Near the end of the first issue, teams were given an assignment to produce a poster detailing the history of one ultra-nationalist movement in history. We chose to display Serbian ultra-nationalism and the events leading up to the Bosnian Genocide. This work gave us a deeper understanding of a critical Social Studies term and although the poster wasn’t entirely aesthetically pleasing, it displayed the information quite effectively and we still received full marks. The written portion of the poster that I created has been transferred verbatim as an example of teamwork and an essential Social Studies assignment.
Social Studies Outcome:
Communicate how ultra-nationalism could cause genocide: My portion of the poster was the history of Serbian ultra-nationalism in which a powerful, authoritarian government is elected in Yugoslavia just as the union is breaking up and that government then uses it’s state powers to promote xenophobia and religious hatred in an attempt to carve out a larger piece for Serbia in the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It was cold and calculated and cost thousands of lives.
Ultra-Nationalism is the particular mindset of a group of people who put their needs, goals and opportunities above those of everyone else. If a resource or victory can be obtained for the good of that particular people, it can be granted by whatever means necessary. In practice, Ultra-Nationalism has been traditionally based on ethnic, race, religious or linguistic grounds and people of a certain ethnicity, race, religion or language group saw themselves as culturally, genetically and intellectually superior to others. This has often been used to legitimize the subjugation, conquest and genocide of so-called “lesser peoples”. Whereas nationalism can be defined as a people united by patriotism trying to define and achieve their common interests, ultra-nationalists use an extreme and violent form of patriotism and pride to increase the ranks of the military and submit other national groups to their will. It is the nature of Ultra-Nations that they mainly exist thought constantly acquiring more territory, either through imperialism or perpetual conflict.
Before and certainly during the Yugoslav Wars of 1991-1996, Serbia was ripe for a form of ultra-nationalism to take root. Yugoslavia was slowly being split apart into Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Serbia. In all these countries, but especially in Bosnia, there was a large population of ethnic Serbs. The President of Serbia, Slobodan Milošević supported the Serbs within these countries to create their own nation and join Greater Serbia. Through vicious propaganda campaigns, Milošević convinced Serbs that other races and ethnic groups within Yugoslavia were lesser peoples. He portrayed the small Islamic populations as filthy and demonic as well as calling Albanians rapists and enemies of the Serbian Nation. His heavy control of the state media allowed Serbs across Yugoslavia to become brainwashed with xenophobia and inspiring patriotism. When civil war broke out between ethnic groups in Croatia and Bosnia, the Serbians alleged supported their brothers and suggested that Croatia and Bosnia should be partitioned, increasing the borders of Greater Serbia. Milošević knew this could only be achieved by force and funded the Serbian rebels and supposedly controlled their forces from his capital in Belgrade. After Croatia successfully fought off this attack, Ratko Mladić was appointed chief of the Bosnian Serb Army and employed to use whatever tactics necessary to achieve victory. During the siege of Sarajevo, Bosnia’s capital, much of the city was destroyed and more than ten thousand people were killed. The rest of the campaign left hundreds of thousands dead from massacres, starvation and ethnic cleansing. Even in the less violent conflicts in Kosovo, then a Serbian province, Serbian military and paramilitary forces expelled more than seven hundred thousand ethnic Albanians, proclaiming it a state in which only ethnic Serbs would be allowed to prosper. The signing of the Dayton Accord in 1995 brought peace to the area and ended the Serbs’ claim in Bosnia. Six years later, Milošević was charged with war crimes though he died before ever being able to answer to them. His general, Mladić was extradited to the Hague in 2011 and his Crimes Against Humanity trial began in 2012 and is still underway. The ultra-nationalist movement within Serbia has been quelled for the most part, but nationalist parties still hold a considerable amount of sway and political power in the country
Humanities 20-1 Academic Portfolio 