Guests

Amina Siljak-Jesenkovic

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Maybe it would be better for me to elide my speech, since speaking on the Conference about Education for a Culture of Peace, during the Year of European heritage, imposes a need for eulogizing the values established as a norm. I wonder how to speak about values and heritage of the Old Lady who has imposed general social standards throughout the history, as well as ethic and esthetic norms, and historically remains persistent in her promiscuity.

To erase historical memory of European heritage of Crusades, the wars that led ones into the death under a mask of protecting what is saint in one book, to sacrilege and cause deaths of followers of other book, the wars whose destiny was only a fight for a territory and war trophies for flag bearers, leading their citizens into the death for holiness of an idea. To forget Europeans who persecuted and enslaved domicile inhabitants while colonizing America... To forget pan-European ideal in Napoleon's, as well as in Hitler's interpretation. To somehow erase our memory of the heritage of Inquisition, colonialism, racism, Nazism, Holocaust victims as the victims of Nazism ideology on one, and four hundred and fifty thousands of Dresden victims of Nazism ideology on the other side. And to be silent, the way that Europe was, about burrows that were being made in this country until ten years ago, about burrows that civilians were massively killed and thrown into by their Christian neighbors, just because of their Muslim names or Muslim names of their ancestors. The same neighbors, we should remind, killed, and tortured the members of Christian corpus who were ashamed to watch killing and persecuting their Muslim cohabitants. Not to speak about the fact that disappeared people just disappeared, and that it is strange how can even one man disappear just like that, not to mention ten thousands people, and not to wonder why they disappeared, and not to ask for the right punishment for those who made them disappear, and not to wonder why powerful ones didn't prevent their disappearance, all for living in peace and hoping to be accepted into the company of the Old Lady.

Here, at the gate and the entrance in Europe, where, I guess, people had to defend European heritage from non-European elements. Here, where so-called defenders of European values succeeded to commit genocide and exodus, twelve times during one and a half century, over their neighbors whose formal religious characteristic was not a cross, but moon and a star, whether by tradition or decision. Here, where, I repeat, at the entrance in Europe and at the end of the twentieth century, civilizations were chosen purposely, strategically, women were being raped by plans, where libraries, archives, manuscript collections were being burned, where sacral objects were being demolished and cemeteries desecrated.

To hide everything deep in ourselves if we cannot forget, and to be silent about all of this, the way that survived progenies of victims of eleven previous genocides were? All in order to prevent enmity, not to become victims of ideology that leads to self-destroying and destroying of others, and in some way different ones. Is this the price we have to pay to sit in the Old Lady's lap?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Even if we continue to be silent about the things that I wanted to elide, even if we forget, because it is painful to remember, I wonder if it makes any sense to speak about education for a culture of peace here, in Europe or at the entrance, and how much does it make sense to appeal to anyone?

What can do an intellectual or an artist from non-European country with a few million years-lasting tradition, living in European country, who has to pass Scylla and Harybda to get a visa for waiting for half an hour at the airport in one of European heritage countries, to arrive to this Conference? What can he do, after successfully passed barriers for "getting the visa", if authorities that have occupied his country keep him a day or longer, in order to show who is "a boss"? Does it make any sense to waste the energy in education for a culture of peace, if, not only an ordinary citizen, but a citizen - whether he is a scientist or an artist - has to go through a number of humiliations and proving his identity, to reveal his family's privacy, payment, money on account, just to get a visa and travel according to his intellectual or spiritual needs? Does it make any sense, despite all that I said, for us to keep our identity in all aspects, does it make any sense not to ingratiate ourselves with standards according to which it depends on some marginal traditional characteristics of an individual, if his violence will be nominated as an incident, which represents one individual attack, or as a terrorism, which represents a violence as an expression of group ideology, according to which it depends on these same characteristics, whether killing ones will be nominated as a genocide, or as defending civilization's values? Or, is it better to become pragmatic, and try to become equal, so that more equal ones can start whispering between each other about differences between equals and more equal ones, as well as dominance of more equal ones over equals?

Ladies and Gentlemen, maybe I should have elided my speech, because of the dissonant tones that are not good for ears used on a trash melody and rhythm of those who enjoy in playback compositions of heritage on plantations of violence. My characteristic is a lack of political hearing, which is why I am going to continue playing my own movie, while enjoying in Opera, or Mozart in the Jungle, it doesn't matter.