bosnia with blindspots

January 30, 2021


In the first weeks of 2021, I travelled to Bosnia and Herzegovina with the grassroots organisation BLINDSPOTS - a group focused on bringing attention to humanitarian crisis zones that are often overlooked by mainstream media - to lend hands in the critical support of refugees traveling along the Balkan route. There is a severe shortage of relief being provided for the thousands of refugees that are gathered in Bosnia, especially in the border canton of Una Sana. Across the country, the few camps that do exist are over-filled and under-funded, leaving the majority of migrants to survive in heavy snowfall and subzero temperatures on their own. To make matters worse, unregistered humanitarian aid has been outlawed by authorities and those caught distributing supplies or allowing residence on their property must pay heavy fines - or in the case of foreign supporters can additionally be forced to leave the country.

By cover of night and with an assemblage of stealth- tactics, a small network of local and foreign volunteers is providing the life-support of an estimated three thousand refugees (1) that are living in squats - self constructed shelters in abandoned houses and factories and in surrounding forests under open skies. 

I had spent the last months reading reports and gathering firsthand accounts of the crisis that has been unfolding in Bosnia over the past years, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality of what I witnessed. The hardships endured by the people I met are immeasurable and the attempt to understand their situation feels to me nearly impossible. 

For several people on the move, a multiple year journey is between them and their home countries (from Algeria, Afghanistan, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Syria and others) by the time they finally reach the long-awaited doorstep of the EU, only to be confronted with an atrocious lack of even minimal humanitarian support and appallingly systematic human-rights abuses (2). In a seemingly endless cycle of brutality, asylum-seekers often make it as far as Italy only to be denied their right to asylum and sent back to horridly inadequate camps (3) and sometimes even to the streets, of Bosnia.

Vahid, 17. 

He left Afghanistan with his 15 family members 4 years ago. 

2 years in Moria, 1 year in Tessaloniki, 1 year getting through Bosnia and 4 months here. 

41 attempts at crossing. 


When we met he told me the rest of his family left again on another try while he stayed behind due to a foot injury. They left without a phone and it had been 4 days since he had heard anything.

~ 

I don’t know if I have ever been filled with such despair and such motivation at the same time. To witness the adversity, the pain and the struggle was and will remain to be an immense wake-up call. The extreme inequality that exists in the world today and the blatant, systematic refusal of governmental bodies to treat fellow humans with any measure of respect or decency -  is deplorable.

Consolidation of power and resources that makes up the tune of today, is made possible through dehumanisation and exploitation of millions of people. This disparity has been amplified throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, and is further gathering momentum as governments and institutions grasp up the excuse to strengthen their borders and hoard their resources. Where the circulation of wealth is passing between a smaller and tighter group of hands and entire communities, cultures and histories are treated as pawns to be flicked off the playing board without a second of consideration.

I was deeply touched by the exchanges I had during the short time I was able to spend in Bosnia - with locals, with fellow supporters, and most of all with people on the move. The german term, überlebenskünstler, clumsily translated into english as ‘survival artist’, attempts at giving credence to the incredible resilience and dauntlessness which the refugees carry with them. Theirs is a world in which their mere existence is refused to be acknowledged and nearly everything they have has been repeatedly stripped away. And still, the openness of their expressions and the smile in their eyes was always less than a second away. On nightly wood runs we would be asked to come in for coffee, for dinner or just to talk. Inhibited by the language barrier, our exchanges were often simple yet carried along by a warmth and an ease that one is not accustomed to in the urbanised normalcy where I’ve spent a large part of my life.

One interaction in particular is resonated deeply with me. It was a conversation with a local Bosnian woman who has been secretly providing support to refugees since they first arrived in her town. In the mornings before work, she packs an extra breakfast for the man selling water bottles on the street. During her lunch break she will go home to make and pass out more food or let someone use her shower. On numerous occasions she has opened her home to a family in need, and fortunately her neighbours have not yet said anything. 

It’s simple, she said. No human being can tell someone that they have less of a right to belong on this earth than someone else. That their right to warmth, to shelter, to safety, is less important because they happened to be born on the wrong side of a line. It is only natural for us to help one another.

In a world and during a time that feels like a volcano of complication, her words ring clear. It is simple. Or at least, it can start as such. We need to de-establish the socially imposed notions of scarcity and of competition and restructure our relationships towards collectivity and consonance.

🌿

Here is a beautiful short film by Martina that tells the story of another local supporter and poignantly elucidates the scene of the Una Sana canton;

A Film by Martina Troxler and Matt Barton      //      Directed by - Martina Troxler     //    Camera - Matt Barton       //       Edit - Jhiliem Miller, Martina Troxler (Soohm Films)       //       Music -  joja music (Jaqueline Müllers)      //     Soundmix - Kai Unger


Sources;

1. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2020/12/2/bosnia-migrants-asylum-winter-eu-border-pushbacks

2. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/03/croatia-eu-complicit-in-violence-and-abuse-by-police-against-refugees-and-migrants/

3. https://freedomnews.org.uk/the-unique-solidarity-of-velika-kladusa-in-bosnia/


Additional Articles and References;