The People and Justice Party (NiP) acted under pressure when it asked the organisers of the upcoming Pride Parade to cancel it, historian Husnija Kamberovic told N1 on Saturday, stressing that NiP never mentioned banning the event.
LGBT activists planned for Bosnia’s first Pride Parade for September 8, causing widespread discussion in the country on whether it should take place or not.
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The Parade was met with strong support from the liberal Nasa Stranka (Our Party, NS), but also with opposition from the conservative Bosniak Party for Democratic Action (SDA). The NiP, which is in the ruling coalition together with Nasa Stranka, now opposes the event.
“We advocate for rule of law, tolerance and coexistence among all different peoples, but we oppose organising an event which will not improve but may worsen the entire security situation in Sarajevo and wider,” said on Friday one of NiP’s top officials, Ibrahim Kerla.
The NiP was formed in 2018 by former Kanton Sarajevo Prime Minister Elmedin Konakovic after he left the SDA.
It was expected that the party would react as their stance was sought, and party leader Konakovic was wise to remain silent until then, Kamberovic said.
“You saw that their statement did not directly mention a ban, I would say that they needed he reacted under pressure and find some solution, which is, in essence, a populist one. He called upon the organisers to reconsider it, he did not talk about banning it,” he said.
Kamberovic also spoke about the purpose of the Pride Parade.
“It is not only about expressing sexual orientation, but also about human rights and the right to being different. A characteristic of a democratic society is life with differences,” he said, adding that in totalitarian societies such as in fascism society does not adapt to life with differences but eliminates them.
“How did Hitler deal with the gay population? He eliminated them,” he said.
Bosnia has no other option but being a democratic society, the historian said, adding that in other places in the world the Pride Parade is a normal event.
He gave the example of Berlin, where the “entire town is blocked, not because participants want to block traffic but because they want to show that they exist.”
“Other people accept that as something different, which shows the level of maturity of a certain society. I don’t see anything bad there, I don’t think anything bad will happen, especially regarding the security situation,” Kamberovic said.
