The death of war criminal Ratko Mladic has sparked reactions worldwide. International media widely reported the passing of the 'Butcher of Bosnia,' implying that justice was finally served. However, the story is not that simple.
On November 22, 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) sentenced Mladic to life imprisonment for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Bosnia. But his death this year does not change the status quo. Contrary to what some might think, the world will not become a better place after his passing.
A Bosnian journalist and genocide survivor wrote: 'I hate to write this, but it is the truth: Mladic won. He and his ideas won. He must have died happily witnessing a world engulfed by fascism, where genocide has become normalized.'
In an editorial published by Al Jazeera in 2017 after Mladic's verdict, the author worried that his ideas would not be defeated but would spread like a drug-resistant bacterium, adapting to different circumstances and times. That prediction has become reality, especially evident in the Balkans.
In Serbia, a country the EU is considering for membership, President Aleksandar Vucic's government maintains power by denying responsibility for crimes committed in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo in the 1990s. In Bosnia, a country divided by the Dayton Agreement, where over 100,000 people were killed, there has been no real change. In one part of the territory, denying genocide is official policy, and many perpetrators of war crimes still live freely.
Yet, there are voices of dissent. The small NGO Ostra Nula, founded by young Serbs in Banja Luka, stated: 'We will not mourn him. We will not honor him. Death does not erase convictions, does not erase established truths, and does not erase responsibility.'
Meanwhile, many in the world still believe fascism was defeated 80 years ago and fail to recognize it when they see it. Evidence is everywhere: the open denial of the genocide of Palestinians, indifference to crimes in Sudan or the DRC, insensitivity toward migrants and refugees, and the rise of far-right politicians in parliaments and governments.
'This is the world Mladic dreamed of. And he lived to see it,' the author of the article stresses. The question now for the world is: do we really want to live in Mladic's dream? Genocide survivors have called on the world to wake up, but will the world listen?
