News
06. December 2005
Austria/Bosnia and Herzegovina: Swanee Hunt and the Voices from the Women of Bosnia
“If we could live together 50 years, why cant we now? No matter how bad
the shelling was, even though we were Serbs and the shelling was by Serbs , we
didn’t go pressured. What happened here was never about ethnicity or religion.
That’s a fake excuse used by the politicians who started the war. I asked
myself, ‘what happened?’ Bosnians are good people. But we had no democratic
tradition and weren’t taught to think independently. So when some idiots came
along, they could manipulate the population. Masses are just stupid. Hitler was
a genius at manipulating crowds. Many of these crazy politicians were
psychiatrists so they probably knew how to sway people. The media campaign was
in small bits. We didn’t see the whole picture.”
Alenka Savic talking to
Swanee Hunt, author of “This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming Peace”.
Former US Ambassador to Austria, Hon. Swanee Hunt, was in Vienna
earlier this month to promote her book, “This Was Not Our War.: Bosnian
Women Reclaiming Peace”.
Hunt spent four years in Vienna and in her
capacity as Ambassador, she extended her energies to the neighboring Balkan
states, hosting negotiations and several international symposia to focus efforts
on securing the peace.
Hunt has reached out to women across Eastern
Europe, bringing groups of women leaders to Vienna, and making dozens of trips
throughout the region. She became a specialist in the role of women in
post-communist Europe, culminating in an article in the journal Foreign Affairs;
the July 1997 “Vital Voices: Women in Democracy.”
A labor of love,
Swanee Hunt’s books is borne out of her desire to have the voices of the women
of Balkans heard. It boasts of a rich range and mix of women’s accounts after
the war in former Yugoslavia and their efforts to heal the scarred and divided
country.
The following are excerpts taken from her talk during the book
launch in Vienna on November 3rd:
What I have done is to bring to
the world the voices of the women in Bosnia. Not as victims. I was able to
gather 26 women. Actually, I did not gather them together. I went to them or
talked to them separately.
They are as different as I could find. There is a
60 year spread between them. There is a Muslim, Croat, Catholic, Jewish,
Orthodox, Atheist. They live in very different parts of the country. Their
wealth ranges from royalty, jewels to a few chickens. And my goal was to have
them talk about what they were doing after the war, to try to reconcile. I
interviewed this women each for about four-five hours over a course of several
years and I took apart of what they said and look for themes. And the book is
organized around the themes.
I want to say that I am not talking about
all women and neither is Alenka or Maja. And I am not talking about all men. I
mean, there are great, great men who are not warriors. But we are talking about
groups and there is plenty of social science research that talks about women
being more collaborative in their style and wanting to connect more. And I think
that comes into play in times likes this. Women tend toward relationships. We
are very good at building relationships. Women are much more stronger when they
are supported by a group. It is so important. And men tend to be able to advance
themselves, pick a goal, shoot forward much more independently.
I don’t
know if it is hormonal. I don’t know if it is all socialized. I don’t know if it
is brain-wiring. And frankly, I don’t care.
You better be careful who
you to make the peace treaty. Because if the only people you bring around the
people are the warriors, you are not bringing people who have credentials in
making peace. You are bringing people who have only proven that they can kill
people.
For the women showcased in this book, this was not their
war. But Hunt insists that is precisely why they should shape the peace.Swanee
Hunt's book "This Was Not Our War" can be ordered for € 20 through the Women
without Borders office. If interested, please send an email to office@women-without-borders.org