“The influence of the media and social networks has been crucial”

VARJA ĐUKIĆ - actress, champion of the Drama of the Montenegrin National Theatre, founder and manager of the Krever bookstore in Podgorica [Montenegro]

GENERATION OF LIVED HISTORY

The war does not end with the cessation of the conflict. Survivors continue to carry it deep inside them. The way post-war society relates to war affects individuals and shapes transgenerational memory.

• How has the generation that lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region during the wars in the former Yugoslavia – and especially during the genocide in Srebrenica – experienced and shaped this history in the past 30 years: through personal memories, reflections, but also through narratives in the media, films, books, textbooks and rituals of remembrance?

"Generation, region and history are the determining factors for the answer. I am writing as a member of the generation born in the SFRY in 1962 in Zagreb to a father originally from Kolašin, Montenegro and a mother from Banja Luka from a marriage between an Orthodox father and a Catholic mother. I completed my primary and secondary education in Titograd, and studied acting in Belgrade. In the 1990s, I was in Belgrade at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Department of Acting, as an assistant, and in 1998 I moved to Podgorica, where I still live today.

The culture of Yugoslavia also shaped me and the spirit of the idea of ​​equality. Culture in the sense of the most direct influence of family and school, later studies at an excellent educational level where since childhood I have experienced myself in the first person singular and with all the influences, I had a strong motivation to acquire knowledge and education in order to be an actor of a quality life. The years of changing the social system, and soon after, the years of war and destruction, the killing of civilians and demonstrations of nationalist power, completely destroyed the trust in the society in which I had lived until then. I expressed and conveyed the truth about this in the theater and in my work with students, in the choice of environment, collaborators, interlocutors, in family life - I guided my son during his upbringing through the noise of media isolation and indoctrination. Due to the bad environment, nationalism to which the alternative in Belgrade was weakened and to this day remains powerless, in 1998 I moved to Montenegro, to Podgorica. There, with different generations of friends, I share the same attitude towards war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially the genocide in Srebrenica. I use every opportunity to promote the culture of dialogue and values ​​that protect the rights of citizens to a quality life through the programs of the International Literary Festival Odakle zovem, Podgorica (2009 - 2024), numerous programs are especially aimed at generations of high school students and university students. I believe that this work and perseverance are crucially important."

A GENERATION BORN IN HISTORY (THOSE BORN IN 1995)

Thirty years later, we are once again witnessing the shaping of history amidst political manipulations of narratives. That is why transgenerational memory is required to carry a culture of remembrance and responsibility to the truth – in the name of future generations who must learn how peace is built and preserved.

• How does a generation born in the year of the Srebrenica genocide today understand this history? And how did growing up in this heritage shape their sense of identity, memory, and responsibility?

"I have an impression of this, I stated my own position and experiences. Although "media isolation" has long disappeared, because all information is available on various channels and platforms, at the time when that generation entered puberty, policies driven by state - local and party interests in new and clearly defined mono-national states marginalized "their own" crimes. In Serbia, genocide is denied, in multinational and multi-confessional Montenegro, traumas are still felt and they are transgenerational - a number of politicians representing parties, several of which are Serbian, and have a designation - democratic - publicly manipulate the term genocide, although in Montenegro in 2009 the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Declaration of the European Parliament on Srebrenica. For the most part, these are representatives of the generation born in the nineties. It is paradoxical and tendentious that this interest group does not identify transgenerationally with the victims of crimes against civilians and citizens of Montenegro who suffered crimes and persecution from Montenegro during the wars of the nineties. Despite this, there is strong resistance from other parties, the non-governmental sector, and citizens who take responsibility and cherish the values ​​of their own identity."

TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY DYNAMICS (1995-2025)

Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still marked by war traumas. Prevailing ethno-national policies keep citizens in fear, under constant threat of a new war – for their own interests. Politics has instrumentalized trauma.

• How – and whether – generations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the regions that lived through the wars in the former Yugoslavia, especially the events of 1995, and the generation born that same year have shaped mutual understanding of the past? To what extent are their views aligned today – and how do they differ?

"There are too many determining factors to talk about without research – political, social, cultural. Over the decades, societies have been transformed due to these causes within the borders of states, and the media and social networks have taken on a dominant influence. Technology is developing and offering attractions that bury the facts of the past. The differences are great and are determined by the dynamics of policies and politicians in power and in opposition. Those occupied with their political careers do not hesitate to deny. It is pushed into the background in the function of daily needs. EU mechanisms and projects run by several NGOs lead processes that regularly urge the responsibility of the actors and participants in the war. Despite this, parties that are generously financed with the money of all citizens, Serbian, nationalist, insist on predominance in Montenegro. Under the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church, retraumatization is taking place by abolishing the crimes and criminals of World War II."

REGIONAL FUTURE: TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY, HERITAGE OR TRAUMA (2025-2055)

Thirty years after the war, ethnic identity still dominates the civic. In post-war society, the structure of ethnically divided space often makes civic initiatives impossible, as they are automatically attributed an ethnic sign.

• How could political, social, educational and cultural development in Bosnia and Herzegovina – and more broadly in the region – affect how transgenerational memory will be preserved, reinterpreted or denied in the next 30 years?

"It is crucial, but restrained by the editorial policy of the media determined by the owners. Public services are working for the ruling coalitions and parties. The influence of the media and social networks has been crucial for all previous decades and will continue to be for the next thirty years. The processes of communicating authorial works are almost invisible. Their availability is determined by financial support for cultural institutions and the exchange of works by contemporary creators - the distribution of films, books, works of art. In educational policy, the issue of textbook content is crucial - by analyzing the content of reading books and history textbooks, it could be determined to what extent the perspective of preserving facts - memory, is possible. Despite languages, which are the most important bridge between cultures and traditions."

GLOBAL FUTURE: TRANSGENERATIONAL MEMORY, INDIFFERENCE OR REVISIONISM (1995-2025-2055)

In the modern world, geopolitics is rapidly conditioning historical narratives and transgenerational memory – openly trading influence in conflicts and party choices through daily-political revisionism.

• How could global political disruptions, conflicting international historical narratives, and changing norms on justice and human rights shape the ways in which knowledge of wartime events from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the region will be transmitted, challenged, or withheld across generations over the next 30 years?

"Every change on the global map points to the unhealed space where war crimes took place. Regardless of borders, the influences of polarized politics and capital, especially in the countries of the former SFRY, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, constantly revive nationalist narratives in the service of survival in power. This leads to citizens submitting and remaining trapped in particocracies and social differences that are the fuel for manipulation."



The opinions and insights expressed in this text reflect solely the views of the author. We publish these contributions to encourage reflection and open space for diverse perspectives on the topic of transgenerational memory in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region.