This piece is a powerful, painful reminder of how quickly propaganda and fanaticism can strip people of their full humanity — turning musicians, doctors and mothers into mere ethnic labels so killing becomes possible. Mladić’s words about “brotherhood” were a grotesque mask for a project of exclusion and murder; meeting him as a man who smiled and shook hands only makes his crimes more chilling, not less. We should be clear-eyed: his death in prison is not an end to justice or to responsibility. The failures of the international community, the flow of arms, and the normalisation of ethnic hatred all helped create this tragedy — and those structures must be confronted so it never repeats. Our obligation is to honour survivors, preserve memory, resist denial and revisionism, and keep strengthening international law and protections for civilians. Rest in power to the victims; we must keep fighting for truth, accountability and reconciliation. 😔