Every year we come together to remember the appalling atrocities that took place in Srebrenica. In 1995, I was still in school and I confess that I have only the vaguest memories of what was happening in Boznia and Herzegovina. Although as a 17 year old I was learning about the horrendous acts of genocide that took place in the 2nd World War, I was cocooned from the horrific history that was being created at that very moment and not so far away. Also I remember a boy in my school was stabbed and died. In a big Comprehensive in Leicestershire, this sent ripples of unrest through pupils and teachers alike. Who would kill a child and why? How could anyone make the decision to take another’s life?

In Srebrenica, this decision was magnified 8,000 fold. In the years preceding this genocide, powerful people decided that the magnificent cultural melting pot that was Bosnia and Herzegovina was not how people should live. That learning from each other, embracing difference and finding commonality and understanding across Communities did not allow them to exercise the power that they wanted to.

It is incredible that what can start as a few people’s quest for power can result in genocide, and yet that possibility is always there. We are all conditioned to survive and to protect our nearest and dearest, and it is all too possible to manipulate those strong emotions. Subtly at first, we are persuaded by influential voices that all is not what it seems with our neighbours. That difference and the wonder of human variety are a threat to our very way of life. The othering of people is a classic tactic to drive wedges between friends and neighbours and to dehumanise strangers before we have even said hello to each other.

Here in Worthing, as with so many of our towns, villages and cities, we often find that voice lurking not so very far from the surface. The barely contained aggression that finds an outlet with people who have been labelled as different or outsiders. And yet, when we dig beneath the rage, we often find people who are being manipulated themselves. Who have not been treated well in life and have been fed the lie that it is the fault of the other. The person who smiles but wears different clothes, who chats but has a different accent.

It is the job of all of us in our Communities to bring our common voice to the surface. To highlight the areas of humanity that are common to us all – family, safety, love & respect – and to celebrate and to learn from our wonderful diversity. As Worthing Council Leader, I stand with all other Leaders in our Community who work so hard to bring harmony to our Borough. Who hold the tensions and the fear and seek to transform them into the colour and joy that allows us all to thrive.

As we remember Srebrenica today, we hold to the truth that we have so much more in common than divides us and that together, we are one.