Do not ask me where I am - a refugee, always a refugee

There is a huge paradox in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Well, there are thousands, but this is specific. Certainly unique on the planet. And that is that you are a refugee in your own country. You may think it's an oxymoron, lapsus lingua. Unfortunately, this is true. And my story is no exception, but one in the sea of over 500,000 young people who have gone through the same scenario in the last 20 years. Tragicomic. And now this is already a global story.

What is refugee in the world, and what about BiH?

Any person who is reasonably afraid that he will be persecuted because of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a social group or political opinion - finds himself outside the country whose nationality he has is a refugee. A simplified definition defined by the standards of international law.

But, of course, it's not so in BiH. Everything is interpreted in a specific way in our country. It can be "on paper" as you wish, but it's different in the field. Formal vs. de facto. In our country, a refugee is a person who left BiH and either returned or not returned to her. But there is a refugee in our country, anyone who is not where he was born. Where his mother and mother were born, grandmother or grandfather. You can talk about how much you want to be refugees but migrants, migrants. Jaba. According to you, it is as if it were. You were from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia or from their country, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For example, I had a status of a refugee about 5 years wandering around Serbia, Montenegro and back to Bosnia and so in a vicious circle. In national states that make up the geopolitical map of the world, that national identity is number one, primary. And it was legitimate to call me and anyone else with a refugee card so I would be in Croatia, Germany or anywhere, except in BiH. After several years, my legal status has been changed from "refugees" to "displaced person", but a rabbi. Law and Bosnians / Herzegovinians - it does not.

One refugee, always a refugee

And so it really was. So I'm called wherever I found myself. From its 3-4 years to the present day. I know it's a bit difficult to explain the scenario in which you were born Sarajalija, born out of the vicinity of Visoko, that you are Bijeljina's residence, and that you live in Banja Luka, with your grandfather from Herzegovina, grandfather / grandmother from Montenegro and mythological stories about Napoleon and French roots. Lera has in Belgrade, but also in Croatia. E, wherever he came and started this story, someone would interrupt me and explain it so briskly - let him go, he is a refugee. I learned not to explain at all. You know that I'm here by bike . Well, that's the easiest way.

Identity - stigmatization - consequences

The most important issue in Bosnia and Herzegovina is "Where are you from?" The answer will give you a good way to determine the path of life. He will ask you and where your father, mother, and grandfather are safe for you. And they will go as long as you answer. In my case, they go to the 18th century and the origin of my last name, which is in some unconfirmed stories of French. Hey, two centuries back! Identity then descends to a regional one. Are you from Krajina, central Bosnia, Herzegovina, etc. Then it goes local, from which city. Is it from Sarajevo or from the surrounding area? Banja Luka or Laktasi?

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And what about when you and Bosnian and Herzegovinian, and the people of Sarajevo and Banja Luka resident, and Semberac and Krajisnik? What then?

Do you know how easy it is to recognize where you are from, what is your identity? Language. How are you talking? Words. It gives the refugee. I remember, a couple of months ago, in my conversation my excursions are painful. It says the girl - fuck! I did not comment on it, I do not have the strength. And I will fly out to the sick in Belgrade, in Sarajevo, will (version ba, which is used in Semberija) in the middle of Trebinje, etc. Buraz, tebra, pasha. I understand why they react. Because that means we did not share the same streets as kids, that we did not go on the same excursions. If Mom and Dad do not know us.

But all this has consequences for the one who grows up without that identity. National, regional, local. For "refugees" and migrants are never theirs. You know when they say - Oh, he's ours . E, I've never been.

How to grow up and be young with this seal?

Fucked. From the school where the prints of the "Refugees go home" graphic is written, to teachers and professors who use this term every day, creating a pejorative symbol that is usable exclusively for degradation. Because language is a living thing, fluid and words change meaning. And as a kid, I was pricked, so he knew to answer - maybe I am a refugee, but at least I'm not uneducated like you! But other kids see the behavior of professors and parents. Learning by model. Because they have never been educated what is what, what term to use, and who does not.

Stigmatization is not just in the education system, it is comprehensive. Both in health, and in political and economic terms.

Try to hire as a refugee - the main question comes to the expression "And where are you, boy?". Oh, just do not ask me that! And you, as a refugee, are certainly not in a fantastic economic situation, believe me. You need this job. It's the same when you're rotating doctors. Health care is first received by them, you are secondary. If they arrive. Even more embarrassing scenes are experienced by friends who went to the surrounding country and live there. It will not acclimatize to generations, and will be selectively degraded. They still went to work, and as experts, they migrated. But still, the essential difference between a refugee or a migrant, someone who for a personal reason has left, seems to be missing.

If it is a systemic phenomenon, the refugee's motive is also reflected in music, films, books. The song of the Mostar band Zoster - Refuge was an absolute hit.

We went by the way, but we do not know which one,

We wanted to say, but we have no one,

the river has shriveled the coast,

People do not speak with people ...

A good example is the film "Cefurji, raus" (Refugees, outside), based on the personal story of author Goran Vojnovic, which explains the growing of the Bosnian, Serb and Albanian in Slovenia through the daily struggle of a young generation of refugees in a thorny integration process. About narcotic drugs and alcohol in adolescence as a tunnel to escape. About family problems. The consequences that metastasize and do not allow you to have normal childhood. Everyday chanting. The work that the European Union has rewarded for specifying what will be the area of the old continent.

Inclusion and passive-aggressive reaction of the environment

And integration in the middle - uf, almost unrealistic. The absence of institutions that would fight stigma only made it difficult for everyone. Both government and non-governmental. Although there are no "new refugees" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are many of them, there are many migrants. The institutional framework seems to be still not ready to face this problem. Tabuom! Not realizing that the only opponent is ignorance. Inform and educate, enable integration as a process, without imposing a new identity. For young people, this awareness has not yet been developed - awareness of how to reach out to peers who are not from their country, and before that there is a difficult period. In dealing with new faces in their midst, these very young people start to feel threatened.

The other side of the medal is uglier, darker. And this is radicalization and the transition to aggressiveness as a reaction to people's influx, to the sense of endangering their identity. Then, violence will be promoted under the auspices of fans' gathering, local patriotic organizations. The media with sensational titles help spread violence.

The refugee did this. Migrant from Syria did it.

Neither as a lawyer nor as a journalist can they cross over the title titles. As a lawyer because the face is NN or with initials, and guilt is individual, not group. As a journalist for lack of ethics, for pure propaganda. Creating fear and Islamophobia. Then there is no surprise when we see initiatives such as the online site Anti-Immigration, which is actively working to create a negative and aggressive attitude towards refugees who have come to ex-Yu in recent years. Thousands and thousands of eggs! Indoctrination is pure. And it's on platforms that are hard to control. On social networks, portals. Because young and uninformed are suitable for that, radicalization through the media, right?

And do they wonder how these people came in? How are these kids, kids? No!

As I said, this is not my story. This is universal, global, human. In a world where we have over 63 million refugees and migrants, and this number is only growing in Europe, we must be well aware. Do not allow populist titles to embody radical attitudes! This is an attempt!

"Everything will pass. But what kind of comfort is this? There will be joy, love will pass, life will pass. Is the hope that everything goes? "- Mesa Selimovic

And, finally, what am I? Bosanac, Serb, French, Hercegovac, Semberac, Sarajlija, Krajisnik?

It's easier for me to say a refugee. For as long as it comes to being a man, youth passes.

• 16 Nov, 2017
• 1324 views