Karadzic staged folk epic singing to mobilize Serb soldiers for war

Evidence

Radovan Karadzic, President of the Republika Srpska, likes to appear in public with a gusle, the stick-fiddle used by bards to recite epic poetry. He makes a point of visiting the countryside frequently, where, he believes, the true Serb folk spirit can be found, unpolluted by the ethnic and religious mixing of the cities. His soldiers are accompanied by gusle players. As the gusle player sings, the Serb soldiers pass around an alcoholic drink and make the sign of the cross before drinking. They sing: “Serb brothers, wherever you are, with the help of Almighty God / For the sake of the Cross and the Christian Faith and our imperial fatherland / I call you to join the battle of Kosovo.” — Michael A. Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 164

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: This active ritual staging of folk tradition in the service of war echoes the worldbuilding article’s point about material culture being put to narrative use — here the gusle epic is weaponized infrastructure for genocide.