The last genocide of the 20th century

Tell It to the World: International Justice and the Secret Campaign to Hide Mass Murder in Kosovo by Eliott Behar (Dundurn, $24.99).

Despite its overwrought title—most informed sources are well aware of the genocide in Kosovo—Eliott Behar, a Canadian who worked as a war crimes prosecutor in the Hague, provides a compelling and horrifying account of what really happened in Kosovo in Tell It to the World.

Behar provides a thumbnail sketch of the Balkan history that led up to the fight over Kosovo in the ’90s, then details the efforts of the Serbian leadership—unsuccessful as it was—to cover up the “ethnic cleansing” that was their official policy in Kosovo.

But by far the most useful and original work is in Behar’s analysis of how the rest of the world—and specifically, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia—has responded to the genocide. ...

(Full review on Lit/Rant: http://litrant.tumblr.com/post/111075240650/the-last-genocide-of-the-20th-centur... ( )

Eliot Behar’s Tell It to the World is absolutely essential reading. Not just for those interested in current global politics or those interested in forensic science or those interested in international courts or….

Tell It to the World is absolutely essential reading. For anyone.

Eliot Behar worked as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court established to hear cases of crimes against humanity that occurred during the collapse of Yugoslavia. The prosecution team he worked with was genuinely global with members from Canada, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Norway, and the United States (Behar is Canadian). They were responsible for prosecuting Vlastimir Dordevic, former Assistant Minister of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs and Chief of the Public Security Department, positions that made him responsible for police forces in Kosovo and Serbia.

Because this is a book about human rights abuses and genocide, it does not make for easy reading at times. Nonetheless, Behar is a remarkably clear writer, capable of conveying this information with precision and a minimum of embellishment. This kind of giving witness is essential for the historical record. As Behar puts it, “to strive for justice is to seek not only to punish but to declare this is not the way things should be.”

Behar also spends a good portion of the book wrestling with the questions of how people come to feel justified in committing crimes against humanity and the way they view these crimes later on. Ironically, he finds the motivation for crimes against humanity in our own desire for justice, the same desire that lies behind the creation of the International Criminal Court: “Justified is a powerful word, which seems to receive too little of our attention. It conveys that an act that would otherwise be unacceptable is considered—for some particular reason— to be morally and ethically permissible.”

Almost all of us would say that genocide is immoral under any circumstances. In specific moments, however, leaders and their people can construct specific narratives that make genocide appropriate within that single context: “such violence is not typically caused by an absence of, or lack of attention to, justice and morality. It is, instead, caused by the direct and overriding pursuit of a misdirected view of morality and justice, constructed as justification in the minds of the perpetrators.” And it is not only monsters who can be led to embrace this kind of justification. The possibility for embracing it lies within us all.

Tell It to the World is doubly essential. It is essential because it records a period in human history that is essential to remember. It is also essential because it helps readers to think beyond a specific atrocity to consider the ways in which our societies’ failures have allowed these atrocities to happen. ( )

Sometimes the things that make us uncomfortable are the things we most need to explore. This book is one of those instances. The content made me uncomfortable. It invaded my dreams. In the end, it did exactly what it was supposed to do. If you aren't uncomfortable when you read this, there is probably something wrong with you. Despite the discomfort, and because of it, this book needs to be read.

While the content is not easy to read, Eliott Behar's writing style certainly is. He manages to pull a multi-faceted and profoundly disturbing story together, telling it to us in a way that is easy to follow and impossible to ignore. His focus is largely on the ethnic cleansing within Serbia and Kosovo, though he also touches on Bosnia and other areas involved in the human rights atrocities of the '90s. Throughout the book, he alternates a kind of educational narrative with his own personal experiences during the trial and the horrific personal stories of some of the survivors. The blend works exceptionally well. It's easy to read cold facts, acknowledge them intellectually, and then move on. When these stories are personalized, the result is something else entirely.

Most of us here in the U.S. experience war and conflict from a distance. The fear doesn't touch us, and so, perhaps, we don't look closely enough at the kind of damage it does to humanity. Our history classes focus on facts and dates. Maybe it's time books like this one were brought into the classroom instead.

*I was provided with an early review copy by Dundurn via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.* ( )