'One Pair of Shoes, One Life': Steps towards Accountability for Genocide in Srebrenica

Simić, Olivera

doi:10.1093/ijtj/ijr020

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Such ‘courts’ lack legal powers but, at least in some circumstances, are endowed with moral authority and able to vindicate victims and generate moral condemnation of previously unacknowledged human rights violations (Chinkin ). Informal commemorations of past abuses, carried out by oppositional civil society groups in Israel (Dudai and Cohen ) or Serbia (Simić and Daly ), which are often built on mimicking and subverting official commemorations, likewise aim to pressure the state from below to acknowledge hitherto denied abuses, and thus also aptly demonstrate the functions of social control from below in this context.…”

Section: Transition Civil Society and Social Control From Belowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitional justice as social control: political transitions, human rights norms and the reclassification of the past

Dudai

2017

British Journal of Sociology

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This article offers an interpretation of transitional justice policies - the efforts of post-conflict and post-dictatorship societies to address the legacy of past abuses - as a form of social control. While transitional justice is commonly conceptualized as responding to a core problem of impunity, this article argues that such formulation is too narrow and leads to lack of coherence in the analysis of the diverse array of transitional mechanisms, which include among others trials, truth commissions, reparations for victims and apologies. Building on the work of Stanley Cohen, the article contends that the core transitional problem is the denial of human rights violations, and consequently that the common purpose of all transitional justice mechanisms is to reclassify the past: redefining as deviant some acts and individuals which prior to the transition were considered 'normal'. The article identifies and analyses three themes in the application of a social control framework to transitional justice: (1) truth, memory and retroactive social control, pertains to the way truth-seeking transitional justice mechanisms reclassify past events by engaging in social control of and through memory; (2) censure, celebration and transitional social control refers to the reclassification of categories of individuals through expressions of both social disapproval and praise; and (3) civil society and social control from below concerns the role of social movements, organizations and groups as informal agents of social control during transitions. The concluding section recaps and briefly explores the concept of 'good moral panic' in the context of political transitions. While the concept of social control tends to have negative connotations for critical sociologists, this work suggests that efforts to categorize, punish and disapprove certain behaviours as deviant may not only be viewed as supporting a conservative status-quo, but also as promoting fledging human rights norms.

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Section: Transition Civil Society and Social Control From Belowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transitional justice as social control: political transitions, human rights norms and the reclassification of the past

Dudai

2017

British Journal of Sociology

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“…The actual message and performance on subsequent July 10 continue and develop in an interesting manner, from silent vigils carrying banners emphasizing the memory of Srebrenica as a genocide, as well as words such as responsibility and solidarity, to carrying white roses and candles, to a street action in 2010 titled “One Pair of Shoes, One Life” in cooperation with Dah Theatre and Group Spomenik (Simić and Daly, 2011). This and the following 2 years have continued to mark the evolution of this date as an alternative commemorative event, as the message conveyed now includes more communication with passersby, formerly only conveyed through the banners held by the participants of the (silent) vigil.…”

Section: July On the Alternative Calendar: Commemorating Srebrenica As Genocide In Belgradementioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative calendars and memory work in Serbia: Anti-war activism after Milošević

Fridman

2014

Memory Studies

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This article analyzes the continuation of anti-war groups and activists in Serbia who were in opposition to wars in the 1990s and, in the decade after October 2000, are still in struggle. Activism often analyzed as part of the “Dealing with the Past Projects” is here analyzed in the context of social memory studies contributing to the understanding of current memory work and memory activism in Serbia. Drawing on Eviatar Zerubavel’s analysis of calendars as sites of social organization of national memory, this text looks at the emergence of alternative calendars as formed and created by anti-war and human rights activists. By analyzing the emerging alternative civic calendar in Serbia, I discuss memory activism as related to the commemoration of the Siege of Sarajevo and the Omarska concentration camp. I then extend my analysis on what I see as the most apparent and significant day on the emerging civic alternative calendar: 10 July annual commemoration of the victims of Srebrenica taking place for the last two decades at the heart of Belgrade’s city center, Republic Square.

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“…34 As Simic and Daly recognise, public opinion in Serbia is divided: "Many citizens and Serbian parliamentarians believe that the Serbian politicians and military officials who have been accused of war crimes are national heroes." 35 But there are groups such as Women in Black who seek to see Serbia develop "moral accountability for the genocide." 36 According to Hirsh, there were access "difficulties regarding access to evidence" in Bosnia.…”

Section: Icty-in the Dock?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Genocidal Intent and Transitional Justice in Bosnia

Kent

2013

East European Politics and Societies

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Convictions for genocide in relation to the war in Bosnia (1992–1995) provide the strongest sense of justice-having-been-done to victims and their families. But at the ICTY, the reputation of which has been marred by a series of controversies, the few perpetrators found guilty of genocide were involved in the Srebrenica massacres of July 1995. Other courts have convicted individuals from a range of different locations (and periods) in the war, giving arguably a more complete sense of justice to victims, and a more accurate contribution to the historical record. It is widely perceived that the Genocide Convention has been narrowly interpreted. As most genocides do not result in total destruction, what counts as “part” of a group, especially when combined with other acts, is a key issue explored here. Two cases (outside Srebrenica) in which genocide indictees were not held responsible for genocide are examined, with the Jelisic case, involving a foot-soldier of genocide, the main focus for critical analysis. Reflection on the implications for Bosnian society are given in conclusion.

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'One Pair of Shoes, One Life': Steps towards Accountability for Genocide in Srebrenica

Cited by 14 publications

References 1 publication

Transitional justice as social control: political transitions, human rights norms and the reclassification of the past

Transitional justice as social control: political transitions, human rights norms and the reclassification of the past

Alternative calendars and memory work in Serbia: Anti-war activism after Milošević

Genocidal Intent and Transitional Justice in Bosnia

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