Exhibition “Ethnic cleansing”

Besides public campaigns, conferences, newsletters, books and documentary films several solidarity groups also organized exhibitions to inform and sensitize the public in view of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One example is the exhibition “Ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia”, developed by members of the “Coordination étudiante contre la purification ethnique” with the support of other French organisations, for example the Association Sarajevo. It was shown in 1994 and 1995 in Paris and several other French cities. The exhibition consisted of photos, testimonies, reports, maps , videos and a chronology ; its aim was to inform about the origins, the aims and the consequences of the policy of “ethnic cleansing” led by Serb nationalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

“This exhibition is the fruit of a revolt and a necessity“, wrote the organisers in an accompanying text. A revolt against “the inaction of our governments, guilty of failing to assist a people in danger of genocide” and against the cynical attitude of governments and media who want “to veil the reality of genocide by sending Serb nationalists and Bosnians back to back as belligerents, and to admit as an accepted fact the victory of the Serb nationalists“. And “the absolute necessity of opposing ethnic cleansing by all means (…) We want to enlighten people’s eyes, to awaken a critical sense towards our governments, and to make them question the logic and morality of the Bosnian policy of France (and the countries that support it). It would be a small contribution to the struggle of the Bosnians for their survival.”