SIEGE DREAMS

Sarajevo is a cemetery by night, but the intermittent crackle of gunfire shatters the enclosed peace.
—page 46, from "Europe's Shame" in Landscapes of War by Juan Goytisolo

Nobody can emerge unscathed from the descent into the hell of Sarajevo.
—page 51, from "Goodbye Sarajevo" in Landscapes of War by Juan Goytisolo

The voices of a siege are myriad and multivalent, even though we are usually only treated to that of the victor—either the voice of the army that finally storms the beleaguered city or the collective voice of the citizenry that successfully repels the besiegers. Rarely do we hear the voice of the military commander of the impotent and inept International Mediation Force. Rarely do we hear the voice of the victim of fatal sniper or mortar attack. Rarely do we hear the voice of one enduring the siege, attempting to navigate bullets and a "war" economy. Yet, these are exactly the voices that we hear in Juan Goytisolo's novel of war-torn Sarajevo, State of Siege, in addition to the voice of one who has been in the city to observe and write about it (as Goytisolo has).

His novel is a Möbius strip of narrative. There are at least three main interconnected narratives woven into one seamless story that falls in on itself again and again. A character in one of the narratives reads about himself in another; a character in that other narrative reads about himself in the prior. The absurd, claustrophobic, paranoid existence of a siege is perfectly captured by Goytisolo.

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Nobody seems to give a damn about the siege and bombardment of our district! If all this were happening in the Balkans or the Arab world, I'd understand perfectly, but, answer me this, my friend, how can they tolerate such atrocities in our own country!
—page 46, State of Siege by Juan Goytisolo

The siege in this case is one of the districts of Paris. Goytisolo weaves this "fantasy" narrative into the "confusion" of the main narrative. His point is well taken, however. The world can effectively ignore the modern-day sieges of some of the world's largest cities, with their extensive, rich histories—Beirut, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Sarajevo—precisely because they are populated by the Other. We can turn off our television and walk away when confronted with the poverty and violence of a city of the South, such as Bogotá, once again because it contains the Other. But, attack one of our cities, London or Paris or New York, or even Oklahoma City, and we enact a swift revenge.

The US siege on Baghdad continues, even as the violence escalates, even as the Green Zone we have established, purported to be one of the most secure areas of the city, increasingly comes under attack. We hear little about it on the evening news, and what we do hear we have become numb to, desensitized. It is Over There. There is, admittedly, more coverage in our national daily newspapers, but few of us read.

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Sarajevo used to boast the finest, most sophisticated cuisine in Yugoslavia before the JNA decided to starve the city out.
—page 162, The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War by Misha Glenny

Those who feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple cling to ash heaps.
—Lamentations 4:5

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I am dreaming, not for the first time, of the war. I am walking down the streets of Sarajevo. Grenades and mortars are exploding in close proximity but I sense no danger to myself. It is bright and sunny, other people are out on the streets.
—page 174, The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War by Misha Glenny

I too have dreamed of war—the siege of Sarajevo, the siege of Baghdad—because of the works of authors like Goytisolo and Glenny. The nightmare of existence when you know that your mortal enemy awaits you at every open space, at every opportune moment, haunts me. The modern siege becomes not one of a city struggling to survive behind its walls while an enemy camps outside, but a siege from within and without, enemies at every turn. Perhaps, even yourself.