Nowy Eurodialog

Sarajevo is not an isolated case in the history of Europe. The capital of Bosnia is part of a long line of places which, in our most recent history, appear as a warning against ethnic and racist resettlements, against concentration camps, wars, and crimes against humanity: Constantinopol, Auswitz, Belfast, Nikos, Hoyerswerda...

In the 1995 winter edition of the European cultural magazine "Lettre", devoted to the problems of Bosnia, Jean Baudrillard wrote that the events happening in former Yugoslavia are "a phase in the logical evolution of a new European order". "The Serbs, as instigators of ethnic cleansing are the bone-marrow of the Europe which is being formed at this very moment". Difficult though it is to deny this French philosopher his reasons, he is mistaken about one basic point: ethnonationalistic madness is nothing new in European history. Since the XIX century, Europe has been involved in an ongoing process of ethnisation.

"Apartheid" - a principle, spreading all over the European continent in the 20th century. In our era of mass communication, mass transport, Internet and pop-culture, this process seems paradoxical. Never before in Europe have so many people been linked together by so many ties and interdependencies. And yet, the more European countries become similar to one another in economic and technical terms, the more it's inhabitants feel endangered as far as their cultural identity is concerned, and want to be different from others. In the sphere of economy and consumption, Europeans are adaptable in regard to one another, whereas in the area of culture there exists a peculiar type of rebellion against globalism. Citizens of different countries, afraid of losing their identity, isolate themselves from each other. They build emotional forts and take advantage of cultural differences as a pretext to isolate themselves away from strangers. Europe is suffering from the cancer of identity, which is spreading and covering the entire map of our continent. Pedrag Matvejević, born in 1932, is a writer and expert on the theory of literature, and teaches in Zagreb and Paris. He ascertains that the identity of being has become more important than the identity of action. Identity is often an accessory, bordering on caricature - like rhetoric, which exaggerates, beyond all reason, the meaning of national history and national descent. In reality, Sarajevo is also our fault, our European tragedy.

The events taking place at the end of the XX century in the Balkans and the Caucasians are a brutal, radical deviation away from the normal, everyday life of Europe. The citizens of Western Europe, as well as those of Central Europe look at the South-East with hypocritical meglomania, unaware that they are also being steered by a slightly more subtle, albeit similar notion of "ethnic" and "cultural" cleansing and differences. What's more, that they've managed to realize this within their own territory. Not to mention the terrible slaughter which, in the XX century, the Germans committed against the Jews, all in the name of Nazism. Europe's shared responsibility for this terrible crime, is manifested in fact that stamping "J" in the passports of those acknowledged by the authorities as being Jewish was initiated on request of the Swiss beaurocracy.

Europeans were not in the slightest bit ready for the possibility of armed conflict in former Yugoslavia. The institutions of the European Union gave a display of impotence when they, to a greater and lesser extent passively observed the politics of "ethnic cleansing". Old nationalistic patterns were reanimated at the very outset of the conflict. The Germans took Croatia's side, while France aided the Serbs. When Western Europe detected the nationalistic trap, the war in former Yugoslavia had escalated to such an extent that it was only America (although it's intervention was late) who was able to restrain all sides of the conflict. The great powers were instrumental in ending the war, but it was America, though the agreements in Dayton and Paris, who became the vicarious creator of the new borders, won by the power of arms. Geopolitical peace was bought though ethnic division. One can hardly wonder, therefore, that the exodus of thousands of Serbs from Kraina, forced on them by the Croation army, made little impression on public opinion, despite the fact that the New York Times described it as being "the largest single incident of ethnic cleansing since the Balkan war began in 1991". The aims of both sides of the conflict have not changed. And in no case has the idea of a Great Serbia and a Great Croation, between which a small Bosnian-Muslim republic would exist become paler.

Never before have so many people had it so good as in the second half of our "century of extremes". Despite this fact, I must agree with the English historian, Eric Hobsbaw, who called the 20th century "the most bloody of all". One of the main reasons for the barbaric catastrophes of our century has been ethnonationalistic madness, which has overtaken Europe on several occasions, like an illness. At the end of the XX century, many regions of our continent are experiencing a return attack of this illness. Now, once again, with the fall of communism, the question of nationalism has appeared in European with surprising alacrity. Certain of it's countries are being overtaken by a wave of xenophobia,anti-Semitism and racism.

As a result of these shock-waves in Europe, the ethnic aspect of conflicts in other continents has become clear. Afghanistan, Kurdustan, Rwanda and Somali, are examples, as well as the ethno-religious motivation of acts of aggression on the Indian sub-continent and indigenous rebellions from the Australian Aborigines through to the Mexican Indians from Chiapas State. World politics are continuously bombarded by other problems such as poverty, environmental protection, terrorism and organized crime, but the ethnonational conflicts at the end of the XX century are beginning to engender fear. According to many contemporary observes, they are our greatest challenge to international peace.