fractures : Yugoslavia 1999
INTRODUCTION
23th March 1999 - 5th June 1999 : one more episode in an 8-year-old series of wars.
Wars of aggression or liberation for some, wars of secession for others. A disaster for all.
A very media-driven war, live. The haiku mailing-list Shiki Salon reacts very fast; writers from all over the world publish. In Yugoslavia haiku is very popular and Dimitar Anakiev (Slovenia) puts Yugoslav authors on the list. He edited a Column "Haiku from Shelter" with the best haiku written in bombed Yugoslavia and has been the object of an international publication "A piece of the sky".
Better than reports or pictures, haiku shows situations efficiently. Of course, there were some constructed images, propaganda-like, but many others were sincere. Haiku shows everyday life and allows one to understand the Serbian state of mind better.
I have kept only images that to me seemed true, sincere, objective. I have added mine, as seen on TV, in newpapers, all written in a state of emotion.
I have tried to be objective. I think that we must preserve to dignity of each person: on the roads, during in air-raid alarms, in camps and prisons, in mass graves.
These images have stuck in my mind, among many others :
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- the destruction of Vukovar, and the execution of the wounded (11/20/91) - refugees in snow and mud - burnt down houses, everywhere - the siege of Sarajevo, Sniper Alley; the graveyard in the stadium - scrawny prisoners, first Croatians and then Bosnians in camps (Omarska, Keraterm, Trnopolje...) - the siege of muslim enclaves and the Szrebrenica slaughter (07/11-07/16/95) - the Sarajevo market - the old Mostar bridge - Kosovar refugees in the mud, Kukes and Kumanovo camps - refugees on tractors, Croatians, Bosnians, Serbs, Kosovars and then again Serbs |
When I work with my Croatian and Serbian friends on our multicultural web site about haiku-writing in the Balkans, I think about it.
However, I must make it perfectly clear that this introduction is only my own opinion and does not necessarily reflect the views of published authors.
Serge Tomé
Liège Belgique