Remembering Srebenica 2023: “Together We Are One”
Another beautifully moving remembrance for Srebenica last night, standing in solidarity with the Bosnian community to remember the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by the Serbian army.
This is the second year that I’ve supported the event and each time it’s been a profoundly moving experience.
The time, effort, energy and passion that members of the community & the amazing team at 6 Million Plus have put in to plan and organise this event is inspiring.
The centre piece of the proceedings was a beautiful mural, made with fresh flower petals - a temporary work of art spelling out the words HOPE alongside SREBENICA. Stunning.
The central flower in green and white is a signof remembrance for Srebenica. The eleven petals on this flower represent the day the genocide began, July 11th. The white petals represent innocence, while the green represents hope. On either side are flowers representing all of the different communities taking part in the event.
This years event also included a wonderful theatre performance of ‘My Thousand Year Old Land’ written by Aida Haughton MBE & Sue Moffat, performed by the New Vic Borderlines theatre company.
“A story of the search for truth, justice and hope through three generations of women. The play is based on survivor testimonies from the genocide and war crimes that took place in Bosnia & Herzegovina”.
Every year Remembering Srebenica selects a theme that reflects an aspect of the genocide that needs to be commemorated, but also speaks to communities here in the UK.
The theme for 2023 is ‘Together We Are One’.
The genocide at Srebenica is an act that may seem far removed from our day-to-day experiences and be seen as irrelvant to our immediate lives in the UK.
The aim of the theme is to highlight the fact that the conditions for genocide are built on a climate which allows hatred and extemism to breed resulting in the dividing and fracturing of communities.
The theme reminds us of the importance of remaining vigilant against the forces of hatred that seeks to ‘other’ groups as being negatively different.
The evening closed with a live music performance with with people from across the UK alongside members of the Syrian, Afghan, Indian, Pakistani, Ukrainian, Nigerian, Kurdish, Jewish & Polish communities singing a song written especially for the occasion by Sanja Cin.
I am hugely grateful to Kim Strickson from 6 Million + for inviting me to be a part of this years Remembering Srebenica. I hope in a small way that my photographs can support the aims of this important work and show that we really are ‘Together As One’