The Balkans Project

Ranko Milanović-Blank at a reading in Berlin.

Ranko Milanović-Blank, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

I used to have nickname for about a decade. It was Killer. I was Ranko the Killer. Let me explain the origin of this nickname.

It was a reaction to the typical perception of internationals to the Balkans, to balkanization, and to the wars and the people here. Wherever I went after the war, in Europe, in the United States, and whatever I said, people tried to connect that somehow to the war. I would say, “I like this water.” And they would ask, “Did you have water during the war?” I used to be a human being before the war. I was ironic before and after the war. The war was a big, unforgettable experience. I was at the Jesus age during the war – 33 – and I was ready to die. I learned what I needed to know at that age. The war didn’t make my personality. It was an episode of my life. People in the West gave to much weight to this experience. And I was very irritated by this. At that time, I was very offended by such questions. And I reacted very aggressively. I didn’t hit anyone, but I answered very aggressively. I didn’t give people the answers that they wanted. I wanted to confuse them. That’s the context from which my nickname emerged. But now, I’m getting old and more tolerant. This means: I’m getting “internationalized.”

On Balkan stereotypes

It’s difficult to speak about these experiences without being pathetic or angry. It’s not only because we experienced something terrible here. It’s also because we were exposed to standardized interpretations or stereotypes. You’re from the Balkans, you must be this or that. You must have this or that thought. You belong to this ethnic group and you are like this or that. It’s very insulting.

These Balkan stereotypes keep evolving. And people and nations more and more start to live these stereotypes. People in Bosnia and Herzegovina build their lives around these stereotypes. They forget to live spontaneously. They live how they are told to live. These stereotypes are pushed and developed through the media. They are supported internationally and by local nationalists and chauvinists.

The striking example is ethnic identity. People here are told that ethnic identity is a very important thing. And that an intrinsic part of ethnic identity is religion. And that you can’t have a state except a nation-state. And nation-state means a state of only one ethnic group. Ideologically, the politicians say that they are multicultural. But really they all want to have a single ethnic state. This was believed before the war. During the war, this belief was strengthened by ethnic conflicts, ethnic cleansing, and killing. And now people are trying to strengthen ethnic identity and fight against all other ethnic groups. As was the case during the war, each group fought against the other two “constitutional” ethnic groups in various combinations: Bosniaks against Serbs, Bosniaks against Croats, Croats against Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats against Serbs, Serbs and Croats against Bosniaks. (The only exception, if I’m not wrong, was Bosniaks and Serbs against Croats – I do not think that this combination took place.) The “other” is seen as dangerous. The “other” means mostly members of other ethnic group. But it is also members of any minority group.

There was, recently here in Sarajevo, fascistic violence against a queer event. In Belgrade, there was a serious violent attack on the first attempt to organize Pride Parade in 2001. Ever since, the GLBTIQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersexual, queer) community does not dare to try again. They tried to organize a small event – like in Sarajevo – but they were attacked by organized violent pro-Nazi groups in September 2008. In the same month, such a GLBTIQ event was successfully organized in Zagreb because Croat politicians realize that they at least have to pretend that they respect the rights of minorities. But Bosnian and Serbian politicians are still stupid enough not to pretend to protect minority rights effectively or even at all. Bosnian politicians supported the violence before it occurred: Bosniak politicians said it was not good to organize a Queer Fest because it was a provocation for Muslims in the month of Ramadan. Serb and Croat politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina supported their Bosniak colleagues in this case, because the three share a hatred of a “neutral” minority. They forgot that they declared that Sarajevo was a multicultural city. “Multicultural” means different cultures living together, not one culture at one time and then another at another time. They publicly stated that the GLBTIQ community should express their beliefs in private, not in public. It didn’t matter that discrimination based on sexual orientation is forbidden by law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We have many jokes with our stereotypes here. We say that Montenegrins are lazy, that Serbians are drinkers, that Slovenians are stingy and workaholics, Bosnians (no matter whether Bosniaks, Serbs or Croats from BiH) are stupid, etc. These are stereotypes, and all stereotypes are stupid, but they also acquire some reality. The main thing here in the Balkans, as a stereotype, is: you have to cheat your own state. You have to pretend to work. You have to get a job, for instance in a public institution, and do nothing. The less you work, the better person you are. So the Slovenian stereotype – of working hard – goes beyond the Balkans. So, Slovenians – and Croatians – don’t want to be part of the Balkans. The more and more they believe so and behave so, the more and more they are not Balkan. People are what they think they are. They change in accordance with their thoughts. The Balkans is not a territory but a behavior, a mentality, a story, a narrative.

If you talk to people who were refugees during the war, they will tell you how they were treated abroad. People there tried to explain what a vacuum cleaner was, what a heater was. People there believed that we were from the jungle, that we didn’t live in the civilized world. They didn’t think that we had running water much less universities. They would ask questions like: can you understand people from the other ethnic group; can you talk together, do you have ethnically mixed marriage, if you were here during the war did you have to join the army? Our whole lives were interpreted in war terms. An artistic group of my friends and me – Ambrosia – did many performances in the West. And whatever we did was perceived as some interpretation of the war, but we were simply referring to some tradition of performance art, contemporary electronic music, poetry etc.

Another stereotype was: if I’m from Bosnia, then I’m a Muslim. I would enter a shop in New York looking to buy a backpack. The African-American shop clerk recognized my poor English and asked where I was from. I said that I’m from Bosnia. And he says, “Ah, I’m Muslim too!”

And now the stereotypes become reality. The country is definitely divided into three ethnic groups. There is a narrative about multiethnic society, promoted mostly by Bosniaks, but nobody believes it. Sarajevo, in particular, is becoming more and more a Muslim city. Me, I don’t see a problem in that. But the problem is that they should stop talking about multiethnicity. I don’t like it but the reality is that the country is becoming more and more divided along ethnic lines. There are still people of different ethnic groups living together, but I don’t see a future for Bosnia as a multiethnic society, at least over the next 20 years.

A few years after the war, I believed in a multiethnic society here in Bosnia Herzegovina despite all the conflicts and tragedies. I really believed it was possible. And I’ve been trying to contribute to that. Now I don’t believe it’s possible in the next 20 years. The big powers are involved, and they do not want to help real multicultural societies. I am very sorry about this. I don’t want to foster this illusion by saying that I have many friends in different ethnic groups. That is normal. But I’m talking about the system. The system is ethnocentric, fundamentalist. It’s not about people. People are easy to manipulate. They would accept any political system in a few months of good propaganda.

On Europe

The region is on sale to NATO and Europe. There is a verse by Hoelderlin that Heidegger liked a lot that goes something like this: Wherever a danger is/There is salvation. And I would add: and vice versa. Europe is our future. It doesn’t mean that we will be happy, and everything will be fine. Some things might improve. And some things will be worse. Many people will be poorer; many people will be richer; and everybody will be unhappy because money does not bring happiness.

I like the European construct of identity. I believe in that. But I would like to put some parentheses around it. The European identity means we are all ethnocentric. The European identity means that I am the center of universe, and the “other” is worth less. If there is anything worse than European identity it is American identity. Heidegger said, “Americanism is something European.” It is colonialism, ethnocentrism, and fake tolerance. There is a certain intellectual discipline – of rationality and lack of empathy - but there is also a rhetoric of being good: “I am a good person and I want to help you.” Many Europeans criticize the American way of life as something stupid. Heidegger said, well, it’s also the essence of European identity. And now there’s no real choice between the United States and Europe. It’s all about Euro-Atlantic integration, about joining Europe and NATO.

Interviewed in Sarajevo, December 2008

Link:

Ranko Milanović-Blank on the origins of his nickname, “The Killer”.