July 11th is will mark the 15th anniversary of the Bosnian genocide. The arrest of one of the perpetrators for these atrocities, Ratko Mladic, has reminded the world of these events. But Europe does not appear to have learned any lessons from it.
Muslims continue to be treated as the "other" of the European civilization with Islamophobia on the rise.
July 11th is the designated day of remembrance for the Bosnian genocide. This year will mark the 15th anniversary of these events that include the Srebrenica episode where over 8000 Muslim men and boys were massacred and the widespread use of mass rape of thousands of Muslim women as a tool of the war. The arrest of one of the perpetrators for these atrocities, Ratko Mladic, has reminded the world of these events. But Europe does not appear to have learned any lessons from it.
Bosnian Muslims as a group were considered “other” of the Serb population, outsiders, and descendants of Turks. They were considered an inferior and less civilized group. This type of stereotyping is not uncommon and was seen in the 2002 carnage in Gujarat where the Muslims were identified with an ancient king Babur who established the Mughal dynasty in India.
India was horrified by Gujarat and right wing religion baiting parties like the BJP and its militia the RSS have seen a decline in popularity. Europe is seeing the opposite. Brazen populists, like Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Jean-Marie Le Pen in France and Jimmie Akesson in Sweden who are obsessed with Islam/Muslim bashing have garnered significant electoral support. Mainstream politicians are appropriating a milder version of the right wing arguments rather than challenging them on principle. Important leaders like Angela Merkel of Germany, Nicolas Sarkozy of France and David Cameron of Britain are deeply critical of multiculturalism that is only a thinly veiled attack on Muslim minorities.
Various discriminatory laws against Muslim practices are increasingly common in one country or the other in Europe including the ban on certain dress codes, construction of minarets and ritual slaughter of animals. There are even attempts to outlaw the Quran.
Islamophobia, and awkward neologism that has come to signify hatred of all things Muslim, is on the rise and shows no sign of abating. Muslims find themselves constantly trying to prove that their faith is a legitimate source of spiritual solace to many and not an inspiration to violence.
Stereotyping does not always lead to a violent outcome but enables a milieu where given a substantial provocation or the ascendance of a toxic leader allows another Bosnia to happen. After all no one could have imagined that Sarajevo, the site of the Winter Olympics of 1984 would be the location of the bloodshed less than 10 years later. That is precisely why not only we should remember the victims of the genocide in Bosnia. To deter we should remember that perfectly ordinary people are capable of committing unimaginable atrocities.
It is always astonishing that human beings can be capable of these acts against other humans. Many of these perpetrators appear incapable of remorse and sometimes there is communal denial. This is certainly true in the statements of Milosovic, Kradic and Radic have made on the stand in the Hague. It is not just the sociopaths but even ordinary people seem incapable of feeling remorse. There has been no expression of remorse from the Serb as a nation. An Indian human rights activist, Harsh Mander, noted in a speech that when he visited Gujarat both immediately after the carnage and on subsequent visits what upset him most was the lack of remorse.
The perpetrators of these actions cannot be allowed to deny their evil or justify it or rationalize it. It is good that Miladic was finally caught but those who allowed him to run free for years also should be held responsible. Others who participated in the genocide whether in or out of uniform should be held accountable. In India practically all of the criminals who were responsible for the Gujarat carnage are free, including those who confessed on camera.
We must educate ourselves about the dangers of racism and Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and all other types of intolerance and hate. We appear to learn little from past events including the Holocaust. Anti-Semitism is also on the rise in Europe. Only 10% of the visitors to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC are non-Jews. Rwanda and Congo have happened since the Bosnian occurrence.
We as a nation should try harder to immunize ourselves against prejudice and racism. Islamophobia in the US is still qualitatively and quantitatively less than in Europe. Peter King’s rant against Muslims and the “ban Sharia in the US” movement hasn’t found much traction yet. We need robust public policy initiatives to neutralize racist and religious stereotyping. There is still time to act.
Javeed Akhter, a physician, is founding member of a Chicago based Muslim American think tank “The International Strategy and Policy Institute.”