Letter: Slaughter of the Sarajevans
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: Predictably, Radovan Karadzic appeared on our screens within hours of the Sarajevo massacre to absolve his own men of any responsibility, and blame the Sarajevo authorities. To suggest people under siege would shell their own city is to dehumanise them. Karadzic and the other intellectual monsters who talk so glibly to Western interviewers have dehumanised the people of Sarajevo in the minds of their soldiers by filling them with images of past injustices, present-day conspiracies, and the need to assert historic Serbian rights.
It is clear to me that many in the West see the Bosnians in similar stereotypical terms: they are not individuals but an impersonal mass known as 'the Muslims', even though in Sarajevo, one in three marriages was mixed right up till the war.
The hostility of Douglas Hurd to journalists who try to portray the human dimension of the story is well known. If Malcolm Rifkind, the Defence Secretary, had visited the wounded in hospital on Sunday, a powerful figure would have moved beyond viewing the Sarajevans as a wretched anonymous group. Of course, no such visit was made.
Yours faithfully,
TOM GALLAGHER
Department of Peace Studies
University of Bradford
Bradford, West Yorkshire
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments