Citizens need to be wary whenever they hear “war drums,” and they need to voice their resistance to such an atmosphere so it doesn’t develop into a war, as it did before, renown filmmaker and one of the founders of the liberal Nasa Stranka (NS, Our Party), Dino Mustafic, told N1 on Monday.
With their dangerous statements, Bosnia’s irresponsible politicians “seem like pyromaniacs,” he said.
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“It is important to react immediately. Political instruments, initiatives which further militarise the area, and the logic of blackmail and language of ultimatums are unwelcome and justifiably disturbing,” he said.
Mustafic was referring to recent initiatives in Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous entities which would result in them establishing auxiliary police units.
The National Assembly of Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb-majority region in the country, recently adopted a draft of law changes which would introduce the additional police unit.
Bosniak political leaders then expressed fear that the new RS unit is part of a “militarization” campaign that would serve the political purposes of the RS leadership, which has long voiced a desire to secede from Bosnia.
They also said that forming such a unit would be contrary to the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, as it would breach an article that says military capabilities of the two entities must be balanced.
A number of political parties in the other entity, the Federaton (FBiH), said they would support an initiative to form such a unit there as well in order to maintain that balance.
The issue prompted a reaction by the High Representative, Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko, whom the international community tasked with overseeing the civilian implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement which ended Bosnia’s war.
“The current political discourse related to reserve police forces in the entities, which started with the unilateral step taken by the RS on this issue, does not contribute to peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Office of the High Representative (OHR) said in a statement.
Common people are justifiably worried about these police units and the arming of more and more people said Mustafic.
“Being a pacifist in the Balkans, considering what we have lived through, being naive and saying that nothing similar will ever repeat, is on verge of idiocy. It is important for us to voice our opinions about it,” he said.
Bosnian citizens witness “irresponsible, incompetent politics” on a daily basis and their lives have become “fake” as politicians “try to convince us that what we see and feel about where such decisions are leading us is not true.”
Those in power keep their positions by relying on fear, Mustafic stressed.
“Nobody is paying attention to what this is producing, it is difficult to live in a state of fear. We have a chronic lack of peace and dialogue. Here, compromise is seen as a weakness, as showing one’s immaturity,” he said. “Here, people look up to strongmen. They are impressed by simpletons and primitives.”
Mustafic said that Bosnians live in a divided society and that the social damage “is being deepened.”
“We have a moral obligation to act as citizens, individuals, to change things. We must not give up and say that everything failed. We chronically need optimism,” he said, adding that there are many “interesting people” such as investors, talented athletes and artists in the country.
“Such topics need more space. They must be promoted in the media more,” he said.
But instead, according to the filmmaker, “politicians are the only stars in Bosnia.”
“I am sickened by watching the daily polarisation of the political scene which is filled with accusations and disqualifications, and then they (politicians) go and sit somewhere together,” he said, pointing out that those same people have huge salaries and that politics in general “is a place for profit.”
“Regardless of whether they are ‘on the left or the right’ – they ensure a stable financial situation for themselves and their family and friends (…) that is our elite,” he said.
But nobody will simply come and save Bosnia, he stressed.
“Europe has once already betrayed Bosnia, in 1992. Europe will do so again. There are other interests (being pursued) such as those of the USA, Russia or Turkey,” he said.
