Once Again, Never Again: Remembering Srebrenica
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Today Vahida Spiodic is a Chicago area college student; ten years ago, she became a survivor of Srebrenica. Vahida remembered the dead, "The faces and spirits of the thousands of men and women burned, tortured, raped does not allow us to take a day from this tragedy. We hear the cries of our loved ones from the ashes, begging us not to forget" she said before comparing her generation to the phoenix, the mythical bird which rises out of the ashes and carries on with life.
Vahida joined hundreds of people Monday at downtown Chicago's Daley Plaza, in a rally organized by the Islamic Cultural Center and endorsed by the Council, commemorating the victims of the Srebrenica massacre. Over 8,000 Muslim boys and men were systematically murdered ten years ago in the UN-declared "safe zone," and the rally organizers staged a realistic re-enactment of the harrowing moments the victims underwent as they were methodically separated from their female relatives, blindfolded, made to kneel on the ground and systematically shot at with machine guns.
After an initial moment of silence, the theme of the rally, "once again - never again," was iterated by all the speakers. Council Chairman, Abdul Malik Mujahid, who spoke at yesterday's rally, said the international community owes the Bosnian people an apology for the arms embargo which denied them the right to protect themselves during the genocide. Mirela Hodzic, a survivor of the Bosnian genocide, Peter Hudis and Melanie Maron, the Assistant Director of the American Jewish Committee also spoke at the event, which was hosted by Ermin Arslanagic, of the Islamic Cultural Center of Northbrook.
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