Racism in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Racism in Bosnia-Herzegovina

I) Racism

Figure 01: A Poster Depicting well-known Acts or Forms of Racism

Racism is a great dividing concept that is seen across the globe as minorities fight for equality against this deep rooted cultural and historical theme. It is a way of thinking that has lead to many atrocities and civil strife within societies throughout history. Figure 01 depicts some of the most well known acts of racism.

The European Commission of Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published in a 2004 report that “‘racism’ shall mean the belief that a ground such as ‘race’, colour, language, religion, nationality or national or ethnic origin justifies contempt for a person or a group of persons, or the notion of superiority of a person or a group of persons.” (Kellock, 2004)

The ECRI also explains that their use of the word ‘race’ was used to accommodate persons who are “generally and erroneously perceived to ‘another race’ so that they will not be excluded from the protection provided by the legislation. (Kellock, 2004)

Sources:

Kellock, John. “International Action against Racism Xenophobia, Anti-Semitism and Intolerance in the OSCE Region” A Comparative Study (2004): 11.

For the Poster:

Hitler - http://dmacc5022.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/adolf_hitler_01.jpg

Holocaust - http://caveswiki.wikispaces.com/file/view/holocaust.jpg/68004277/holocaust.jpg

Slave Trade (top) - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Slave_Auction_Ad.jpg/220px-Slave_Auction_Ad.jpg

Slave Trade (bottom) - http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/chimage.php?image=2007/2043/slaves_capture.jpg

Apartheid (top) - http://suedafrika.net/Medaia/Toilets.jpg

Apartheid (bottom) - http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/pictures/crowd.jpg

II) AN INTRODUCTION TO BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

a) Geography

TABLE SHOWING A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF SOME ASPECTS OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

b) A Brief History of Bosnia-Herzegovina

Figure 02: A Map of Yugoslavia Depicting its 6 Member States

Source: http://images.nationmaster.com/images/motw
/europe/former_yugoslavia.jpg

Bosnia-Herzegovina is a former Soviet State of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was created after WWI from a federation of Balkan countries so as to avoid any Balkan wars that ignited WWII. (Ontheissue.org) Refer to Figure 02.

Despite being part of a federation of countries, Bosnia-Herzegovina had autonomous legal status like Puerto Rico within the US. The same applied to much for the countries within Yugoslavia. (Ontheissue.org)

Yugoslavia was led by the Communist leader Marshal Tito since WWII. (Infoplease) He kept the Federation of Republic States together and kept the ethnic problems in check due to his authoritarian nature. (Ontheissue.org)

Following his death in 1980 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, the six states dissolved Yugoslavia seeking more Independence. (Ontheissue.org)

In December, 1991, Bosnia-Herzegovina declared Independence and sought recognition by the European Union. In 1992, a referendum was carried out regarding whether to become Independent or not. Bosnian voters chose Independence and President Alija Izetbegovic declared the nation an independent state. (Infoplease)

Figure 03: This is a Newspaper Article

Source: http://bosniagenocide.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/history
-of-bosnia-herzegovina-by-mustafa-ceric.jpg

The Civil War was triggered by the fact that the other ethnic group considerations were excluded from the Referendum. Both the Croatian and Serbia Presidents planned to partition Bosnia between themselves. The Serbian minority and the Serbian-Yugoslav army took the offensive and laid siege, especially on Sarajevo. Figure 03 depicts a headline.

By the end of Aug. 1992, rebel Bosnian Serbs had conquered over 60% of Bosnia. The war did not begin to wane until NATO stepped in, bombing Serb positions in Bosnia in Aug. and Sept. 1995. U.S.-sponsored peace talks in Dayton, Ohio, led to an agreement in 1995 that called for a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb entity within the larger federation of Bosnia. (Infoplease)

Figure 04: A Burning Building in Sarajevo and Soldiers

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia
/commons/5/58/Bosnian_war_header.no.png

Sixty thousand NATO troops were to supervise its implementation. Fighting abated and orderly elections were held in Sept. 1996. President Izetbegovic, a Bosnian Muslim, or Bosniak, won the majority of votes to become the leader of the three-member presidency, each representing one of the three ethnic groups. (Infoplease)

c) Present Day Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina is recovering from the war politically and socially with aims to become a part of the UN. It recently burrowed 405 million euro from the IMF to implement policies effectively in its economy.

Sources:

ontheissues.org. “Background on Kosovo” Last modified November 20, 2012. http://www.ontheissues.org/Background_Kosovo.htm

Infoplease. “Bosnia Herzegovina” Last modified November 20 2012 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107349.html?pageno=1

III) SOCIAL ASPECTS OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

a) Racism and the Civil War

Figure 05: Grave digging during the Civil War

Source: http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/
2011/06/Bosnian-Civil-War.jpg

The Civil War in Bosnia-Herzegovina resulted in its break-away from the former Yugoslavian Republic. Genocide was characterized by concentration camps, mass murders, torture and a Serb policy of raping Muslim women. There was also “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims in Bosnia by Serb military and police. The casualties approximated at 250,000 civilian deaths. Figure 05 gives a glimpse into the death toll.

This led to an outflow of large groups of Bosnians along with other refugees migrating to other nations. According to the 1991 census, Bosnia and Herzegovina had a population of 4,377,000, whilst in 1996, the UNHCR unofficial census showed a decrease to 3,920,000. Large population migrations during wars in the 1990s have caused demographic shifts in the country.

The Civil War despite having ended many years ago, tensions are still high between the ethnic groups of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

b) Religious Structure

Bosnia-Herzegovina is characterized by a rich history of settlement and was first settled by Slavic people. It was under the influence of the Ottoman Empire from the 15^th to the 19^th Century. It was at that time, Islam spread nationally changing society and culture. This created a native Slavic Muslim community.(globalEDGE)

Catholicism and the Catholic Church did not have a strong foothold in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Historically, there has always been a rivalry between Christianity and Islam. Islam held the advantage of being more popular and eventually the Bosnian Christian Communities disappeared altogether at the time.

Figure 06 is a pie chart derived from a Bosnian State Agency cited by the US Department of State in 2008. It clearly shows that Muslims and Serbian Orthodox are the dominant religions. This is probably due to a lack of infrastructure for other religions.

Figure 06: A Pie Chart depicting the Distribution of Religion in % in 2008

Figure 07: Possible Evidence of Bias Towards Christianity and Catholicism

Source: http://www.wheregodweeps.org/breaking-news/bosnia-herzegovina-archbishop
-of-sarajevo-demands-equal-treatment-for-catholics/

Sources:

globalEDGE. “Bosnia and Herzegovina: History” Accessed November 19, 2012. http://globaledge.msu.edu/Countries/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina/History

IV) POLITICAL ASPECTS OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

a) Structure of the Political Systems

Bosnia-Herzegovina consists of two autonomous countries – the Federation Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and the Republika Srpska (RS). FBiH is largely Bosnian and Croat whilst the Republika Srpska is mainly Serb. (globalEDGE)

A multi-ethnic society, the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognized Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs as constituent peoples in July 2000.(globalEDGE) This is also seen in the preamble to the constitution, which limits “constituent peoples” to these groups.

The Parliamentary Assembly comprises two chambers, the House of Peoples and the House of Representatives, both of which have equal numbers of Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks.(globalEDGE) In order for anything to be passed, at least one-third of each group must agree with the motion. If two-thirds or more of any particular group dissent, it is invalid.

The Presidency is also shared between the groups- it consists of a Bosniak, a Serb and a Croat, each elected from their respective territory. If a member of the Presidency declares a Presidency Decision against the interest of their territory, and two-thirds of their people agree, the Decision is prohibited. Appointment of ambassadors and other international representatives, too, must be evenly shared.

b) Elections

Race-based conflict is a persistent part of Bosnian politics. It took 16 months for Bosnian leaders to form a new central government in February 2012 after the country’s elections. This extensive stalemate resulted from the insistence by two leading Croat parties that only a person nominated by them should be chairman of the Council of Ministers. (Hayden)

The October 2010 elections maintained the power of many of the same ethnically based parties and leaders, with no viable non-nationalist alternative. However, opinion polls in Bosnia show a general disgust with Bosnian politicians, their squabbling over government posts, disproportional privileges and corruption.(thetaworld.net)

This paradox may result from the Dayton system and election laws favouring ethnically based politics, while reflexive distrust of the other ethnic groups may linger after the war.

c) Merits and Demerits

Acknowledgement of these groups is beneficial in some ways, as an effort is made to ensure that the government and law are inclusive. Despite these attempts to maintain equality for all, limits remain. Only persons declaring an affiliation are entitled to run for the House of Peoples and the Presidency- so those of another race or mixed race are ineligible.

This was seen in a case where two well-qualified candidates, one Roma and one Jewish, lodged applications against the national court due to their ineligibility for election to the House of Peoples and the Presidency. (ERRC)

An understanding that central government posts must be rotated among the largest parties representing each of the three largest ethnic groups was flouted by the leading Social Democratic Party, which draws most of its support from the Bosnian community. Like previous governments, the new central government is composed of disparate political forces with incompatible agendas, limiting its effectiveness.

A parliamentary majority in the Bosnian political system also has less significance than in other systems, as representatives of any ethnic group, even if in a minority, can veto any decision that they feel does not accord with their interests. In this way, the uneven weight of different ethnic groups retards political progress.

Sources:

Hayden, Robert. “Serbian Croatian Nationalism in the Yugoslavia Wars” Last accessed November 20, 2012.

globalEDGE. “Bosnia and Herzegovina: History” Accessed November 19, 2012.
http://globaledge.msu.edu/Countries/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina/History

ERRC. “Council of Europe Anti-Racism Commission Issues First Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina” Accessed November 19, 2012. http://www.errc.org/article/council-of-europe-anti-racism-commission-issues-first-report-on-bosnia-and-herzegovina/2305

thetaworld.net. “Bosnia and Herzegovina - A Racist Country in Need of International Help” Accessed November 19, 2012.

http://www.thetaworld.net/human-rights/bosnia-and-herzegovina/

V) RELEVANCE TO THE CARIBBEAN

a) Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Caribbean

Racism exists in the Caribbean and has existed at many different levels of society. The Caribbean has a history of migration, oppression and socio-economic systems. The multi-ethnic cultural diversity results in complicated racial issues that must be dealt with since they lead to civil unrest.

Bosnia-Herzegovina has three ethnic groups, some minorities (such as the Jews and Gypsies) and has experienced a civil war. Many Caribbean countries have more than three ethnic groups but due to differing political circumstances, bloody civil wars have not occurred. However, just because no civil wars occurred presently, doesn’t mean that racial discrimination and violence does not exist.

Also, Bosnia-Herzegovina is a state that left a Federation of countries to seek Independence. It had little choice to at one point but it still resonates with the Caribbean heritage. At one point, Britain sought to create one sovereign state, the West Indian Federation, which would have been consisted of 10 nations. The ten states included Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.

The West Indian Federation collapsed due to Jamaica leaving the Federation seeking Independence. Jamaica was contributing a significant portion of the funding for the Federation so when it left, Trinidad and Tobago was the only other top grossing economy of the 9 states. It was then that Dr. Eric Williams said “1 from 10 equals nought” and made Trinidad and Tobago an independent state.

Each ethnic group in each Caribbean country tries to make itself known to the entire populace as they vie for equality and for their civil rights. This sometimes causes more problems than solves them and occurs in most of the Caribbean countries.

b) Racism and Guyana

In Guyana, through politics, racism reaffirmed itself in the 1960s as inter-racial conflicts between mainly the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese. This culminated in the deaths of many and destruction of property and even a Cold War.

Racist ideology stemmed from Colonialism and the Political parties fostered this as well. The voters would align themselves to a party according to race as opposed to choosing what may be best for the nation. This provided many avenues for civil unrest to take shape since if one ethno-political group didn’t like another groups ideas or plans, then riots could be easily triggered.

Many people migrated from Guyana to many other parts of the world. Guyana and Bosnia-Herzegovina share this type of atmosphere of general unrest due to ethnic divides and mass emigrations have occurred in both nations.

c) Racism and Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago is a multi-ethnic society where racial equality is promoted and is considered the economic powerhouse of the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago has the most national holidays on this hemisphere simply because holidays are given for each ethnic group.

Despite Trinidad and Tobago’s apparent success, racism still exists within the throngs of society. The older generations exhibit more racist sentiments generally and this can be correlated to our colonial past. This is a concept that is faced by the world i.e. that one generation will accept more change than the previous one.

d) Racism in Jamaica

Jamaica is one of the larger islands and more well-known from the Caribbean. It is largely of African descent (91% according to the CIA). Despite this large ethnic majority, racism exists still in Jamaica.

II) Conclusions

Racism is a limiting factor throughout the world which suggests that many countries share this commonality. Changes in culture and the norms of society dictate the existence of Racism and escalations of violence depends on the amount of unrest in the society. Racism is therefore a multi-pronged phenomenon that must be tackled in more ways than one.

Racism in Bosnia-Herzegovina led to a Civil War which caused the country to now be in a state of “forced peace”. Due to the intervention of outside forces, the Civil War was quite probably postponed. Bosnia-Herzegovina is still in a state of unrest and the failures of the government to provide constitutional reforms and present policies are disheartening.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is what the Caribbean could have been under different circumstances and we should strive for the total abolition of any form of racism. Equity should be the norm.

Figure 08: UN Trooper

Racism in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Racism in Bosnia-Herzegovina

I) Racism