Seriousness, as requested by my mother

A few days ago, my mother asked me for my thoughts on the two recent news stories about Serbia that made it onto NPR – The Hague ruling & soccer hooliganism (what an image this place has).

Last Saturday afternoon, buzzing on cold medicine, I took a short walk around my neighborhood. I hadn’t been outside for a day or so and thought that some air would do me good. And at one point on my walk, I was forced to seek refuge on a side street because of a parade of soccer fans with a large police escort. It was all very surreal. And that’s really all I have to say about such things.

And my feelings about the ICJ ruling are a bit more complicated. (I am realizing I could never be one of those bloggers who instantly responds to the newest news items. I just don’t think that fast.) I am frustrated by the fact that the Court found that the Serbian government could have taken action to prevent atrocities, but didn’t, but that the state was not found guilty of genocide.

Over the last few days, I have been pondering concepts of guilt and responsibility. One of the conclusions I have come to is that I could never be a lawyer. I have a hard time separating criminal guilt from moral responsibility. The Serbian state had the power to prevent deaths but did not exercise that power; there is moral responsibility there. For better or worse, the ICJ doesn’t deal in morality. Should institutions be asked to tackle questions of morality? Public shaming isn’t in fashion anymore.

In addition to pondering these ‘big issues,’ I am dealing with the fallout of the ruling on a far more personal level. It saddened and frustrated coworkers. Adding to this frustration is the decision of Women in Black to cancel our public commemoration of the crimes in Strpci (14 years ago yesterday, Bosniak men were taken off a train and massacred by Serb paramilitaries in South Serbia). This decision was made because of fears for our safety—there was a rally outside the US embassy yesterday; our vigil was planned to start near the rally’s ending time, only a 15 minute walk away. Women in Black activists were afraid of energized ralliers turning violent towards us.

Because of all this, everyone’s been quicker to anger than usual. I am hoping that this passes quickly.