When it comes to time passing, broadly speaking, there are two ways to look at it. The first is the universally accepted notion of time flowing like a river. That river flows from its source towards its mouth, from the past towards the future. The other notion of time was provided by the English astronomer James Bradley. According to him, time flows backwards: from the future towards the past where the moment when the future becomes the past is called the present. In the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we should add another interpretation whereby the flow of time is twisted: one moment we’re living the past, the next moment the future, immediate or far-off; the present is practically non-existent since it would require facing ourselves as we truly are. In that respect, forgive me for not speaking chronologically about Bosnia in 2013 — besides, its inhabitants are averse to anything smacking of logic.
The 15 Day Long Year
So, what were we like in 2013? If we look at the majority of ordinary people and their involvement in the public space that would signal their still being members of this society, 2013 was a short year in Bosnia and Herzegovina lasting only about 15 days. It started on October 1st and was over by the 15th. Everything that came before was just preparation for the maddest event of the year, and everything after the 15th is a headache, not a consequence of sobering up, but an interval between two bouts of madness. We are talking about the Population, Households and Dwellings Census in BiH, of course, or rather about Counting the Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. The national elites that live off of percentages (mathematically speaking: the percentage of the nation in the census combined with the percentage of votes won at the elections equals participation in government; participation in government equals power, and power is used exclusively to pursue personal interests) have already come out with the minimum census results, saying they would not accept anything less. 54% of Bosniaks, 33% of Serbs, 15% of Croats, and 2-3% of others. So, 106% in total. Although for most, the census is meaningless if not expressed in percentages, the fact of the matter is that the census has shown that there are all in all 3.7 million of us, which is at least a few hundred thousand people more than actually live in the country. The fact that this means there is almost one million fewer people here than in 1991, and what happened to all those people, no one seems to care. The census has provided us with the correct sum of incorrect data that will be of little use to anyone.
Everything else more or less bypassed the ordinary people, although it always seems to break their backs. The political scene was characterised by gloomy weather accompanied by intermittent failures of one of the 13 governments in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This astronomical phenomenon of falling governments has been marked since 2012, and it is quite clear that the sky above us will remain in this zodiac sign at least until the next elections in October 2014. In the context of getting over to the other side of the river, 2013 in BiH has, at least so far, been a lousy year. Apart from the sudden and never fully elucidated death of the academician Sulejman Redžić and the quiet and protracted departure of Ilijaz Delić of Mostar, this year has not treated the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the departure of a great figure, such as Mirko Kovač in Croatia or Srđa Popović in Serbia. We were, thus, spared the black-and-white front pages with ornate homages and final farewells to my dear friend so-and-so, although in most cases such people died abandoned, misunderstood, long pushed to the margins of society.
The History of BiH in Six Glasses
Tom Standage viewed the history of the entire human race though the drinks that were dominant in a given period and talked about A History of the World in Six Glasses. I sincerely hope that someday someone will view the whole of post-war BiH history through places of protest. Places of protest show the magnitude of helplessness and hopelessness we are mired in. The most powerless, those aware that their protests could not even depose a mayor in a municipality of scarcely a few thousand inhabitants, stage their protests mainly in front of the OHR building[1]. There, in front of a large and powerful enough Goliath, they hope to wheedle what they believe is theirs by right, and even if they don’t get it, they know there is no shame in being defeated by such a powerful opponent. Since mid-October, returnees to the BiH entity of Republika Srpska have been protesting in front of the OHR, asking that the 2002 agreement affording Bosniak returnees the right to a national group of subjects in schools be honoured. From the RS, they initially found justification in the fact that Serbs in the BiH entity of the Federation of BiH do not enjoy the right to a national group of subjects, which the Federal government denied, only to have the Federal Premier issue instructions the very next day for the Serb national group of subjects to be introduced, the same one he had claimed the previous day was already available. As the Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis said in 1994, “We did not support Karadžić, but we promise not to do it any more.” After that, the RS offered a Solomon solution based on the Stalinist principle of no people – no problems: Goran Mutabdžija, the RS Education Minister asked for the school in Konjević-Polje to be closed down. Just like the RS President demonstrating all the magnitude of the social democratic tradition he fosters when he said he was “seriously thinking about abolishing the Court in Bijeljina” after it had ruled against the RS and in favour of the Lithuanian investors.
Babylution
Those who are completely powerless stage protests in front of the BiH Joint Institutions Building. They are about as powerful as the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina: it exists on paper, but in real life you’d be hard-pressed to find it even with the help of a microscope. This was the site of protests in June by citizens of Sarajevo and other BiH cities after BiH authorities failed to adopt a law on the unique ID number which made it impossible to enter new-borns into the birth registry and issue documents for babies that needed to travel abroad for medical treatment. Following the dramatic blockade of the MPs that were allowed to leave the building only 15 hours later and even that thanks to an intervention of the High Representative Valentin Inzko, everything went downhill. From Banja Luka they said they were all for the babies, but were still more for the RS, while the students of Banja Luka also protesting on the streets of Banja Luka said they had no intention of in any way identifying with the Sarajevo protests. In the end, it all came down like in 1968. Albeit, without Tito and the Kozara ring dance, but with government assurances that the law would be adopted (the temporary order expiring at the end of the year is still in force) and a real party on the last night with some of the most popular local bands. The problem isn’t that this babylution failed, other protests were disastrous on their first attempts, too. The problem is that during those few days, despite the media display, only a few thousand citizens came out protesting, and even they, clearly saying the current situation was no good, failed to offer any sort of alternative. Expanded to the overall situation and the whole of BiH: the problem isn’t that the current situation is bad, the problem is that even the greatest of optimists find it harder to see the end of the tunnel even if we reconcile ourselves to there being no blinding light out there to greet us.
If you don’t jump, you hate Bosnia hehehe
When nothing works out, at least we still have football and the national team. Like opium, or a balm to heal all our wounds, our national team is going to the world cup in Brazil. Now, that’s when the crowds really hit the streets in Sarajevo, waving BiH flags (both current and former), going into a trance watching the Dragons play, forgetting, at least for one night, that they were unemployed, had no health insurance, questionable roofs over their heads, that they could very well be getting a call from the bank tomorrow because they were late with their loan instalment. For the politicians, who charged the state budget for their regular visits to the Dragons’ lair, this success was just the spin they needed.The winner at the 2010 elections and great social democrat demonstrated his love for BiH by disgustingly jumping in a television studio, shouting, “If you don’t jump, you hate Bosnia hehehe”. And somehow managing not to actually jump.
And so, in 2013, we were solemnly silent for days instead of shouting, we solemnly signed arrangements with the IMF as if we were solving all our current and future problems, a mass grave was discovered in the vicinity of Prijedor with over 600 bodies, Momčilo Krajišnik returned as well as a few other convicted heroes, the Sejdić-Finci judgement has remained solemnly unresolved.
The Sejdić-Finci Centaur
Right, Sejdić-Finci shouldn’t be left out, but explaining it has become exhausting. In brief, the European Court of Human Rights Judgement should allow all citizens of BiH to vote and stand for elections for the Presidency of BiH (according to current constitutional provisions, only Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs are eligible to stand for elections to the Presidency). The EU is threatening with imposing sanctions if the Judgement in not implemented, so our politicians are now trying to figure out how to formally remove discrimination while also resolving the currently evident issue of out-voting of Croats at the state level, but without tampering with the core of the tri-ethnic matrix. Sejdić-Finci (does anyone still remember who Sejdić-Finci are, do we know their names, or have they in fact become conjoined like some sort of newly developed centaur?) has been the subject of hundreds of editorials, academic papers have been written on the subject, reports, etc. Still, allow me to conclude that an ordinary citizen stopped in the street by a reporter and asked about Sejdić-Finci gave the most succinct and complete answer: In any case, they’re screwing around, the four of them (BiH leaders). And they’re fucking with us, because we’re stupid. And that whore, the international community’s helping them out.
If we look at 2013 in the context of reconciliation and facing the past, a few things are worth mentioning. The RS National Assembly adopted a Declaration defining the nature of the war in BiH. According to this Declaration, it was a tragic (as if there were any other kind) civil war and any other interpretation is not just unwelcome, but outright banned. At the same time, a declaration prohibiting the denial of the genocide against Bosniaks in the wider Srebrenica area has not been adopted yet, and the genocide is being constantly and persistently denied by some of the highest officials in RS. Remembering victims is not entirely prohibited, but it is certainly restricted. Local authorities in Prijedor still do not allow visits to the former concentration camps of Keraterm and Omarska; the Višegrad authorities are preparing to tear down the house where in 1992 the Lukić brothers torched 72 civilians, to make way for a local road ten meters wide that can’t possibly take any other route; there is still no memorial to civilian victims killed at Kazani in Sarajevo…
All in all, 2013 in BiH was such that we can’t even use the tired old phrase of surviving to tell the tale. There will be nothing to tell. Those that survive will be repaying loans to the IMF, the World Bank, foreign private banks, domestic (national) leaders and successful private entrepreneurs who are selling us both air and water and our lives on credit.
Nedžad Novalić
[1] Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina