Surviving Civil Unrest: What History Teaches Us

When we look back at times of crisis, it’s easy to see only the violence and despair. But history is also full of stories of resilience — of people who endured overwhelming threats and still found ways to protect one another, to carry truth forward, and to survive. Two such stories come from Sarajevo during the Bosnian war and from Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship. They unfolded differently, yet they reveal common threads of courage and the power of community.

Sarajevo: A City Under Siege

In 1992, Sarajevo became the center of the Bosnian war. For almost four years, the city was cut off from the outside world, surrounded by hostile forces. Civilians were trapped, targeted daily by snipers and artillery. Water and electricity were often cut, food supplies vanished, and the city endured one of the longest modern sieges in history.

In those conditions, survival meant inventing entirely new ways of living. People learned the patterns of sniper fire and changed their daily movements, slipping through courtyards and basements rather than crossing open streets. Families converted cellars into makeshift homes, schools, and even hospitals. When food shipments stopped, urban gardening and small shared kitchens kept people alive.

Perhaps the most extraordinary act of collective survival was the Sarajevo Tunnel, dug secretly beneath the airport. Crude and dangerous, it became a lifeline — carrying food, medicine, and information into the city, and offering a way out for some who could no longer endure. The tunnel wasn’t a miracle solution; it was an act of persistence, built by ordinary hands that refused to give in.

The lesson of Sarajevo is that resilience does not come from waiting for institutions to save us. It grows from community: trusted networks, shared risks, improvised solutions. People survived not by going it alone, but by finding ways to stitch their lives together beneath the rubble.

Chile: Living Under a Dictatorship

Two decades earlier, in 1973, Chile fell under the control of General Augusto Pinochet after a violent coup. The dictatorship that followed lasted 17 years, marked by repression, disappearances, censorship, and fear. Unlike Sarajevo, Chile wasn’t a city under siege — it was a society living under constant, invisible threat. People vanished into secret prisons, neighbors informed on neighbors, and open dissent could mean death.

In that climate, survival required both discretion and courage. Many turned to the Catholic Church, which quietly provided legal aid, food, and a measure of safety. Through church-run programs, families of the disappeared found each other, creating fragile but vital networks of solidarity. Women’s collectives began stitching arpilleras: patchwork tapestries that told the hidden stories of their lives under dictatorship. These textiles were smuggled abroad, both providing income for struggling families and carrying truth into the wider world.

Ordinary routines became covers for extraordinary resistance. A sewing circle was also a site of testimony. A church service doubled as a place to pass hidden letters. International exile communities amplified these voices, keeping pressure on the regime and reminding survivors that they were not forgotten.

The lesson of Chile is that even under total repression, truth can survive when people protect each other. Documentation, memory, and solidarity became forms of resistance. Families and communities endured because they refused to let silence swallow the people they had lost.

What Came After

When the siege of Sarajevo finally lifted in 1996, the city was devastated. Over 11,000 civilians had been killed, entire neighborhoods destroyed, and daily life scarred by trauma. Yet Sarajevo did not vanish. Survivors rebuilt homes and schools, and the Tunnel of Hope was preserved as a museum. The city carries its wounds to this day, but those wounds are also proof: despite everything, Sarajevo endured.

In Chile, Pinochet’s dictatorship ended in 1990 with a return to civilian rule. The transition was slow and imperfect, and many families never saw full justice. But the arpilleras that once told stories in secret now hang in museums, the archives of the Vicariate of Solidarity informed truth commissions, and survivors testified in courts. Pinochet himself died in 2006 without full accountability, but he could not erase the memory of those who resisted. The very act of remembering became survival.

Sarajevo and Chile look very different on the surface — one a city under fire, the other a country ruled by fear. But both reveal something essential: survival comes from networks of trust, creativity under pressure, and the refusal to be isolated.

Building Community and Resilience in Practical Ways

History shows that survival in times of unrest depends less on heroics and more on steady, intentional habits. Sarajevo and Chile teach us that trust, networks, and truth-telling are lifelines. But how do we actually do that in the U.S. right now, when polarization feels so raw?

Here are some grounded steps:

1. Build circles of trust quietly, not loudly.

In Sarajevo, who you trusted determined whether you had food or shelter. In Chile, the wrong conversation with the wrong neighbor could endanger you. The lesson today is that you don’t need everyone on your side. Start small: a handful of people you know you can rely on — for childcare, emergency rides, food swaps, or even just safe conversation. Don’t announce it. Just nurture it.

2. Focus on shared needs, not political alignment.

Not every neighbor has to agree with you politically to become part of your safety net. In Chile, people shared food and protection across ideological lines; in Sarajevo, survival often meant trading with people you disagreed with. Today, it may be easier to build bridges around practical needs (gardening, neighborhood watches, tool-sharing) than around politics. Let safety, not ideology, guide the connection.

3. Learn when to stay silent.

In both histories, discretion was survival. It is wise to know when not to press a political conversation, when to let things pass, and when to speak only with those you trust. Silence in some spaces doesn’t mean cowardice — it means choosing where your voice can do the most good without putting you at risk.

4. Document safely and redundantly.

Chile teaches us that documentation is power. If you witness injustice or violence, find ways to record it safely — through trusted organizations, encrypted apps, or even physical copies stored with people outside your area. Keep backups in multiple places. Memory resists erasure.

5. Practice small-scale resilience now.

In Sarajevo, gardens and barter systems saved lives. Begin with small habits: keep a little extra food, medicines, or water; practice gardening or basic repairs; learn first aid. None of these alone will carry you through, but together they reduce your vulnerability.

6. Connect outward as well as inward.

Chile’s exiles and international allies mattered. Today, think about connections beyond your immediate circle: faith groups, NGOs, diaspora networks, or even online communities that can amplify your story or offer help when local support falters.

7. Create spaces for joy and ritual.

Both Sarajevo and Chile found ways to keep art, music, and ritual alive under pressure. These were not luxuries; they were forms of resistance and sanity. In tense times, preserving culture, humor, and moments of beauty can protect mental resilience.

HearthFinder Wisdom

What Sarajevo and Chile teach us is that no one survives unrest alone, and no one survives simply by arguing politics harder. Survival comes from tending the hearth — building circles of trust, meeting shared needs, practicing quiet resilience, and protecting memory. It is about knowing when to reach across divides and when to remain silent, when to document and when to conceal, when to lean into community and when to guard your solitude.

This isn’t a hollow path. It’s what kept people alive when the world around them collapsed. And it’s what can keep us steady now.

Sources & Further Reading:

On Sarajevo and the Bosnian War

• Malcolm, Noel. Bosnia: A Short History. NYU Press, 1996.

• Sudetic, Chuck. Blood and Vengeance: One Family’s Story of the War in Bosnia. Penguin, 1999.

• Andrić-Ružić, Lejla. “The Sarajevo Tunnel of Hope: Remembering the Siege.” Balkan Insight (2016).

• BBC Documentary – The Siege of Sarajevo (archival reporting, 1992–1996).

• Human Rights Watch. The Fall of Srebrenica and the Failure of UN Peacekeeping. 1995.

On Chile under Pinochet

• Constable, Pamela & Valenzuela, Arturo. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet. W. W. Norton, 1991.

• Agosín, Marjorie. Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love: The Arpillera Movement in Chile. Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.

• Amnesty International. Chile: A Human Rights Disaster. 1977.

• Wright, Thomas C. State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.

• Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Chile) – archives of the Vicaría de la Solidaridad and arpilleras collections.

Comparative Insights & Survival Lessons

• Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Crown, 2017.

• Walter, Barbara F. How Civil Wars Start—and How to Stop Them. Crown, 2022.

• Kleinfeld, Rachel. A Savage Order: How the World’s Deadliest Countries Can Forge a Path to Security. Pantheon, 2018.

• Hedges, Chris. War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. PublicAffairs, 2002.