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August
28, 2003
The
Black Hole of Nation-Building
Bosnia's Ongoing Tragedy
by Nebojsa Malic
Sarajevo
and Bosnia are "rising
from the ashes," proclaims a recent puff piece by
AFP. After a horrible war that drove millions out of their
homes and cost hundreds of thousands their lives, the yarn
goes, Bosnia is finally bouncing back. Well, it isn't. Bosnia's
economy continues to founder, its demoralized people continue
to flee, and its rapacious political class continues to bleed
the people dry, under the benevolent gaze of Imperial viceroys
who couldn't make it at home, but have god-like powers here.
The
Sarajevo Film
Festival, featuring several domestic features that followed
in the Oscar-winning
footsteps of Danis Tanovic, is rightly seen as a ray of hope.
But no one seems to realize that the festival triumphed because
it has been a private enterprise, one man's vision
of culture and arts that stood to be profitable. Even as eager
audiences snapped up festival tickets and one local feature
left foreign blockbusters in the dust at the box office, filmmakers
pleaded for government funding for their future productions.
Thus a misunderstood free-market exception only confirms the
statist rule.
A
better illustration of misconceptions that govern today's
Bosnia is hard to find. And yet… word came about ten days
ago that someone in the state legislature actually tried to
protect "human rights" by proposing to ban
blonde jokes! Whether the story is true or not – and it
could well be – Bosnia has been made the laughing stock of
the entire world.
The
'European Raj'
Early
in July, a European think tank issued a well-publicized
report claiming that viceroy "Paddy" Ashdown has
ruled Bosnia as the British ruled India in the 19th
century, creating a "European
Raj." The report sparked furious debate in Bosnia,
and thunderous denunciations by Ashdown's staff, but hasn't
changed the way things are run one bit.
Ashdown
still rules by force majeure, drawing authority from
the self-appointed Peace Implementation Council. With NATO
occupation troops (SFOR) as his mailed fist, the conceited
British politico does not see the need for a velvet glove.
After all, what resort do Bosnians have if displeased with
his decisions?
Yet
he still rules with consent of the governed, grumble as they
may, because of the peculiar power structure at work in Bosnia.
Though nearly pure "democracy" in form, it functions
as a sort of perverted feudalism. Political leaders of ethnic
parties, national-socialist in program orientation, lord over
their respective peoples while pledging allegiance to the
Empire. They "protect" their people from the other
two ethnic groups, using real and imaginary fears to refresh
that point every so often. The people, in turn, look to
the viceroy to protect them from their own leaders' depredations.
It
doesn't take a genius to see that this intricate relationship
is based on force, or that it fuses feudal power with modern,
"democratic" notions of responsibility (i.e. little
or none). Politicians are not accountable to their subjects,
while the viceroy is not any way responsible to his vassals.
Needless to say, these tyrants "protect" the people
the same way Mafia racketeers do. It's the "protectors"
that one needs protection from!
The
best example of this are the viceroy's social engineering
efforts.
Paradoxes
of Forced Coexistence
Though
the famous bridge in Mostar was physically
rebuilt last week, the metaphorical bridges between communities
remain in ruins. They cannot be repaired by force, only destroyed
further.
Divided
for a decade between the Croat West and the Muslim East, the
capital of rocky Herzegovina might be forcibly
unified by imperial decree next month. Muslim protests
blocked the adoption of the new Charter in late July, and
now the decision will most likely be imposed by Viceroy Ashdown.
The
impasse was created by the Muslim SDA party representatives'
refusal to integrate the city, as the greater number of Croats
in the more prosperous West would then make them a minority.
They also objected to the Croats' use of what they termed
"token Serbs" to "outvote" them in committee
sessions.
For
those unfamiliar with Bosnia's recent history, this claim
is the Triple Crown of irony. Namely, the SDA pioneered the
practice of "outvoting" its ethnic rivals; it was
how the infamous independence referendum was organized. It
has also frequently used "tokens" – non-Muslims
who for whatever reason sympathized with its nationalist agenda
– as a PR stunt to claim legitimacy and fend of accusations
of nationalism. Finally, the SDA has long championed integration
and "reunification" in Bosnia, but only if Muslims
would outnumber others, and hence hold "democratic"
power.
About
the only positive development in this affair is the revelation
of the SDA's hypocrisy when it comes to integration. Forcing
communities reluctant to live together to do so is a recipe
for conflict, whether by forcibly integrating cities or public
schools. The bitter taste of their own medicine is unlikely
to make the Muslims realize how other communities feel towards
their centralizing efforts, and everyone will lose yet another
bit of their liberty to Imperial diktat.
And
Your Mother, Too
Albert
Einstein once defined insanity as "doing the same thing
over and over and expecting different results." This
is particularly true when it comes to NATO's hunt for "war
criminals" who still elude the Hague Inquisition. Almost
every operation results in embarrassing failure. This time
they raided
the wake of Stana Mladic, who passed away early last week,
looking for her son and former Bosnian Serb top general, Ratko.
Perhaps guessing that Bosnia's occupiers would pull such a
stunt, the general wasn't there. His mother was buried later
that afternoon.
An
official SFOR statement offered platitudes
instead of an apology, saying that it was "in the best
interests of all citizens of Bosnia and Hercegovina [sic]
that SFOR fulfils its mandate." By barging into wakes?
Have
they no decency? Well, no. One might argue that Mladic's wartime
conduct wasn't particularly decent, either. But aren't those
who claim the moral right to judge him for that supposed to
actually be morally superior? Instead, their 'higher morality'
grows from the barrel of Mao's
proverbial gun.
Event
Horizon
And
that is really the point, isn't it? Reason has long since
abandoned the hills and valleys of Bosnia, ousted by Hobbesian
brutality. Coercion, which has caused most of Bosnia's problems
in the first place, is seen as the only solution to them –
a paradox if there ever was one. The former Ottoman "province
of darkness" has become a black hole where all freedom,
hope, and reason seem to vanish.
The
state of Bosnia today demonstrates everything that is wrong
not only with the Empire, but also with the ideology on which
it is based. Nationalist-socialism and multi-cultist "human
rights" nonsense that have been the basis of "nation-building"
efforts have not – and could not have – resolved Bosnia's
economic crisis, or the bitter ethnic and religious disputes
left over from the region's turbulent past.
Iraq
may be bloody and desolate right now, but it isn't hopeless.
At least most Iraqis want the occupiers out before they can
debate their country's future. After nearly 8 years of occupation,
the people of Bosnia don't really know who they are any more,
let alone what they want.
A
little common sense would be a good start.
–
Nebojsa Malic
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