Sarajevo’s history today in the FT

‘This town has more history than it can handle’ says Simon Kuper. Don’t forget Srebrenica says the Sarajevo graffiti, pictured on my trip to Bosnia in 2009.

The Financial Times magazine today has a WWI-related piece by Simon Kuper – Sarajevo: the crossroads of history.

“History in the west often serves as entertainment, something to enjoy from a comfortable distance, rather like a horror movie. That is the spirit of much western remembrance of 1914 this year.

In the Balkans, though, history is fresher, more vicious, always about to jump out and bite the present. Princip and Franz Ferdinand still haven’t faded into history here.”

There were riots in Tuzla and Sarajevo last month.  The top-heavy administration (well-paid jobs and extras for some but poverty for many) with little hope of change was getting people down in 2009.  I remember commenting to Junus (pictured above) that there seemed to be a lot of chemist shops in Sarajevo.  ‘People don’t sleep’, he replied.

If you’re on twitter follow one of the Bosnians we met, Amina Dulovic @Aminadj – she has been following events and sometimes tweets in English.