Humanitarians Must Minimize the Pompousness of Their “Selflessness”
Sitting in the city center of Sarajevo, right in front of the bustling main bus and train stations, is one of the most massive gated compounds one could ever imagine in the middle of a city. Surrounded by tall white walls and patrolling armed guards in military uniforms, the compound consisting of three well-maintained concrete towers stretched well over two and a half standard street blocks on what must be some of the most expensive real estate in town. In front of the big entry gate, the golden letters marked “EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”
One would normally be awed by the sheer size of the buildings, especially considering that this is Bosnia, a country where there is barely any presence of American citizens outside the few, like myself, who drops by from nearby countries to check out the well-preserved ancient townscapes of Sarajevo. But the American representation here in Bosnia is nothing compared to the grand residence of UN and NATO representatives in downtown Pristina, not even attempting integration with the local community with its high concrete walls topped with barbed wires.
There is an obvious irony here. The Americans and Europeans build high walls and hire armed guards obviously so that their personnel working within the compound can be protected from still active radical elements of Serbian nationalist elements. However, had they instead built their offices with less grandeur, attracting less attention from the locals, the radicals seeking to attack the personnel would perhaps not even find the target for their militant revenge.
And, of course, the high walls can only protect the Westerners when they are inside the compounds. Across the street from the EU compound in Pristina, there are two five-star hotel towers conspicuously sticking out next to an otherwise low-rising pedestrian shopping street for the locals. To see local peddlers working next to hotels that they, and most of the local populace, can never afford to stay in their working lifetimes, brings a certain degree of worry that the Americans and Europeans, who gained local respect for establishing peace and maintaining independence in Bosnia and Kosovo, are unnecessarily distancing themselves from the locals.
After all, the above-average number of Western personnel still here in the Balkans is to help the locals maintain political stability and increase economic development. In other words, the central role is a humanitarian one, supposedly selflessly guiding the locals toward true self-sufficiency by pumping the necessary financial resources and professional knowledge. The productive assistance they provide to the locals is the only source of legitimacy they have to maintain such heavy and obvious presence here.
Yet, the conspicuously massive compounds on the streets of Pristina and Sarajevo are, if anything, great symbols of arrogance and condescension toward the locals. They demonstrate incredible powers of the West over the locals when the locals, by allowing the West to help them, already humbly acknowledged such power. By emphasizing the condescending power in such obvious physical ways, the Westerners are perhaps beginning to earn the ire of the locals...
And the actions of the Westerners here do indeed reinforce the physical symbols of grand administrative buildings. The five-star hotels here, after all, exist mainly for the Western “experts,” who sees such treatment only as appropriate for going to developing countries. So much money, which could have otherwise went into productive projects directly improving the lives of the locals, were and are still being wasted on providing the Westerners on humanitarian work here lifestyles that would even be considered extravagant in the West.
In Pristina, a major thoroughfare leading out of the city is named after Bill Clinton, and there is even a statue and huge poster of him on a nearby building when such adulation does not even exist in the US. But unless the Western “humanitarian workers” start to reform their condescending and extravagant ways while working here in the still developing Balkans, it would not be surprising that the admiration the West earned during the late 90s may simply evaporate in the near future.
One would normally be awed by the sheer size of the buildings, especially considering that this is Bosnia, a country where there is barely any presence of American citizens outside the few, like myself, who drops by from nearby countries to check out the well-preserved ancient townscapes of Sarajevo. But the American representation here in Bosnia is nothing compared to the grand residence of UN and NATO representatives in downtown Pristina, not even attempting integration with the local community with its high concrete walls topped with barbed wires.
There is an obvious irony here. The Americans and Europeans build high walls and hire armed guards obviously so that their personnel working within the compound can be protected from still active radical elements of Serbian nationalist elements. However, had they instead built their offices with less grandeur, attracting less attention from the locals, the radicals seeking to attack the personnel would perhaps not even find the target for their militant revenge.
And, of course, the high walls can only protect the Westerners when they are inside the compounds. Across the street from the EU compound in Pristina, there are two five-star hotel towers conspicuously sticking out next to an otherwise low-rising pedestrian shopping street for the locals. To see local peddlers working next to hotels that they, and most of the local populace, can never afford to stay in their working lifetimes, brings a certain degree of worry that the Americans and Europeans, who gained local respect for establishing peace and maintaining independence in Bosnia and Kosovo, are unnecessarily distancing themselves from the locals.
After all, the above-average number of Western personnel still here in the Balkans is to help the locals maintain political stability and increase economic development. In other words, the central role is a humanitarian one, supposedly selflessly guiding the locals toward true self-sufficiency by pumping the necessary financial resources and professional knowledge. The productive assistance they provide to the locals is the only source of legitimacy they have to maintain such heavy and obvious presence here.
Yet, the conspicuously massive compounds on the streets of Pristina and Sarajevo are, if anything, great symbols of arrogance and condescension toward the locals. They demonstrate incredible powers of the West over the locals when the locals, by allowing the West to help them, already humbly acknowledged such power. By emphasizing the condescending power in such obvious physical ways, the Westerners are perhaps beginning to earn the ire of the locals...
And the actions of the Westerners here do indeed reinforce the physical symbols of grand administrative buildings. The five-star hotels here, after all, exist mainly for the Western “experts,” who sees such treatment only as appropriate for going to developing countries. So much money, which could have otherwise went into productive projects directly improving the lives of the locals, were and are still being wasted on providing the Westerners on humanitarian work here lifestyles that would even be considered extravagant in the West.
In Pristina, a major thoroughfare leading out of the city is named after Bill Clinton, and there is even a statue and huge poster of him on a nearby building when such adulation does not even exist in the US. But unless the Western “humanitarian workers” start to reform their condescending and extravagant ways while working here in the still developing Balkans, it would not be surprising that the admiration the West earned during the late 90s may simply evaporate in the near future.
"By emphasizing the condescending power in such obvious physical ways, the Westerners are perhaps beginning to earn the ire of the locals..." - This is the parsimonious inference that might make intuitive sense, but I'd be surprised if most locals saw it that way.
ReplyDeleteit is a matter of time. if it is not the case yet, it is simply because the soft power of non-western powers are still not strong enough. but as far as i see it, the alternative will emerge sooner or later
ReplyDelete