Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 19, 2020

Emir Ramic, left, from the Institute for the Research of Genocide Canada, and Imam Adnan Balihodzic, lead a service at Jackson Park, Saturday, July 11, 2020, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre.Dax Melmer / Windsor Star

Jasminka Kalajdzic

In early July 1995, military and paramilitary troops of the self-declared Serb Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina (RS) rounded up over 8,000 innocent Bosniak men and boys in the supposed UN safe zone of Srebrenica. The civilians were massacred and thrown in mass graves, while tens of thousands of other Bosniak men, women and children were driven from their homes.These are facts.As I wrote last year, international organizations, courts, state governments and scholars have all concluded that the acts committed by Serbian forces in Srebrenica constituted genocide. The shame of Srebrenica was but one of many in what became euphemistically called the ethnic cleansing of Muslims from the region.

Last weekend marked the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide. Bosnians across the diaspora use this time to mourn and reflect on what is still a recent, painful history. Yet Bosnians are also asking others to use this somber milestone to commemorate the genocide, and recommit to fighting genocide denial and all forms of hate. This anniversary is important for all of us here in Canada, in this moment when our politics and civic discourse are plagued by more disinformation, propaganda and xenophobia than ever.

Genocide denial has escalated in the past few years at an alarming rate. Politicians in Serbia and RS have engaged in historical revisionism and cruel bullying of genocide survivors. The Serb representative in the Bosnian presidency has called the atrocities in Srebrenica the greatest deception of the 20th century and a staged tragedy.

On the death of the leader of the Mothers of Srebrenica survivor group whose husband and two sons were killed in the genocide, the Deputy Speaker of the Serbian Parliament tweeted: I read that Hatidza Mehmetovic from the association of Srebrenica businesswomen has died. Who is going to bury her? The husband or sons? And last week, several Serb MPs walked out of the Kosovo Parliament during a moment of silence for the victims of the genocide.

When not denying that genocide took place, politicians and others attempt to justify the killings as necessary to protect Europe from Muslims. Those already intolerant of Muslims are especially susceptible to accepting this view. As this years Srebrenica Genocide Denial Report documents, intellectuals on both the political left and right have peddled conspiracy theories and amplified revisionist narratives. All amount to the most dangerous kind of gas-lighting, where victims are guilty, and the perpetrators are victims.

But what should perhaps be the most alarming consequence of genocide denial is its weaponization by white supremacists. Just as Holocaust denial fuels virulent anti-Semitism, denial of the Srebrenica genocide mobilizes right-wing Islamophobia and xenophobia. Both Anders Breivik, who in 2011 murdered 77 people in Norway, and Brenton Tarrant, who last year killed 51 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, saw Serbs as Crusaders in the war against Muslims. Tarrant even played an infamous Serb nationalist song in the background as he streamed his murderous rampage online.

We in Canada know all too well the consequences of the poisonous brew of far-right ideology, Islamophobia and victimhood: Alexandre Bissonnette, who killed six men in a Quebec mosque, was enthralled by far-right websites and anti-Muslim sentiment. He, in turn, was memorialized by the Christchurch killer, when his name was inscribed on Tarants weapon.

Genocide denial is inextricably linked with various forms of hatred and bigotry, right-wing terrorism and other violence against minority communities. Radical white extremism is on the rise, here and abroad. It is a contagion online, but increasingly visible and public. As the Srebenica Genocide Denial Report concludes: The intensification of Srebrenica genocide denial is wholly consistent with broader global trends in right-wing extremism, Islamophobia and Holocaust revisionism.

For this reason, it is especially important that now, a quarter-century after the genocide of 8372 men and boys in Srebrenica, all Canadians remember them, and see the connections between genocide denial, white supremacy and propaganda.

Recommitting ourselves to preventing genocide and combatting all forms of hatred means committing ourselves to speak the truth.

Jasminka Kalajdzic is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Windsor.

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Guest column: Remembering genocide an important part of fighting against it - The Province

Category: Holocaust Denial
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