It is difficult to determine who in the Balkans dictates the national, as in the nationalist rhetoric. Are voters nationalists and politicians adapt to them in order to get their votes, or are politicians the ones who radically impose national politics as dominant with their rhetoric and actions, so voters accept that so as not to stand out from the majority?
They seem to be attacking, and we are defending ourselves
Germany and France have been making maximum efforts for decades to deepen the friendly relations between the two countries, and especially the relations between the Germans and the French. In this way, they want to overcome the animosities of the past and ensure that the war between them never happens again. In BiH, the situation is reversed. Here, politicians have been investing in spreading nationalism and raising national tensions for decades, because that is the only way to stay in power. The best description of the relations between the national parties was given by the soldier on the video from the beginning of the war: “It seems like they are attacking us, and we are defending ourselves.” This is exactly what is happening in the political arena, not only in BiH but also in our neighborhood, where populist politicians are helping each other by shifting “difficult words” from one side to the other.
It is absurd that none of the current “national leaders” are essentially nationalists, but it is the only and safe way for them to stay in power and continue to plunder the state. Our problem is not nationalists but criminals in politics. Leading politicians and their criminal octopuses act as if they have conquered an enemy country and want to rob and destroy everything. The only problem is that they are not plundering an enemy state, but a state in which they and their children will continue to live. They do not mind that from their luxurious villas and sitting by the river, which they have turned to flow through their property. But around them, all they see is poverty and desolation that they leave behind. If they had even a shred of wisdom, they would know that the people will one day stop falling for their spins about the danger posed by other nations, with whose leaders they do great business. Their policy is limited to businesses and appointments in which they get along great. Their division of regions is similar to mafia divisions in which everyone knows what his region is and where he can “operate”. So, one side does not interfere with the other when it destroys the giant and leaves thousands of people without jobs. In turn, the other side does not interfere with them when they will appoint a director of, let us say a hospital. Someone said well that every country has a mafia, but in BiH, the mafia has a country, and it consists of three parts.
And it wouldn’t even be so scary if we at least had the opposition, that is the left, which would calm the passions and would speak, and thus solve real problems of citizens, not imaginary ones. Thus, “moderate” politicians have become ready to do everything that will bring them votes and public support and give them another term in well-paid positions.
How do you explain to someone from a developed democracy that a politician who advocated far-left views overnight became the loudest supporter of right-wing views? How to explain that a politician falls asleep like a Partisan and wakes up like an Ustasha? This only shows that such politicians do not have attitudes, but form them on the fly and bend in the direction where the applause and approval of the broad masses come from. It is characteristic of such politicians that they do not have any concrete results, but only empty rhetoric and sharp verbal attacks on other populists to whom they are doing a service. The percentage of populism or the national rhetoric of a politician is inversely proportional to his results. Therefore, as soon as you see that a politician blindly clings to the past and war stories, you can be sure that with such a politician you will not have any future, surely not a bright one.
The problem of these areas is that we do not have enough courageous and persistent politicians who will remain moderate and consistent in their views. It is the only way to convince voters that this is the only right policy that can lead this country and the entire region to prosperity.
The Balkan states will move forward only when instead of politicians who bend as the people shout, we get politicians who will stand firm and upright and who will remain consistent with their policies no matter how many votes they get.
Unfortunately, there are more and more invertebrates in politics that bend as the wind blows until they break and remain motionless in the interspace. Forgotten and abandoned by those who called for their salvation until yesterday, they are looking for the unification of several failed parties that were brought to ruin by politicians without attitude and courage. For now, there are many more like Milanović, Dodik, Čović, Izetbegović, Komšić, Stanivuković, and there are too few of Tomašević, Mandić, and other brave politicians who are ready to bear the burden and attacks that inevitably go with significant changes.
We cannot help but notice the growing popularity of radical options in politics. This is happening not only in our region but also in developed democracies, where we do not expect such a thing.
The parties of the radical right and the radical left are gaining more and more supporters.
Is the cause of this, in some way imposed, tolerance for which some people are still not ready and find salvation for their frustrations in parties with which they share opinions, which openly promote hatred, insult, and call for the lynching of certain categories of society, whether are they migrants, members of the LGBT community or national and other minorities?
Both right and left – enough radicals
Interestingly, such parties do not have much success in the Balkans. The reason for this can be found in the fact that our dominant center-right and center-left parties are radical enough that there is no need for more radical options. Tolerance in our country has not yet taken root in full capacity, so it is quite common for minorities to be publicly called derogatory names, to curse family members of their competitors at public gatherings, to tell women under the party’s coat of arms that their place is in the kitchen, not in public life, to ridicule women for their looks, to deny court rulings and call on others to do the same, to justify crime and corruption, to justify the purchase of diplomas and specializations, all under the guise of national patriotism. Since such radical views are represented by parties that declare themselves to be moderate, then the radical parties do not have much room to work.
