The Centre for Non-Violent Action Sarajevo/Belgrade supports the ‘Day of Civil Disobedience’ on 1 July 2013 staring at 10 a.m. and expresses its support to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina that organised the initiative to protest newborn children being deprived of their rights due to the failure to adopt the Law on ID numbers (JMBG). We also support the demand to establish a state-level Solidarity Fund to finance the medical treatment of citizens that cannot be treated in BiH and other accompanying demands stated on the website of the JMBG initiative.
We see this as one of the first significant civic initiatives with the potential to bring together people from all parts of BiH in common political struggle against the lack of political responsibility, laziness, incompetence, and obstruction by people working in the legislature and other government bodies in this country.
We hereby state our absolute opposition to any and all forms of violence that may arise from such public protests, as well as to any political implications deepening the divisions in our society and radicalising mutual relations.
We believe initiatives such as this one to be crucial in the process of reconciliation because they bring together people, irrespective of their political and ethnic affiliation, to exert pressure on the authorities in the interest of more efficient and better quality laws to improve the lives of all citizens in BiH.
The current practice of keeping the whole of society hostage to quasi-nationalist interests due to ethno-national and opposed political and ideological concepts must be brought to an end. We believe the situation can only be changed by citizens able to deal with the conflicts from the past and the present, motivated for non-violent resistance to injustice and prepared to overcome all forms of divisions, fears and distrust among people.
We believe it is necessary to send a message to politicians and the general public that there is a common good able to bring together people in solidarity with victims of injustice in the current system. We consider this initiative a step towards awakening people to the possibility of exerting pressure on the government – through various types of non-violent action such as civic protests, boycotts, civil disobedience and awareness raising about human rights violations and discriminating and ignorant legal frameworks. Actions such as this one directly manifest power and promote activism and social responsibility of individuals.
CNA team