August 31st - International Day of the Disappeared

photo info

(via B92 blog) SARAJEVO -- The International Committee of the Red Cross data shows that 15,655 people are still listed as missing from the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.

The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), based in Bosnia, said on the occasion of International Day of Disappeared marked this Sunday, that 40,000 people are estimated to have disappeared in the wars in former Yugoslavia, 30,000 of those in Bosnia.

This organization also said that its data showed there are between 8,000 and 10,000 unsolved cases there, and 12,000-14,000 in the region.

"On International Day of Disappeared it is important to stress that the problem of the missing, and the human suffering accompanying, it is a universal problem of human rights," said ICMP chief Catherine Bomberger.

Black Meets The Balkans - Part 106987

Gorgeous pictures of (queen of my world) Grace Jones by Serbian photographer Andrea Klarin





More here

Never learning?

FIFA fines Croatia for racist fans




Fifa has fined the Croatia Football Federation £14,920 after a section of their supporters racially abused Emile Heskey during the World Cup qualifier with England. ...

It is the second time in a matter of months Croatian fans have been found guilty of racist behaviour with Fifa issuing a small fine during Euro 2008 following chants during their quarter-final against Turkey....

Heskey has been racially abused while playing for England in Slovakia in 2002, while Shaun Wright-Phillips and Ashley Cole were subjected to monkey chants in a friendly against Spain in Madrid in 2004.

"You have to let the people above deal with that and I'll carry on playing my game," Heskey said after the match. "They are ignorant people, you have to ignore it and enjoy your game. Their players weren't happy about it either."

Read the entire article here.

Also if you have time, check out this series on The Real Football Factories - The Balkans on Youtube. These are the dudes that made me scared to go to Serbia a few months back. Here's Part 1...If only they could fight the police in the name of something good.

Sounds

In case you were wondering what my neighborhood sounded like last night. Wonder no more..



We had another visit from the Balkan brass band. They seem to come around about once a month during the summer but I never went over to look until last night.

Here are some blurry images too (gotta figure out the camera night-shot feature still)




I love Balkan brass music, it always makes me wanna dance*, but alas Slovenian music is not Balkan music. The most beloved Slovenian music is this:



Bless these people, but it just aint my thang.

*Of course, I don't dance because people here don't really dance and I just haven't been intoxicated or crazy enough to make myself the unsolicited and uncompensated life of the party.

What Happened

I came across this great in-depth Al-Jazeera report on the Srebenica Massacre. It will give you some insight into who and what Radovan Karadzić is.

Here is part 1 (be careful - it is GRAPHIC)



Part 2

Also....

Jose, Gilles, but no Camille?

NOTE: New York friends, go see these people (and many other dope ones) in Central Park for free- THIS SUNDAY!!!

I was planning to go to Serbia (Niš, to be exact) to see two of my favorite music people Gilles Peterson and Jose James in concert at the Niš jazz festival, but then the television blared with news of people rioting in the streets of Belgrade....which is a city I would have to pass through. The Captain is none to keen on my adventurous backpacking to Serbia trip anymore. Anyone out there got first-hand news on the situation? I hear it was just a bunch of football hooligans, but I am in no mood to be hooliganized.

Africa + Balkans =

I am stealing this post from my new blog, but only cause its appropriate here.

Just grabbed this great mix off of the fabulous Masalacism blog. West Africa (where my mother is from) and the Balkans (where I live) come together to make a sweet track.

Grandpamini- Les Princes du Tiers-Monde (direct dowload)

BTW, I am DYING to dance. I think I am going to have to find somewhere to DJ once a week.

Slovenia in the Economist

I have been amazed with how horrendous news coverage is here, in the states. I watched NBC Nightly News and their major stories were about snow, staph infection, and a special CSI unit for pet crimes. There was nothing they'd reported on that was Actual News. Even when I took off my Expat Snob glasses it was still abominable. There are a number of stories that I'd been following via BBC and Sky News when I was in Europe and I haven't heard any mention of them on any channel since I've been here. I have not even seen any coverage of Iraq or anything. I guess I am going to have to rely solely on the internet for news whilst I'm here.

One of the stories I have been following with great interest is the Kosovo imbroglio in Serbia. The Economist has a good write up (a few weeks old, I'm sorry) about the effect Slovenia's fast approaching EU presidency may/could have on helping the EU deal with this conflict. I hadn't really considered the points the article raises, but now I have my fingers crossed that Slovenia will be The Little Engine That Could on this issue.


(Photo from Economist by Peter Schrank. Thanks to Marko Bucik for linking that article!)

Black British Balladeer Croons to Croatia's Content

This funny little story caught my eye the other day. Opera singer Tony Henry was tapped to sing the Croatian national anthem for the England - Croatia game and apparently may have made a tiny linguistic blunder that really pleased the Croatian fans, many of whom are still singing his praises on message boards. Watch it with (a possible) translation below.

More In The Balkans

For some reason, I turned to The Captain the other day and queried, "What's going on in Bosnia? I haven't heard anything in a while. Maybe I should drop them an email." Well A Fistful of Euros has posted that Bosnia's government is in the midst of collapse and explains what that means exactly.

Also, on Fistful is an excellent update on the status of the Balkan states in their race for EU membership. I am really disappointed to hear that the EU is not taking a harder line on social justice issues and trying to bring war criminals to justice before granting S&A status. I was a young punk rocker and while I have grown up and out of a lot of my "anti-everything" attitude, I am still looking at the EU and some of its policies with a very wary sideways glance (hey I'm also a political scientist). I am interested to see how things unfold so I'm glad to have found the Fistful website.

In other Balkan news, on the heels of the Croatia - England game, the Croatian football coach was arrested last night for shoplifting stationary... I find this ironic considering the horrific time I had sending post in Croatia this summer. Nonetheless, I can't shake have the sneaking suspicion that this might be a slight English conspiracy. I don't much care about football, but if I did I think I'd root for Croatia this time around.

The Decade of Brainwashing

(via The Glory of Carniola) I just read this incredibly insightful article by Croatian writer, Vladimir Arsenijevic, about the history of the conflict in Kosovo.

Here are some of the most amazing quotes

But right at the very bottom came the Albanians who lived in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo. Their language wasn't a Slavic language. They were poorer than the rest of us. Their culture was pretty alien. In the motley collection of different kinds of Yugoslavs they, as the southernmost ethnic group, were condemned to play the role of the absolute outsiders.

Anything that the rest of us in former Yugoslavia claimed to know about the Albanians was put together from a hodgepodge of offensive cliches.

and

A few years ago the Serbian media reported for months on end on mass graves whose dead had been identified by forensic experts as Kosovo Albanians. One of the most horrific images was that of a refrigerated lorry out of which murdered Kosovo Albanian women, children and old people were disposed in Lake Perucac, near the mouth of the river Derventa. On our screens we saw half-decayed, clothed corpses being pulled out of the water, we heard the shocking confession of the driver, who had been told to transport the dead out of Kosovo in order to cover up the crime. At the time a Belgrade television station broadcast an interview with a man bathing untroubled in this beautiful lake from whose green waters the corpses had just been pulled. When the reporter asked whether this bothered him the simpleton stood there shaking his head as the water dripped off him. Blinking innocently and smiling laconically, he looked at the camera and said without turning a hair: "To be honest, I don't believe all that," and dived defiantly back into the water.

This article is definitely a must read. When I tell friends and family where I have moved, I always inevitably get questions about these Balkan conflicts. My friends here sometimes try to argue that this is a totally unique situation and push "ancient enemies" explanations on me. I know I still have lot to learn, but when, in the first sentence, the writer says "Kosovo Albanians used to be simply 'our negroes'", I know I am not treading on terribly unfamiliar territory.

Definitely check out that article!