The Cellars of Sarajevo

For the second time Sarajevo unhappily enters world history, but this time with incredibly good chances of departing from its geography. The First World War began here, which is worth remembering because the killing of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife is everywhere considered an act of terrorism, irrespective of the causes and consequences, and even its final outcome. It is only in Serbian history that this incident is celebrated as an act of patriotism and heroism. The same discrepancy about Sarajevo exists today. The whole world considers that grenades are to blame for the demolition of buildings, and only Karadzic and Milosevic think otherwise.

The significance and consequences of Sarajevo in 1914 and 1992 are different and opposite. On the pavement beside Miljacka the war which gave birth to Yugoslavia began and if it hadn't happened on this pavement it is unlikely that there would today be a monument there in the form of Princip's footprints. Radovan Karadzic, however, has no reason to believe that anyone will make the effort to preserve the imprint of his posterior on the chair in the residence on Pale from where he conducts the murder of a city. This time nothing will be given birth by Sarajevo. This time it is not only one Austrian archduke that dies, but anyone who tries to cross the street, or get up from the floor, or come out of a cellar. This time it is a matter of wiping away any trace of the Yugoslavia that lives on only in the cellars of Sarajevo. It is probably feared that from this germ, this yeast, something might grow again one day.

To Sarajevo and Bosnia Yugoslavia was not only a country, but a way of life. For this reason it was easier for all the others to come up with the idea of tearing it apart and creating nation states, in this way proving that they had been enslaved and deprived of their rights in Yugoslavia. Bosnia doesn't see it this way; proof like this seems false and contrary to its model of survival, and in Sarajevo at the moment, under the rain of gunfire, the heroic defense of a way of life is going on. For this reason, no-one will say that those up on the hills are Serbs, because his wife, his best friend or the neighbor who shares his cellar and soup of nettles, is a Serb.

Nonetheless, the whole landscape of the Bosnian battlefield is far more complex, all the actors have made their appearance and Milosevic can now say that no-one is innocent, though I think that even Saint Peter would pick him out from amongst the rest, and not only the European Community. The idea of the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina was not only his, but Serbian units have conquered large areas of territory where Serbs were a minority, relying on the army which knows only how to destroy, and to crown it all, Karadzic is bent on the division of Sarajevo.

Nevertheless, the war in Bosnia didn't only come from the outside. Many people there say that the national parties are to blame for it all, but they are the ones that gained the majority of votes in the elections. They didn't promise war, but it was to be expected that there could be no agreement amongst them, especially when it became clear that Serbia and Croatia were no longer willing to be together. The opposition, which is made up of civil and leftist parties, seeks a place for itself, unanimously nominating Fikret Abdic as the new premier, i.e. the new, generally accepted, leader.

This well-known name is already being mentioned as a substitute for Alija Izetbegovic as head of the Presidency of the Republic, because it has become clear that Izetbegovic is first and foremost the leader of his own party. Abdic is also a Moslem and a member of the same party, and he also did time "under communism", but in all else he differs enough to give rise to the hope that maybe he could take on the role of savior. Till five years ago he was a mere semi-god in Velika Kladusa which, it is believed, he managed to pull out of the mud onto the asphalt. He then became the biggest anti-hero in 1987. The "Agrokomerc" affair sent him to jail for the severest charge then of counterrevolutionary jeopardizing of the system. However, Fikret Abdic began to rise again already in the course of the trial. He could not prove his innocence, but it became clear that forged promissory notes were a common practice throughout the country, and at all times he comported himself with courage and self-confidence. It was not possible to charge him with self-interest, or even the usual partiality for human comforts and enjoyment. The shadow of murky political intrigues inside Bosnia and outside, fell over the whole affair, giving him the halo of a victim.

At the elections Abdic gained more votes than Izetbegovic himself, but his first interest remained "Agrokomerc" company and his Kladusa. The Reformists invited him into their party, where, with his dominant orientation towards commerce and business (though those who know him better believe more in his competence, talent and energy than in his expertise), his place is most probably to be found. But Abdic, it seems, was not ready to forget Ante Markovic who was unwilling to help him in his time of trouble, and he joined the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). His Islamism, however, is more of a folklore nature and far from the devotion of Izetbegovic. It is also known that he isn't a political leader, which in the present situation is a clear advantage. Also, he is the one who toured the terrain throughout the war the most, trying to bring peace and negotiation, and it looks as if, of all the Moslems, he is the one most acceptable to the Serbs.

At this moment Fikret Abdic is the candidate of those who never believed in this war, who didn't wave guns or lust for the victory or defeat of any nation. Their hope that peace can be brought, not by those who waged war, but by those who did not, is understandable, but it is not yet realistic and maybe never will be until the ammunition, or life, disappears from Sarajevo. The division of Bosnia is well underway, but the problem of boundary demarcation is no less than before the war. Borders drawn by force will be changed by force, and in this regard there is no hope for agreement.

If Fikret Abdic goes ahead as a presidential candidate, and if Izetbegovic hands over the helm, there is little the magician from Kladusa can do. It would be necessary, on the part of the whole of Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia, for an epidemic outbreak of voluntary withdrawal of all the demented cannibals, who would be put to work fixing garden fences, and for government to be given to more stable people. Until this virus arrives, all is in the hands of the international community.

To Sarajevo, the whole world must seem unconcerned, as if they are all quietly and powerlessly waiting for the conflict between grenades and house to end, for hunger, infection and snipers to finish off the last of the deluded who believed in the wicked heresy of life together. However, it isn't only their lives that are in question but the fate of the new European dream of harmonious differences, a dream whose capital city is Sarajevo. It is here, in this place that is being showered with heavy arms, hatred and intolerance, products also of Europe, that with bare endurance the new Europe is being defended.

If Sarajevo holds out, if out of its cellars come people who are still able to be citizens of this city, it will be a miracle which could give birth to a new Beginning. Those who wait in vain there for help from outside are the real apostles of this beginning.