Barcelona

Solidarity mobilisations from Barcelona towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly Sarajevo, involved both the City Council, led by mayor Pasqual Maragall, and numerous civil society groups.

The Olympic Games in Barcelona in August 1992 provided an opportunity for first contacts with Sarajevo, which had hosted the Olympic Games eight years before, and whose mayor, Muhamed Kreševljaković attended the Barcelona games’ opening. In the following months and years, the City Council and various NGOs organized humanitarian convoys, demonstrations of support and other activities. One of those was the exhibition “Barcelona for Sarajevo” which took place during the Sarajevo Winter Festival 1993/1994, concurrently in Sarajevo and Barcelona. It included graphics made in 1992 by students and professors from the Academy of Fine Arts from Sarajevo, and drawings by artists from Barcelona, gathered during the initiative aimed at proclaiming Sarajevo a cultural capital of Europe.

The most intense phase of solidarity began in summer 1995 with the “Europe for Bosnia / Catalonia for Bosnia” campaign. The campaign was launched by the Spanish MEP José María Mendiluce, in cooperation with several civil society groups. The city of Barcelona and many organisations joined this initiative, which included public gatherings, demonstrations and cultural events, as well as the organization of a “Humanitarian Corridor Catalonia – Sarajevo”. In autumn 1995, the Barcelona City Council created “District 11 – Sarajevo”, making the capital of BiH an additional district of the city. “District 11”, headed by Manel Vila, who had been responsible for international cooperation  in the Barcelona City Council since 1992, became pivotal for implementing numerous support and exchange activities with Sarajevo in the post-war years.