We can look at nationalism from a positive and a negative angle. In a positive sense, nationalism is identified with patriotism, so it generally has a positive political and moral meaning in the sense that people feel belonging to their people, that is, nation. In a negative sense, nationalism has the characteristics of chauvinism, xenophobia and hatred towards all who do not belong to their nation. An even worse version of negative nationalism is dominant on the political scene in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that is false nationalism or, let’s call it, battery-powered nationalism. This is an even worse version than chauvinistic nationalism, because the representatives of nationalism in BiH are people who have no sense of belonging to their people or care about their people, but act nationalistic, with the aim of manipulating their people so that they can plunder them.
It is a policy led by self-proclaimed national leaders, who spread hatred towards others and deliberately create an atmosphere of fear of other peoples, not because they feel belonging and closeness to their people, but solely because they see it as a great method of manipulating the masses. What is worse, they know very well that there is no real danger from other nations, but that the atmosphere of fear is mostly created by other national leaders. The only real fear for citizens and peoples are precisely these polluters of public space.
Hand in Hand
They would not be so successful if they did not have excellent cooperation with the false nationalists and self-proclaimed leaders of the other two nations. So, when one pretends to attack, the others pretend to defend themselves and fake a counterattack along the way. Coordinated actions add fuel to the nationalist fire on a daily basis, which might be extinguished without their ‘care’ for the people.
Isn’t it interesting how easy it is to agree on the division of election loot and functions? Isn’t it strange that none of them has ever been held criminally responsible, even though there are numerous criminal charges for each of them and well-founded suspicions of abuse of office, organized crime and corruption? Isn’t it strange that members of their immediate and extended family have found refuge in the civil service? Isn’t it strange that they protect each other’s staff, whether they are incompetent ministers or directors of agencies or hospitals? It is a great pity that they do not show such solidarity, understanding and care for ‘ordinary’ citizens from their people, for their wives, children, godparents and friends.
More Patriotism, Less Nationalism
When you listen to these national leaders, you would think that members of different nations fight on the field every day. However, we find the greatest intensity of nationalism right at the top, among those who should lower tensions and promote their nations in a positive way, and encourage patriotism instead of nationalism. When you scratch beneath the surface and go to local communities, you realize that all citizens have the same problems, regardless of their ethnicity, unemployment, insecurity, hopelessness, desire to leave, unresolved utilities, and infrastructure. Instead of national leaders uniting and solving problems that plague all citizens, they poison them with national hatred, so that they do not have to do anything concrete and so that as much money from the budget ends up in their accounts and not in projects of interest to communities.
When you go to the field, you realize that members of different nations do not have many problems with each other and that the cooperation between them is much greater than their leaders would like. Here it becomes clear to you that projects like Two Schools Under One Roof do not serve to protect either students or nations, but only leading politicians who derive their power from it. It becomes clear to you that people in local communities want to get rid of such education, but that they are not allowed to do so from a higher level, because how they would rule for the next thirty years if the nations started living harmoniously.
Aunt Zilha, a symbol of humanity and sacrifice in Sarajevo, passed away recently. What surprised many, was that the Serbian humanitarian association “Dobrotvor” published the last greeting to Aunt Zilha, in which they thanked her for her help and support. This is an indicator of how much better they are than those who represent them. There are many examples of interethnic cooperation on the ground, but this is not reflected in the number of attacks by national leaders. Sometimes we forget how many good people live in this country, those who find that belonging to their nation does not imply hatred towards other peoples, but quite the opposite and how many people are willing to help each other regardless of nationality. However, the problem is that there are no such people in the political and state leadership.
The only thing that the nationalists managed to achieve was that they made most citizens want to leave Bosnia and Herzegovina, not only for those who are looking for work, but also for many who have a secure existence here because they do not want to live in a politically insecure a country without perspective. As long as such politicians lead Bosnia and Herzegovina, we will also lag behind the rest of Europe, quarrel over unimportant things and send dear people abroad. What we are left with, and what we are neglecting, is the knowledge that bad politicians are elected by good people who do not go to the polls.
