Friday, October 11, 2013

Religion and History in the Bosnian Genocide

                Existing as they are currently named only following World War One, the countries that Yugoslavia comprised of (Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Kosovo, and the FYRM) was an ethnically and religiously diverse area. Western powers, such as the United States and NATO organization viewed the Balkan region’s genocide from stemming from ancient hatreds, as Norman Naimark points out in his book “Fire of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in the 20th Century.” Specifically, these hatreds are thought to stem from medieval times, though Naimark gives several examples of how society fostered these groups to live together, such as through the Pax Ottamanica. By manipulating history, as well as religious myth, the leader of the Serbs-Slobodan Milosevic- was able to rouse up nationalistic feelings and create a sense of unity among Serbs. A 1992 census taken before the genocide, however, shows that the population of comprised of 41 % Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), 32% Serbs and 17% Croats (with demographic information found at World Statesman). These groups lived as neighbors and often intermarried without tension for centuries.
              This was all changed when a nationalist Serb Slobodan Milosevic began to acquire power in the regions surrounding Serbia. After losing power with the fall of Communism, Milosevic turned to nationalism to rally support and regain power. Susan Hayward outlines the heavy use of martyrdom imagery in her article “Averting Hell on Earth: Religion and the Prevention of Genocide.” She explains that Milosevic turned genocide against Orthodox Christian Albanians and moreso Bosnian Muslims into a “just war” by recalling memories of the Serbs as victims of their violence and calling for vengeance and retaliation. Hayward reveals an unbelievable distortion of religious mythology-Milosevic accuses Muslims of killing Jesus when Islam did not exist as a faith until 600 years following Jesus death. This huge factual error would appear obvious, but as seen with the rhetoric of Hitler, religion when spoken by an enigmatic and fervent organizer is easy to take as justification for violence. 
                The Serbs justification for attacking Bosniak Muslims came from what is referred to as the “Kosovo” or “Lazar” myth (Naimark 142). The story goes that in 1389, Prince Lazar led the Serb army against Ottoman Turkish Sultan Murat, while both leaders were killed, Lazar’s death was representative of the death of Serbian independence. This myth was perpetuated for the next five centuries under the rule of the Ottomans, and resurrected by Milosevic in order to portray the Muslim Bosniaks as the oppressors who must be punished for their history of transgression. The death of Lazar is then paralleled with the death of Christ, making Muslims the Christ-killers rather than Jews, as in the Holocaust. Christ played another important role in Serbian ideology regarding the nature of an individual. Christoslavism is the notion that Slavs are by nature Christian, therefore anyone who converted or did not adhere to Christianity was a betrayer and part of the group known as “Other” to be dehumanized as a target for genocide. The genocide in Bosnia is a stark example of how an idea can be manipulated to incite a religious fervor. The mere use of ideas and mythology is far from the total role of religion in genocide though, adding on to its negative function. The misuse of religion to justify genocide is, unfortunately, a common thread through history of genocide from Armenia to Rwanda, and if we can learn how to spot it happening, action can be taken before genocide occurs.


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