Shared commitment

Bosnia Herzegovina. Problems become opportunities for reconciliation to break silences and overcome common challenges Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1992. The war in the former Yugoslavia has just begun.
Sarajevo is put under siege by the Serbian and federal armies. There are gunshots, house-to-house searches for people, buildings are pierced by bullets. In four years, more than 100 thousand have died.

The signs of the conflict in Bosnia are still clearly visible. The holes in the walls, the cemeteries with hundreds of white graves, the museums and memorials.
But there is another consequence that is not immediately seen and becomes clear after a few days in the country: the divisions and fractures among its citizens.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is historically inhabited by three main ethnic components: the Bosniaks, the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian Croats. Before the war the exchange and interpenetration between them were continuous, so much so that it was normal to have parents, uncles and grandparents of different ethnic groups in the same family. Mixed marriages were the order of the day, the heart of a cultural vivacity that - for example - distinguished Sarajevo from other cities. But in war the ethnic components suddenly find themselves against each other: a peculiar characteristic of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia which is therefore defined as "fratricidal". Thus neighbors become enemies.

Today the three ethnic groups still live on the same territory, but they are separated and often divided by silent hatred. Sometimes there are physical borders that delimit the areas of one and the other, within the same country. “Is there reconciliation?” you can ask the citizens. The answer is immediate: "No, it will still take a long time." In Bosnia Herzegovina unemployment is at 50%, emigration is very high, corruption is at all administrative levels. The fear is that those ethnic divisions are ready to flare up in new ways.

Yet, there are those who don't give up and have found a way to connect people who shot each other during the war. Alma Midzič, scholar and activist, committed to the defense of collective goods in Sarajevo, tells the story. Alma often takes tourists to the top of a hill from which you can see the whole city and from there she traces a hidden geography made up of illegal buildings, illegal waste dumping areas and hospitals that are gradually privatised.
But Midzič deals above all with water. «We have many rivers in our territory, we are one of the last countries in Europe to still have virgin, uncontaminated sources with unique biosystems, she says. Yet, our water is in danger." In Bosnia, rivers are at risk because more and more hydroelectric power plants are being built. Private companies have received incentives from the government to invest in these activities, in the name of a transition towards renewable energy. Having green energy, Alma points out, is obviously not in itself a bad thing.
The problem is that the exploitation of water has become a real business with non-transparent, often corrupt mechanisms. «The rivers are privatized – explains Alma – We would have a law to protect them, but those who build the power plants often do not respect the rules. You notice it when you go into the field and see small rivers that are dry or completely compromised. All for the sake of profit."

But here the water problem itself becomes an opportunity to walk towards a possible reconciliation. Alma is part of the River Defense Movement together with hundreds of other people. Water is good for everyone – Bosniaks, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs – and some are starting to be willing to commit.
«A problem like that of rivers cannot be solved within a single ethnic group – explains Midzič – when people understand how important the defense of water is, they agree to gather around this challenge and sit around a table. We talk about rivers, but in the meantime we break heavy silences, which perhaps have lasted for years, and we discuss topics that would be forbidden elsewhere. There is the novelty of acting together for something new, which has a positive impact on everyone's lives."

In the village of Kruščica, women came together and peacefully protested against the construction of a power plant that would damage the city's river. They sat on the embankments and prevented the passage of vehicles.
Near Bihac, however, the inhabitants managed to have an area with numerous natural waterfalls declared protected to prevent micro-power plants from being built there too.
In Sarajevo the movement is trying to bring more and more awareness.
There is determination in Alma's voice and also tiredness. Things sometimes seem to never change. But then there are small signs and a path can be seen: the country's problems can become common battles, opportunities for union, reconciliation and action. A hope can sprout from there.

Chiara Vitali
Focus
NP October 2023