Slavimir Stojanovic, one of Serbia’s most acclaimed poster designers,was about to show his work to a new client when he was surprised to findhis website wasn’t there. Well, actually it was, but it had beenobliterated by Explode Terror Crew, hackers from Kosovo. It was “obviously an act againsteverything that is Serbian,” Stojanovic told me. “The immediate feelingwas surprise and laughter, but when you read the text below thatdirectly accuses you as a war criminal, things start to get different.” Ironically, Stojanovic is staunchly against racism, ethnic hatred,and violence in his work. “But this act reminded me that designers live inthe real world and have to enjoy the reality, even if it is on theweb.” As of this post he hasn’t been able to return to normal.
This was the message on the site: “Hello Serbs, now wonder why you see it on this particular page?? We do it because we can and we will continue to do so Now the fact is that we are pissed off at both you and EULEX to go and sign agreements which do not concern you, but you will put you in the other countries’ problems, Kosovo is not Serbia .. We will always remember what you did to our people, you drove close to 1 million displaced people you killed more than 14,000 people are raped more than 20000 women. And you think we should just put it aside and pretend that nothing has happened between us. Our final word is that we honor all families who lost someone in the war against you. We want justice and we want our missing people back.”
The hackers who go by the signature LiMi’HacK have Facebook and YouTube pages and list hacks for some government websites (Sri Lanka, Uganda, Djibouti), a couple of websites with .rs domain (Serbian national domain) and a collection of random websites (somehow related to the recognition of Kosovo’s independence). But why a poster designer who is sympathetic to Kosovo’s independence? The internet is a battleground, but the lines are very confusing.
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