It is always an appropriate occasion to attempt to transcend the routine banalities of the Srebrenica debate which turns mostly on numbers. When we say “debate” we are aware, of course, that this is a highly unpopular notion, and unfortunately precisely for those who should be conducting that debate with us. They deny as a matter of principle that there is anything to debate. So many thousand prisoners were executed and a distinguished international judicial forum of unquestioned authority has found it to constitute genocide. (These are the “routine banalities” that define the parameters of Srebrenica as an issue at least, if not as a debate.) According to our hypothetical debating partners there is nothing to debate because everything is settled and clear.

The controversy of Srebrenica enters a new phase. There is now a definitive new study in English incorporating the most up to date evidence and presenting a thorough critique of the evidence (or what passed for evidence) that was available previously. It is  the monograph prepared by a group of authors and published by Srebrenica Historical Project entitled “Deconstruction of a virtual genocide: An intelligent person’s guide to Srebrenica.”

The guiding concept behind the monograph was to address all the key points in this controversy within the confines of a single readable and well-documented volume. As we have always done since the beginning of our work, we have strived here also to achieve maximum balance and fairness with a minimum of emotion. The banishment of emotion from the discussion of such a highly charged topic as Srebrenica may appear to be a difficult and nearly impossible task. But it is not so daunting after all when it is approached in the right way. The now familiar descent into emotionalism whenever Srebrenica is debated occurs only when the subject is approached by those who have a set agenda. They usually take extreme positions and since their claims are not supported by facts they must resort to emotion, and on occasion even vituperation and ad hominem diatribes, to make up for the shortcomings of their “arguments.”

Last month was the 18th anniversary of the attack on the Serbian village of Kravica committed by Moslem forces from Srebrenica under the command of Naser Orić on Orthodox Christmas day, January 7, 1993. Several dozen villagers were killed in the attack, the remaining Serbian population was forced to flee to safety, and many homes were pillaged, demolished and torched during the several weeks that Kravica was forcibly occupied by neighbours from nearby Srebrenica. Regardless of arcane debates of who started the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on a human level the attack on the village of Kravica and the ensuing slaughter and expulsion of its inhabitants was a crime, just as the firebombing of Dresden and the slaughter of that city’s citizens, without any apparent military purpose and at the very end of World War II, was also a crime.

Several days ago our NGO received a report on the frequency of viewing of our internet site located at www.srebrenica-project.com  The results were more than satisfactory. There is literally not a single significant location in the world where our work is not being followed.
At least two principal conclusions can be drawn from that. First, the institutional Srebrenica narrative, which we are challenging with facts at every turn, with its standard and nauseously hyperbolic refrains about “genocide” and “eight thousand men and boys,” is rapidly losing momentum. As a mass of new evidence comes to light, that narrative is becoming less sustainable. An increasing number of people who can think critically realise that the skillfully packaged Srebrenica propaganda narrative is full of holes, like Swiss cheese. Second, our success is proof that the truth is sturdy enough to gain its proper place in the marketplace of ideas. The deluge of ruthless propaganda can sideline it for a while, but it cannot suppress it permanently. That is a consoling thought indeed in a world where   it appears that lies and disinformation usually carry the day.

Srebrenica Historical Project announces with great pleasure that the debate about Srebrenica that was recently conducted between Mirsad Tokača, Director of the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center, and Stephen Karganović and Ljubiša Simić, representing the Project, was posted on You Tube. It is broken into eight segments and can be accessed from the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=debata+o+srebrenici&aq=f

The debate was broadcast by Radio Belgrade 2, on the political discussion show „Atlantis“ with host Biljana Đorović in two approximately one hour segments on 31 October and 7 November, 2010.

We invite our readers who understand the local languages of the Former Yugoslavia to click on the You Tube link. We look forward to their comments.

[Was the “Srebrenica genocide” something that was readily detectible around the time it occurred, or was it a scenario that was constructed after the fact, almost as a propaganda afterthought? Professor J. P. Maher (University of Illinois, Linguistics, ret.) offers some intriguing insights through a study of the temporal distance between the events of July 1995 and the public debut of some of the key terminological markers of the institutional Srebrenica narrative.]

No reports from 10 July 1995 and ensuing days and weeks refer to “the massacre of 8000 (or 7000 etc.) Muslim men and boys”. When did commentators first start using the formulation, the catch phrase?

From Iran there is no mention of a massacre having taken place:
“Iranian foreign minister [Ali Akbar] Velayati, in a message to the UN secretary-general, has asked for immediate action to prevent a massacre of the defenceless people of Srebrenica by the Serb rebels[1].

A review of  Germinal Civikov’s Srebrenica: The Star Witness
(NGO Srebrenica Historical Project: 2010; translated from the German, Srebrenica: Der Kronzeuge, 2009, by John Laughland)

[Professor Edward Herman is a distinguished American scholar with an abiding interest in the Srebrenica story. That interest is reflected in many critical essays and books. In his latest, The Politics of Genocide (Monthly Review Press, 2010), co-authored with David Peterson, Prof. Herman analyses the contrast between mass slaughters which serve the political interests of hegemonistic powers and are therefore portrayed as constructive, and other examples of similar or worse conduct, real or fabricated, which are treated as heinous violations of international law and morality. Where in that scheme of things he situates Srebrenica (to which a chapter in his book is devoted) may be deduced from the fact that he has termed the Srebrenica genocide allegation “the greatest triumph of propaganda to emerge from the Balkan wars.” Prof. Herman, along with others, including Germinal Civikov, the author of the book reviewed here, has made a signal contribution to the slow but certain deconstruction of the toxic Srebrenica myth. With great pleasure, Srebrenica Historical Project offers Prof. Herman’s review of the English-language translation of Civikov’s The Star Witness to our readers.]

The audio material that follows is the record of a debate on Srebrenica which was quite extraordinary by Balkan standards. It was extraordinary, in the first place, because it was civilized. The debate took place between Mr. Mirsad Tokača of the Sarajevo based Research and Documentation Center and Stephen Karganović and Dr. Ljubiša Simić of Srebrenica Historical Project. It was broadcast by Radio Belgrade 2, on the political discussion show „Atlantis“ with host Biljana Đorović in two approximately one hour segments on 31 October and 7 November, 2010. Our readers are well aware of our commitment to civility, which is reflected on every page of our site. Indeed, the debate on this sensitive subject took place in a rational and mutually respectful atmosphere, and not a single impolite word was uttered. We wish that all Srebrenica debates could be conducted in the same spirit and that this very controversial topic could be sorted out in such an atmosphere of reason and respect.

The intelligent person’s guide to Srebrenica

By Stephen Karganović and Ljubiša Simić


It is not possible to discuss meaningfully the events surrounding Srebrenica without taking a holistic approach. That means that the core event, the prisoner massacre that occurred between July 11 and 19, 1995, must be broadly contextualised to include an analysis of the role of major external actors [e.g. international community, media, etc.] as well as important internal factors [e.g. attacks on surrounding Serbian villages, failed demilitarisation process, etc.] which shaped the events that culminated in the large scale loss of life. That, in a nutshell, is the central thesis of this monograph recently published in Serbian by the Srebrenica Historical Project which will soon appear in English translation.

There are at least three important reasons why Srebrenica must be made the subject of relentless critical deconstruction until we are fully satisfied that we have arrived at the truth.

1.    Legal. The integrity of the international legal system will be seriously compromised if the results reached by political instruments such as ICTY are allowed to stand unchallenged. Acquiescence in its shoddy practices will lower standards generally and it will set a dangerous precedent, emitting the message that international legal institutions are a farce and that they may be instrumentalised with impunity by whoever happens at the moment to exert hegemonistic influence in the world.  If the institution former President Milošević, in his idiosyncratic but in this case unintentionally perfect English, called “the false tribunal” is allowed the benefit of its pretenses, the future of international jurisprudence will not be brilliant. Other, properly constituted international legal organs, which do operate with due regard for the established principles of international jurisprudence, will be tainted by association.