“Sjećam se da smo moja sestra Tea i ja odlazile sa roditeljima na događaje bh. dijaspore organizovane u Čikagu i da je tu bilo veoma malo ljudi naših godina, vrlo malo onih sa kojima smo mogle razgovarati. Još jedna redovna učesnica je bila i Nura Eston iz Toronta, Kanade. Međutim, bile smo sigurne da nismo samo nas tri. Bile smo sigurne da ima mnogo više ljudi poput nas. Željele smo stvoriti prostor za zajednicu u kojoj bismo mogle svrsishodno komunicirati,” riječi su Ide Sefer, jedne od suosnivačica Konferencije dijaspore BiH (BiH Diasporic Conference), organizacije koja, kako se navodi u uvodu njihove web stranice, “okuplja bh. dijasporu širom Kanade i SAD-a s ciljem izgradnje solidarnosti, a zasnovano na multikulturalizmu, vjerskoj raznolikosti i izgradnji mira kroz obrazovanje.” Ovogodišnja BiH Diasporic Conference se održava u Los Angelesu od 13. do 15. maja, a ja sam razgovarala sa Idom o tome kako i kada je organizacija osnovana, koje su njene osnovne vrijednosti i glavna područja djelovanja.
Nova generacija bosanskohercegovačke dijaspore
Ida Sefer: Moji roditelji su dugo godina bili uključeni u bosansku zajednicu ovdje u Chicagu, a moj otac je jedno vrijeme bio i Potpredsjednik Kongresa Bošnjaka. Oni su na taj način bili veoma politički aktivni. Svaki put kada bi imali neko okupljanje, vodili bi moju sestru i mene sa sobom. Većina publike su bili stariji ljudi. Činilo se da nikog u mojoj starosnoj grupi ili starosnoj grupi moje sestre, koja je sedam godina mlađa od mene, uopće nije zanimalo bilo šta što se tiče političkog sistema Bosne i Hercegovine. Ono što smo vidjeli kod svojih vršnjaka u dijaspori jeste jedna nezainteresovanost za teme vezane za Bosnu. Rekla bih da je glavni razlog zašto smo zajedno sa Nurom Eston, sve ovo započeli, jeste da bi se stvorila zajednica ljudi koje zanimaju neke od ovih tema, a ne znaju kako da dođu do informacija o njima. Ne znaju gdje bi našli ljude s kojima bi mogli sarađivati po nekom pitanju ili skupa pokrenuti posao? Ta zajednica je jednostavno nedostajala. Pitanje je bilo ko će se pobrinuti za sljedeću generaciju organizovanja u dijaspori ako sada nemamo ljude koji se time bave? Sada već postoji jedna potpuno nova grupa mladih ljudi, koji su jako zainteresovani za sve to. To je naša nova generacija.
Prva konferencija organizovana u Čikagu 2015
Ida Sefer: Osnovani smo 2014. godine i to je bila ideja Bosansko-američkog instituta za genocid, a tri osobe koje su započele konferenciju bile smo Tea Sefer, moja sestra, Nura Easton, koja je u Torontu, Kanada i ja. Ta prva godina je bila zaista nešto fenomenalno. Održali smo prvu konferenciju u Čikagu 2015. godine i više ljudi je doletjelo u Čikago iz raznih krajeva Sjeverne Amerike, nego što je to bilo učesnika iz Čikaga. Većinu učesnika i učesnica te prve godine se nisu međusobno poznavali, a ti isti ljudi se i dalje vraćaju iz godine u godinu, jer je ta prva manifestacija bila zaista nešto jedinstveno. Svima njima je definitivno nedostajala neka vrsta bosanske zajednice u gradovima gdje oni žive i na ovaj način su htjeli upoznati nove ljudi i stvoriti nova prijateljstva. Imali smo aktivnosti upoznavanja i umrežavanje u petak navečer, cijelodnevnu konferencije od devet do pet u subotu, a onda smo imali još jedan program u nedjelju. Također smo Imali uvodno i završno predavanje, a održana je likovna izložba, čitanje poezije i književno veče. Kurt Bassuener nam se virtualno pridružio sa svojom prezentacijom, zajedno s nekim ljudima iz organizacije slične Re-startu. Imali smo nekoliko virtuelnih izlagača zajedno sa predstavnicima Savjetodavnog vijeća za Bosnu i Hercegovinu i predstavnika Kongresa Bošnjaka. Konferencija je bila veoma uspješna, a mi smo nastavili da gradimo taj uspjeh sa istom filozofijom uključivanja što većeg broja ljudi potpuno različitih identiteta.
Inkluzivni događaji – Ljudi različitog porijekla ujedinjeni oko zajedničkih vrijednosti
Ida Sefer: Mi u dijaspori imamo veliki broj djece iz etnički mješovitih sredina, koja ni ne znaju da im je dozvoljeno da učestvuju u bh. dijasporskim događajima. Želimo da naše manifestacije budu otvorene za sve ljude, bez obzira na njihovu vjersku ili etničku pripadnost. Na primjer, upoznala sam mladića koji je zapravo Bosanac i Navaho, a cijeli svoj život je proveo na rezervatu. Majka mu je Bosanka, a udala se za njegovog oca u Novom Meksiku. On je prvi put prisustvovao našoj konferenciji 2020. godine, kada je ona bila virtuelna. Rekao mi je da je za genocid u Bosni i Hercegovini prvi put saznao na fakultetu, a čak ne ni od svoje majke, koja je Bošnjakinja. Mi želimo biti otvoreni prema njemu, čovjeku koji je dijelom Bosanac, a dijelom Navaho i otvoreni za sve ljude iz takozvanih “mješovitih brakova”, kao i za sve Bosance i Hercegovce iz svih etničkih skupina. Ono što nas spaja na Konferenciji dijaspore BiH/BiH Diasporic Conference su naše vrijednosti, kao što su rad za demokratsku, prosperitetnu i multietničku Bosnu i Hercegovinu, borba protiv poricanja genocida i veličanje ratnih zločinaca, kao i izgradnja mostova među našim članicama i članovima.
Također se trudimo da napraviti otklon od akademskog elitizma i isključivosti, jer imamo ljude koji nikada nisu pohađali fakultet, a i one sa završenim doktoratima. Isto važi i za voditelje naših programa. Ono što sam smatrala prilično frustrirajućim na sličnim događajima kojima sam ranije prisustvovala je to što su na njima govorili uvijek isti ljudi, doktori ili inžinjeri, iako teme nisu bile iz njihove branše. Mi se trudimo da svi naši događaji budu pristupačni svima, kako bismo oslabili klasne podjele. Time otvaramo mogućnosti za sve ljude koji žele da se angažuju, koji žele da doprinesu.
Učesnici konferencije – i mladi i višegeneracijski
Ida Sefer: Prve godine konferencije imali smo “mladi” u naslovu, ali se to promijenilo sljedeće godine. Ono što smo shvatili jeste da se većina ljudi koji su došli zapravo nisu smatrali mladima. Tu su bili ljudi raznih godišta, od onih koji imaju 15 do 25 godina, preko 28 i više, pa sve do 75 i više godina. U posljednje dvije-tri godine, prije Covid krize, vidjeli smo da dolazi sve više mladih, ali sve u svemu, bilo je to zaista zanimljivo i definitivno višegeneracijsko iskustvo. To su uglavnom prva i druga generacija bosanskih Amerikanaca. Naši učesnici dolaze iz gradova širom SAD-a I Kanade, a rekla bih da su prvenstveno zastupljeni Iowa, Illinois, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles i St. Louis.
Izazovi dvojezičnosti
Ida Sefer: Učesnicima naše konferencije se veoma sviđa to što konferenciju organizujemo na engleskom, jer se jako muče sa bosanskim jezikom. Rekla bih da se i sama borim sa tim. Mislim, mogu da govorim i razumijem sve što se govori, ali još uvek postoji neki strah da ću biti pogrešno shvaćena. Ono što pokušavamo da uradimo jeste da prevaziđemo ove jezičke barijere. Želimo da razgovaramo o pitanjima koja su za nas relevantna na jeziku koji svi razumijemo. Za tu grupu mladih Bosanaca i Hercegovaca u dijaspori, jezička barijera je itekako prisutna i oni se plaše da prisustvuju mnogim drugim dijasporskim događajima jer osjećaju da će biti ismijani zbog toga što ne govore bosanski dovoljno dobro. Ovo je uobičajeno iskustvo u dijaspori, gdje se ljudi osjećaju prilično osjetljivi po pitanju tečnog govora bosanskog jezika. Ne žele da im se rugaju što se tiče korištenja jezika.
“Okej mala, nastavi sad!” – prevazilaženje rodnih barijera
Ida Sefer: Pored godina i jezičkih barijera, ono što smo Nura, moja sestra i ja primijetile je da su većina govornika na ovim događajima bili muškarci, iako su organizatorice bile žene. Čini mi se da postoji podsvjesna pristrasnost prema pozivanju muških govornika, jer se njihova stručnost smatra većom stručnošću, više nego što je to stručnost žena. I lično sam to doživjela. Bila sam na događajima gdje sam ja osoba koja i otvara i organizuje događaj, a DJ bi se okrenuo prema meni i rekao nešto u smislu. “Okej mala, nastavi sad!” To se desilo na jednoj komemoraciji, a ja sam mu se obratila da kažem da imam 31 godinu i da nisam mala djevojčica. Sjećam se da sam se osjećala tako posramljeno pred svim tim ljudima. On je bio samo možda pet godina stariji od mene. Nije čak ni bio mnogo stariji od mene. Kada smo započeli našu konferencijsku manifestaciju, željeli smo promijeniti tu kulturu, tako da su većina govornica na našim događajima žene, a više od 75% prisutnih su žene.
Šarolike teme
Ida Sefer: Imali smo veliku raznolikost tema u posljednjih nekoliko godina i nisu sve bile političke. Diskutovali smo zaštitu životne sredine i očuvanje prirode. Imali smo časove programiranja sa ljudima koji su razvili novu aplikaciju. Imali smo mnogo umjetničkih radionica. Emitovali smo dokumentarne filmove i igrane filmove. Uglavnom, teme koje obrađujemo na našim događajima su okrenute pitanjima socijalne pravde i dotiču se pitanja kao što su prava LGBT osoba ili prava Roma. Naš osnovni doprinos jeste da se bavimo što kontraverznijim temama. Vjerujemo da ima mnogo pitanja o kojima se ne priča u našim zajednicama i mislimo da svi možemo učiniti više u smislu podrške drugim etničkim grupama, onima koji su marginalizirani u našoj dijaspori. Nažalost, općenito u bh. dijaspori smo veoma dobri u tome da budemo isključivi, ali naši događaji pokušavaju sve to da preokrenu. Ove linije isključivanja mogle bi biti nešto jednostavno kao što je to ismijavanje načina kako neko govori, odakle su mu roditelji – sa sela ili iz grada, a onda i dalje do pitanjima poput rase i rasnih odnosa. Održali smo događaj o rasnoj pravdi i pokretu Black Lives Matter u SAD-u, a također smo organizovali i jedan događaj o izazovima očuvanja mentalnog zdravlja u kriznim situacijama.
Prijateljske, poslovne i bračne relacije
Ida Sefer: Mislim da je jedan od najvećih uspjeha naše konferencije to što smo pomogli ljudima da uspostave mnogobrojne prijateljske veze širom Sjeverne Amerike. Ova prijateljstva dovela su i do pokretanja novih organizacija i poslovanja. Do sada imamo i dva braka koja su sklopljena između članova naše konferencije. Jedna od ovih priča nalazi se na našoj web stranici www.bihdiaspora.com . To je brak između Palestinca koji tečno govori bosanski, a koji je upoznao svoju ženu Bosanku na jednom od naših događaja. Vjenčali su se nekoliko mjeseci kasnije. Ponekad se u bh. dijaspori javljaju velika neslaganja, ali kroz našu konferenciju ljudi imaju priliku da se povežu i steknu prijatelje iz New Yorka, Atlante, Los Angelesa i svih drugih dijelova zemlje.
Mr. sc. Ida Sefer
Ida Sefer je živjela u Bosanskom Novom do 1992. godine kada je počeo genocid u Bosni i Hercegovini. Prije odlaska njene porodice iz Bosne i Hercegovine u Kanadu, Idin otac je bio zatvoren u koncentracionom logoru u Bosanskom Novom. Ovo iskustvo je odredilo Idino interesovanje za očuvanje sjećanja u dijasporskoj zajednici i inspirisalo njen aktivizam i liderstvo kroz različite organizacije bh. dijaspore. Obavljala je funkciju Predsjednice Odbora Instituta za genocid u Bosni i Hercegovini i obrazovnog centra (BAGI); Glavnog sekretara Savjetodavnog vijeća za Bosnu i Hercegovinu (ACBH), Suosnivačice Konferencije bosanskohercegovačke dijaspore (BiHDC) i Suosnivačice Koalicije Jedna BiH.
BiH Diasporic Conference – Diaspora Organizing for the Next Generation
“I remember my sister, Tea, and I would go with our parents to BiH diaspora events organized in Chicago and there were very few people our age, very few people we could talk to. Another regular attendee was Nura Eston from Toronto, Canada, but we were sure that it wasn’t just the three of us. We were certain that there were many more people like us. We wanted to have space for a community in which we could interact,” are the words of Ida Sefer, one of the co-founders of the BiH Diasporic Conference, an organization that is, as their website introduction states, “gathering BiH diaspora from across Canada and the US with an aim to build solidarity amongst this group based on multiculturalism, religious diversity and peace through education. This conference strives to create a space where BiH diaspora can gather to develop an interdependent and flourishing community.” This year’s annual Conference is happening in Los Angeles, 13-15 May and to learn more I sat down with Ida. We discuss how and when the organization was established, what its core values are and what are their main areas of activity.
Ida Sefer: My mom and dad were involved in the Bosnian community for a long time here in Chicago. I mean, they still are, but they were much more active before. My dad was the Vice President of the Kongres Bošnjaka for a period of time. They were very involved politically in that way. Every time they would have some sort of gathering, they would take us along with them and it was me and Tea, my sister, Nura Eston from Toronto that would show up to these things. Most of the audience were older people. It seemed that no one in my age group or my sister’s age group, who’s seven years younger than me, was interested at all in anything having to do with understanding the political system or anything having to do with Bosnia. What we experienced were many disinterested people. I would say if, if I were looking for the main reason for why we started this, it is to create community of people who are interested in some of these topics and don’t know how to get to them. They don’t know where would they even look to find education on a particular topic. Or where would I even find people that I can collaborate with on this other thing, or collaborate on starting a business? That community was simply missing. The question was who was going to take care of the next generation of organizing in the diaspora if we don’t have people in those roles now? I’m at a point where I’m aging out and there’s like a whole new group of young people who are very much interested in all of that. This is the next generation.
The first conference organized in Chicago in 2015.
Ida Sefer: We were formed in 2014 and this was an idea of the Bosnian American Genocide Institute, and the three people who started the conference were myself, Tea Sefer, my sister and Nura Easton, who is in Toronto, Canada. That first year was just truly something phenomenal. We had our first conference in Chicago in 2015 and more people flew into Chicago, then Chicago people attended themselves. These were total strangers who just took a random chance to show up in Chicago for this event. Those people are still returning every single year. That was really something unique. The majority of people who showed up that year were people who definitely were lacking some sort of Bosnian community in the areas where they were. They lived in a city that did not have a huge Bosnian community and they wanted to make more friends. We had a networking event Friday night, a full conference day from nine to five on Saturday and then we had another program on Sunday for two or three hours. We had an opening keynote and a closing keynote. There was an art show and a poetry reading, together with a literary event. We had Kurt Bassuener join us virtually for a presentation, along with some folks from an organization similar to Re-start. We had a number of virtual presenters together with in-person presenters, representatives from the Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina and we had Kongres Bošnjaka attend. The conference was a great success and we continued to build upon that success with the same philosophy of inclusion.
Inclusive events – People of different backgrounds aligned around core values
Ida Sefer: We in the diaspora, we have a whole bunch of kids from ethnically mixed backgrounds, who don’t even know they are allowed to attend these things. We want our events to be open to people of all backgrounds. For example, I had a conversation with a young man who’s actually Bosnian and Navajo and he lived on a reservation his whole life. His mother is Bosnian and married his dad in New Mexico. He attended the first conference in 2020, so it was virtual. He told me that the first time he learnt about the Bosnian genocide was in class, not even from his mother, who is Bosniak. We want to be open to him, who is part Bosnian, part Navajo, and open to all people from so-called “mixed marriages,” as well as to all Bosnians from all ethnic groups. What unites us are at the BiH Diasporic Conference are our values, such as working towards a democratic, prosperous and multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina, fighting genocide denial and the glorification of war criminals, as well as building bridges between each other.
We also try to stay away from academic elitism and exclusion, because we have people attend who have never been to college and then those with PhDs. The same is true of our presenters. What I found to be rather frustrating at similar events that I’ve attended before is that they are were very much along the lines of the only people we can speak on this particular topic are doctors or engineers or whatever, even though the topic that we’re talking about has nothing to do with their actual subject matter. We try to keep all our events affordable so that we do not reinforce class divides. By doing this we open opportunities for all people who want to be engaged, who want to contribute.
Conference attendees – youth and multigenerational
Ida Sefer: The first year of the conference we had “youth” in the title, but that has changed the second year. What we realized is that the majority of people who came were not actually considered youth. They are people of all ages, from people who are 15 to 25, to people who are 28 and older, all the way to the 75 and above age bracket. In the last two-three years, before the Covid crisis, we’ve seen more youth come, but overall it has been really interesting and definitely a multi-generational experience. These are mainly first and second-generation Bosnian-Americans. Our attendees are from all over the country. In terms of the most active second-generation people I would say Iowa, Illinois, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and St. Louis.
Challenges of bilingualism
Ida Sefer: One of the primary connections our attendees have toward the conference is that they like the fact that the conference is organized in English, because they struggle so much with the Bosnian language. I would say I also struggle with that myself. I mean, I can have a conversation. I can understand everything you’re saying, but there is still some fear of being misunderstood. What we try to do is to pull these language barriers down. We want to talk about issues relevant to us in a language that we all understand. For that group of young people, the language barrier is very much there and they’re scared to attend a lot of other events because they feel like they will be made fun of, because they don’t speak the language. This has been a common experience within the diaspora, where people feel quite sensitive on the issue of not being able to speak the Bosnian language fluently. They don’t want to be made fun of with regards to language.
“Okay mala, nastavi sad!” – breaking through gender barriers
Ida Sefer: In addition to the age and language barriers, what Nura, my sister and I noticed was that most of the speakers at these events were men, although the organizers were women. It seems to me that there is a subconscious bias to inviting male speakers, because we considered their expertise more of an expertise, more than a woman’s expertise. And I’ve seen this myself. I’ve been at events where I am the person opening it, organizing it and the DJ would turn to me and say something like. “Okay mala, nastavi sad!” This happened at a commemoration event and I turned to him to say that I am 31 years old and not a little girl. I remember feeling so embarrassed in front of all these people. He was perhaps five years older than me. He wasn’t even much older than me. When we started our conference event, we wanted to change that culture, so the majority of speakers at our events are women and more than 75% of the attendees are women.
Tackling controversial topics
Ida Sefer: We have had a large diversity of topics over the last few years and they have not all been political. We’ve looked at environmentalism and natural conservation. We had classes on programming with a bunch of people who got get together and decided to program an app. We’ve had more humanities classes like art workshops. We’ve had documentaries aired and movie presentation. For the most part, the topics we address in our events swing towards social justice and shedding some light on issues such as LGBT rights or Roma rights. Our shtick really is being as controversial as possible when it comes to the choice of topics. We believe that there are many issues that are not talked about within our communities and I think we can all do better in terms of supporting other ethnic groups, those who are marginalized within our diaspora. As a community we are very good at being exclusive. Our events try to reverse that. These lines of exclusion could be as simple as making fun of someone’s language to where they are from, cities of villages, and then beyond to issues like race and racial relations. We did an event on racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement and we also organized an event on the challenges of maintaining mental health in times of turmoil.
Bonds of friendship, business and marriage
Ida Sefer: I think that one of the biggest success of our conference is that people have established bonds of friendship with other from all over North America. These friendships have led to them starting new organization and businesses. So far, we also have two marriages between members of our conference. One of these stories is on our www.bihdiaspora.com webpage. It’s a marriage between a Palestinian man who speaks Bosnian fluently and met his Bosnian wife at one of our events. They got married a few months later. At a basic level, we are definitely creating friendship bonds, for sure. Sometimes, our smaller groups can become quite cliquey, but through our conference people get the chance to connect and make friends from New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and all other parts of the country.
Ida Sefer, M.S.W. and M.A.
Ida Sefer lived in Bosanski Novi until 1992 when the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina began. Prior to her family’s escape to Canada, Ida’s father was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Bosanski Novi. This experience was formative for Ida’s interest in the preservation of community memory and inspired her into community activism and leadership through various diaspora organizations: as President of the Board for the Bosnian American Genocide Institute and Education Center (BAGI); as Secretary of the Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (ACBH), as a co-founding member of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian Diasporic Conference (BiHDC) and a co-founding member of the One BiH Coalition.