About politics, dealing with the past, reconciliation, as well as the causes of the unfortunate event in Lukavac, we spoke with Prof. Ph.D. Franjo Topić, president of the Croatian cultural society “Napredak”.
“It is difficult to reduce it to one cause, there are many causes. Human beings are complicated. Family is important. I feel sorry for all the people who were damaged, my condolences,” said Topić.
Is too much pressure being put on the family because it, like society, is in transition?
“We are all constantly in transition. Every day a person changes, physically in seven years our body changes and the psyche also changes, learning. Not everything should be reduced to the family, but the family is the key nest where people are raised. It is always easier act on the negative. There is a lot of negativity from society, the media, unfortunately these social networks are also full of negative images, messages and formations. What I would say here, in general, is that you should not give children toys as weapons of any kind, even if plastic because it creates a child’s psyche. It is much more in the subconscious than in the conscious mind. You never know when that subconscious will erupt like a volcano,” said Topić.
Are we overlooking the importance of wrong role models?
“Role models are very important in life. For many people, role models decide the fate of life, a calling. Now football is world popular, we have the League of Nations. For many boys and girls, they are role models from Messi, Ronaldo and others, not to mention tennis and Djokovic. In that sense, even the negative cowboy films have now been surpassed,” he added.
Violent reactions followed Dario Kordić’s statement. What is your comment on that and did those who should have reacted?
“Those who have been sentenced should remain silent and should not announce themselves publicly. This was not public, it was in some company. After a year and a half, there is a video, God forbid, we are not justifying anything with this. After all, we have distanced ourselves from that more than once. Now the priest at the mass in Busovača has defended himself publicly and many others. I don’t think it should be given a theory of significance,” said Topić.
What can we expect if this is our reality today?
“There is no repentance in politics, it is a religious category. People who have committed even minor crimes should repent. That is not the case in politics, politics constantly wants to prove that everything it did was good. That is one of the examples. There is one thing here that is important. The distinction between politics, nation and religion. It is said that Kordić is a convict and that is one dimension, and the other dimension is the crimes that took place and this is often abused by the parties. The parties are fighting for power. Religious officials, and even the media would we should have fought for something good, positive, for reconciliation. If we keep digging for the past, there will be no good future. The past must not be forgotten, it must be respected, victims are always special. Dear God is on the side of the victims, but we must move on, with the due with reverence for the victims. Positive examples should be highlighted, and even in the war we had positive examples, but relatively little is said about it,” Topić pointed out.
Without sincere repentance, can there be forgiveness and the building of a healthy society?
“As you yourself said, repentance is an essential component of human life in general, especially religious life. Forgiveness is possible, it is not easy to forgive. Revenge and hatred are closer to man than love and forgiveness, but without forgiveness one cannot live. long live families, spouses, children. Every day, some incident happens. There is a beautiful book that says human life is thank you and forgive,” he said.
Is politics the main enemy of reconciliation?
“It is characteristic of politics. Every party would like to have at least 100% of the power. When it is not there, then it is angry and frustrated, and it spreads this through the media and its members to the public. What is specific to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the parties are mostly national, so often it turns out that peoples are fighting, but that is not true. I would like one message if someone accepts this, that parties are different, that political power is different from the people. A part of citizens trusts politicians. The issue of elections is much more complex. In our country, there are often national parties , so it turns out to be a national census. For the parties, nationalism is the main argument.” he added.
Have we ruined the younger generations growing up in national narratives by fueling conflict, verbal confrontation on a daily basis?
“The first thing, a lot of people like to fight, regardless of their age. It is one of the sources of fights and wars, and that’s why it’s nice to do something positive. When the parents realized that it was wrong, then they should seek forgiveness from the victims in this case, Majlis Islamska community,” he added.
According to him, the “Human Brotherhood” foundation was registered in Bosnia and Herzegovina last year. Different gatherings will be organized that will bring people together.
“We need to neutralize hatred and promote what is positive. People regardless of religion and race have 95%, experts say the same, in common. So is it possible that five percent is more important than 95%? People are different, that’s a natural fact , and whoever is a believer is also a divine fact. Accordingly, we cannot go against nature and against God, that is crazy. I understand that people are burdened, but they should reset themselves, so become as aware as possible of this basic fact,” he concluded.
