Dear friends,
I am addressing this to all English-speaking Serbs I know, as well as to non-Serbs with an interest in the issue.
I have just been informed by associates in Canada that the Srebrenica genocide denial law is coming up for a parliamentary vote in Ottawa. Given the climate of opinion, unless this bill is strongly and competently opposed, there is little doubt about the outcome.
Here is basic information about that parliamentary project:
https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-1837
Petition presented to the House of Commons on May 29, 2019 (Petition
No. 421-03975)
Here is how the measure's sponsor Brian Masse put the matter before his colleagues :
Madam Speaker, on the eve of White Armband Day, it is time to reflect
on the genocide denial that continues to plague our world. Petition
e-1837, which has obtained 2,134 signatures, is an opportunity to
examine the possible actions and initiatives that the government could
take to combat this horrific behaviour.
The House unanimously declared April as "Genocide Remembrance,
Condemnation and Awareness Month" and named genocides, which have been recognized by Canada's House of Commons, including the Srebrenica genocide.
It is time for the government to extend resources to commemorate the
victims and survivors of genocide, educate the public and to take
specific action to counteract genocide denial, a pernicious form of
hate which reopens wounds and reinvigorates division. Truth is
justice; honesty is the path to reconciliation and peace.
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/house/sitting-422/hansard#Int-10659620
I was contacted about this by Canadian Serbs roughly two months ago when the Bosnian Muslim petition was inserted in parliamentary procedure. They were quite concerned and indignant at that time and started consultations on what might be done about it. However, since they are Serbs their enthusiasm was short-lived. A few weeks after that they told me that the Bosniak initiative was going nowhere, that nothing would come of it, and that therefore we did not have to undertake anything in particular to stop it. I was left unconvinced by their arguments since I know the Serbian mentality rather well, but there was little I could do without assistance from people in Canada. One of the ideas that were floated in that brief period of potential activism was to hold a conference on Srebrenica in Toronto. A few of them, to their credit, continued working on that in spite of the desertion of the rest of the crew, so something is being done at this moment to at least organize the conference to inform the Canadian public about Srebrenica.
So the situation we have now is that they are shocked and horrified by something that was perfectly predictable. Bosnian Muslims are not Serbs, or at least they claim that they don't want to be, and in fact many of their cultural traits have become distinctly non-Serbian. One of the admirable traits they have acquired is persistence. Unlike Serbian Serbs, they do not give up. So it comes as no surprise to me that they have been mobilizing parliamentary support in Ottawa and quietly pushing their project so that soon it will be up for a vote. When, precisely, nobody knows, but now we do know for sure that it will be voted upon by the Canadian parliament.
We need to formulate a coherent strategy to oppose this legislative travesty. To that end, I have suggested the following approaches. First, opposition to this measure should be framed in terms of a freedom of speech and conscience issue, not whether or not genocide occurred in Srebrenica. The Canadian constitution and international conventions to which Canada is a party guarantee freedom of speech and conscience, which includes scholarly research. The Srebrenica genocide denial law would not change anybody's mind about Srebrenica, but by suppressing public discourse it would constitute a serious infringement of Canadian citizens' constitutional rights. That is the issue of principle that all can agree on and that is what should be stressed in talking to Canadian legislators. A legislator is free to think whatever he or she wants about Srebrenica, including that it was genocide. But for Canadian citizens of all backgrounds, who also happen to be legislators, their fellow-citizens' freedom of expression should take absolute priority over the agenda of a foreign lobby. A legislator who thinks that Srebrenica was genocide can still vote against this measure on freedom of speech and conscience grounds.
Secondly, the law is manifestly discriminatory in relation to the Canadian-Serbian community. I am unaware of a single Canadian Serb who thinks that what occurred in Srebrenica was genocide. This law would have a discriminatory effect on the ability of the Canadian Serbian community as such to enjoy the freedom of expression guaranteed by Canada's constitution. As Canadian Serbs they would be obliged to either maintain public silence about an issue of vital interest to their nation and community, or if they speak up in accordance with the dictates of their conscience they would have to face criminal prosecution. In Canada there is an elaborate system for filing complaints against parties deemed to have committed discrimination on religious, ethnic, or racial grounds. Those mechanisms must be taken advantage of by the Serbian community immediately. I therefore proposed that discrimination complaints be filed against all members of parliament who are sponsoring this bill, with a message thus being sent to the rest as well that should they vote for this measure they will also be targeted for committing a discriminatory act.
Thirdly, I think that Canadian Serbs should explore forming alliances with other groups who have a natural interest in the defeat of this bill. The Jewish community immediately comes to mind. Canada does not have a Holocaust denial law protecting the dignity of six million victims, yet it is contemplating a massive curtailment of its citizens' civil rights in a matter involving 8,000 unverified deaths. That is a degradation and mockery of the Jewish community. But it gets even worse. In the Tolimir judgment in 2012, the Hague Tribunal ruled that the killing of three individuals in the nearby Muslim enclave of Zepa (which is part of the same conceptual package with Srebrenica) constituted genocide. That was allegedly because those individuals were endowed with such importance within the community of Zepa that as a result of their demise the community was rendered unviable, hence subjected to genocide. Denying this absurd and tortuously reasoned finding of the Hague Tribunal that genocide occurred in Zepa (that I am certain no member of the Canadian parliament had ever even heard of) by operation of the projected denial law would also incur criminal liability on the part of the speaker. That is the absurd level to which this matter has degenerated. I think that there must be sane segments within the Jewish community in Canada that would clearly see this point and join us in opposing this odious measure.
Fourth, I would go full speed ahead with the projected Srebrenica conference in Toronto in September. As I have informed my Canadian Serb friends, should the law be adopted prior to that, as an American citizen I will have no problem saying at the conference or in a public square in Toronto that Srebrenica was not genocide. I look forward to being detained by the Canadian authorities in order that they would have to start proceedings against me that ultimately would lead to the testing of the constitutionality of this law before the Canadian supreme court.
These are the ideas that immediately come to mind. Please give this some thought and let me know what you think we should do.
Stephen Karganovic
President, Srebrenica Historical Project
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