On Tuesday the 15th of July, the Worthing Islamic Social and Social Welfare Society held a commemoration event at Worthing Town Hall. People from all across Worthing came together in rememberance of the horrific genocide that took place against Bosnian Muslims between the years 1992-95. Councillor Claire Hunt of Goring delivered the main talk of the evening, drawing attention to this year’s theme: “Remember Yesterday, Act Today”. We thank those who also made some powerful speeches, reminding us to look beyond our differences and to believe in the power of collective hope and belonging. A special thanks to Imam Idris Nawab and the Worthing Islamic Social and Social Welfare Society for organising the event, it was extremely moving and left us with some important takeaways for the future.
If anyone would like to read more about the Srebrenica Genocide, we have linked the “Remembering Srebrenica” website that has a wealth of resources: https://srebrenica.org.uk/what-happened
Claire Hunt’s Speech:
Remember Yesterday, Act Today
I want to start by thanking Imam Idris and Worthing Islamic Society for honouring each year the anniversary of the genocide against Bosnian Muslims and inviting us to reflect on the terrible events that took place 30 years ago. I’m grateful for the excellent, but often harrowing-to-read resources that have been produced by Remembering Srebenica for this memorial that remind us that genocide isn’t an event, it’s a process, a systematic destruction of people because of their identity that happens over a long period of time, and that involves a series of social and political steps that begin long before mass killing. And the theme of the event tonight, to let our remembering lead us to action, is an urgent challenge to us all. Because in the 80 years since the Holocaust, even with the introduction of the Genocide Convention 75 years ago to which 152 governments are signatories, and despite remembering Srebrenica for 30 years, genocide has not been prevented and governments remain far from achieving that goal.
Experts on genocide prevention stress that governments need to learn to recognise the early stages of the genocide process when there is more opportunity to intervene and save lives. In Bosnia, Serbian leaders and forces executed an inhumane plan to terrorise, persecute and ethnically cleanse Bosnia of Muslims for 3 or 4 years between 1992-95, destroying almost all the infrastructure of Sarajevo. The international community seemed powerless to stop the forced displacement of people or to protect the UN Safe Areas, including Srebenica, where people fled to. When the Serbian forces attacked Srebenica in July 1995, I remember a photo of UN peacekeepers passively watching women and children being separated and expelled, shortly before the execution of 8000 men and boys in just a few days and their burials in mass graves. This appalling atrocity was officially recognised as genocide in 2004, but it was the culmination of a long incremental process of genocide that took close to 100,000 mainly Muslim lives, 2 million people forcibly displaced, and 20,000-50,000 women raped. Subsequent investigations have exposed that the UK, US and French governments and UN leadership knew 6 weeks before the Srebenica massacre that they would abandon the enclave to the Serbs as part of a peace settlement. They may not have known the exact nature and extent of the atrocities that would happen, but they knew the Serbian leader’s stated intention to have the population of the enclaves ‘vanish completely’ and were warned of the risks.
Given this catastrophic betrayal, the only fitting way to honour the 30th anniversary of Srebenica is to implore and demand our governments do better. Firstly, they must identify the risk of genocide and the progression towards it at the earliest possible moment and have the courage to name it. Secondly, they must take on the moral responsibility to effectively act to stop it. Because, heartbreakingly, governments are accused of carrying out genocides as we speak, eg in Myanmar against the Muslim Rohingya, in Sudan against various ethnic groups, in China against the Uyghur, and by Russia against the Ukrainian people. And, especially deeply felt by many in our community, with 800 people demonstrating their anguish on the streets of Worthing in June, we are over 21 months into a genocide unfolding in Gaza. Our government and media still won’t name what is happening in Gaza a genocide, although it has been judged as such by the International Court of Justice, and a former EU diplomat says “Seldom have I heard the leader of a state so clearly outline a plan that fits the legal definition of genocide.” Three times more explosive power has been dropped on Gaza than the Hiroshima bomb, most of the houses and infrastructure obliterated and according to independent experts over 80,000 people have been killed, over half of them women and children. People are being starved, being shot trying to access what little water and food is provided, there is little electricity, fuel, or medical services.
And it was clear even in October 2023 that Israel was not just targeting Hamas in response to the atrocities they committed, but was bent on disproportionate and collective punishment of all Palestinians. One of Netanyahu’s ministers said “All of Gaza’s infrastructures must be destroyed to its foundation and their electricity cut off immediately. The war is not against Hamas but against the state of Gaza.”
Nissim Vaturi, deputy speaker of Israeli parliament said “To wipe out Gaza, Nothing else will satisfy us. Don’t leave a single child there”. By February 2025, he was saying “The children and women must be separated and the adults in Gaza must be eliminated”. Hecalled Palestinians “subhumans” and Israeli Channel 14 TV has systematically broadcast interviews and statements that normalise genocide, eg “Only a few are possibly human there. Over 90 % are terrorists.” One even said,
“The 2.6 million terrorists in Gaza deserve death. Men, women and children – in every way possible we must simply carry to a Holocaust on them…” I can’t read out the rest of that statement because it is too vile to repeat.
More recently outrageous interventions by Trump have legitimised and accelerated Netanyahu’s ethnic cleansing programme, now set to culminate in forcing Palestinians into a so-called ‘humanitarian city’ at Rafah which has all the signs of becoming an internment camp and a blueprint for further crimes against humanity.
Ellie Chowns, one of our Green MPs, said at the beginning of July “Every day that the UK government fails to act on the horrifying evidence from Gaza, we fail in our duty under the Genocide Convention. We must act — now — to prevent genocide, centre Palestinian humanity, and end the suffering. We cannot look away”.
Worryingly our government seems more determined to take action against people and organisations protesting against genocide rather than taking the decisive, meaningful actions needed to stop the systematic starvation and killing.
But hundreds of thousands of people here and around the world continue to press governments to do more. And I think today, we need to really consider what each and every one of us can do to pressure our government and to pledge to take our own very specific and urgent personal actions to bring about change. We often conclude these events with generalised reflections, absolutely admirable in intention, to work together towards unity and harmony, to prevent any shift towards the ‘othering’ and de-humanising of groups of people that allow tensions to be exploited. But the people of Gaza, and those suffering illegal bombing in Lebanon, Iran, Kyiv and elsewhere, can’t wait and mustn’t be left to pay the price of tyranny on their own.
There are lots of different, positive examples in our community of people taking action. I mentioned the recent demonstration in Worthing organised by a coalition of local groups including Parents for Peace, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, WS Divest, Taarof Table, Worthing Solidarity, Stand Up to Racism, Worthing Community Independents and Worthing Green Party. The focus is, rightly, on pushing Worthing’s MPs to back calls for a permanent ceasefire, an end to the blockade and starvation of Gaza, hard-hitting economic sanctions, an end to all arms sales to Israel, including UK-supplied weapons parts, an end to 75 years of illegal occupation and apartheid.
There are also regular demonstrations at the L3 Harris factory in Brighton which makes components of the F-35 Fighters used in ways that violate international law and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.
And there are other ways of exerting pressure.
Labour councillors on West Sussex council are challenging the council on Friday to divest pension funds from 10 companies aiding and profiting from Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
We can practice ourselves boycotts and divestment from 48 corporations investigated by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Palestine, Francesca Albanese. Other faith and community groups raise awareness and much needed funds for Palestine.
The other lessons from history is that prevention isn’t over when a genocide stops. Long term, we need to abandon systems and mentalities that result in apartheid and genocide – imperialist, settler governments that grab land and resources and justify themselves by spreading hatred and othering. The third stage of prevention, after recognition of risk and taking action, is to bring perpetrators to justice, make reparations to victims, and through truth and reconciliation work for just and lasting peace.
We have a lot of work to do ….