Massacre of Srebrenica
By Maria Christina Marchini
Monday 2nd November 2009
Monday 2nd November 2009
It is not the sole act of travelling that helps a person grow in knowledge and culture. It is the entirety of travelling that may have that effect on us; it is the collaboration of body, spirit, mind and memory, which can help truly take us somewhere; even back in time.
Every year, on the 11th of July many people travel to Srebrenica to help remember the atrocities mankind committed there in 1995. If the name is not familiar to you then perhaps the words of the United Nations’ ex-secretary, Kofi Annan, might trigger your memories regarding the most brutal act of genocide since the Second World War. Yes – those were his words. And yet, still our generation does not remember. It does not remember the deaths of 8,000 innocent men and boys that marked European history that year and made Bosnia Herzegovina the worldwide stage of international failure: killed because of their Muslim creed and their ethnicity.
And even though we do not remember, there are those that do and those that want to. And how do they prove it? How can one prove that they have not forgotten the women of Srebrenica, the women who saw their husbands, fathers, sons, and nephews be taken away from them, how can we prove that their cause touched the world and we, like them, do not want old mistakes to be repeated?
We travel and show that they have not been forgotten. Travel is not only a means to explore the world, have fun and earn money; it can really be so much more. And in this case it is a journey towards, a search for ultimate and undeniable justice.
The justice that the men of the women of Srebrenica were never granted.
Travelling does make a difference. It makes news and news creates awareness. Travelling can help sustain a cause and ultimately make the world a more informed, a more aware, and a far better place to be.
Every year, on the 11th of July many people travel to Srebrenica to help remember the atrocities mankind committed there in 1995. If the name is not familiar to you then perhaps the words of the United Nations’ ex-secretary, Kofi Annan, might trigger your memories regarding the most brutal act of genocide since the Second World War. Yes – those were his words. And yet, still our generation does not remember. It does not remember the deaths of 8,000 innocent men and boys that marked European history that year and made Bosnia Herzegovina the worldwide stage of international failure: killed because of their Muslim creed and their ethnicity.
And even though we do not remember, there are those that do and those that want to. And how do they prove it? How can one prove that they have not forgotten the women of Srebrenica, the women who saw their husbands, fathers, sons, and nephews be taken away from them, how can we prove that their cause touched the world and we, like them, do not want old mistakes to be repeated?
We travel and show that they have not been forgotten. Travel is not only a means to explore the world, have fun and earn money; it can really be so much more. And in this case it is a journey towards, a search for ultimate and undeniable justice.
The justice that the men of the women of Srebrenica were never granted.
Travelling does make a difference. It makes news and news creates awareness. Travelling can help sustain a cause and ultimately make the world a more informed, a more aware, and a far better place to be.