[wzslider]By: Medina Malagić
The protests over the lack of adoption of a unique master citizen number (JMB) at the state level continued last night with a several hour-long concert that featured musicians Frenkie, Dubioza Kolektiv, Letu Štuke, Zoster, Skroz, Dvadesetorica, Grof Đuraz, KZU ole ole and PZU oje oje and Billy Andol.
While the concert was initially supposed to have been cancelled due to the unfortunate death of baby girl Berina Hamidović, her father came out last night to lend his full support to the continuation of the protests.
Berina Hamidović was born in March and after an unsuccessful operation in Sarajevo, she was transported to Belgrade in an ambulance for further treatment. Sarajevo Canton did not pay the money for her treatment in Belgrade, which amounted to a little over 1.000 KM, and since Berina did not have a JMB, she and her family were waiting at the border for hours before they could cross into Serbia. Unfortunately, Berina died at the hospital in Serbia. Her father blames BiH politicians for ignoring the demands of protestors and failing to do their jobs.
Several thousand people gathered last night to show their support and to galvanize further attention to an issue that caused an unecessary political stalemate among BiH’s ruling elite.
The continuing silence of BiH’s politicians in the wake of increasingly robust protests and the unecessary death of a baby girl who was unable to receive treatment on time simply because she did not have identificiation reveals their lack of interest of the concerns of their citizens.
As citizens are placing full blame on Berina’s death on their elected officials, parliamentarians have chosen to use these protests as another reason to utilize the divide and conquer tactic. The purported ethnic hatreds among BiH citizens is a convenient tool for politicians to perpetuate the status quo that serves to benefit only them and their personal interests.
Brano Jakupović of Dubioza Kolektiv blames the politicians for sustaining the nationalist rhetoric and expressed his conviction that the tide is turning in the favor of the civic protests. ”Our politicians have only one philosophy and one loop they repeat-national stories about nationalism. But, this time is the time of new awareness because I think those stories are finished. I do not think that anybody right now is listening to politicians and what they have to say to us. They spent a lot on their own media, but they forgot that we have the power of the Internet. So, we can get all the information that we need on the Internet. Right now, we are winning this battle’’.
The outpouring of support at last night’s concert in front of the BiH Parliament in Sarajevo could be seen as the beginning of a vital awakening out of the apathy of BiH citizens and a surge in civil society awareness, the scale of which has not been seen since the end of the conflict in the 1990’s.
Speaking on the rise in civic society in BiH, Vedran Mujagić of Dubioza Kolektiv said, ”I hope this is a turning point for civic society in BiH. The one single thing that political elites and the establishment fear the most is one single victory that people manage to extract. I think when people realize that when civic pressure is put on government officials, they can achieve something, and then this will not be an unusual thing. Whenever there is something wrong with society, people will react in this way”.
Vedran also spoke of the tactics of politicians to use nationalism as a cover, and that it is working on a portion of the population. “They are trying to spin the story on their own mill. It’s working for one part of the audience they are addressing-right wingers, hardcore party soldiers. It probably has some success in that part, but I think more people are realizing this is just a story they are using to hide behind and obscure real problems and issues that people suffer regardless of their ethnicity”.
Thus, despite the fact that this could be seen as the start of a civic awakening among BiH citizens, the situation should also not be idealized. Rather, it is an important beginning to something unseen in BiH since the conflict ended.
Mario Knezović came out to show his support to the protests and performed last night with his band Zoster. “My view as to why I am here is without anger. I am here as a sad man who wants to send a good vibration to the people and even to the politicians to start working. This is a really elementary thing with these numbers. This is so low and so selfish. I came here to tell the people to not be selfish. I am glad that I find in myself sympathy for the others. I did not know I had it’’, said Mario.
One of the most important questions now is what next? Until now, the protests have gone on without any serious incidents and people are gathering in bigger numbers to demand the adoption of a state level law on the JMB. Regardless of their persistence, politicians have either chosen to turn this into another ethnic issue, or have remained silent and are not responding to the demands of their citizens.
Politicians have been given a deadline of 30 June to adopt a state law on the unique master citizen number. In addition, another demand is for the establishment of a fund for sick children who need treatment abroad, and in which parliamentarians would provide 30 percent of their salaries to the fund. Organizers are planning new rounds of protests until the deadline on 30 June. While it is too early to tell how these protests will evolve, what is apparent is that the protestors in Sarajevo and throughout BiH have reclaimed their voice and are sending politicians a clear message.
Photos taken from facebook page JMBG za sve # jmbg za sve
