Savo Heleta's Blog

My book, Not My Turn to Die: Memoirs of a Broken Childhood in Bosnia (March 2008, AMACOM Books), was reviewed by Stefan Wagstyl from the Financial Times:

Not My Turn to Die is the memoir of Savo Heleta, an ethnic Serb living in the mainly Muslim town of Gorazde who was 13 when war broke out. Unlike many Gorazde Serbs who flee the town, Heleta’s parents decide to stay – they have Muslim friends, and are well-known and liked in the community.

The enormity of their misjudgment dawns on them as ethnic

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The recent conflict between Israel and Hamas has created fury around the globe, especially in the Muslim world. A number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa saw some of the largest demonstrations in their history condemning the killing of civilians and children in the military operation.

The Middle Eastern media, such as Al Jazeera, covered the confliclt 24/7.

One has to wonder why the Darfur conflict has never received similar attention.

Even though millions of innocent Muslims have b

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What happened to the morals, values, and principles of freedom and democracy in South Africa? What happened to Nelson Mandela's promise that "human rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs?"

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader and the Nobel Peace laureate, was expected to address a conference in South Africa whose aim was to discuss ways of using football to fight racism and xenophobia ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.


The government of South Africa, however, refused to

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As expected by many analysts, the recent International Criminal Court's indictment of Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur since 2003 has radicalized many in Sudan and rallied thousands to support the president and alleged war criminal.

Since the arrest warrant for al-Bashir, the Sudanese regime began a large-scale propaganda war to portray itself among the allies (mainly the Arab and Muslim world, China, and African countries) as an i

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On March 3, I had a video conference with 72 students from California State University – Chico who read my book in their sociology class. We talked about “Not My Turn to Die,” my experience in South Africa, and current research on the Darfur conflict.

Thanks everyone for a great talk and very interesting questions!

Professor Song, thank you very much for inviting me to talk to your class and for writing such a great review of the book (the review will soon be published in The Journal of Teaching S

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This study critically explores the aims and perspectives of the Justice and Equality Movement, currently the most powerful Darfur rebel movement. The author has used the first-hand information gathered through interviews with the representatives of the rebel movement and additional data about the conflict and the rebels collected through an extensive literature analysis to portray the movement and its aims, perspectives, and plans for the future. Using the grounded theory approach as the data an

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In 2003, a conflict broke out in Darfur, Sudan’s western province, between the mainly “African” rebels and the government forces and their proxy “Arab” militias. It is estimated that about 200,000 people have so far died in the conflict from fighting, diseases, and starvation. The UN and aid agencies estimate that over two million Darfurians, out of the population of about six million, are living in refugee camps. Even though the majority of all deaths in Darfur have occurred in 2003 and 2004, t

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As Sudan Tribune writes, "an alliance of Sudanese Islamic jihadists and Darfur Arab militia groups pledged to carry out attacks against countries that are supporting the decisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC)" in retaliation to the last weeks indictment of Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur since 2003.

The alliance promised "world imperialists and CIA agents in US, UK, and France with another September 11 attack." Th

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It wasn't the right to vote that liberated women in the 20th century. It wasn't the right to work outside home, receive education, or the contraceptive pill.

No.

It was the washing machine that led to female emancipation. At least according to the Vatican and the Catholic Church.

This was revealed on March 8, the International Woman's Day, in Vatican’s official newspaper and the mouthpiece of the Catholic Church, l'Osservatore Romano, in an article titled "The Washing Machine and the Liberation of

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The African National Congress (ANC) will win the upcoming elections in South Africa. They don't really have to campaign for votes. God and Jesus are on their side.


Speaking to the ANC supporters in the Mpumalanga province on March 8, Jacob Zuma, the president of the ruling party and very likely the next president of South Africa, said church leaders must persuade believers to vote for the ANC.

"When priests pray for poverty to end and for development, then it means God agrees with the ANC because

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