Bosnia and Herzegovina Teach EU a Lesson in Democracy: “People know what they want!”

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Amid calm euphoria, increased state repression, and mass-media lies, people in Bosnia and Herzegovina move from street protests to plenums, or public assemblies. Plenums are about taking back the power: political parties are banned from participating.

“The huge state machinery is reinforced by nationalism, corruption, nepotism and opportunism, and it will resist every kind of change, probably for some time,” as Nedzad Ibrahimovic one of the participants at the plenum in Tuzla said. This is one reason why political parties are banned from these people’s assemblies. The plenum in Tuzla has asked that general parliamentary and municipal elections be held as soon as possible, “to stop the political elites from regaining their lost popularity and criminal ties, and not to allow them to put the brakes on people’s liberties and push them in the opposite direction of their will.”

“The demands are realistic.” You can read here the demands adopted by the people’s plenum in Sarajevo. “We’re expecting more demands, but as a new way of functioning for the plenum it should also now focus on the implementation of these demands. As a person, I’m overjoyed at having had the opportunity to witness this gathering of freedom,” concluded Asim Mujkić, a professor at the University of Sarajevo who attended the second Sarajevo Citizens’ Plenum. Citizens demanded a non-party government of technicians who must report back to the citizens once every few weeks, a revision of financial privileges (politicians earn up to 20 thousand euro a month), the revision of all privatizations of enterprises in the Sarajevo Canton, and an independent inquiry into what happened at the protests on February 7th, when government buildings were set on fire. These are just 4 demands selected from 200 put forward by people, which will be put forward in the plenum’s discussion today and in the upcoming assemblies.There is another protest in Sarajevo at noon today in front of the Bosnian Presidency building.

The events in Bosnia-Herzegovina are our lesson of the week. They are proof of how powerful the working masses actually are when they raise a unified fist. They also show how much the ruling political structures fear a working class that unites. I am not insinuating anything and I won’t rattle on about poverty, unemployment, harassment, exploitation, corruption, thieving etc. No, I only have one question for you: How hungry are you?”

More (in better context) at: http://revolution-news.com/bosnia-and-herzegovina-teach-eu-a-lesson-in-democracy-people-know-what-they-want/

Kudos to the people of B&H for putting aside the ethnic and nationalist rhetoric, and working together through direct action and general assemblies to articulate and draft their demands. This is not the Ukraine. Neoliberals, and plutocrats would prefer that this fade away, or at the very least focus the media attention on violence and destruction, not people joining together.

[elleng]

1. Roots of Bosnian Protests Lie in Peace Accords of 1995.

The local government headquarters here is a shell, its 12 stories charred by fire. Shards of glass tumble from its smashed windows.

But while the destruction evokes the Balkans turmoil of the 1990s, when more than 100,000 people died, it is not a result of war. Rather, Bosnians, diplomats and analysts say, it is an unintended consequence of what ended the conflict: the 1995 Dayton accords, which were negotiated under muscular diplomacy by the United States and bought nearly 20 years of peace but imposed what turned out to be a dysfunctional government structure that has impeded economic progress and left citizens increasingly angry and frustrated.

The long-simmering frustrations of Bosnians erupted a week ago not only in Tuzla but also in a dozen other towns and cities across the country, including the capital, Sarajevo, where the national presidency office bears scars, too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/15/world/europe/roots-of-bosnian-protests-lie-in-peace-accords-of-1995.html?hp