The political situation in our country heated up again. After the post-election period, which was characterized by negotiations on the formation of the government and convincing party leaders that we are entering a period of stabilization, there was a sudden tightening of rhetoric. The already fragile Bosnia and Herzegovina. the political scene is once again full of inflammatory statements.
Arguments, insults, war rhetoric and reference to the war past – and it’s not an election year. After sharp arrows due to state property, it was the turn of personal conflicts that culminated after the recent statements of Bakir Izetbegović and Milorad Dodik’s response.
“You know what they want to do now? That Bosnia and Herzegovina is ruled by those who committed the genocide, who deny it, who are not ashamed of it,” said SDA president Bakir Izetbegović.
“You jerk. How can he say that? I am not accused of any genocide. I won the elections, 12 times in a row. The fact that he doesn’t like it and that he is bitter about his position is his business”, commented SNSD president Milorad Dodik.
But that was not the end. The statement of Denis Bećirević, a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the marking of Sarajevo City Day also caused a lot of trouble.
“Sarajevo was liberated from Nazism on April 6, 1945. Then, on April 5 and 6, 1992, the siege of Sarajevo began. The criminals who killed the children of Sarajevo, the elderly, women, men and women of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1996 are not fundamentally different from the criminals from the Second World War,” said Bećirević.
“These are catastrophic statements that contribute to incendiary rhetoric, conflicts, tensions, and those who make up the government at the level of joint institutions do it. I think it is absolutely reprehensible, but also a call to find an answer to every kind of incendiary rhetoric”, says PDP president Branislav Borenović.
Communication experts say that incendiary war rhetoric has been ubiquitous for a long time, and that it is repeated at shorter intervals.
“Basically, the recipe is very simple. The more intensely political elites spread fear and hatred, the easier it will be to rule. The essence of life and problems is ignored. This is not only happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This more radical narrative is being spread in order to divert attention from pressing problems in society,” explains communication specialist Mladen Bubonjić.
He adds that in this way the political elites establish themselves as defenders of the people and national interests, and that regardless of the messages, in the background of everything is exclusively the struggle for power.
