30 years after: How denial can fuel a new conflict

[u/Calvinball90]

https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/147752-30-years-after-how-denial-fuel-new-conflict.html

[u/PitonSaJupitera]

I'm way too late for this post, but the underlying premise that denial of legal categories or crimes is driving the conflict is simply false.

The conflict is entirely political and its underlying basis is more or less same as it was in the 1990s although situation has changed. Serbs in Bosnia still feel zero attachment to a newly (33 years ago) created state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and would prefer to manage their own affairs without it and would secede if they could. Bosniaks on the other hand want keep Bosnia as a single state and would prefer to dismantle the federalized structure so they, with their ultra slim majority, but one that is expect to grow in the future, and with the assistance of Croat minority could simply systematically vote out Serbs on all matters on which there are block wide disagreements.

War crimes just spice up the political conflict, and both their remembrance and denial are mostly tools in that conflict and genuine principles are not behind most of it. This applies to all sides. Denial and remembrance will be resolved when the political conflict is resolved.

It is borderline fantastical to imagine Serbs in large numbers visiting a memorial to what has been turned into a political cudgel against them (most Bosniaks do not know exactly why ICTY said Srebrenica was a genocide, nor do they really care, it only matters they find it suitable as political cudgel to demand basically assured political dominance as some sort of reparation). Same goes the other way around. Obviously others won't be visiting Serb memorials. It's clear to more informed observers that in the present political climate, those are mostly, functionally speaking, political agenda propaganda spots except for naive foreigners who get too invested and don't realize how the war crime remembrance game works. It's just that there is more international interest in memorials for and complaints by Bosniaks than Serbs.

From the last fact it follows Serbs have little interest in indulging in these virtue demonstrating gestures because they're aware they're not likely to meaningfully resolve their political problems because sides have already been picked for the most part. Chauvinist toxicity spread around Bosnia is certainly an order of magnitude worse than what I've seen in Serbia where I live, but what I highlighted has mostly killed off desire to engage in such conciliatory gestures, when not commanded from Brussels and Washington.