Vehid Sehic, head of the 10,000-strong Forum of Tuzla Citizens, views public action as the best way for Bosnia to chart a course away from nationalism. By refusing to surrender to the Serb nationalist shells and the ideas of ethnic division and intolerance which propelled them, Tuzla has kept the flame of peaceful co-existence sparkling in Bosnia. This refusal to hate has given the physical hardship endured by the civilian population a higher moral purpose. Even so, it will be hard for Tuzla to forgive or forget. The painful memory of 25 May 1995, when 71 young students from all ethnic groups were blown to pieces by a single shell whilst they celebrated a basketball victory at a town-centre caf , has scarred the emotional spirit of the town forever.
History gives life, meaning and direction to contemporary resistance.
In the early nineteenth century, the independence struggle against Turkish rule was born in Tuzla. Later that century, Tuzla drove back the Austrian-Hungarian Empire forces. The Goat, Tuzla's modern-day mascot which is said to represent Good, is a rebel symbol. According to a popular folktale, it stems from the time under Austrian-Hungarian rule when a group of Tuzla citizens defied an order not to keep goats. The Snake is the opposing symbol for Evil.