The past weekend in Herzegovina was marked by Thompson’s concerts, which were full of controversial images and messages. For many, the Ustasha and Nazi salute is, above all, an insult to the victims, but also evidence for prosecuting the concert organizers, but also the singer, who – the messages are – should be banned from entering Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Disputed and banned, but welcome in Široki Brijeg. Songs, iconography, flags and the controversial cry – ready for home. The lights from Thompson’s stage illuminated what for many in our country is not part of the Bosnian heritage, but rather the spread of hatred and historical revisionism.
“All of this is seen through the guise of strengthening identity. However, relativizing evil does not strengthen identity. Here, there was not only chanting “ready for home”, but also showing Nazi hand salutes. It seems to me that in previous years we have not seen so much that it has been normalized”, points out Vladimir Andrle, president of the Jewish Society La Benevolencija.
But on the other hand, there are thousands of those for whom his songs and messages are a symbol of patriotism and the defense of Croats in past wars. Especially young people, which shocked even those who do not hide their close ties with HDZ BiH, the party that is in power in the part of the country where Thompson is not holding a concert for the first time.
“Shocking scenes of young people in Široki Brijeg celebrating with Nazi salutes. Such outpourings of hatred must be eradicated. I expect the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to deal decisively with this incident and ensure responsibility,” said Galit Peleg, Israel’s non-resident ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Irregular education results in terrifying and dangerous ignorance. The Ustaše regime killed thousands of innocent people. Such symbolism has no place in our civilized society today,” said Amir G. Kabiri.
Apart from individual, party condemnations, due to, as stated in the SDP, the glorification of fascism and the promotion of controversial symbols, there was no institutional response from the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the RS, they consider it complicity, they demand a ban on Thompson’s entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina, and from the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecution for inciting national and religious hatred and intolerance.
“This is not a coincidence, but a political message. The silence of the institutions in moments like this is not neutrality, it is complicity. Bosnia and Herzegovina must clearly show that there is no place for fascist ideology on its territory, regardless of where it comes from and who tries to present it as a ‘cultural event’,” said Draško Stanivuković, mayor of Banja Luka.
Politicization with the aim of showing Bosnia and Herzegovina as weak in dealing with condemned ideologies also in this example showed national disunity, and put the victims in the background.
“There is a huge contradiction between what they say when it comes to this particular case and what they themselves do. You cannot, on the one hand, oppose the promotion of Ustasha ideology, and on the other hand promote Chetnik ideology and all that was also on the same side during the Second World War,” says historian Husnija Kamberović.
“We know that Thompson is a musician who bases his popularity on fascism on fascist greetings. It is very likely that they will now try to underline that fascism in some way, in order not to ‘wash’ Thompson, I think that this man should be banned from entering Bosnia and Herzegovina, not only him but any factor that disturbs relations between the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, concludes Andrle.
With songs and emotions, the concert caravan from Croatia came to our soil, with Thompson’s message that politics keeps Croats in two countries, but that they are one fabric. And the fabric of Bosnia and Herzegovina has long been torn apart by many, politically, with beats that mean votes.
