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Ethnic Divisions in Bosnia-Herzegovina - the Inequality Between Three Different Ethnic Groups in the Country and How Media Is Used to Portray Them

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Ethnic Divisions in Bosnia-Herzegovina - the Inequality Between Three Different Ethnic Groups in the Country and How Media Is Used to Portray Them ”People have to engage, any other option simply doesn’t exist” Ethnic divisions in Bosnia-Herzegovina - The inequality between three different ethnic groups in the country and how media is used to portray them Karolina Jurcevic 2020-06-07 Programme: Master of Arts: Media and Communication Studies – Culture, Collaborative Media and Creative Industries Media and Communication Studies: Master's (Two-year) Thesis Advisor: Michael Krona Examinator: Bo Reimer 1 Abstract The aim of this thesis is to observe how media and activism can be a part of the post-conflict peace building in Bosnia as well as to highlight the work and importance of NGOs in the country. This thesis will focus on how these NGOs work with media and activism in order to contribute to the post-conflict peace building. Further, it will analyze elements of civic activism as well as grassroots activism to see how the organizations implement these in their work. Eight interviews have been conducted with two participants from four NGOs in the country. The result shows that whilst ethnic divisions still largely characterize the contemporary Bosnian society, there are instances where ethnic differences have been disregarded. Further, the result shows that the everyday work of these organizations showcase a great example of how ethnic divisions can be combated and how social change can be achieved. Keywords: Bosnia, activism, civic activism, grassroots activism, post-conflict peace building 2 Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) for giving me the possibility to conduct my field study in Bosnia-Herzegovina. I would also like to give thanks to my supervisor Michael Krona, for all the support and guidance. Further, I would like to convey the utmost appreciation to all organizations who took their time to participate in this study. Za kraj, ja bi volila posebno da se zahvalim mojim roditeljima i sestri, za sve njihove price sto su podjelili samnom i za svu njihovu potporu. Hvala vam. 3 Table of contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 4-5 1. Introduction 6 2. Research aim and questions 7 3. Background 7 3.1 Ottoman rule 7-9 3.2 Bosnia under Austria-Hungary and The kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes 9-10 3.3 Bosnia under Josip Broz Tito 10 3.4 The death of Tito and the beginning of the civil war in Yugoslavia 11 3.5 The Yugoslav war in Bosnia and the Dayton peace agreement 11-13 4. Theoretical framework 13 4.1 Activism 13 4.2 Civic activism 13-15 4.3 Grassroots activism 15-16 4.4 Ethnic nationalism 16-18 5. Previous research 19 5.1 Post-conflict peace building in Bosnia 19-20 5.2 Activism 21 5.3 Media activism 21-22 6. Methodology 22 6.1 (Online) Interviews 22-25 6.2 Limitations - Interviews 25-26 6.3 Limitations - Covid-19 26-27 6.4 The connection between the methodology and the theoretical framework 27-28 7. Ethics 28 7.1 Ethics regarding interviews 28-29 7.2 Ethics regarding the research 29 8. Data analysis 29 8.1 Organization 1 - YIHR (Youth Initiative for Human Rights) 30 8.2 Organization 2 - Zasto Ne 30-31 8.3 Organization 3 - CNA (Centre for nonviolent action) 31 8.4 Organization 4 - HiA (Humanity in Action) 31-32 8.5 Why these organizations? 32-33 8.6 Interview 1 - YIHR (Youth Initiative for Human Rights) 33-35 8.7 Interview 2 - Zasto Ne 35-37 8.8 Interview 3 - CNA (Centre for nonviolent action) 37-38 8.9 Interview 4 - HiA (Humanity in action) 38-39 4 9. Analysis 39-45 10. Conclusion 45-46 References 47-54 5 1. Introduction Between 1992-1995, Bosnia-Herzegovina (henceforth ”Bosnia”) faced a gruesome civil war, resulting in over 100,000 deaths (Hall, 2014, p. 45). In 1995, the Dayton Peace Accords were signed, resulting in the end of the war. The peace agreement divided the country into two entities - The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska (The Serbian Republic), whereas Muslims and Croats would control the politics of the first and Serbs would control the politics of the latter (Babuna, 2005, p. 418). Whilst the agreement put an end to the violence, it presented very little values needed to implement in society in order to reach a perpetual solution to the ethnic conflict in the country (Dyrstad, Ellingsen & Rød, 2015, p. 5). It also furthered the conflict in an already ethnically divided Bosnia, partially by implementing the term ”Bosniaks” as a term only used for Bosnian Muslims, whilst it previously had been used by Bosnians of any religion (Babuna, 2005, p. 419). Contemporary Bosnia is facing multiple challenges. The ethnic divisions in the country are affecting education, causing segregations in schools by dividing young students in physical spaces based of their ethnicity (Delauney, 2019). Further, the divisions aggravate the discrimination in the political sphere of Bosnia, banning individuals to run for political positions based on their ethnicity, religion or geographical accommodation. The country’s constitution even refers to citizens who do not ”belong” too or don’t identify as either of the three main ethnic groups only as ”others” (Human rights watch, 2019). As a country that experienced ”negative peace”, meaning peace where only the war and violence ended but long-term peace was not implemented, Bosnia is in need of a ”positive peace”, where a long-term sustainable peace is established (Autesserre, 2017). There are several non-governmental organizations working towards this goal in the country. The work of four of these organizations will be presented in this thesis. As digital and social media have grown as tools for civic activism (Youngs, 2019), this thesis will focus on these organizations work with media with the aim of seeing how media is used as a tool in these organizations in order to portray and attempt to change the historical and contemporary ethnic divisions in the country. 6 2. Research aim and questions This thesis aims to observe how media can be a part of the post-conflict peace building to highlight the work and importance of NGO’s. Therefore, this paper will regard the ethnic divisions in contemporary Bosnia, focusing on how media is used as a tool by NGO’s to portray and attempt to change the historical and contemporary ethnic divisions in the country. The matter will be discussed based on the following research questions: How do non-governmental organizations in Bosnia-Herzegovina use media in order to portray the ethnic divisions in the country? How do these non-governmental organizations use media as a tool for activism in order to contribute to the post-conflict peace building in Bosnia? What types of activism do these organizations work with? 3. Background To better understand the ongoing conflict in Bosnia and the 1990’s civil war, one must first understand the history of the country and the history of the three ethnic group in the country. Therefore, this chapter will present the history of Bosnia, from the Middle Ages to the signing of the Dayton agreement in 1995. 3.1 Ottoman rule Bosnia has for a long time mainly consisted of three different ethnic groups: Bosnians, Serbians and Croatians. Today, the country is divided into two parts: The federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska. The former belongs to the Bosniaks (Bosnians of Muslim legacy) and Croatians (Bosnians of Croatian legacy). The latter belongs to Serbians (Bosnians of Serbian legacy) (Durakovic, Radeljkovic & Hunt, 2013, p. 23). However, the country has changed a lot over the years in regards to geographical property and politics. Each of the ethnic groups has an individual story regarding their Bosnian nationality. 7 The origins of the Bosniak nationality can be traced back to the Ottoman rule. During this period, Christians converted to Islam, pushed by legal and socio-economic benefits that existed for muslims (Hoare, 2007, p. 43). However, conflicts arose between Muslims (from the Ottoman Empire and Bosnia) and the Christian nations. These conflicts contributed to the image of the ”Muslim” identity amongst Bosnian Muslims, whilst internal conflicts between the Ottoman state and the muslims in Bosnia, in turn added to the image of the Bosnian Muslims as ”Bosniaks” (Babuna, 2005, p. 405). The origins of the Serbian national identity have been shaped primarily by the orthodox religion. Prior to the Ottoman conquest, the orthodox religion was not largely spread in Bosnia (Judah, 2000, p. 10). The Vlachs, the orthodox population that established themselves in Ottoman Bosnia and later became Serbs, built their own sovereign military forces under their own superiors, separated from the Ottoman military forces (Hoare, 2007, p. 51). However, they were also used by the Ottomans for work with transportation units (Ružica. 2010, p. 2). In return, the elite Vlachs were spared from tax payment (Kursar, 2013, p. 131). With time, the elite developed a patriotic identity within Bosnia (Hoare, 2007, p. 53). Whilst the Vlachs kept their privileges for a while and were included in the Ottoman social life, they were over time reduced to a status of re’âyâ (the tax paying lower class). As all the high positions in the state were kept for the Muslims, the Vlachs only way in was to convert to Islam religion (Kursar, 2013, p. 148). The origins of the Croat national identity can be traced to the Franciscan friars. They maintained the Catholic religion in the nation throughout the Ottoman supremacy (Hoare, 2007, p. 58). Although Bosnian Christians had been present in the country before the Ottoman supremacy and held onto their religion during the Ottoman power, it took a while before they started to identify themselves as a separate ethnic group.
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