During the siege of Sarajevo, it was a
constant struggle to maintain faith and hope. Allowing the Serbian
nationalists to demoralize us was considered just as much a failure as
any massacre, any atrocity.
Artists in the city organized plays, screened films, held poetry
recitals, and constructed everything from small football courts to
Italian pizzarias underground - away from the constant danger of mortar
shells and sniper's bullets. It was all an attempt, as Alma Duran said,
"to show those beasts that are killing us that life will triumph over
death."
It was also an expression of intellectual superiorty against those
primitive minds that were destroying one of God's greatest cities to
achieve immoral and fascist objectives. When the Serbs spraypainted
"This is Serbia!" on the side of the post office, someone in Sarajevo
spraypainted the response, "This is a post office, you peasant."
One of the greatest symbols of this surreal resistence was the Miss
Sarajevo Under Siege pageant. Girls wore combat uniforms and army
boots, carried guns, and walked on stage with beautiful smiles before a
crowd of Bosnians, United Nations officials, foreign media personnel,
and Holiday Inn staff.
The winner that night was a young girl from the Dobrinja district of
Sarajevo, nicknamed Little Hiroshima for the amount of destruction it
bore on the front lines.
Inela Nogic accepted her crown (and AK-47) by explaining this was her way of fighting. She instantly became a legend.
After seeing a CNN interview with Inela Nogic in which she responded to
the question, "What will you do with your year as Miss Sarajevo?" by
saying, "I have no plans, I could be dead tomorrow." the band U2 took a
song written about her, Miss Sarajevo, and made it famous around the
world.
Is there a time for keeping a distance
A time to turn your eyes away
Is there a time for keeping your head down
For getting on with your day
Is there a time for kohl and lipstick
A time for cutting hair
Is there a time for high street shopping
To find the right dress to wear
Here she comes
Heads turn around
Here she comes
To take her crown
Is there a time to run for cover
A time for kiss and tell
Is there a time for different colors
Different names you find it hard to spell
Is there a time for first communion
A time for east 17
Is there a time to turn to Mecca
Is there a time to be a beauty queen
Here she comes
Beauty plays the crown
Here she comes
Surreal in her crown