“During the Bosnian war in the late 1990s, I spent several days traveling around the country with Susan Sontag and her son, my dear friend David Rieff. On one occasion, we made a special detour to the town of Zenica, where there was reported to be a serious infiltration of outside Muslim extremists: a charge that was often used to slander the Bosnian government of the time. We found very little evidence of that, but the community itself was much riven as between Muslim, Croat, and Serb. No faction was strong enough to predominate, each was strong enough to veto the other's candidate for the chairmanship of the city council. Eventually, and in a way that was characteristically Bosnian, all three parties called on one of the town's few Jews and asked him to assume the job. We called on him, and found that he was also the resident intellectual, with a natural gift for synthesizing matters. After we left him, Susan began to chortle in the car. 'What do you think?' she asked. 'Do you think that the only dentist and the only shrink in Zenica are Jewish also?' It would be dense to have pretended not to see her joke.” ReligionHumourExtremismReligious ExtremismJewsMuslimsBosniaIntellectualsBosnian WarZealotry1990sCroatsSerbsIslamic ExtremismDavid RieffCity CouncilsSontagZenica Book:Hitch 22: A Memoir Source: Hitch 22: A Memoir
“Croats are not prepared for the future yet. They are still divided with the sentiments of the past.” SentimentsCroatsVinko Vrbanic Author:Vinko Vrbanic
“We have blacks and whites, Jews and Arabs, Serbs and Croats, and Filipinos and Vietnamese here. At the end of the day, everyone is each other's brother.” EndsBrotherJewThe End Of The DayFilipinoVietnameseCroats Author:Bobby Slayton
“I don't think that I had any idea that 'Fear of Flying' would become a part of the culture. I had no idea that it would go all over the world and be published in Chinese and Serbo-Croat and so on.” ThinkingWorldIdeasCultureFlyingChineseNo IdeaFear Of FlyingCroats Author:Erica Jong
“[Albert Camus]didn't have much hope that things would work out, but he wanted them to. Algeria had reached such a degree of violence that once such violence is created there's no more room for reflection. And there's no mediating position. If you look at Bosnia today, the Croats, Bosnians and Serbs, they've all created so much horror that one starts to wonder how these peoples can live together, after having done what they have. Already the violence has reached such a degree that everybody is living in hate, there's no possibility of reflection, no mediating position.” IfsLooksDoneTodayWantedTogetherHateRoomsWonderViolencePossibilityPositionHorrorDegreesReflectionWork OutBosniaAlgeriaBosniansCroats Author:Catherine Camus
“The real differences around the world today are not between Jews and Arabs; Protestants and Catholics; Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. The real differences are between those who embrace peace and those who would destroy it. Between those who look to the future and those who cling to the past. Between those who open their arms and those who are determined to clench their fists.” WorldLooksRealTodayPastHumanityPeaceDifferencesArmsCatholicEmbraceJewDeterminedAround The WorldFistsWorld TodayProtestantsLooking To The FutureCroats Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1997 Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1997
“No one questioned "who is a Serb, who is a Croat, who is a Muslim (Bosniak)" we were all one people, that's how it was back then, and I still think it is that way today.” PeopleThinkingWayStillsTodayCroats Author:Josip Broz Tito
“Let that man be a Bosnian, Herzegovinian. Outside they don't call you by another name, except simply a Bosnian. Whether that be a Muslim (Bosniak), Serb or Croat. Everyone can be what they feel that they are, and no one has a right to force a nationality upon them.” MenFeelsNamesForceNationalityBosniansCroats Author:Josip Broz Tito
“It looks to me as though these politics mean Serbs, Croats and Muslims. But they are all people. They are all the same. They all look like people, there's no difference. They all have arms, legs and heads, they walk and talk, but now there's "something" that wants to make them different.” PeopleWantLooksMeanDifferentDifferencesWalksArmsLegsCroatsThey Are All The Same Book:Le journal de Zlata Source: Le journal de Zlata
“The reason that the Croats want a state of their own is that they fear being cut into little pieces by the Serbs.” WantLittlesStatesReasonPiecesCuttingCroats Author:Michael Ignatieff