Lamija Tanovic grew up in a Yugoslavia with a quality of life that makes today’s Bosnia look like another planet. A time where values such as education, cooperation, and participation were essential. An era that would later give way to a terrible war and a dysfunctional plan to create a new nation in its aftermath. Through it all, Lamija explains, everyone always wished to come home and make a life in this beautiful place. The problem is, today’s Bosnia makes it quite difficult for anyone to have a decent life and as a result, people have left and will continue to leave.
Today on the podcast, I spend an hour in the home of Lamija Tanovi?; educator, human rights activist, politician, and someone with a tremendous amount of life experience, to help explain what Bosnia was then and how it became what it is today.
When we talk about European history, the conversation is usually focused on things that took place in the early 20th century… world war I, world war II… and the decades immediately after. But one decade that had a great effect on the Balkan region happenned much more recently… in the 90’s. In this program I speak with Tom, who is part of MAMA- Cyberculture Institute, here in Zagreb. Together we discuss:
– The end of Yugoslavia, the independence of Slovenia and Croatia
– Milosevic
– Living in Croatia during the war, things you see in daily life
– The rise and cause of nationalism.
– The problems of the post war 90’s
– The big change from 99 to 2000
– A strange music phenomenon that cuts across many countries of the former Yugoslavia
– Thoughts, Concerns, and Hopes for the future.
Arch Duke Ferdinand, Austria-Hungarian Empire, Serbian Nationalism, and how exactly did things end up like this in this part of the world? Richard and I ask these questions and I try to answer them, all in this podcast from Ljubljana.
BBC’s History of the former Yugoslavia
Music:
Just google Slovenian Folk Music, I’m working on buying a disc or two.
