Ratko Mladić, the American Civil War, and Two Broadway Musicals

November 21st, 2017....An Important Day for Bosnia and Hercegovina

While the rest of you were preparing for your Thanksgiving holiday, Wednesday Nov 22nd was an important day here in Sarajevo. Ratko Mladić, the commander of the Bosnian Serbian forces during the 1992-1995 war, was sentenced to life in prison for war crimes against humanity by the an International Criminal Tribunal.

Ratko Mladić, 74, during his war crimes trial.

Mladić have been on the run for nearly 20 years before he was captured in Serbia in 2012. For a long time he was living in relative openness in Beograd, the Serbian capital; protected by a squadron of Bosnian Serb bodyguards as well as insiders within the Serbian military. As international pressure increased and Serbian leadership changed, the heat intensified and Ratko was forced underground. He was finally captured in the home of a cousin.

Mladić during his years as the head of the Bosnian Serb forces.

Mladić's sentencing hopefully will hopefully provide some closure to many of the wounds still open from the war. While atrocities were committed by both sides during the conflict, the most egregious acts of genocide occurred under Mladić's direction. This includes the siege of Sarajevo, the massacre at Srebrenica, and the ethnic cleansing that occurred during the first (and most bloody) year of the war (1992). The video that I have linked below is Mladić speaking to Srpska TV cameras as he and his troops prepare to enter Srebrenica in July 1995. Within a three-day span over 8,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys would be executed.

Mladić Interviewed on TV Before Entering Srebrenica

A few weeks ago Dionne and I were in Srebrenica doing a women's health project. Some of the women who benefited from this project lost their husbands, fathers, and sons during that 3-day period.

A Country Deeply Divided

Media coverage of the sentencing was extensive in Sarajevo. Camera crews roamed the downtown area and the verdict was shown live on a large outdoor screen. There was not, however, much passion that we witnessed on the streets. Most people seemed tired of thinking about the war and resigned to accepting whatever verdict the courts rendered. A local camera crew captured these reactions (pro and con)...note that their editing process is clearly subjective. But these two sets of reactions just show how deeply divided this country remains.

On the Street Reactions at BBI Centar

On the Street Reactions from East Sarajevo

Newspaper accounts and interviews also highlighted the very diverse reactions (between Federation and Srpska) to the sentencing.

Federation voices applauded the sentencing. The Bosniak member of the presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, said "Ratko Mladić is a criminal and a coward because only a coward can imprison civilians, women, and children." "It shows that you cannot commit crimes with impunity" said Fikret Grabovica, a representative for a victim's group.

Srpska voices, however, complained that Serbs were not being treated fairly. The current mayor of Srebrenica, a Serb, said "Mladić will be remembered in history and this sentence only strengthens his myth among the Serb nation, which is grateful to him for saving it from persecution and extermination." Sprska president Dodik remarked "we see this as a slap in the face for Serb victims, of whose suffering no one has been convicted."

You've Got to Be Taught

I am going to transition now from reporting the news to offering some personal insight and opinions. I understand that I am just an outsider looking into a country that I do not fully comprehend. But sometimes an outsiders opinion can be useful.

Lately I have found myself humming the lyrics to "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught," a song from the Broadway musical South Pacific.

Lyrics:  You've Got to be Carefully Taught 
South Pacific

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught

People here in Bosnia love to talk about the problems here. They especially like to complain about how the "others" are making their lives miserable. The "others" usually mean the politicians, the government, the police, the employers, the workers, the mafia, members of other religions, etc. If only Tito were to return, so the story goes, our lives would be blissful.

What I have observed, however, is that the people I talk to are actually the "others" that are causing the real the problems. No politician could fool the Bosnian people with type of nationalistic rhetoric if the people were unified. But this country is a simmering pot of anger that is ready to explode. And, like most problems, it starts in the homes and in the families.

People here are taught to hate "all the people your relatives hate." Hate and anger are taught at home. And then they are reinforced by the culture, the society, and the politicians.

Not everyone, mind you. But far, far too many.

A Muslim friend of mine was explaining to me how it works. First, the societies are kept separate. Muslim children go to school with other Muslim children. Orthodox children go to different schools or at different times. Second, they are discouraged from playing with children who are not of their faith. Third, neighborhoods and villages are slowly separating...houses are sold or rented based on religious affiliations. Fourth, the rate of interfaith marriages have plummeted. While I know of some, there are far less of these type of marriages than 20 years ago. Far less. Finally, peer pressure is applied to make sure one understands his place in the world. My friend has been told things like "you should not have any Serb friends because you would be disrespecting the memory of your father who was killed by them."

You've got to be carefully taught.  This is the reality of Bosnia today.

Voluntary Separation

The city of Mostar is a wonderful case study for understanding Bosnia. The city is comprised of two Bosnian groups, Catholics (Croats) and Muslims. While governmental control rotates, the reality is that the two groups live almost completely separate lives within the same city.

Fall in Mostar, one of our favorite cities in the Balkans.

Catholic and Muslim children go to different schools (the only exception is Los Rosales, the center for children with disabilities). They have two different hospitals. They generally live in two different areas of the city. They have two different bus stations. Basically, the two sides live together in disunity.

Every resident of Mostar understands this reality. Because they have been carefully taught. It takes outsiders a while to figure everything out, however. It is so bad that I've heard stories about Croats (they were the ones who destroyed the old bridge during the war because they considered it Muslim) who still refuse to walk across the restored bridge today.

This is happening everywhere. Before the war, Sarajevo was about 50% Muslim. Today it is almost 80%. Entire villages are becoming 100% ethnically separated. A Serb village might be 5 km from a Muslim village but there will be little mixing between the two groups.

The American Civil War

What is happening in Bosnia seems familiar to me because of our own experience dealing with the aftermath of the American Civil War. I grew up far from the South but our most often told family story was of John Henry Cato, a Confederate soldier who was captured and died in a prison camp in Alton, Illinois. One hundred years after the fact, I was not told this story in a hateful way. But I always felt that my ancestor had died because of gross negligence on the part of the camp officials. He and others like him were basically starved to death.

The Civil War prison at Alton, Illinois where John Henry Cato died.

I know many who were raised in the South and were taught how the South had been victimized by the North. And I am old enough to recognize subtle racist things that were a part of white 1970s American culture. I have a very close friend who is African-American who has told me that some (but not all) of his relatives taught him to distrust all white people.

America has never recovered from its Civil War. As much as we like to pretend that it is "ancient history," the wounds remain.

Bosnia's civil war was just 20 years ago. And unlike the American Civil War, there was not a winner or a loser declared. It just ended. The participants were left with the horrific reality of what had occurred. But the animosity and issues remained unresolved.

Few people were actually persecuted for war crimes from the war. The people in power remained in power. Imagine being held in one of the notorious rape camps and finally escaping. And then imagine returning to your home after the war and finding that those that had raped you were now government officials. The same goes for the soldiers that you fought against. They are now the local police force.

At least there were Union and Confederate states that soldiers and victims could go home to. Bosnia is a massive mixing pot. In order to heal many feel a need to pull back into the relative safety of their religious community...so it is little wonder that people are voluntarily separating. It seems to be the only way they can self-heal.

For a while Western governments were active in Bosnia. I talked to a friend who worked for several years as an EU-employed facilitator for a small Eastern Bosnian town. His job was to convince the Muslims and the Serbs to work together. And he felt that he was able to get some cooperation on some things. But it required a third-party facilitator. And soon Western government money and interest ran out. And so that was that.

Diversity Studies and Bosnia's Potential

I wish to take a short diversion into the world of diversity studies. Researchers have been actively looking at which types of teams produce better work; homogenous or diverse. The politically correct answer, of course, is culturally diverse teams. But the research has been mixed.

It turns out that homogenous teams have some substantive advantages. And there are many types of projects that are best suited for homogenous teams.

Culturally diverse teams can be quite messy. It takes longer for them to get functioning. There are communication issues. Research demonstrates that in the early stages of a team's life, diverse teams perform poorly relative to homogenous teams (which are usually quicker to establish effective operating procedures).

And culturally diverse teams can be a disaster if issues are not fully dealt with. If diverse teams do not deal with their differences in an honest and forthright manner, the team's output will be substandard.

Conclusion about diverse teams from recent research paper.

The good news is that a well-functioning culturally diverse team can outperform a homogenous team on tasks that are complex and require strategic insight.

All of the pieces are in place in Bosnia. All of its country neighbors are homogenous teams. And so it not surprising that they are all outperforming Bosnia at the moment. But none have the cultural diversity that Bosnia has. So none have the same potential for creativity, innovation, and global appeal as Bosnia does.

To achieve it's potential, Bosnia has to embrace its diversity. Differences cannot be suppressed; they have to be resolved. One point of view cannot dominate the other. All have to be open and free.

Right now, this is not happening. Which is why Bosnia is such a poor performing team. But the potential for greatness is there.

Like a Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof tells the story of a small little Jewish community located in the fictional village of Anatevka, Russia. For most of the play, the community seems to be the only occupants of this little village. But slowly the audience comes to realize that there "are others in this little village of ours." The "others" are ultimately portrayed as the villains who forcibly kick the Jews out of their homes. But let me suggest that the disaster was inevitable and that the Jewish community was partially to blame.

In my opinion Bock and Harnick's play is vastly under appreciated. 

What good can come of isolation? Especially cultural isolation when you are surrounded by "others." Like it or not, we all live in a vast global village of ideas and cultures. Isolationism can only lead to distrust, anger, economic stagnation, and conflict. I ask again. What good can come of isolation?