They Tried to Destroy Us - VUKOVAR

I was thinking a lot about how to start writing this blog and whether I should write it, and you know, I have to write it simply because being silent feels wrong. And no, this blog is not about travelling. Rarely do I write outside of travelling because this is, after all, a travel blog, but this time, I have to shed light on what is inside me. I am starting with the quote, "When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." -Thomas Jefferson.

I show my resistance through writing because when I feel injustice, I like to write and put my thoughts on paper.

Today is a colossal day in Croatia: Remembrance Day for the victims of the Homeland War and Remembrance Day for the victims of Vukovar and Škabrnja. We remember two massacres that took part in Croatia 33 years ago. Thirty-three years ago seems like a long time ago, in 1991.

Should that be a remembrance today and a lesson for the future?

Well, in my opinion, it should be. Do you know why? Simply because it still hurts; these massacres took place, people lost their lives, mothers lost their kids, and many people are still missing to this day. There was no, and there is no justice for those who lost their lives still up to this day. Some wounds never heal; they leave marks for life. And this is the case that happened 33 years ago, a long time ago, some would say. Vukovar was an entirely destroyed city; "they" killed everything that had been moving in the city, and the siege for Vukovar lasted 87 days.

Vukovar 1991

People have lost everything: homes, fields, animals, families... and all of that left these deep wounds and marks that are still here today, present within all of us. It is our obligation and responsibility to remember these days, talk about these days, and write about war horribles that happened in Croatia during the Homeland War. And why, you may ask. War crimes should never happen ever again, nowhere! Ideally, war should never happen again anywhere, but who am I to even say that? Who am I to call them out? Who am I to say that "they" are not human? Who am I 

even to judge if someone is human or not?

Gaza 2024

I refuse to be categorised as if we are all the same. We are not all the same and will never be all the same. In this blog, I divide people into human ones and oppposingly ones addressed with "they."

It seems as if "they" never learn; it seems as if "they" always find a reason to start new suffering for those who are innocent. And please, do not try to sell me stories about how we are all responsible for everything that happens to us, especially war-related events. We are not, you know why? Simply because the mother is not responsible for losing her kid, civilians are targeted today, and they are not guilty or responsible for what "they" do. During the Homeland War in Vukovar, a hospital with civilians from both sides was bombed. I see the same pattern happening today in 2024 in different places. I hear civilians asking for help, asking for humanity, and wondering if it still exists; the same thing happened in Croatia not long ago. It seems as if history repeats itself: cities are destroyed, and civilians are dying, and somehow, "they" always have a reason to do all of this again and again. The reason is good enough only as "they" understand and justify. Many people have laid down their lives on the altar of the Croatian homeland, and I have to say, we were lucky we had heroes to defend our homes, our lives and everything we have. Today, Croatia is rebuilt, and Vukvoar lives an everyday life. We hope we stopped those whom I address as "they". But do not be fooled; we did not because "they" are still with us, still doing and justifying the same horrible things, only in different places, close or further, it does not matter because "they" are still here. "They" will always try to lie and fool you; it is their tactic. Do not justify any war crime where civilians are dying; their voices have been stolen by ones I address as "they"! My voice is not stolen and will not be taken from me because "When injustice becomes law,     resistance becomes duty." 

Bakhmut 2024

With the knowledge that those who perpetrate such acts are among us, we share a collective responsibility to speak out. We must use our voices, in whatever way we can, to stand against such atrocities.

In the words of a Croatian reporter who was killed in Vukovar Siniša Glavašević:

A Story About the City

I refrain from searching for all justice, truth, I refrain from attempts to let ideals arrange my personal life, I refrain from everything that until yesterday I considered essential for some good beginning or good end.

I would possibly refrain from myself, but I cannot.

Because who will remain if we renounce ourselves and flee into our fears.

Who will inherit the city? Who will watch it for me, when I am gone, while I am searching in the trash heaps of the human spirit, while I am as it is alone, staggering without myself, wounded, tired, feverish, while my eyes begin to wax before my personal defeat.

Who will watch my city, my friends, who will carry Vukovar from the dark?

There aren’t shoulders stronger than mine or yours, and therefore if it isn’t too much for you, if there still remains in you a youthful whisper, join us.

Somebody has touched my parks, the benches that still have your names carved into them, that shadow that you gave it at the same moment, and received your first kiss – somebody has simply stolen it all, because how do you explain that not even a Shadow remains?

There isn’t that store window in which you admired your personal joys, there isn’t that movie theater in which you saw the saddest film, your past has been simply decimated and you have nothing.

You must build anew. First your roots, your past, and then your present, and then if you still have the strength, invest in the future. Do not be alone in the future.

Do not worry about the city, it has been with you all this time. Only hidden. So that the murderer cannot find it. The city – it is you.