Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding by Stipe Odak

Author:Stipe Odak
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030551117
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

He explained that there was simply too much at stake, particularly when those who had protested against the paramilitary commanders were quickly executed. Thus, for many, the opposition seemed too high a price to pay since one could lose one’s whole family to protect someone, without any guarantee that both would not be killed at the end. Thus, the final result of intervention could have been even more deaths (i.e., losing one’s family without saving a life), and the criminals would not learn any lessons.

The other side of the coin of staying silent was the disappointment of those who were abused by soldiers and expected at least some reaction from religious leaders. Domagoj, imprisoned in a detention camp during the war, mentioned two Orthodox priests who used to visit camp from time to time. One of them saw a soldier beating him and just asked the soldier not to do that in front of him. The other priest used the occasion of his visit to the camp to give Domagoj a box of cigarettes, saying, “My people are Godless. They do not care a lot about us.”68 Although neither of those two priests could have done much to obtain the release of the detainees, Domagoj perceived their reactions very differently—the first turned his head away (he did not criticize beating, but just asked the soldiers not to do it in front of him) whereas the second attempted to preserve the dignity of the victims albeit through minimal symbolic gestures.

The fear of losing a life if acting or speaking against the dominant power were not unsubstantiated. Marijan recounts the example of fra Nikica Miličević, the guardian of the Franciscan monastery in Fojnica, and Ramiz Pašić, the chief imam from the same place, who tried to prevent the ethnic cleansing and crimes in their city, unfortunately with tragic consequences:A: When our Fra Nikica with Pašić-effendi organized the meetings in Fojnica before the war, the two of them would walk through the city. They would walk up and down, everywhere—so that people could see them. One was wearing a habit [Franciscan robes] and the other ahmedia [Muslim religious robe]. An imam and a Franciscan walking through the city. Alas, they killed the Franciscan and the Imam probably also died. I don’t know what happened to him exactly. (…)

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