Festival Goes On, Challenging Policies of Violence and Xenophobia

The Association Q, organizer of the Queer Sarajevo Festival, expressed its concern over the seriously deteriorating conditions for activist work and safe and free visits to cultural events in the city of Sarajevo, as well as its concerns over the fact that violence is imposed on the citizens of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina as an accepted social value.

- We are especially discouraged by the open support for the violence, best evident through the inexistence of clear and unambiguous condemnation by representatives of state institutions and political parties and attempts, furthermore, to put the blame on the organizers of the Festival � says the Q Association in a public statement (attached to the article).

The Association demands from competent authorities to identify and sanction those responsible for this type of organized violence and to inform the public about the actions and investigation, which it sees as the only adequate methods to incapacitate the violence, fascism, nationalism, xenophobia and all other ideologies that remain ` the mainstay of BiH society, always hiding behind the mob, never behind an individual citizen`.

The Q Association appeals to all parties to exercise restraint in the attempts to generalize and point a finger at certain social groups, adding that it will continue to press charges against those who instigate to violence through use of hate speech on the internet, against whose who threatened the organizers of the Festival either directly, or through texts published by some media outlets.

While expressing its gratitude to all friends and citizens of Sarajevo and BiH for their support and work in suppression of violence and hatred, the Q Association adds that the Festival remains open, in spite of all obstacles and obstruction, and shall continue its political and activist struggle against the all-present fascism and xenophobia, with the aim to create a free space based on principles of self-definition, self-identification, individuality and freedom of choice.

- This city and this state have audience that is hungry for freedom, culture and arts and we will do everything in our power to hold this and the next Queer Sarajevo in an environment worthy of every human being � concludes the Association.