Jenny Mees with the mayor of Tuzia (centre-lett) JENNY MEES, a founder of International Workers Aid, recently returned from an extended visit to Tuzia. She gives a vivid picture of everyday life in the city and the pressures caused by the continuing war. • IT IS DIFFICULT to form a balanced opinion while in Tuzla, with so many contradictory impressions. The region, especially the town of Tuzla, is still a multicultural and democratic society that we should support.
Life is hard and difficult. There is a lot of corruption and favouritism. A lot of undemocratic machinery is in place.
The fall of Srebrenica caused a shock in the Tuzia region, not only because of the horror of the events. but because of the further strain it put on the town's meagre resources.
The new refugees were distribHalf Price Offer: save £10.45 frightened. lems. uted among the various areas of the region. By the end of July, nearly bions. 5000 had arrived - including 15 Serbian families from Srebrenica. Tuzla sawtony crowedn Earlier refugees from Srebrenica have formed a kind of council to deal with the problems of the new refu. gees, such as tensions between the "old" and "new" refugees, and with the Tuzia municipal authorities.
Trades unions Many of the activists had been active in trade unions before the war. and, although they are no longer employed, are trying to integrate into the Tuzla trade unions Tuzla".
There were several incidents after the arrival of the refugees. One Serbian citizen was brutally murdered and several Serbian families were forced to leave their homes. These incidents—about 100 altogetherwere worse in the surrounding municipalities than in Tuzla itself.
Matters are now under control. cause of the war but of course tension has mounted and harassment of Serbian citizens has become worse.
I met Miso Bozic of the Serb Civic Council (SCC) in Tuzla, who com. plained that "the international community gives aid to the Karadzic Serbs, but not to us". He said that the 13,000 Serbs in Tuzla were without means, and were vulnerable and There are many Serbian men in the army. They face no special probThe SCC also aims to rebuild a cultural life. One problem faced by the community is the lack of an Or. thodox priest - they all joined the other side at the beginning of the war.
Noting the "Muslim euphoria". Razie called for a political struggle against nationalism.
Bozie claimed that most politi. cally-active Serbs are members of the Social Democratic Party (which governs Tuzla but is in opposition nationally), and he repeated the demand of the Serb Assembly of Bosnia, that Serbs should be considered one of the constituent peoples of the Bosnia-Herzegovina federation and that they be a party to the negotia.
also met lovan Dialovie. Vi. tomir Pavlovie and others in the Serbian Orthodox Humanitarian Association "Dobrotvor". They had quite a different story.
I was one of the very few foreigners who had ever visited this associa. where they are fighting. tion, which has no links with any organisations abroad, and has received little aid for the people which it supports - some 12-13,000, many from "mixed" families.
They were elderly, very poor, very educated and very bitter. They were "finished with Bosnia and According to Vesna Schic-Jugovic, of the Tuzia Human Rights Committee, the region had been very democratic before the fall of Srebrenica. Bosnians are not at all fanatical There were human rights and intolerant people, not even violations like in other societies; maybe worse, be. after three years of war and poverty, but no big probBut with the arrival of the refugoes, who were being used as a political weapon against Tuzla's multi-culturalism, things had started to change for the worse. tage.
No money IWA aid convoys go to Sarajevo as well as Tuzia only 6Kw per houschold. Although Bosnian TV plays a big role, with petrol is cheap, many people can still its emphasis on the Muslim cultural not use a car because spare parts and and historical heritage of Bosnia.
regisstation are capensive, and they Of course, many people stress may not have money for petrol. that they are European with a Euro.
Clothes are available, and quite pean culture - but this is difficult. cheap - for those who have any Europe has let them down, isa't inDeutschnarks. Several women told terested in them. me that hygienic goods, not only for "European culture''? To dress as personal hygiene, but also for clean. people dress in London, and use a ing the bath and toilet, are a big prob. computer? A nation needs more.
If the war ends, if there is some About humanitarian aid: most kind of political solution for Bosnia. people, even if they are not in cate- then this process can develop.
The Bosnian people can look for and then get something. Soldiers and and develop their identity after the their families get food parcels; the collapse of the Yugoslav federation. contents of the packet depend on But now? Somehow, I feel that (small?) group of very active people who are fighting for the European. "Islamisation" multi-chnic and civic coaon are About the "Islamisation"' of moving in a kind of emptiness, withTuzla? Well, you can see more girls out roots in the mass of the rest of the with the chador, more people use town - because this option seems so new, religious formulas for greeting. powerless, so without future, their saying goodbye etc, more people at- answers and options so cut off from send the mosques, there is more re- the possibly not-so-educated and enlightened ordinary citizens, let alone "gious life; all of this is the influence of the many rich humanitarian Is- the refugees It is undeniable that the city and lamic organisations and institutions.
region have changed in their ethnic and cultural composition. On the other hand, when prime minister Haris Silajdzic resigned [in protest at the growing Islamisation of the Bosnian government].
A lot of people want to survive.
the Citizens' Forum organised three many want to make a way for themselves by betting on the SDA (gov- days of petitioning for his reinstatement, with great success. ernment party) card. But also, more people want to show their affinity Because there is another reality:
the tradition of living together and with their own, Muslim cultural herimutual understanding as good This of course is stimulated in neighbours berween the Bosnians, schools by some teachers, but also they are not at all fanatical and intol.
erant people, not even after three im TH tho ME Va cha less cou coul foro calis Bole New expl Con: We c Wed and is dif ades