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A book of confessions by people from former Yugoslavia promoted
“I cannot be well if my neighbour is not”
“I cannot be well if my neighbour is not”, is the title of the book containing heartfelt stories by people who survived the wars in former Yugoslavia. The book conveys over forty “direct” interviews with people from all over ex-Yugoslavia who talk about the war and the possibilities for peace building in this region. People aged 19-81 of different professions, age, sex and religion talk about how they used to look upon wars and what they think of the wars now. The wars that shook the people from ex-Yugoslavia in the 90’s.
The book was promoted by the First Children Embassy in the World “Medjashi” and the non-violet action centres from Belgrade and Sarajevo. We are presenting several confessions of the people interviewed:
Metodija, 78, Skopje
Pensioner, radio-amateur
During the war in former Yugoslavia, you used to be very active as a radio-amateur. Then, the conflict in Macedonia occurred. How did all that reflect on your life?
- A very bad human relation could be sensed in Macedonia. In my opinion, the hatred started from the political parties. And the heads of those parties brought the conflict among the people. A big mistake was made by letting people form nationalistic parties, which resulted in increasing the hatred. I used to live in Gostivar, together with Albanian, Turkish and other nationalities. I was an athlete and we used to share everything. I never expected a conflict to occur.
Should we forget it and why?
- I feel sympathy with those who lost their closest ones, both Albanians and Macedonians, with the innocent children victims. For example, the family of the child that died playing basketball will never forget. Many Albanians will not forget. Which Aegean Macedonian can say god things about Greece? Chased out, their houses burnt down, their village taken away from them…They will not forget. Those who did not experience did will forget soon.
Sead,21, G.Vakuf-Uskopolje, a student
Do you feel the consequences of the war and how?
- In our town, the consequences of the war can be felt strongly. The town is divided into two parts – Croatian and Bosnian. For example, the primary schools are completely separated. The health centre is divided, the high schools work on the principle two schools under the same roof, there is an invisible line which divides the town in two, it can be felt when you walk through the town, you know exactly what your limit is.
How do you live with that? Has it ever been particularly hard for you?
- It used to be hard right after the war. We did not know if we could go to the other part of the town, we did not have any communication with people from there. It was only after some organizations had started working, for example, the Youth Centre “Gorni Vakuf-Uskopolje”, that we got the chance to contact the people from the other part of the town. Then, the high schools joined and the mutual contact began to grow.
M., 32, Vukovar, a journalist
Do you still feel the consequences of the war?
- Of course I feel them, like most of the 22.4 million inhabitants of the former Yugoslavia. For each one of us, and especially for those who come from the regions afflicted by the war, the life changed dramatically and it took a completely different course.
What should happen in order to change that?
- Personally, I cannot act differently, but to do what I do everyday in my home, outside, at work. Where I work, I point to the deviant occurrences which resulted from the horrors of the war. Where I live, I continue greeting my Croatian neighbours with “Bog”, and the Bosnian ones with “Zdravo”, I talk to all of them, I respect who they are, I would help them and I expect they would help me. As far as my environment is concerned, a lot more needs to be done so that life can get back to normal.
Esma, 58, Sarajevo, a pensioner
If you go back to the years of war, that is the beginning of the 90’s and the years before the war, what exactly do you remember?
- I mostly remember the war years, the granates, when they shouted “run”, when we used to hide in the basements, at the neighbours’ houses, my children and I, or down where the cars used to be, at our deceased neighbour Branko – we used to spend most of the time there, whole nights. The whole neighbourhood, all together.
Do you think we should talk about the things that were going on during the war today?
- Let’s be real and expose the truth. It must be known! What can one hide if their closest had been killed or slaughtered? I can’t hide that!
Mevljudin, 43, Gnjilane, a mechanical engineer
How do you see your past?
- I see my past as a bad dream, but also as an experience that can neither be bought, nor sold. It can be obtained through a lot of effort on one hand and with the desire no one to go through what we did on the other.
Is the reconciliation possible in Kosovo?
- It is not an option, but a must. As far as reaching the necessary level of self-awareness is concerned, can say that we have reached that, that is, we understood while we were in conflict with one another that the only thing we did was feeding the evil. The complete reconciliation will occur when we understand how bad our reality was.
by Zaklina Gjorgevik
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