When people hear about Boko Haram, what usually comes to mind? Many would recall the 276 Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped by the terrorist organization followed by the international campaign to ‘bring back our girls’. Yet what are the motivations behind such a reprehensible act, who is behind Boko Haram, and what are the origins of this Islamic extremist group?
“How does one archive or record the details of the massacres of a state that wants to hide its massacres?” Serbian director Ognjen Glavonić attempted to do just that with his latest film.
Balkan Diskurs correspondent Struan Kennedy provides a review of three films that were recently shown at Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art in Sarajevo as part of a retrospective of the work of French filmmaker Jean-Gabriel Périot.
The work of peace building organisations varies widely throughout BiH. Omladinska Organizacija Svitac provides an example of the power of nontraditional peace building efforts; successfully bringing youth of all ethnicities together through the arts.
In 2011, peaceful protests started in Daraa, Syria following a wave of large-scale protests across the Arab world. Bashar al-Assad's regime brutally cracked down on all opposition to his rule and met protests with violent repression.