreement to not criticize other network members for the benefit of their individual organization.

     (To read the code of conduct in its entirety, visit http://www.womensnetwork.org/)

     Here in the office of the Kosovo Women’s Network, I see these principles in action daily. Several times a day, we field both phone calls and visits from employees of member organizations and other NGOs, local and international students, representatives of the media and ordinary citizens. They are granted complete access to information, whether in the form of interviews with staff members or the publications that take up every inch of spare space in the office and are printed in multiple languages.

     The process of integrating the code of conduct into the operating procedures of member organizations has been slow.  These may seem like basic measures, but nothing is ever that simple, especially in a country like Kosovo, where the public and its institutions are still dealing with the aftermath of war and independence. This summer, as the Kosovo Women’s Network begins evaluating the progress of implementation of the code of conduct among its members, I will be visiting as many organizations as I can to discuss the issues firsthand.

164. THE FUNCTION OF LAW: TO CONTROL OR PROTECT THE PEOPLE

     June 26, 2009 4:59 pm Leave a Comment

     My main role at Women in Black (WIB) has been to create a video archive of interviews of WIB activists.  The goal of this project is to leave WIB with the ability to tell the story of their whole WIB Serbia network, rather than just focus on the few individuals in the main Belgrade office.  It is also to have some memory of each individual activist to hold on to.  WIB will be able to make use of the videos in whatever way they deem necessary in the future, whether it be a documentary film about their activists or short video clips for their website.

     Yesterday Donna and I interviewed a very knowledgeable law professor and dean, Vesna Vodinelic, at a private law university in Belgrade.  She made an important point during her interview that I’d like you to watch below.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CUZAdtLkE4

     It’s interesting to see the two sides of law, and how one has so often been abused.  While it’s sad to admit, we can’t deny that law is partially used for the government to control its people.  But the important side of law, in my opinion, is the one that works to protect its citizens.  Laws should be in place to ensure that citizens are granted all the rights they deserve, to ensure that murderers are not allowed to freely roam the streets and harm others, and to ensure that one can choose how to live one’s life, freely and happily.

     But even the issue of using law to protect citizens can be problematic: who gets to determine how citizens should be protected?  Should they be protected from individuals that incite hate or is that a limitation on free speech?  Is it okay for the government to protect citizens from truth about imminent danger in order to avoid panic?  Where do we draw the line?

     Furthermore, it is appalling how frequently the law has been abused in order to suppress a country’s people; or how often the protectors of law are complicit in horrific crimes.  For example, the law still does not allow homosexuals to marry spouses of their choosing in most areas of the world, including the majority of states in the U.S.  The law has turned a blind eye in too many countries when minority groups have been abused and tortured.  Women in many African countries do not have the legal rights to own any land, making them forever dependent on men, often leading widows and their children to live in poverty.  Laws in Afghanistan actually prohibit women from seeing male doctors without the accompaniment of a close male relative.  But since women in Afghanistan are also forbidden from becoming doctors, too many Afghan women unnecessarily die during child birth.

     While it is clear that laws should not be in place for governments to abuse their people, the question still remains: what is the perfect relationship between the state and its citizenry?  And how can we stop the abuse of law that is taking place in too many countries around the world today?

165. From New York to Tuzla

     3:56 am 3 Comments

     After sitting on the runway at JFK for almost two hours, the first leg of my journey (New York – Düsseldorf) to Tuzla was finally underway. I somehow managed to make my connecting flight to Vienna, which was a miracle considering that everyone around me had missed their departures to Berlin, Zurich, etc. As the kid on a class trip reading a huge history textbook put it, “Wow, you’re going to make your Anschluss!” While I thought this was pretty funny, the Austrian friends I stayed with in Vienna for several days did not.

     I spent three lovely days in Vienna recovering from jet-lag and catching up with my friend Morgan who has been teaching English there for the past year. Morgan helped me lug my massive backpack across town and back, and by Thursday evening, I was on the 6 PM bus to Tuzla.

     

     As the only female passenger, the bus driver helpfully escorted me to the front seat of the bus. This way I could enjoy the TV blasting what appeared to be Bosnian MTV and the myriad cigarette breaks my co-travelers came to the front of the bus to take. Apparently on a non-smoking bus, you can just come sit on the bus steps and smoke away.

     The first few hours of the trip were gorgeous as the bus made its way through the Voralpen (the smaller mountains prior to the Alps) and we were soon at the Slovenian border. The Slovenes get to enjoy all the benefits of being in both the European Union (EU) and the Schengen Zone, while other countries of the former Yugoslavia continue to deal with frustrating visa requirements (more on this later!) and border crossings. Croatia has seen such a tourism boom in the past few years that the border guard there did not even feel the need to examine, let alone stamp, my passport.

     The bus lights came on as we were crossing the Sava River and I was awake to see the “Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina” sign, shortly followed by a second sign welcoming me to the Republika Srpska. The Bosnian border guards were so interested in my passport that the bus unfortunately began driving before I got it back! This situation, however, was quickly remedied when I started to have a mild panic attack in the front seat. Don’t worry Mom and Dad – I have my passport!

     There are two easy ways to tell that you’re in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) instead of one of the other countries in the Western Balkans. The first is that the road conditions deteriorate very quickly. It took over two hours to go less than 100 kilometers. The houses are the second sign. In many towns we drove through, every second or third home was completely destroyed, and most of the rest are still undergoing the process of renovation almost 15 years post-war. Even though I’ve been to BiH before, the amount of destruction is overwhelming to see and offers a stark reality check on the slow progress back to normalcy in this country.

     I wrote in my first blog that Beba would be on time at the bus station. This would have been true had the bus not arrived an hour the arrival time printed on my ticket. Thanks Eurolines! In any case, we eventually found each other and by 5 AM I was in my new home above the BOSFAM office. More from Tuzla to follow soon…

166. A Great Success!!!

     June 23, 2009 7:52 am 3 Comments

     It’s a small, cozy room on the 6th floor of Belgrade Media center, and right in the center. The bright, white walls and newness of the building contrast with the dullness and age that characterize Belgrade walls. The clear and transparent setting  holds great promise for the sequence of the conference taking place on Thursday 18th June, 2009.

     

     Gradually, journalists  begin to enter the notably relaxed atmosphere, discussing the latest reports they had covered or the latest conferences they had attended. This noisy crowd is made up of 25 to 30 people, from a broad span of the national media, either newspapers, radio, or TV channels as well as the foreign media  ( Radio free Europe, or a National TV channel from the republic Srpska entity, part of Bosnia and Herzegovina ). There are also NGOs representing women and children, a representative of the United Nations department and one from Belgrade municipal office of public prosecution. Silence eventually falls as attitudes steady, cameras get ready to film, and  atmosphere changes perceptibly due to the seriousness of the topic, about to be addressed by the three invited speakers.

     VDS was proud to welcome Doctor Mirjana Dokmanovic, an international lawyer, journalist, researcher and lecturer on human rights and women’s rights, as well as the President of the Women’s Center for Democracy and Human Rights in Serbia & Montenegro. We were also happy to have Doctor Zeljko Nikac, both a Deputy Police chief and Professor because his presence added a field dimension, with the latest data available and a great deal of experience in the armed domestic violence field. From VDS, both Jasmina Nikolic, whom you should by-now be familiar with, and Vesna Nikolic Ristanovic, professor in criminology at Belgrade University and director of VDS, were present. 

     

     Guns. Violence. Women… Pens scribble away, and many questions are raised to our interlocutors, journalists and activists showing a great interest for the subject. The conference officially ends amid stage whispers. Many TV and radio stations request more details, get closer to the podium to obtain personal interviews from our speakers, and pens go on scribbling away…. What a formative experience for the novice journalist I am, to see basic tips on how to compile various sequences to make reports as lively and appealing as can be

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4-hLTvVDes

     Of course, we’re not the only ones to be proud of the work accomplished during the global week of action… and you may be interested to go and see what others have done, in Argentina, Canada, Congo,  El Salvador, India, Liberia, Macedonia, Mexico, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the US…. A various range of events, a wide variety of countries… because every action counts! For more details, please visit http://www.iansa-women.org/node/172

167. Watching Iran from Serbia

     June 21, 2009 5:28 pm 5 Comments

     Both of my parents were born and raised in Iran, so I have felt especially invested in the historic, heart-wrenching, and at times, horrific, events in Iran during the past week. I have been constantly checking liveblogs (I highly recommend Nico Pitney’s blog over at Huffington Post), mesmerized by the power of citizen journalism. I am overwhelmed by the courage young people my age (and of every age) are showcasing in Iran, a courage I doubt I will ever even begin to comprehend in my lifetime. The graphic and raw image of the young protester Neda dying captured on camera hasn’t left my mind since I watched it and probably never will.

     Commentators are asking if Iran will be the next China or Zimbabwe, but being in Serbia, a country that has struggled to find its footing after bringing down its own oppressive regime only a few years ago, is really coloring how I see the events in Iran. In interviews I’ve watched with leaders of the resistance movement in Serbia, they explain how many people did not want to get involved at first because they didn’t know what the alternative to Milosevic would be. In time, they were convinced that, first things first, Milosevic had to be brought down. The catalyzing moment in Serbia was when Milosevic rejected claims of a first-round opposition victory in elections for the presidency in September 2000, a situation somewhat similar to that in Iran today. The people had had enough. They refused to accept the state line any longer and took to the streets. Was the opposition candidate perfect or ideal? No, but the people felt that it was time for their voices to be heard.

     

     the toppling of Milosevic's regime

     The following quote by a female architect in Iran sums up what I believe is a similar sentiment in Iran:  “Many criticize us and wonder what does Mr. Mousavi have that is so special? They argue that after all he is one of the many in that corrupt system of the Islamic Republic and will never act against it. My argument is that this is not about Mousavi, but about people realizing that they are not followers like a herd of sheep that goes anywhere it is summoned to go. They will know that the individual will does matter and that their actions can be effective and can speak louder than any specific person; this to me is the most important aspect of these events. Now either Mousavi or anyone else who will end up in power, they will have the understanding of what people want and what they are capable of, and how they can voice their requests. This is the significant and important step and now that Mousavi has chosen to go ahead, we will support him.”

     And so the Iranian people have had enough, and they are bravely fighting for their rights, for their voices, for justice. Of course, I am full of hope, but at the same time, being in Serbia has created a set of fears and anxieties about the future of Iran I doubt I would otherwise have. In 2003, Prime minister Zuran Djindic, who many Serbians saw as a statesman of hope who could bring a brighter future, was assassinated. Since then, many politicians from the Milosevic era have found their way back to power.

     We were in Northern Serbia last week interviewing a WIB activist, and her friend was curious to hear our impressions of the Serbian people. He asked if we saw the Serbian people the same way he did. I told him I didn’t quite understand what he meant, and he responded, “well, I think we are a….what’s the word….raw? rugged?…people now.” As we continued talking, I realized the word he was looking for might have been “broken”. They fought so hard for change that now that what they have isn’t what they expected, the will to fight again is simply not there. My statements are based on limited conversations with a specific subset of the population, but I have been really affected by their despair. The road to freedom can be long and arduous, but it seems that maintaining that freedom might be the true challenge. No individual should feel broken as a result of the broken state of his or her nation. I can only hope that Iran will not be a China or a Zimbabwe or a Serbia, but an Iran, a model for people around the world who are tired of not being treated with the respect they deserve as human beings.

     

     Iranian protesters marching in Tehran on June 15, 2009.

168. Civil Unrest in the Islamic Republic

     June 19, 2009 2:39 pm Leave a Comment

     Like many people, I have been captivated by the news coming out of Iran the past few days – the photographs, the videos (I found the two videos below particularly powerful, especially since they do not contain any graphic imagery) and yes, even the tweets. 

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBQbDltPuCY 

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C69NvFGxZQE 

     I am very passionate about Iran. Having worked at the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center in New Haven, Connecticut (www.iranhrdc.org) just prior to joining the Kosovo Women’s Network, I have come to learn a lot about the Islamic Republic, it’s political system and it’s people. I even wrote my Masters thesis on Iran. So, as these historic events are unfolding, I want to talk about what is happening, what could happen in the coming days, and what it all means.

     But no one here is talking about Iran.

     I have tried to start a dialogue on Iran several times, with several different people.  But Kosovars don’t want to talk about the election, the demonstrations, or the violence – especially the violence.  

     At first, I couldn’t understand why no one (at least from my perspective) seemed interested in Iran. Then, a young Kosovar woman explained it to me. She stated that they simply have too many painful memories of their own experiences to open themselves up to more.  They need to look to the future and focus on building the democratic institutions of their “newborn” country.

     For those who are interested in learning more about the current situation in the Islamic Republic, definitely check out fellow Advocacy Project Fellow Farzin’s blog (http://advocacynet.org/wordpress-mu/farzin/). He has done an amazing job presenting the current events from an angle that very few news outlets are covering.

169. SPECIAL COURT FOR WAR CRIMES

     3:24 am 2 Comments

     Transitional justice is a key component of rebuilding a society after conflict.  It can punish perpetrators for their crimes, deter future crimes through fear of punishment, help families reconcile with the past and the crimes committed against family members.  But at the same time, transitional justice is also surrounded by a lot of debate.  How is justice adequately served in a post-conflict environment?  Does “too much justice” cause a country to dwell on the past for too long?  Is any form of punishment enough for a soldier that killed hundreds of civilians?  How do you ensure that trials aren’t a sham and just for show?

     For those of you unfamiliar with transitional justice in the former Yugoslavia, here is some background.  Numerous atrocities were committed against civilians during the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990’s.  In order to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes, the United Nations Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993.  ICTY has jurisdiction dating back to 1991 for all the territories of the former Yugoslavia.  The four crimes that it can prosecute are grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws or customs of war, genocide and crimes against humanity.

     While the international community has generally deemed the ICTY as successful, an international tribunal is usually only one component of a country’s reconciliation with the past.  Serbia has tried to further its own transitional justice by also establishing a Special Court for War Crimes in Belgrade, the country’s capital.  While the ICTY prosecutes mainly high-level officials, the Special Court focuses on middle and low-level officials.

     So far I have been able to attend two sessions of the Special Court in Belgrade.  It’s definitely exciting that I’ve been able to view such an important component of transitional justice in former Yugoslavia.  For now I will focus on the session I attended on Wednesday, June 10^th.  The session lasted about five hours and consisted of only one witness giving his testimony about events that took place in Zvornik in Eastern Bosnia.  In June 1992, 700 Muslims, including women and children, were killed in Zvornik.  Branko Papovic was the commander on trial for these crimes, while Dragutin Ilic was the witness providing testimony.  Papovic had been a commander in the Yuglosav People’s Army (JNA) in Eastern Bosnia and Ilic took over for him in June 1992.

     During the trial, Ilic was asked about the Batkovic concentration camp in Bosnia.  His answer was pretty amusing as he claimed that he helped coordinate the camp in order to protect Muslims, rather than to execute them.  Anyone that knows anything about the Holocaust or any one of the numerous genocides that have taken place in our sad history, knows that concentration camps are never used for people’s protection.  His answer was enraging while at the same time humorous.  Did he really think he would get off the hook by acting oblivious in such a silly way?

     Ilic also said that the 700 Muslims that were killed in Zvornik must have been armed.  Otherwise, the JNA would not have killed them.  Again, we know that when victims include a large number of women and children as they did in Zvornik, they are generally considered to be a civilian population.  Regardless, even the Muslim men in this situation were not armed, but instead murdered because of their identities.  While Ilic was not the one on trial, he still lost any chance of getting sympathy from trial attendees because of the outrageous comments he made.  If he had at least shown some honesty and remorse, we might be able to sympathize.  But the fact that he continued to deny knowledge of these crimes, or tried to justify the JNA’s actions, just made him more abhorrent.

     Another important aspect of the trial was that it was taking place 17 years after the crimes were allegedly committed.  While justice delayed is better than no justice at all, it is sad that victims and their families have to wait so many years for justice to be served.  To have to wait 17 years and to continually relive the evils committed against them is unfair.  Here’s an example of why trials take so long: another witness was supposed to give testimony after Ilic, but due to time constraints, the judge rescheduled his testimony.  While that’s not a big deal, it is a big deal that his testimony was postponed until September 7^th!  That’s about a three month delay for just one person’s testimony.  I also worry about the accuracy of testimonies about events that took place so long ago.

     Still, the Special Court is definitely a step in the right direction.  While international courts like the ICTY are really important and help increase the legitimacy of international law, we need to help post-conflict countries become self-sufficient and develop domestic capabilities for adequate transitional justice.

     However, implementing international and domestic courts is not enough for a country to move forward.  In Serbia, there are many officials that were in power during Milosevic’s regime that are still in power now (for information on Milosevic, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slobodan_Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87).  That’s a big problem that will not be solved by either the international or domestic court.  Such officials need to be taken out of power in order for the country to truly move past its evils.

170. Reflections on Trip to the Special Court on War Crimes

     June 18, 2009 9:32 am Leave a Comment

     On Wednesday, June 10th, I had the opportunity to attend a session of the Special Court on War Crimes in Belgrade. Although I long ago learned that courtrooms are rarely as dramatic or exciting as they are often portrayed to be in popular American crime television shows, it was still striking just how ordinary the session was. The three judges spent approximately three hours questioning the witness, Draguten Ilic, who was testifying in support of the accused, Bracko Popovic. Popovic has been accused of war crimes in Zvarnik, Bosnia, where an estimated seven hundred local Bosnians were massacred in 1992.

     I am a firm believer in the potential of transitional justice. If a post-conflict society truly desires to rebuild social trust, repair a fractured justice system, and build a democratic system of governance, transitional justice must play a significant role in the process. However, the system is far from flawless. The process can take years from start to finish as is apparent in this case: it has been seventeen years since the crimes have been committed. It takes time to gather evidence and build a case against a potential war criminal, especially when it is being done in a post-conflict society. We were sitting behind the relatives of the victims in the courtroom, and I just kept imagining what it must feel like to have to wait seventeen years for justice to even become a potential possibility.  Of course, no conviction or trial will ever bring back their loved ones, but justice can often ease the healing process when it comes to deep wounds. Punishing crimes not only deters future malpractice, but also respects the dignity of all those who where victimized in the past. WIB engages in a philosophy they refer to as “feminist ethic of care” and a “gendered approach to justice”. One of the most important aspects of this approach is reaching out to the families of victims. As Stasa explains, “We care how the victims feel in Belgrade, where the crime was masterminded. We make sure they feel protected and safe with us. We want to alleviate their fear. In this way, we build trust and friendship and a policy of peace by ‘little’ gestures, as opposed to the ‘big’ heroic policies of the dominant discourse.” I witnessed these “little” gestures as Simran and I accompanied Stasa and the victim’s families on a stroll through Belgrade.

     Nevertheless, I can’t fathom the frustration they were feeling as they were sitting there listening to the witness deny any knowledge of wrongdoing. Even when the judges presented Ilic with documents bearing his signature that proved he was aware of certain military decisions, he responded by admitting it was his signature but claimed he had no recollection of having ever seen these documents before.  Most shockingly, Ilic, stated that it was the first time he was hearing of the crimes that Popovic was being accused of. Further, Ilic maintained that the victims could not have been civilians as his forces would have never shot them had they not had weapons on them. The judges seemed dubious of his arguments, but in a truly just system, all sides must be given a fair hearing.

     Another aspect of the trial that stood out to me was the fact that Popovic stood up and questioned the witness himself even though he had attorneys representing him, something that would traditionally not be permitted in the American legal system. The questioning of Ilic took so long that the judges postponed the testimony of the second witness who was scheduled to also speak on June 10th to September 7th, further prolonging the process and the wait the relatives of the victims must endure on their long quest for justice and a semblance of peace.

     It seemed like we were the only group there monitoring, which is somewhat disconcerting as such trials must be monitored by as many groups as possible to ensure fairness. Women In Black is contributing greatly to Serbia’s attempts at transitional justice by consistently and reliably monitoring all trials.

171. Basildon Council to Negotiate with Travellers

     June 17, 2009 1:33 pm Leave a Comment

     June 17, 2009, Basildon, UK: The Basildon Council has agreed to lengthy negotiations with the Dale Farm Travellers before evicting them from their homes in southeast England, a local newspaper has reported.

     The Echo, which has extensively covered the Dale Farm crisis, reported June 16 that an agreement has been made for traveller spokesman Richard Sheridan  to lead a group in negotiations with council officials.

     Coucil Chairman Tony Ball said agreeing to the talks would not stop the Council from pursuing  eviction orders against the Travellers, but that it was in everyone’s interest for the Travellers to leave by choice and avoid the costs of a forced eviction.

     The Dale Farm crisis began in 2005 when it was determined the Travellers were living on Green Belt land that is environmentally protected from development. Eviction orders were issued in 2005 and 2007. The most recent threat began after the UK Court of Appeal ruled in January that the Travellers could be legally evicted.

     The Travellers and their advocates argue that the Travellers are defined as a distinct ethnic group by British law and have long been targets of discrimination in the UK. The wholesale eviction of about 90 Dale Farm families would also interrupt the education of the Traveller children and create a health crisis.

     The Advocacy Project (AP) has supported the Travellers since 2005 and previously sent two Peace Fellows to Dale Farm.

172. “I Am Tired of Words Like ‘Freedom’”

     1:20 pm Leave a Comment

     This weekend, I attended a huge outdoor concert just outside of Pristina known as the Freedom Festival. Musicians from all over the world performed, including American hip-hop artists Method Man and Redman.  The occasion? Ten years of FREEDOM.

     On June 12, 1999, NATO forces entered Kosovo after a 78-day bombing campaign. Their objectives included halting all (Serbian and Yugoslav) military action, bringing about the immediate end of violence, and the establishment of a political structure in Kosovo in conjunction with international agreements and the United Nations. NATO’s mission in Kosovo is often touted (by some) as one of NATO’s great success stories, so much so that this week, it was announced that the number of KFOR troops will be reduced to 10,000 by 2010 (whereas in 1999 there were 50,000 NATO troops on the ground).

     (There has been significant criticism of NATO’s military campaign against Serbia and the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, in which civilians and civilian targets were subject to NATO bombs. For more information, see Amnesty International’s “Collateral Damage or Unlawful Killings” at http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR70/018/2000/en/e7037dbb-df56-11dd-89a6-e712e728ac9e/eur700182000en.pdf).

     

     So, June 12 in Kosovo has been dubbed Freedom Day. This year, the President of Kosovo, Dr. Fatmir Sejdiu, has even released a moving public statement. He stated, in part, “It was ten years ago this day that Kosovo joined the free countries of the world, following a long period of efforts and suffering and struggles in every field: in education, in culture and in a political and armed resistance. Part of these endless and ceaseless efforts was the entire people of Kosovo, who have built the freedom that we enjoy today with a lot of sacrifice, love and unwavering belief”(for the full statement, available in English, see http://www.president-ksgov.net/?id=5,67,67,67,e,1548).

     But many young Kosovars are tired of the rhetoric while the nation suffers unemployment and poverty rates that are worse than most countries categorized as “developing.” In fact, according to a recent UNDP survey, Kosovars of all ethnic groups view the economic situation in Kosovo as the biggest threat to the nation’s stability (for the full report, see “Early Warning Report Fast Facts 24,” at http://www.ks.undp.org/repository/docs/FF_24_English.pdf).  Finally, they are tired of watching their neighbors advance towards the future they so desperately want for themselves – membership in the European Union and all that comes with it – while corruption remains rampant in their country. Institutionalizing words like “freedom” doesn’t change that.

     Of course, that doesn’t mean that they didn’t enjoy the concert.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ml4QXGgb0s

173. Armed domestic violence: “ Oh yeah, that SERBIAN issue…”

     7:11 am Leave a Comment

     The last post was only to familiarize you with the issue of armed domestic violence, as many of you were probably not familiar with this issue and particular problem. Few links are made to guns in domestic violence fields and few links are made from domestic violence to guns… and this is the problem.  

     Now you may wonder why Serbia is part of the “Disarming domestic violence” campaign, wondering about the scale of this issue in the country and more generally, in the Balkans.   

     The issue is relevant to the Balkans because of its past:  It is well known that the brutalizing effects of wars last longer than the conflict themselves. Thus, it is proved that family violence increases during and AFTER the conflict because the return of traumatized combatants can bring violence directly into the home. These difficulties are exacerbated by the transition phase these countries are now experiencing, which make them face high levels of violence, crime, human insecurity, political turbulence and economic crises, as the unemployment rate here in Serbia suggests (an average 15% of the population). All this lead to a rise in general violence, and this is particularly true for women. Some have come to affirm that “domestic violence is the most widespread form of violence throughout the region, and that women are the primary victims of it”.

     All the following data come from a report published in 2007, compiled by an independant researcher, Mirjana Dokmanovic, and published by the SEESAC (stands for South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse) under the name “Firearms Possession and Domestic Violence in the Western Balkans : A Comparative Study of Legislation and Implementation Mechanisms for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons” 

     

      The Balkans are characterized by the important presence of guns: the previous conflicts increased the proliferation and easy availability of small arms and light weapons, both legally and illegally possessed : it is striking to know that guns issued by national authorities to civilians and former soldiers in order for them to take part in the conflicts were kept as “war souvenirs”, later legalized and registered by their owners. And this was only made possible because there is a long established cultural tradition of owning a gun in the Balkans.

     Thus, data gathered indicates the following: It is estimated that in Croatia there are approximately 968,000 firearms in civilian hands, growing to 2,047,300 in Serbia. In Albania, 200,000 guns are owned by civilians whereas in Montenegro, it is up to 175,000 and in Kosovo, 400,000 small arms. In the three last cases, one has to consider that the small size of the population makes these numbers very high because the demography doesn’t exceed two to three million inhabitants.   

     In a word, with a population of 19.6 million people, the civilians of the Western Balkans own around 4,280,000 firearms and this doesn’t take into account unregistered data.

     As explained in the previous post, there’s an overwhelming dominance of men as both victims and perpetrators of armed violence and crimes committed with Small Arms as they constitute 99 % of the perpetrators of firearms crime and represent 85% of the victims; But still, women make up 15% of the victims while only 1% is responsible for committing crimes.

     Domestic violence is also a widespread phenomenon in the Balkans: If surveys, conducted mostly by women’s NGOs, suggest a high level of unreported cases of domestic violence, the available data indicate that 1/3 to 2/3 of women in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have experienced partner abuse, a similar situation to the Serbian. In another way to put it, every fourth ‘ever-partnered woman’ has experienced physical or sexual violence making domestic violence a burning and common issue in the Balkans.  

     What is the impact of small arms on domestic violence? If official statistics on armed domestic violence are largely unavailable, NGOS and social workers have started to fill up the gap and gather data. Here is what we know on the link between  domestic violence and the use of arms in the peninsula.  

     A survey conducted by the Victimology Society of Serbia in 2001 included a particular section on the influence of small arms on domestic violence. It found that 7% of women who experienced domestic violence were attacked or threatened with firearms, these cases being repeated more than five times in 30% of the reported cases.

     In Montenegro, if considering the 2002- 2007 period, 9% of all women who turned to the SOS hotline in Podgorica were  threatened by firearms while 12 women were actually murdered by firearms used by family members or intimate partners on the same period. A more recent report, conducted in 2007 on a sample of 1500 women who sought assistance from a shelter, showed that 90% had been threatened with firearms.

     A year before, in 2006, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, women shelters data estimated that 70% of the 206 victims of domestic violence they were helping had been threatened with firearms. In the first half of 2007, this rose to 74% when considering the 127 victims of domestic violence they were housing.

     Data is even worse in Montenegro: In 2006, out of the 50 women victims of criminal offences against life and physical integrity, 14 % went through experiences involving firearms. In women’s shelters, 90% of victims had been threatened with firearms by their partners among which 27% of the perpetrators had participated in the war.

     In Kosovo, during the 1^st half of 2007, NGO recorded 33 cases of domestic violence among which 17 cases involved threat with a firearm.

     Report available on http://www.seesac.org/reports/Domestic%20Violence.pdf

     So the problem is very serious in the Balkans … Only?

     I had the opportunity upon the very first days of my arrival, to meet with some important French businessmen, full of themselves, sure of themselves, as the French like to be…. When learning the work I was doing here on linking domestic violence and the use of arms, one of them assured it was without any doubt, a serious issue in Serbia where people were like this, and women were like that…   He couldn’t be more wrong.

     I’d like to take the opportunity of that short cut to give an overview of this burning issue worldwide and explain the need of an INTERNATIONAL campaign. This armed domestic violence takes place as much in Northern developed countries as in the so called developing countries. In France for example, whether this business man likes it or not, 33% of women killed by their partners are shot. The potential danger for women is revealed when one considers that guns are, contrary to the common thought, pretty common in this country: Out of 100 persons, 30 own guns, representing a rather important part of the population. In the US, which has 96 guns per 100 people, 66% of women killed by their partners are shot too. Generally, it is estimated that having a gun at home increases the risk of murder by 41%, but for women, this risk is even more prominent as they are three times more likely to be killed…  This situation is certainly as bad in developing countries: In South Africa, for example, a woman is shot dead by her partner every six hours…

     This armed domestic violence must not be considered as a geographical or an economical  issue; At the roots of it, lies a gender-based problem evolving in a conducive environment because of the abundance of arms worldwide. Spread the word. Be aware. Advocate.  

174. Domestic violence and Arms : A REAL ISSUE?

     6:09 am Leave a Comment

     When first talking on the intertwining between domestic violence and guns, I must confess I was kind of surprised, not to say skeptic.  To me, GUNS were used by governments, the military forces, the police… They were responsible for mafia and other illegal networks crimes and murders, settings of scores, or high death toll in wars and they were mainly illegally owned… Above all, they were a men business.

     But this is a platitude. This is why I m here. And this is the message I should be delivering to you on my ground level, in the name of IANSA and any other affected woman who doesn’t have the possibility to be heard.

     Of the above assumptions, only the latest is half correct: The vast majority of those who use and are killed or injured by small arms and light weapons are men. This is because in many countries, there is a strong social and cultural association between masculinity and possessing a gun. Thus, researchers estimate that gender and age are more powerful predictions of gun violence than geographical location. (and let’s not forget that owning a gun must be understood as a choice as the majority of men do not own or use guns).

     This report should not let us forget that women are proportionally a very important at risk population too if one considers that they barely own, manufacture, import, or trade any arm. It is therefore necessary to apply a gender perspective to the small arms issue, understanding the different ways men, women, and boys engage in, and above all, are affected by gun violence. As regard the other assumptions, we should all be aware that the vast majority of arms circulating are in civilian hands (an overwhelming 75 % of all guns, relegating the military and the police to a limited position). The private arsenal is three times as large as all the firepower of governments combined which make weapons regulation and control, extremely difficult. Most of them are legally possessed but it’s easy to divert their use from a legal to an illegal one, as you can guess.

     Where women are concerned, violence in the home is as big problem as street crime because intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence in women’s lives worldwide. On average, it is estimate than 1/3 of women will be physically abused at least once in their lifetime by their partners but the numbers vary greatly from one country to another. Yet, what this woman-endured-violence has in common is the fact that it is more likely to take place at home, far from people’s look, and imposed by their male partner or relative.

     Now lets try to link these two parameters : a widespread use of guns and a widespread practice of domestic violence. Guns have become a tool for wreaking domestic violence on women. The home is traditionally considered to be a safe heaven, and when men own gun, it’s assumed that its only to secure their family and protect it from a stranger invasion. One must confess that rather than providing protection to women, guns are used domestically to threaten and abuse women at home and this increases the risk of homicides for them. Thus, legally owned arms are the primary weapons used in domestic homicides in many countries but this is only the tree that hides the forest. Lets ask ourselves: before being actually killed, what did these women had to go through or could have been forced to do because of the presence of a gun at home? How many cases are left unreported because women usually seek assistance after several years of abuse? How many shadow numbers should we add, kept silent because women fear retaliation or think they cant get any support?

175. Discovering Belgrade and the Victimology Society of Serbia

     6:06 am Leave a Comment

     Dobar dan ! So it s been a week now that you haven’t heard from me and you may wonder if I landed safely considering the ongoing missing planes… I should first start by reassuring you, -I m safe, don’t worry-. I took a couple of days to settle down, find an accommodation, get used to Beograd, understand the tram lines and dare to use them… I almost feel at home now in the room that is mine, rent to a lovely Serbian girl who happens to be my roommate and luckily for me, a student in English. This secure feeling is in great part due to the warm and welcoming spirit Serbians have. From the man who crosses the road to make sure you went in the right direction to find the place you were looking for, to the people who offer you a ride when you were just asking directions, passing by all the persons you meet in coffees who approach you to teach you how to count in Serbian (something like yedan, dvi, tre, cetri, pet, chest, sedam, osam, devet, deset…to reach ten) or to tell you more about their lives and history throughout the Balkans wars. On this latter point, I have been really surprised to see how people talk freely about the past decade, and how there is something about them that seems to say ‘We’re sorry for what happened’, just as if they were all on the same boat in foreigners’ eyes and they had to justify and excuse every act their Serbian counterparts did. In another way, they find it hard to take distance from what they perceive as a badly connoted reputation that precedes them. But to be honest, this reputation doesn’t really reflect what it today means to be a Serb.

     Here is how Beograd introduces himself to the tourist

     

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78PKwrDLOs

     While discovering step by step all the secrets and traditions Belgrade has to offer, I, of course, had to do the job I was sent here for, that is to say helping with the launching on disarming domestic violence with the great support of the Victimology Society of Serbia (VDS). The first week was mainly devoted to the discovery of this Non Governmental Organization, founded to gather researchers, experts, practitioners, human rights activists, who are interested to work on the development of victimology and improvement of rights of victims of crime, war, and human rights’ violations. So the first dimension of VDS is very scholar and research related. But to adapt to an evolving environment, VDS not only is a research and education center, it also developed info and victim support services in 2003 that can be concrete help to the victims in need who can get information, emotional support, or can be wisely oriented to the existing services available for victims.

     Founded in 1997, VDS hasn’t stopped growing since: It went from 37 members the very day of its creation, to 91 members today and is collaborating with many victim support services, NGOS, institutes and universities, both in Serbia and abroad. It gained recognition by integrating European and international organizations working on victims and crimes issues (since 2005, it is for example part of the advisory council of the United Nations Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice program) . But it also gained recognition because it was very often a pioneer organization to reveal and rise awareness on specific issues such as domestic violence, human trafficking or sexual violence and achieved concrete results in changing or creating comprehensive legislation: We’ll have the opportunity to come back on this in a future post.

     One latter point on this institutional background to be complete and then I guarantee what is to come will be less conventional and technical … but in a NGO sector that is sometimes blurry, multifaceted, and defined by what it s not (as opposed to the governmental sector), I think it s useful to know precisely what we are talking about and set the stage correctly. So any time I mention the fact that I work for a NGO, the first question that pops up to people minds deals with its funding. From what I could understand, a lot of persons are cautious as regard the positive role played by the third sector here in Serbia because many of it is funded by external national powers, whose aims are not to seek direct benefits for Serbia itself but rather to achieve goals that correspond to their “own way of thinking the world”. Its not the case of VDS which is principally supported by international institutions, the European union and its European Agency for reconstruction, and by the government of Serbia itself, through the ministry of Science.

     Now you’re in and equipped with all the preliminary information you need to effectuate that adventure with me… Be ready to start, we re heading right into the inner work of VDS and right into what should occupies us for the next couple of weeks, the focus on domestic violence and its link to the use of arms…

176. Which flag is yours?

     2:29 am 1 Comment

     I recently traveled to the city of Prizren, just south of Pristina, with two colleagues of mine from the Kosovo Women’s Network. Prizren is widely praised as the “historical and cultural capital of Kosovo” (as opposed to Pristina, its actual capital). We visited the city during its annual festivities to commemorate the League of Prizren, a political organization credited by some as the catalyst behind the development of Albanian nationalism in Kosovo during the 19th century. This past June 10th marked the 131st anniversary of the formation of the League of Prizren.

     

     The 19th century saw the decline of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Holy Roman Empires. The Ottoman Empire, of which both Kosovo and Serbia were a part, too began to lose its power and influence.  After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the 1877-1878 war with Russia, territories with significant Albanian communities were ceded to Serbia, Montenegro, and Romania by the Treaty of San Stefano (the administration of Pristina was transferred to Serbia, while the remaining parts of Kosovo continued to belong to the Ottoman Empire). Later, Britain and France among others intervened, creating a new treaty and giving additional Albanian territories to Austria-Hungary and Greece.

     In response, Albanian leaders formed the League of Prizren to fight (politically and militarily) for their right to self-determination. They declared, in part, “Just as we are not and do not want to be Turks, so we shall oppose with all our might anyone who would like to turn us into Slavs or Austrians or Greeks. We want to be Albanians.” They even successfully prevented the appropriation of Albanian territory by Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece, at least until 1912.

     

     The League of Prizren and the events that transpired in the city of Prizren are considered so central to the history of Kosovo that, on June 15th, ten members of Kosovo’s parliament officially moved to open the possibility of moving the nation’s capital from Pristina to Prizren.

     As we entered Prizren city, I saw flags everywhere – hanging across bridges, out of windows, on the backs of cars and motorcycles, even down the entire length of buildings. It was a sea of RED. That’s right, red. You see, it was not the blue flag of Kosovo, which was officially adopted last year when Kosovo declared its independence, on display. Instead, it was the national flag of Albania. 

     

     Confused? So was I. My confusion was only compounded when a young Kosovar-Albanian woman told me that “this flag,” the Albanian flag, was “hers,” not the official flag of her country.

     

     I wondered why a newly independent peoples would proudly claim ownership over another nation’s flag. I started to reflect on the notion of identity and what that means in the specific context of Kosovo. In another multi-ethnic society, the US, it is fairly common for citizens to proudly display the symbols of their heritage, including flags (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” anyone?). And every March 17th, the entire nation is Irish, whether or not their ancestors actually hailed from Ireland (some of mine did). But in the end, as the recent publications on www.aadhaarhelpspot.co.in seem to point out, there is still a strong sense of “being American.” That is, although our cultural identities are central to our lives, they remain secondary to our national identity.

     So is the national identity of Kosovo still being developed (and how?) or will Kosovars continue to maintain their separate cultural identities in lieu of a unified national one? What will the ramifications of either be? It is an issue that I will continue to explore during my time here in Kosovo.

     Then again, a young Kosovar man (born in Pristina to a Bosnian mother and Montenegran father) suggested that maybe it would be better if we had no nationalities; then everyone would have the same identity – that of a human being. And you thought I was idealistic!

177. Transitional Justice Summary

     June 15, 2009 6:03 am 2 Comments

     Last week I had the opportunity to travel to the Special Court on War Crimes in Belgrade with WIB. As part of their approach to transitional justice, WIB takes an active role in monitoring cases. Before I post my impressions of the experience, I wanted to put up a little summary of transitional justice, specifically in the former Yugoslavian context.

     The goals of transitional justice are:

     -Confronting the criminal past

     -Removing the members and supporters of criminal regimes from high public office (although they haven’t been completely removed anywhere, this is critical to the process of confronting the past)

     -Exposing the ideological justification of crimes- dismantling the political, social, and cultural mechanisms conducive to war.

     -Creating conditions for citizens to reject the cultural patterns, and models that produced war and war crimes.

     -Enforcing and maintaining lawfulness.

     -Establishing the rule of law and democracy

     The four pillars of transitional justice are tribunals and trials, truth and reconciliation commissions, reparations, and institutional reforms.

     WIB publishes a great 100 page summary short book entitled “Transitional Justice: A Feminist Approach”. My summary is mostly extracted from the book:

     

     The history of international justice institutions can arguably be traced back to the establishment of the permanent International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in 1920, after the end of WWI, becoming the first international tribunal made up of permanent independent judges and authorized to address all international disputes. However, the USA protested against the prospect of this court trying German war criminals, so that process was ceded to the German judicial system.

     In 1945, the Nuremberg Trials were initiated by the Allied Forces, sentencing 22 top ranking military and civilian officers from Nazi Germany. I will not go into detail about these trials, but they are integral to transitional justice in that they prosecuted the following crimes:

     -Crimes Against Peace: planning, preparing, launching, and waging an aggressive war or a war that violates international covenants, agreements, and beliefs or participating in such a plan or conspiracy.

     -War Crimes: violations of the laws and customs of war, i.e. killing or deporting the population, killing prisoners of war, pillaging public property, destroying homes, and plundering

     -Crimes Against Humanity: killing, exterminating, deporting, or enslaving human beings; all forms of inhumane treatment; and prosecution based on religion, ethnic, or political grounds

     The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (or The Hague Tribunal or ICTY) was founded on May 25, 1993 through adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 827. According to the Resolution, The Hague Tribunal was founded with the objective of ‘ criminally prosecuting all individuals responsible for grave violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.”

     Unlike the Nuremberg Trials, crimes against peace are not being prosecuted by the Hague Tribunal, an oft-cited criticism of ICTY, especially by activist groups (The Permanent People’s Tribunal, which is based out of Barcelona and does not have any legislative power but is established by civil society in hopes of creating an alternative legal system, also objected to the Hague Tribunal on these grounds). The Hague Tribunal has focused its activities on very high-ranking people and particularly infamous individuals responsible for crimes or other atrocities. So far, 161 individuals have been indicted for severe violations of international humanitarian law (94 cases have been concluded with 44 having a guilty verdict). Four individuals, including Slobodan Milosevic, have died in the detention unit of the Hague Tribunal.

     In July 2002, the Security Council adopted a strategy by which the Tribunal would concentrate on prosecuting top level political and military leaders. Consequently, the investigation and prosecution of a large number of perpetrators of very serious violations of international humanitarian law became the exclusive responsibility of national criminal justice systems of the Yugoslav successor states. In Serbia, this task is mainly executed by the Special Court on War Crimes.

     The Hague Tribunal is also notable in that it defined war rape as a war crime in its statute, the first time war rape has ever been defined in this way. The first conviction for rape as a war crime was pronounced in 2001 against three Serb men- the Foca case. The Hague Tribunal has planned to conclude its activities in 2010.

     I wondered before coming here why the former Yugoslavia has not had Truth and Reconciliation Commissions such as the famous and successful one in South Africa. It turns out that there was such a commission here. It was founded in March 2001 and concluded its activities in 2003. Many believe it was doomed from the start since it strove to consider events that had taken place throughout the 20^th century, not just between 1991 and 1999. The Commission’s objective seems to have been to justify the policy of the Serbian regime. Because of this, the majority of its respectable members resigned shortly after its inception.

     Sorry for the length of this post. I know you could probably just go to wikipedia and look up transitional justice, but I wanted to present the information as WIB does. I will post my impressions of transitional justice in Serbia soon.

178. JUST SOME THOUGHTS

     June 11, 2009 4:52 pm 6 Comments

     I attended a session of the Special Court for War Crimes yesterday and definitely want to tell you all about it.  However, some events and conversations took place yesterday that raised many questions in my head about the lifestyles of activists.  I won’t go into detail about what stirred these questions, but I will tell you that I have a lot more questions than answers for this post.

     An activist generally has a passion for something and is dedicated to bringing about change, whether that change is about a specific issue or an issue that engages society as a whole.  But unlike many other careers in which you can have a distinct work etiquette and distinct out-of-work lifestyle, the lines are a lot more blurred when you work as an activist.  In other words, at what point does an activists’ personal lifestyle become hypocritical and contradictory towards his or her work. 

     For example, it may be obvious that an advocate working for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) who conducts demonstrations against animal cruelty probably should not be wearing leather boots to work.  But what about the receptionist at the PETA office?  Is it hypocritical of her to work at PETA and be wearing leather boots over the weekend?  Or to take a better example, what about an activist that is trying to lower the consumption of fast food, and thus obesity, but occasionally indulges in a meal at McDonalds’s?  Or what about an institute dedicated to democracy that does not have a democratic structure with in its own organization?  If you think about it, it’s pretty difficult to have democratic systems at the organizations we work at.  We have been taught over and over again that we need leaders in order to get things done.  And generally, organization leaders are not elected based on an employee vote. 

     There’s also the situation in which an activist believes in changing the world on many facets, but only changes his or her lifestyle in a few of the issue areas.  While activists generally want to do all good things for the world, can one person transform his or her life drastically enough to be contributing to all the causes he or she believes in?  Is it necessary to be living in harmony with every single one of one’s beliefs?  Are activists hypocritical when they make choices that are not directly in line with their advocacy and viewpoints, or is everyone allowed to have their vices?  Is this all a matter of personal choice?  At what point do we draw the line? 

     As I said, I don’t really have the answers to these questions, but invite you to comment and tell me your thoughts.  I’ll fill you in on the Special Court soon!

179. Alternative history

     June 10, 2009 7:34 am 1 Comment

     During the network meeting in Leskovac, three films were shown. One was a UNIFEM produced film about rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another was a Tamil film about the Tamil Tigers, and the third was a film entitled “I bi svjetlost” or “And it would be light”. The last film really struck a chord with me. The film was introduced by Christina, an American professor on a Fulbright here in Serbia who works closely with Women In Black. Christina showed the film after giving a lecture on militarism in the media, specifically focusing on the United States. She spoke a lot about the influence of television and how media frames our perception of the world.

     The film was a great compliment to her talk as it was made to challenge audiences to view the war in Bosnia from a different perspective.The narrator of the movie described how the perpetrators of the war were being punished as the dominant worldview expects those who are bad or evil to be brought to justice. Yet, the movie asked, “why are there no courts or tribunals for acts of goodness?” There are stories of human goodness and valor in the Bosnian war, yet we focus solely on the evil. To this day, all the attention and controversy surrounds those who have been accused of committing or ordering atrocious crimes.

     To make his point, the filmmaker highlighted a few incredible stories from the war. The first focused on a Serbian doctor named Dr. Stanic who saved the lives of his Muslim Bosnian coworkers by hiding them and lying for them. The Serbian forces would come to his hospital and ask if there were any Muslims there (the Serbians committed genocide against Muslim Bosnians), and Dr. Stanic would bravely say no, having hidden all the Muslims. Eventually, the Serbian forces found out about the doctor’s actions, and he was executed. The film interviewed many people who knew the doctor, including relatives and those whose lives were saved by his, and they all spoke of unassuming heroism. He never thought twice about committing his acts of kindness. Why are his acts not remembered and celebrated? Why is all the focus solely on the evil and the bad?

     Another story highlighted a Croatian woman who lived in a Bosnian village and risked her life to feed and protect the Muslim inhabitants. She went as far as to stuff eggs in her bra to ensure her neighbors were well fed. Again, most people have never heard of this woman or her compassionate acts.History, as recent and fresh as it may be, is complex and constantly evolving by the way we frame it or choose to remember it.

     By no means should the bad be ignored and justice forgotten, but I think the film made a compelling argument that there’s more to the story- an alternative framework that is not being explored but that I think could co-exist with transitional justice.  It made me think of the media’s portrayal of the recession in America. Of course, the recession is real and it’s bad, but by constantly reporting on how every minute segment of society is being negatively affected by the current state of the economy, the situation is exacerbated by creating a cycle of psychological panic. A friend told me a story about a family who had to sell all their furniture and belongings in order to be able to afford to keep their home. Someone bought it all and then gave it back to the family. Why are these stories not being told alongside those about trust fund babies who are being cut off from their parents? 

     The film reminded me that it’s important to remember that the stories we are presented with greatly influence our perception of reality. Although it can often be difficult to do, I think seeking out alternative perspectives and histories is critical and should be done more frequently.

180. “They are Afraid!”

     June 8, 2009 7:09 am 2 Comments

     Let’s try a little experiment…

     Imagine a popular reporter hosts a weekly news program on social issues in American society.  She talks about such topics as homosexuality, government corruption, and the exercise of free speech in the US, to name a few. Now imagine that a national newspaper with close ties to the US government branded that same reporter a SPY and declared that, by doing her job, she “brought it upon herself to have a short life.”

     How would Americans react? My guess (and you should know that I have been labeled an idealist by some) would be public outrage, more than likely accompanied by a media firestorm.  I imagine that civil rights activists and journalists across the country would take a public stand in support of freedom of expression. After all, it is a right considered by many to be the foundation of a free and democratic society.

     Well, here in Pristina, I don’t need to rely on my imagination to know how this situation would play out in Kosovo.

     Much like the reporter in my scenario, journalist Jeta Xharra is the host of Jeta ne Kosove (“Life in Kosovo”), a popular current affairs show broadcasted throughout Kosovo and produced by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) (http://www.birn.eu.com/).

     

     On May 31, 2009, the show featured a segment on government advertising, which is when the government uses public money to disseminate information about governmental programs, and how the practice is being used to influence media coverage. Almost as if to prove the point, Infopress newspaper, which is said to receive a significant amount of its funding through government advertising, launched an aggressive and sustained campaign against BIRN and Jeta Xharra in particular. Articles published by the paper included statements accusing Jeta Xharra of being an agent of the Serbian security forces and a spy for Belgrade. Her life has even been threatened. (The quote above was actually made in reference to Jeta Xharra and published in print).

     To view the “offending” segment of the show for yourself, watch the short video below (with English subtitles).

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPAgIJOnFeA

     And how did Kosovar society react, you ask?

     A group of nine NGOs in Kosovo, including my host, the Kosovo Women’s Network (KWN) (http://www.womensnetwork.org/), drafted a public letter in defense of free speech. They wrote, in part, “The increasingly common practice of Infopress asserting that particular individuals are ‘Serb spies’ is becoming a disturbing issue. We, as citizens, are weary of flying accusations that certain people are ‘traitors.’ This practice, used by people who hold certain positions of power, which they use to label those who disagree with them as ‘traitors’ or ‘Serb spies’, has existed since the 1990s. We know that such labeling is used because the responsible persons cannot ably defend their position through sound arguments.”

     They continued, “The media has a right to report with facts on stories, and Jeta ne Kosova (“Life in Kosovo”) together with BIRN have been striving to disclose facts about important stories affecting our lives and in accordance with professional journalistic standards. They are daring to speak out about issues for which many citizens fear to speak openly, due to the same sorts of threats that persons in positions of power made.”

     Dozens of individual citizens, some of whom are employed by NGOs and international agencies that refused to endorse the letter, also signed in support of freedom of expression in Kosovo. Yet, when the letter was published in its entirety, fear set in. Many did not expect their names to be made public and expressed worries that their livelihoods would be negatively affected.

     In short, they are afraid of the government. And when members of civil society are afraid of their government, that can hardly bode well for democratization.

     So, is this the end of the story? Will civil society in Kosovo be silenced?

     I don’t think so.

181. ISOLATED IN LESKOVAC

     6:46 am 1 Comment

     When was the last time that you went three days without being able to use your cell phone or access internet?  Well that was me this weekend in Leskovac (pronounced Les-ka-witz).  In Leskovac, I attended a three day conference hosted by Women in Black Belgrade and attended by individuals from the larger Women in Black Network.  We left Friday morning by car and got plenty lost before finally finding our way to Leskovac.

     Upon arrival, we met with activists from the WIB Network and participated in an anti-military demonstration.  This demonstration consisted of activists holding banners promoting peace, illustrating the hierarchical nature of the military and showing that the military can be broken down.  During the demonstration, WIB created a pyramid using boxes that listed names of various war-torn countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, The Sudan, etc.  One by one, activists removed a box from the pyramid until it eventually tumbled down, conveying that militarism can be conquered.

     After this show of anti-militarism, WIB activists marched around town exhibiting other symbols of peace.  For example, at one point they walked under a caterpillar costume, each activist being a bump of the caterpillar.  Through this the activists were illustrating that while peace processes may be slow, peace does eventually come and win over evil.  The activists also displayed a military parachute that was decorated with peace symbols illustrating that the military should be rebuilt into an instrument of peace.

     After this creative demonstration ended, we packed ourselves into a bus and headed up into the mountains to reach our hotel, where we also lost all connectivity with the outside world.  We spent the rest of the day attending a WIB workshop on alternatives to militarism.  During the workshop, we broke into groups and debated what alternatives to militarism that countries could use and discussed them with the larger network that was present.  The international attendees, including me, tried to participate as much as we could with the help of translators.  Whoever told me that I didn’t need to learn Serbian to come to Belgrade was wrong. J  I’m hoping to learn enough to get around in the next few weeks.

     Workshops continued for the rest of the weekend and engaged women and male activists from the network.  But the highlight of the weekend was the party held on Saturday night.  That’s when the women of WIB let loose and danced the night away.  Since the majority of the women are in their fifties and sixties, I didn’t expect much dancing to go on.  But they surprised me.  There was definitely more hip-shaking than I expected.  I was shocked by how much energy they all had, but another activist explained to me that their energy came “from their pain.”

     So on Sunday, after a few more workshops, our weekend in Leskovac came to an end.  Before it was over, Donna and I got invited to the homes of many activists whom we could stay with while doing work outside of Belgrade.  We’re going to be interviewing many WIB activists, both in and outside of Belgrade, so we’ll probably be taking them up on their offers soon.  I’ll keep you updated on how it goes!

182. Leskovac- Recap

     June 7, 2009 2:06 pm 2 Comments

     In order to involve WIB members who are not near Belgrade, WIB holds network meetings in different parts of Serbia. This past weekend, we traveled to the town Leskovac in Southern Serbia for a network meeting focusing on anti-militarism. The weekend was full of new experiences and insights for me, and I was really inspired by how passionately invested all the members were in learning more about relevant issues and in strengthening their network.

     Most of the WIB members from Belgrade traveled in a minibus, but they were short a few spaces, so a few of us rode in a car. The car belonged to Katarina who works for a Swedish ngo that provides financial and other types of support to WIB in Serbia. Driving in Serbia is a trip. Car trouble, no signs and one way bridges with two way traffic made for a memorable ride, but the highlight for me was a construction worker who was drilling in the middle of a lane that was still in use- the cars just kind of swerved around him.

     Thankfully, we made it in time to join the WIB street action that was taking place in Leskovac. The performances I described in an earlier post took place here. The group was extremely colorful and loud. After the “building block” performance, everyone marched around the town and stopped to carry out the caterpillar performance and a performance with an army parachute that had been decorated with peace and anti-militarism words and signs.

     

     WIB in all their street action glory.

     

     Each box represents a conflict in the world. Stacked on top of each other, they represent the hierarchy of the military.

     After the street action, we all stopped at the offices of Women In Peace, the partner organization of Women In Black in Leskovac. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this here yet, but in Serbia, everyone smokes. EVERYONE. According to Stasa, the cancer rate in Serbia has increased by 300% in the last 15 years. She smokes too. I’m probably going to have second-hand smoke withdrawal when I get back to the U.S. Anyway, stopping at the office doubled as a smoking break. After that, we were on our way up a beautiful mountain to the hotel where the weekend activities took place.

     I was pretty overwhelmed by all the new faces surrounding me, but everyone was unbelievably kind to Simran and I over the weekend (Simran is my partner Advocacy Project fellow). One woman even gave us some branches of wild strawberries during a workshop.

     I hope the pictures and accompanying captions below will give you a better idea of the weekend. I plan on writing about more specific aspects of the weekend in future blogs.

     

     Yovena, a WIB activist, holds out the "candy" she made for the street action. Each piece of candy is wrapped in a piece of paper with a question about the military on it. A lot of people stopped by and asked for one, so it was a successful way to get people's attention. Yovena is a super interesting person. I will write more about her and her tattoo later.

     

     An activity at the first workshop where everyone wrote down the first word that came to mind upon hearing the word "militarism" on a post it note.

     

     A workshop activity where everyone took a piece of paper out of a bowl and decided whether the word on the paper would fit better under feminism, anti-militarism, or both.

     

     For the final activity, everyone stood in a circle and threw balls of yarn at each other while shouting a word that they thought accurately described the weekend, creating a veritable web or network. Simran and I spent a few hours rolling the balls of yarn, so it was cool to see them used in such a creative way.

183. Wanna Hear a Joke?

     9:47 am 2 Comments

     But first, a little history lesson.

     The territorial sovereignty of Kosovo is a regional hot button, and has been throughout history. During the Medieval Period, Kosovo was part of the Serbian Empire prior to being conquered by the Ottomans. Kosovo was once again incorporated into larger Serbia in 1912. In the modern era, even as Serbia and Kosovo became part of Yugolsavia, nationalistic Serbs did not forget this history.

     Upon his rise to power in 1989, Slobodan Milosevic revoked Kosovo’s status as an autonomous province within Serbia that had been granted by the Communist power structure in 1974. The Serbian government then began systematically violating the rights of its Kosovar-Albanian citizens. In the early 1990’s, civil unrest erupted in the form of armed conflict between Kosovar-Albanian paramilitaries and Serbian and Yugoslav military forces.

     The actions of Serbian forces in the course of fighting were categorized as ethnic cleansing by Western leaders, and in particular by US President Bill Clinton. In 1999, NATO intervened and carried out a 78-day bombing campaign against military and civilian targets in Yugoslavia. Shortly thereafter, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) (http://www.unmikonline.org/index.html) was created by UN Security Council Resolution 1244. NATO continues to maintain its presence in Kosovo via its Kosovo Force (KFOR) (http://www.nato.int/KFOR/) to preserve stability within the region.

     Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008 and just one day later, the US government officially recognized the new nation. The US was the second country to do so, after Costa Rica. (For a complete list of other nations who have recognized Kosovo and to read their official statements of recognition, check out http://www.kosovothanksyou.com/).

     It is therefore generally held that Kosovars L-O-V-E the United States. Americans who come to Kosovo are warmly welcomed (I can personally attest to that!). A major road in the capitol city of Pristina has been renamed Bill Clinton Boulevard, complete with an enormous portrait of the former President overlooking the roadway.

     

     The current administration is also held in high esteem.  Vice President Joe Biden visited Pristina just last month to reaffirm the US’s relationship with Kosovo and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by the Assembly of Kosovo. Vestiges from his visit remain throughout the city, including billboards such as the one pictured below. (Although his visit occurred before my arrival, you can check out pictures of the event at http://kosovotravelogue.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html).

     

     As I was stuck in traffic this past Friday evening on my way to Maxi supermarket, I even saw a replica of the Statue of Liberty on the roof of a local hotel named Hotel Victory. According to their website, it is the second largest Statue of Liberty replica in the world.

     

     And now for the part you have all been waiting for… the joke. The following joke was told to me by a Kosovar and is said to be swiftly making the rounds throughout UN agencies and NGOs in Pristina.

     A Spanish KFOR soldier was working in Prizren. Throughout the day, an elderly man assisted him. Finally, the Spaniard turned to him and said “Why are you being so nice to me? My country does not recognize yours.” The old man replied, “Yes, but Spain discovered America!”

     Having traveled around Europe, I must admit that it is a new and pleasant experience to discover such a positive attitude towards my home. I laughed at this joke, as did the Kosovar and Americans who heard it along with me. But is Kosovo’s relationship with the US helping or hindering the development of the nation’s democratic institutions?

     I have only been in Pristina for a few days, but already I am hearing another side to the story. People are talking, and I am listening and learning.

     So stay tuned.

     UPDATE: On July 5, a group of activists representing the Vetevendosje or “self-determination” movement held a protest outside of government buildings in Pristina to publicly criticize the service record of US Ambassador  Tina Kaidanow. They claim that the Ambassador has “misused her position as the most powerful international official in Kosovo” by exhibiting “totalitarian behaviour” and a bias against Albanians. Furthermore, after performing a skit in which actors portraying President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci begged Kaidanow, whose term in Kosovo is ending, not to leave the country, activists proclaimed: “Our last request: Dear Tina, since you had the ability to hurt Kosovo this much, you can help our country if you insert our politicians in your diplomatic suitcases, since they cannot do anything without you.”

     The following video shows the aforementioned performance. Although an English translation of the dialogue and interviews with bystanders is not available at this time, it is still worth watching.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP7PmvZJfvY

184. Welcome on board… Travelling from France to Serbia…

     June 5, 2009 12:51 am 3 Comments

      

     

     

      

      

     Hello everyone! I thought introducing myself and my future fellowship in  Serbia with two photos would speak for itself more as it is colorful… So is these places are only imaginary for you, to me, they will both be familiar very soon. Of course, this picture on the top is very well known to me because it is my home town: Annecy, a quiet city in the French Alps , whose proud inhabitants like to compare it to Venice … The other, on the nottom, yet to be discovered for me, is Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, known more for its belligerent past than for the treasures I’m sure it has to offer.

     You may first wonder why I’m heading to this destination.  In fact, I had the chance to be recruited by The Advocacy Project (AP), a Washington DC based organization whose aim is to strengthen the capacities of local NGOS by sending people on the field for three months, in a shoulder-to-shoulder perspective. In my case, the original, fair partnership which puts organizations on an equal footing , will take place between AP and the Victimology Society of Serbia, where I’ll be helping with the launching of an IANSA campaign focused on “disarming domestic violence”.  IANSA, an AP’s partner, whose acronym stands for the “International Action Network on Small Arms”, is an umbrella NGO of more than 800 civil society organizations working in different field (women’s groups, research institutes, aid agencies, human rights organizations…..) but whose actions are commonly undermined by the presence of guns. So gathering into a network aims at stopping the proliferation and misuse of small arms and light weapons, which stand in the way of their actions.

     The specific campaign on domestic violence I was referring to above, lead by the women network, starts with an awful observation: Women are at 3 times the risk of being killed by an intimate partner when a gun is in the home, no matter the level of development of the country. And the presence of guns in homes go beyond deaths for women: it also reduces a woman’s ability to resist, escape or get some help from others, while obviously reducing her chance of surviving an assault. Therefore, the campaign will consist on lobbying on every ground to grow awareness on the consequences of the presence of arms at home for women, trying to make the link between  national laws on arms control and domestic violence.   

     There’s another reason for me to get excited about going to Serbia and this is linked to my personal background and interest: concerned with the building of sustainable peace to prevent future conflicts in deeply divided societies, I wrote a dissertation last year on the Balkan penal system established to judge war crimes responsible after the bloody wars that need no further introduction. While working on it, I realized women were particular targets of specific crimes in times of war and that they were unequally affected by violence in general.  So advocating for women’s rights  and being on the field of what has been the subject of many readings will help me getting a clearer picture of the region and give me the feeling to come full circle by thinking about concrete solutions to alleviate their conditions of living.

     I hope this brief introduction got you in,  and excited as much as I am . So welcome on board, the “Jat Airways”  flight n° 8756  to Belgrade takes off tomorrow… stay connected for further news and  adventures…

185. Current Women’s and Human Rights News

     June 3, 2009 4:03 pm 1 Comment

     Every month, Women In Black puts out a news bulletin summarizing recent events concerning women’s and human rights around the world. Understanding women’s and human rights issues (which are of course inextricably linked) around the world is key to WIB’s mission. It helps those involved better comprehend how they are connected to others around the world and creates a greater sense of solidarity. I helped Jennifer begin researching some stories for the June edition of the news bulletin today, so I thought I’d share what I found. It’s amazing that these things all happened over only three days- some are setbacks, others are accomplishments, but they all showcase the ever-evolving world of international women’s and human rights.

     May 31, 2009- The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued a report documenting the experience of 88 women living in a Farchana refugee camp located across the Sudan border in Chad. Researchers found that one third of the refugees interviewed for the study reported incidents of rape, with half of the reported rapes occurring inside and around the refugee camp. The report concludes that the nations of Darfur and Chad, as well as the international community, must send the message that rape is an intolerable war crime and its perpetrators must be held accountable and brought to justice.

     May 31, 2009- Abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered on his way to church by anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder. Dr. Tiller was a physician from Wichita, Kansas and director of a clinic in Wichita, Women’s Health Care Services. His clinic was only one of three in the United States that performed abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy.

     June 1st, 2009- According to Vital Voices, lawmaker and doctor Chris Baryomunsi introduced a measure for the criminalization of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Uganda’s Parliament this past May.  Support has been far-reaching for the proposed law as women’s rights activists, health professionals, and government members including Parliament’s deputy speaker and the State Minister for Gender and Cultural Affairs have united to endorse the bill.  If approved, the law would criminalize the practice of FGM and offenders would face a 10-15-year term of imprisonment. The measure is expected to win the two-thirds majority needed for its passage into law by this fall.

     June 1^st, 2009- Phyllia Tinyiko Nwamitwa was confirmed as the rightful heir to the chieftaincy of the Valoyi in South Africa by the country’s Constitutional Court after a five year wait. The decision has been widely celebrated by women’s rights groups in South Africa and is viewed as a true breakthrough for the advancement of women as it defies patriarchal tribal traditions and legitimizes the leadership capability of South African women in relation to men. Having recently assumed her role as Chief, Nwamitwa has since mediated two court sessions and plans to lead the 70,000-member tribe by focusing on development and promoting women’s rights “through a job-and-life-skills training program,” intending to “empower women to believe that they are as capable of leadership as men.”

     May 27, 2009- At the 62^nd convening of the World Health Organization, United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon proclaimed “no single issue that ties together the security, prosperity, and progress of our world than women’s health” and cited “damning statistics” complied by UN agencies that estimate 500,000 mothers die from complications during pregnancy and child birth each year. The Secretary General insisted that we can only, “move forward by thinking imaginatively…continu[ing] to connect our common challenges.” The Secretary General concluded by issuing a call to action declaring that “In the 21st century, no woman should have to give her life to give life.”

186. MADE IT TO BELGRADE!

     4:05 am 250 Comments

     I landed in Belgrade yesterday and I’m currently sitting in the Women in Black (WIB) office!  I haven’t seen too much of the city yet but have gotten glimpses on the way from the airport and on the way to the office.  It seems like a nice city but it will take some time to get used to and some time to get to know my way around.  I can already tell that it will be a challenge being a pescetarian here!

     Donna (my co-fellow) and I are currently staying with Jennifer, who also works at Women in Black.  We are going apartment hunting today and tomorrow and hoping to have something set by this weekend.  But let’s see how long it takes.

     I slept for about 12 hours last night to get over my jet-lag, but I’m apparently still tired.  I think it’ll take a few days to get adjusted.  But right now I’m enjoying a cup of black coffee (another thing that will take me time to get used to!) that was just given to me.  In Belgrade it is assumed that if you’re at the office, you want a cup of coffee at multiple points in the day.

     I came into the office briefly yesterday but today will be my first full day.  I’m going to be spending a good part of my day reading through Women in Black’s literature to get myself more acquainted with the organization.  I have yet to meet Stasa, who founded the Belgrade division of Women in Black, but I have met other office staff and I’m already looking forward to working with them.  Once I meet and sit down with Stasa, my priorities and responsibilities for the next two months should become clearer.

     But I’m already excited for this weekend because we’ll be making a trip with WIB to South Serbia on Friday.  WIB will be conducting street performances and a series of educational seminars on militarism and women’s fight against militarism around the world.  Donna and I will be documenting their efforts this weekend and bringing them to light in the U.S.  I can’t wait to see, and be part of, my first Women in Black on-the-street demonstration!

     I’m sure I’ll have lots to share with you this weekend from South Serbia, and even next week once I’m all settled in and have time to explore Belgrade.  Will keep you posted!

     

     Street Corner

187. Hi from Serbia!

     June 2, 2009 7:23 am 1 Comment

     I made it to Serbia! It’s been crazy watching the news about the missing Air France flight that was headed to Paris since I took an Air France flight to Paris to get here. Luckily, I made it to Belgrade, and Jennifer, a BVS volunteer working with WIB, met me at the airport. Even though I was desperate for a nap, I knew that if I slept, I would never get over my jet lag, so I decided to push through and go to the office with Jennifer. On the way to the office, we passed by some buildings that had been bombed by NATO in 1999. The Serbian government has left these buildings intact, sending a pretty powerful message.

     

     This building was bombed by NATO in 1999. Today, it looks exactly as it did then.

     The office itself is adorned with WIB posters and pictures, creating a lively atmosphere. A few members were in a meeting, so I met those who weren’t and had my first Serbian coffee. A little while later, the meeting ended, and Stasa, the director of WIB in Belgrade, burst into the room. She immediately came over to me, grabbed my face, exclaimed “Iranian!”, and gave me a big hug. Needless to say, I already feel pretty comfortable here.

     Stasa directed everyone into the “meeting” room for a planning session regarding the upcoming trip to Southern Serbia. We are traveling there this weekend to hold a series of workshops for the WIB network. Even though I don’t speak Serbian, it was clear to me that these women are pros at putting on this kind of thing. They brought in a bunch of shoeboxes and began to speak animatedly about the performance they were going to put on. Jennifer told me they were planning on stacking the boxes into a pyramid to represent the hierarchy of the military. The plan was developed and expanded upon before my eyes as they practiced removing boxes (each box is to symbolize a conflict in the world) until the pyramid collapsed, demonstrating how the hierarchy of the military can be broken down. Stasa then brought a huge bright pink cloth and had me and two other women stand in it. It turns out it was designed like one of those Chinese New Year dragons, but in this case, it’s supposed to represent a caterpillar with the message that “slowly but surely, peace can be achieved”. I’m really excited to see these performances executed this weekend.

     After the planning meeting, Stasa decided that we all needed to eat, so a few of the women went to the market and whipped up a fresh and delicious meal consisting of eggs, a perfect salad, cheese and bread upon their return. Stasa asked me a lot of questions about my family and background during the meal, but talk quickly turned to WIB matters in Serbian. Jennifer and I left a little while after that, and I slept from 7:00 pm to 10:30 am, which I think is a personal record. Hopefully, that won’t become a regular thing.

188. “Alison, I’m waiting you! Why you no pick up me?”

     June 1, 2009 11:57 am 232 Comments

     It’s been almost three months since I received the startled, expectant message on my voicemail:

     “Alison, I’m waiting you! Why you no pick up me?”

     Beba Hadzic, BOSFAM’s founder and director had arrived in the United States for a speaking tour jointly sponsored by The Advocacy Project (AP), The Heinrich Boell Foundation, and The Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina. My train from DC was more than an hour late and I wasn’t at the airport in Newark to greet her.

     As I now piece together my own travel plans, I am sure that my arrival in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina will be quite different. Beba has already assured me that she will be standing at the Tuzla bus station the moment I get there. BOSFAM’s motto, “Don’t promise, DO SOMETHING!” leaves me feeling confident that I will not need to leave her a desperate voicemail in my broken Bosnian.

     Although I’m not flying until June 15th, reminiscing about Beba’s time in the US has gotten me really excited about heading off to Bosnia. I’ll be working with Beba, my AP counterpart Kelsey, and the women of BOSFAM on a number of important projects which seek to generate income and provide psycho-social support for women who were displaced from their homes and traumatized by the war which occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995.

     Many of the women were directly impacted by the genocide which occurred in Srebrenica in July 1995, and now must struggle to provide for themselves and their families without the support of their husbands, sons, fathers and brothers. I feel so privileged to have the opportunity to work with these women this summer and hope that my contribution will have a positive impact on the difficult day to day realities they are confronted with.

     This year marks the 14th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, but the wounds remain fresh given the tense political situation in the country and an unemployment rate of approximately 35%. Perhaps most importantly, Ratko Mladic, the commander of the Bosnian Serb paramilitary forces during the war and one of the chief architects of the genocide, remains at large. As an Advocacy Project Fellow for Peace, I will be working to raise awareness about BOSFAM’s important work both in-country and abroad through this blog and other mediums. I welcome your comments and suggestions, and a special thanks to my e-mentors for their support!

     Take a look at the AP-produced YouTube video below for more information on BOSFAM’s work.

     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFKi3W7B_js

189. Leaving

     May 27, 2009 11:45 am 1 Comment

     To be completely honest, Serbia was not a country I thought about much before I found out I would be working with Women In Black in Belgrade this summer.  The Balkans have always daunted me as an area of study.  I was only a kid during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 90s, and the recent history of the region is so complex, so entangled, and so ever evolving that I have found it difficult to overcome my intimidation. Since learning that I would be working with Women In Black, I cleaned out the shelf on Serbia in the Houston Public Library (hopefully, I haven’t made any  Houstonian enemies who were also trying to research Serbia) and have been trying (pretty unsuccessfully) to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. Even though I’m trying as best as I can to prepare and educate myself for my time in Serbia, I know deep down that I will truly learn only from my experiences “on the ground” in the country.

     

     A map so that you can visualize where I'll be. I'll be based out of Belgrade.

     I am beyond excited that my time with Women In Black will serve as my introduction to the region and that I will have the opportunity to explore Serbia’s recent history through the lens of a feminist activist organization. WIB has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and received the first Millennium Peace Prize from Unifem. With the motto, “always disobedient to patriarchy, war, nationalism, and militarism”, Women In Black is a group whose value system closely aligns with mine although I have not yet really figured out how to be “disobedient” in a manner that is both effective and fits with my sense of self. I’m sure WIB will teach me a thing or two. After having taken a Feminist Theory course this past semester in which I often struggled with visualizing how the theories we studied are relevant to women outside of academia, I am particularly excited to see how WIB has managed to strike what appears to be a perfect balance between a scholarly interest in feminism and effective activism.

     Digging through the WIB website (watch this movie for a good overview of WIB’s work) and learning more about the Otpor student resistance movement (I highly recommend the movie Bringing Down a Dictator), I am beginning to understand the critical role that resistance groups have played in Serbia recently. It seems like talk of nationalism dominates most dialogues and analysis on Serbia, but groups such as WIB and Otpor represent the critical voice of individuals who refuse to stand for the status quo and are willing to fight (non-violently, of course) for what they believe their country and every human being deserves.

     I hope that my journey will be as much yours as it is mine. I plan to share everything I observe and learn on this blog, so hopefully, you’ll feel like you are there with me. Please feel free to share your questions and thoughts in the comments section for any blog I post. My next blog will be from Serbia!

190. Welcome to my blog!

     11:42 am 1 Comment

     In a few short days I will be boarding a (17 hour!) flight to Prishtina, Kosovo and starting an exciting and unknown journey.  I cannot wait!!! I am eager to both begin my partnership with the Kosovo Women’s Network and share my experiences with YOU, the readers.

     Since I joined The Advocacy Project as a Peace Fellow destined for Kosovo, I have fielded many questions from family, friends and just about everyone else (not that I mind, I have done a ton of research).  Most were unable to locate Kosovo on a map, let alone address the situation of women’s rights in the country.  The good news is that all of them were genuinely curious and expressed their interest to learn more.

     Therefore, I want to use this blog to not only advocate for the Kosovo Women’s Network and the women they represent but to also help educate those not in the know on the issues. So please send in your questions, comments and topics you want to hear about and keep reading!

     Oh, and check out the map!

     

191. You’re going where????

     11:08 am 1 Comment

     It’s less than a week until I leave for Bosna i Hercegovina (BiH), the heart-shaped country.  The country, still recovering from the war in the 1990’s, is situated in the Balkans between Serbia and Croatia.  I’ll introduce the country’s history more as this blog continues, as its rich and complex history has greatly impacted the current situation in BiH.

     Unfortunately, it seems current information about BiH is not accurate or widely known.  Some of the questions I was asked when I told family and friends my summer plans were, “Isn’t there, like, a war there?” “But you’ll have NO internet (gasp!).” “Is there even an airport or a train station?”

     The questions were endless, but I could answer some questions: the war ended over a decade ago; I will have internet, but maybe not wireless everywhere I go; and yes, there are both an airport and train stations.

     But I couldn’t get too angry with my very concerned family and friends, because the truth is: I didn’t know much about BiH before I started researching online and in the library.  So, hopefully this blog will not only be a vehicle to tell the story of the women I will meet and the current situation in BiH, but also a resource for readers to understand how and why BiH is in their current situation.

     The situation of the women I’ll be getting to know this summer is not a good one.  My goal through this blog is to tell their story as best I can and without sugar coating.  Don’t get me wrong, I am optimistic about my fellowship and my work with BOSFAM, but the reality of this situation is that these women, who have suffered the loss of their homes, possessions, and most devastatingly, many of their male relatives-even their sons.

     Their story must be told and more importantly, people must listen.  My goal is to bring awareness to their situation and move readers of this blog to-if not action-a greater understanding of the importance of advocating for disempowered communities.  I am very excited to continue updating this blog on a regular basis and I hope you enjoy reading it.
     httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48sq0JA6F1o

     

     An ongoing project of BOSFAM to commemorate victims of the Srebrenica Massacre

192. LOOKING FORWARD TO BELGRADE

     May 10, 2009 8:06 am 4 Comments

     I have had the honor of being selected as a 2009 Peace Fellow for The Advocacy Project (AP).  Through this fellowship I will have the opportunity to intern with an anti-violence woman’s organization called Women in Black, located in Belgrade, Serbia.  This fellowship will allow me to have many experiences that I have wanted.  First, it will give me the opportunity to work for an organization dedicated to both the empowerment of women and to the enhancement of their role in peace processes.  Second, it will provide me with international experience in a country that has suffered from tumultuous times and that is still recovering from bad leadership and genocide.  Finally, it will provide me with my first practical experience in the non-profit and human rights sectors.

     I’m currently in Washington DC for AP training and I’m really excited to start working for Women in Black next week.  I leave on Monday, June 1st for my flight to Belgrade.  I won’t deny that I’m starting to get some jitters about being away from home for two and a half months.  But at the same time, I’m sure this trip will be a wonderful experience and a great chance to learn remarkable things about the human rights field.  It will also be an enhancement to the Masters in Global Affairs that I’m currently attaining at New York University.

     I hope you will follow me and my experiences in Belgrade through this blog.  A major objective of mine is to spread awareness about the women of Serbia and the ambitions they have for their country.  By taking the time out to read this blog, you will be helping me realize my goal.  I arrive in Belgrade on June 2nd and plan on blogging soon upon arrival.  Stay tuned!

     

     Belgrade, Serbia