on solidarity
Posted by popkitchen | Filed under politics
it's over by escapista@flickr
My homecountry is the only state in Europe that was bombed after the Second World War. However, I do not want to speak about the hardships of life in Serbia ten years after this event. You would assume that since having gone through this experience, my compatriots are sympathetic to others in the similar situation. Sure, they don’t like Americans. Except for talking about it, they do not take action. Of course, I do not mean anything violent, more along the lines of organizing a protest, showing solidarity and so on. When Iraq was invaded the whole world reacted in a peaceful organized way, yet it did not happen on the streets of Belgrade, even though its citizens could still recall the bombs falling in the nightime, four years before.
„People are tired, they are too stressed from economic transition, political scandals, making ends meet“ it is the usual answer to the question why is this happening.
Nothing is different now. The news on Gaza is pushed back in all the news, Russian gas and the fact that our radiators are getting colder by the hour, since in this country there are supplies of gas enough for several hours, is more vital. The only people who reacted, protesting because of the Israeli attacks on Gaza is Muslim community in the town of Novi Pazar. The fact that I could not find a news in English on this topic speaks of the relevance it receives in Serbian media.
I don’t care whether Obama is quiet on this (yes, his reaction or the lack thereof is hugely important), but I am surpised by the lack of solidarity in the society in which I live in. Experiencing agression makes one become more insensitive to the difficulties of others. Shame really.
Tags: belgrade, gaza, politics, serbia
January 10th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
There was at least 1, though there may have been a few more, protest at Republic Square in Belgrade against the assault on Gaza.
I was witness to the one in London, quite by accident, the other week, which was pretty huge, but I’m not sure of the numbers involved.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Are you sure? In this cold? And they are not protesting for the arrest of Radovan Karadžić at the same time?
I mean it is possible. I don’t have any information to counter this. And I am not leaving the house, unless it is necessary.
It is not like I am immune from the Serbian malaise. Last year, a girl asked me to come to the meeting of Amnesty International. I thought to myself, I have been on so many protests, things I believed are really important (perhaps not for the world, but for Serbian and my life there absolutely), I don’t have energy to protest for the sake of activism, doing something …..
January 13th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
http://www.b92.net/video/video.php?nav_category=908&nav_id=338647
Gaza doesn’t have the BREAKING NEWS treatment in serbian media, but it is mentioned in every news edition. The link attached is video of tv B92 broadcast about Gaza bombing, day before you posted a blog.
There was a protest in Belgrade of the supporters of Gaza people on the Republic Square (not many people though). I agree that solidarity with other civil victims of bombing should be stronger among Serbs, but your post has some serious factographic mistaces. If you want to express such a harsh opinios on the issue so serious publicly, do some research - someone could come to wrong conclusions only by reading this, and I don’t think that is your goal.
January 13th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Sorry, forgot the link with the information about protest. It was easy to find it - just typed the key words ‘protest’ and ‘gaza’ in Google and got several links (of course, much easier if you opt for searhing serbian pages in Google settings :).
January 13th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
http://www.danas.rs/vesti/svet/globus/protest_protiv_izraelskih_napada_u_gazi.12.html?news_id=149879
January 14th, 2009 at 2:02 am
A day after I posted this, BBC in Serbian on its program with Radio B92 run a feature about our reactions to Gaza situation, referencing big protests that took place in Sarajevo and Novi Pazar. Many would say “well that’s understandable”. And in a way it is. But a reporter interviewed people (probably people on the street, so it is not stastically legitimate thing) about their opinions about the conflict in the Middle East. Majority responded by saying “I am not really following what is going on” or “I am thinking about my own survival, making ends meet, we Serbs have enough trouble to think about somebody else”.
This just strikes me as problematic, since ten years ago, we were talking amongst ourselves about whether anyone cares that the bombs are dropping on our country everyday. That situation is now used as an excuse for everything. Unfortunately, I really think that we have no solidarity amongst ourselves, not to mention people on the far end of the planet. And that sounds like sweeping generalization, which is always a trap you might fall into when talking about these issues. That’s not my intention, but on the other hand I wanted to express concern about something that I believe is worrying.