PISMO KBSA PREDSJEDNIKU UNIVERZITETA U VANKUVERU

 

 

Pismo KBSA Univerzitetu British Columbia o zabrani Srđi Trifkoviću negatoru genocida

 

February 20, 2011

 

Ured predsjednika Univerziteta

Prof. Stephen J. Toope, PhD

Univerzitet British Columbia

6328 Memorial Road

Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2

 

Uvaženi  profesor Toope,

 

Obraćam vam se u ime Kongresa Bošnjaka Sjeverne Amerike (KBSA), krovne organizacije koja predstavlja više od 350.000 Bošnjaka u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama i Kanadi, kako bih izrazio zaprepaštenje u vezi planiranog predavanja poznatog negatora genocida gospodina  SrÄ‘a Trifkovića na vašoj prestižnoj akademskoj instiuciji. Predavanje je organizirano od strane Asosijacije srpskih studenata. KBSA se nada da je odluka donesena zbog neinformiranosti o pozadini gospodina  Trifkovića i saznanja o njegovim prethodnim radnjama, od kojih mnoge sadrže konstantno i otvoreno poricanje genocida u Srebrenici, koji je u više navrata potvrÄ‘en od strane MeÄ‘unarodnog suda pravde i MeÄ‘unarodnog kaznenog suda za bivšu Jugoslaviju, kao čin genocida u skladu sa Poveljom Ujedinjenih naroda. Ne trebamo vas podsjećati na krvavi ishod srpskog ultra-nacionalističkog plana da se uništi i etnički očisti bošnjački narod u Bosni i Hercegovini.

 

Bez obzira na temu predavanja, uvreda je za sve one koji istinski cijene vrijednost ljudskog života, ako bi se dodijelila akademska platforma osobi koji je otvoren apologeta politike mržnje i izvršioca genocida i koji dalje propovijeda negiranje genocida bez obzira na dogaÄ‘aje koji su se dogodili tijekom agresije na Bosnu i Hercegovinu. Takav čin je usporediv s dozvoljavanjem negatoru holokausta da održi predavanje studentima, znajući u potpunosti da ta osoba zloupotrebljava slobodu govora i što je još važnije zloupoterbljava svoje akademske privilegije. U stvari, takav čin poricanja genocida u Njemačkoj i drugim europskim zemljama je strogo kažnjiv po zakonu. Mi čvrsto vjerujemo da samo kroz iskreno razumijevanje i priznavanje istine o genocidu može biti pravog izmirenja izmeÄ‘u Srba i Bošnjaka.

 

U pismu upućenom vama 18. Februara. 2011, gospodina  Stephen Karganovica, predsjednik revizionističkog “Srebreničkog historijskog projekta”, pokušao je napraviti argument na osnovi akademske slobode govora, dok je istovremeno u pismu stavio navodnike na sve reference o genocida u Srebrenici, i tako dalje širi mitologiju poricanja genocida i holokausta. Mi podržavamo slobodu govora, ali sa istom dolazi i velika odgovornost, osobito u akademskom okruženju. Nakon holokausta, civilizirani svijet je obećao da nikada neće dopustiti da se takva zločini ponove, ali zbog nekontrolirane retorike i politike mržnje, dogodilo se nezamislivo, opet u srcu Europe, ovaj put protiv bošnjačkog naroda. Stoga je od najveće važnosti da se radi na podizanju svijesti o opasnostima poricanja genocida kako bi se spriječio ponovni genocid bilo gdje u svijetu.

 

Mi to dugujemo žrtvama genocida posvuda, ne samo u Bosni, da im time odamo počast obavljajući svoje ljudske dužnosti i da distanciramo tzv. akademike koji žele da nas truju s teorijama zavjere i mržnje. Stoga tražimo od vas da djelujete odgovorno i ne dozvolite g. Trifkoviću da održi predavanje na vašem univerzitetu, instituciji koja je poznata po akademskoj izvrsnosti i učenju. Na kraju krajeva, to je vaša odluka hoćete li dopustiti onima koji poriču genocid da koriste univerzitet kao platformu za promicanje svojih malicioznih interesa. Nadamo se da ćete napraviti ispravnu etičku i moralnu odluku da ne dopustite da se to dogodi.

 

S poštovanjem,

Mr. Haris Alibašić, MPA

Predsjednik Upravnog odbora KBSA

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CNAB letter to University of British Columbia regarding genocide denier Srdja Trifkovic

 

February 20, 2011

 

Office of the President

Prof. Stephen J. Toope, PhD

The University of British Columbia

6328 Memorial Road

Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z2

 

Dear Professor Toope,

 

On behalf of the Congress of North American Bosniaks (CNAB), an umbrella organization representing more than 350,000 Bosniaks in the United States and Canada, I would like to express our dismay at the news that a well known genocide denier Srdja Trifkovic is scheduled to speak at an event organized by the Serbian Students Association at your prestigious academic institution. We hope that this decision was made by the lack of awareness about Mr. Trifkovic’s background and previous works, many of which contain repeated and open denials of the Srebrenica Genocide, an event that was, case after case, reaffirmed, by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, as an act of genocide according to the United Nations charter. We need not remind you of the horrific outcome of Serbian ultra-nationalists’ plan to annihilate and ethnically cleanse the Bosniak people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

 

Regardless of the topic of the lecture, it would be an insult to all those who truly value human life, to provide an academic platform to someone who is an open apologist of politics of hatred and propagates further genocide denial regarding the events that occurred during the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Such an act would be comparable to allowing a holocaust denier to lecture students, knowing fully that person has abused the power of free speech and more importantly abused his/her academic privilege. In fact, such an act of genocide denial in Germany and other European countries would be punishable by law. We strongly believe that only through sincere understanding and coming to terms with the truth about the genocide can there be true reconcilement between Serbs and Bosniaks.

 

In the letter addressed to you on February 18, 2011, Mr. Stephen Karganovic, the president of the Srebrenica Historical Project, tried to make an argument on the basis of free speech, while simultaneously in the letter putting in the quotation marks all references to the Srebrenica genocide, and thus further propagating the mythology of genocide and holocaust denial. We support freedom of speech but with it comes great responsibility, particularly in the academic setting. After the Holocaust, the civilized world made a promise to never let such atrocities happen again, yet because of unchecked rhetoric and appeasement, the unthinkable atrocities happened again in the heart of Europe, against the Bosniak people. It is therefore of utmost importance that we increase the awareness of the dangers of genocide denial in order to prevent a genocide from happening again elsewhere in the world.

 

We owe it to the victims of genocide everywhere, not just in Bosnia, to honor them by performing our duties as human beings to disengage from those so called scholars who wish to poison us with conspiracy theories and hateful propaganda. Therefore, we strongly urge you to act responsibly and disallow Mr. Trifkovic from holding a lecture at your university, an institution well known internationally for academic excellence and learning. At the end of the day, it is your decision whether to allow those who deny genocide to use your university as a platform to promote their interests. We sincerely hope you will make the clearly right and moral decision to not let that happen.

 

Sincerely,

 

Haris Alibasic, MPA

President of the CNAB Board of Directors