Coffee served in Chicago for Srebrenica Extinctions

Bosnian artist Aida Sehovic placed thousands of cups of coffee in a Chicago square to mark the anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, creating a unique memorial showing the public how the victims died.

Every year on July 11th, Aida Sehovik and her team of volunteers fill up with coffee with thousands of small ceramic cups and place them in some square of any city around the world.

But the people that made the coffee never come to drink it.

Some of them are being buried that day at the memorial centre in Srebrenica after their remains have been exhumed from mass graves and identified by forensic experts.

Most of them have already been buried in previous years. An estimated 1,000 are still missing.

Seovici's interim monument, titled “ST T EEMA” (Why not Ye), aims to increase awareness of the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian men and boys from Srebrenica 22 years ago, which international courts have described as an act of genocide. So far, a total of 8,372 victims have been identified.

This year coffee was served in Daley Plaza in Chicago.

“We deliberately don't have any sign, flags or banners for the monument in the country, so people who pass by initially don't have any idea what we're doing and why”, Sehovic told BIRN.

The appearance of any kind of symbol that can separate us allows people to approach and simply ask questions,” she said.

Drinking coffee in small cups is a social event in Bosnia, a ritual that brings together family, neighbors, and friends.

Sehovici's black-filled Philippians are to get people to stop there and ask what it is about. They are then informed of genocide and why it is important not to forget and talk about thousands of Srebrenica victims.

When I work with communities that organise the memorial in every city and especially with the volunteer team that is present on July 11th, we talk a lot about the way to create a comprehensive and welcoming space where everyone can feel themselves part of it and be part of this memorial, regardless of their personal connection, or the history of Srebrenica or Bosnian”, she explained.

After living in Germany and Turkey as a refugee of war in Bosnia in the 1992-1995s, Sehovic emigrated to the United States in 1997, where she completed her art studies.

She said her initial idea of the project arose from frustration she thought there was nothing she could do about it. He wanted to create a space for himself and others to do something -- “regardless of how small or symbolic this gesture could be”.

“I never thought that something that started as a single performance 12 years ago would be transformed into a nomad monument travelling worldwide, creating awareness, sensitivity and solidarity for the Srebrenica genocide,”

Sehoviqi has already shown her temporary monument in the Bosnian cities of Sarajevo and Tuzla, in several US cities, including at UN headquarters in New York, as well as Geneva (Switzerland), Toronto (Canada), Istanbul (Turkey), Stockholm (Swede) and The Hague (Holand).

She and the team of volunteers need a full day to prepare traditional Bosnian coffee and put small cups in the country. The number of cups increases annually, donated by Bosniaks worldwide.

Help is never missing.

We are short of how much of our communities in the diaspora and anyone else who has “ST T E NEMA” wants to be a part of it after seeing what it is and that there is room for them to take part, Sechovic said.

A series of organisations representing the Bosniak diaspora in the United States were included in this year's project, led by project co-ordinator Asja Dizdarevicq, was organised and supported by the Bosniak and Herzegovina Club of Chicago, the Institute and the American-Bosnian Educational Centre of Genocide, the South American Association of Bosniak Women, the Bosnian Islamic Cultural Centre, the Islamic Cultural Centre of Great Chicago, the Bosniak and American Herzegovina Association, the Bosnian Cultural Community of North Americas and the Overcoming Srebrenica Association.

“Joining survivors and anyone directly affected or not by the genocide in Srebrenica, “ST T E NEMA” stresses that any genocide is a crime against humanity and therefore is a crime against all of us”, Sehovic said.