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Sunday, February 16, 2014

Who is behind Bosnia's riots? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English





Who is behind Bosnia's riots? - Opinion - Al Jazeera English



Who is behind Bosnia's riots?


Dissatisfaction with the economic and
political system in the country has pushed diverse groups to unite in
protest.

Last updated: 10 Feb 2014
08:53


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/02/who-behind-bosnia-riots-201429132930915905.html



On February
7, Sarajevo was preparing to mark 30 years of the Winter Olympic Games, which
it hosted in 1984. However, instead of celebrating the Olympic flame, Bosnians
cheered to the flames that engulfed government buildings.




Citizens in
Sarajevo gathered in front of the cantonal government building to show support
to the workers, youth and citizens in Tuzla, who have been
protesting against corrupt privatisation processes and
dismissals of employees from former state companies. Throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina[Ba], in Bugojno, Visoko,
Velika Kladusa, Bosanska Krupa, Cazin, Sanski Most, Banja Luka, Kljucu, Tesanj,
Gracanica, Travnik, Maglaj, Brcko, and Gora, citizens gathered in front of
government offices, demanding changes.



Who
is protesting and why?




The protests
began in Tuzla, organised by the workers of former state companies, who
protested against not only the closure of companies, but also corrupt
privatisation processes. These groups  voiced their grievances as early as January, demanding
resignations and broader changes within the economic and social system.
However, the protests gained momentum on February 4 when other societal
groups joined them. Workers, citizen's associations, youth, pensioners and war
veterans came out on the streets of Sarajevo, Mostar, Zenica and other cities,
to express their grievances.





Al Jazeera World - Sarajevo My Love
The events
that many refer to as "Bosnian spring" involve many different groups of
people, and are not centrally organised. Additionally, even though some peaceful
protests in Banja Luka took place on February 7, the entity of Republika Srpska
has not experienced the same level of citizen activism, or demands for
resignations. The protests are largely taking place within the Bosniak-Croat
Federation, and are aimed at, not only federal, but also cantonal structures.
The Bosniak-Croat Federation consists of 10 cantons, producing a bloated,
inefficient and expensive public administration.




The groups in
each of the cities that witnessed protests are organised differently, led by
the informal groups, citizen associations, labour movements or youth. Yet,
their demands are very similar: government resignations, reduction of salaries
for high-ranking government officials, free and good quality health services,
and others.




In Tuzla,
informal citizens' groups "Revolt"
and "Udar" ("coup d'etat") have been the most vocal
supporters behind the protests. The leader of "Udar"[Ba] and informal leader of
the protests, Aldin Siranovic, was arrested and beaten, which sparked more
outrage among citizens and brought some 6,000 citizens on the streets the next
day. Both associations have a strong social media presence and use it to
inform, invite and organise their supporters.




In Sarajevo
and other cities, on the other hand, citizens have not yet organised around any
associations or labour unions.




Hijacking
the protest movement




Although the
protests are led by the non-political groups, political parties in Bosnia and
Herzegovina have in the first days attempted to hijack the protests by blaming
"others" for the country's social and economic ills. Fahrudin
Radoncic, leader of the Party for the Better Future, stated [Sr] that protests are a result of years of
bad governance. Similarly, Zlatko Lagumdzija, of the Social Democratic Party, added that the accumulated frustrations and anger have
brought citizens on the streets. Bakir Izetbegovic, a member of the Bosnian
three-person presidency insisted [Sr] that he does not feel responsible for the
protests, and that the system needs to change.Yet, all of these political
parties are part of the same government. They themselves have, if not created,
at least supported, perpetuated, and had benefitted from the current system.




Protesters throughout
the Federation insist that no political party [Sr] was behind the riots and that they
do not want any political involvement in the protest movement.




As the
destruction of public property and acts of violence escalated during the
protests, the focus of the media moved from the reasons behind the riots to the
"hooligans" involved in the rampage. Yet, these young people are also
the citizens, who have come out in the streets demanding changes and voicing
their grievances. Facing an unemployment rate of 58 percent, Bosnian youth have been
brought up in a state of chaos, corruption, hate speech, constitutional and
institutional disarray and hopelessness, which have certainly left
psychological consequences on them and on society at large.




Since the
1990s, all levels of government have shown utmost insensitivity to the social
and economic destitution of citizens, youth, and particularly marginalised
social categories. This kind of systemic institutional violence, political
abuse of power, incompetence and neglect has planted seeds of anger and
frustration. And in the context where 20 years of transition have brought
nothing more than poverty, corruption and neglect, these repressed frustrations
among young people have exploded, targeting the symbols of political power.





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Although
there might be small groups who have come out to burn and loot, as is the case
with every large gathering anywhere in the world, the majority of young people
called "hooligans" are just angry and frustrated youth, wanting
broader structural changes.




Demands
and motivations




The workers,
citizen's associations and youth joined by the pensioners, war veterans and
rapidly disappearing members of the middle class, employed and unemployed, have
the same grievances against the corrupt, bloated public administration system.
While the average salary in the country is 400 euros[Ba], the government officials receive more than 3,000 euros[Ba]. Citizens are motivated by these political
and social injustices, unbearable poverty, growing inequality and unsustainable
constitutional order.




Although
initiated by the workers' protests against privatisation and corruption,
protesters' demands have evolved over the past few days. In each canton, a list
of demands has been presented. In Sarajevo [Ba/Sr/Hr], citizens' groups have demanded
resignation of both, federal and cantonal governments. Among the Most organised
protests was that of Tuzla, where protesters produced a "Manifesto for New Bosnia and Herzegovina"[Ba],
which contains 37 demands and points.




The Manifesto
calls for the reduction of politicians' salaries, revision of budget,
independent anti-corruption committee, free health care and commitment to youth
employment, among other points. It invites state-level politicians to resign
and insists that nationalist and religious-based political parties should be
banned. High on the agenda is also the restructuring of the country, and
abolition of cantons and entities, in order to reduce the enormous costs of
public administration. In 2010, 500 million euros were spent on maintaining country's
bureaucracy - that's 150 euros per second!




So far,
governments of three cantons within the Federation have resigned: Tuzla, Zenica
and Sarajevo[Ba/Sr/Hr]. The Prime Minster of the Federation,
Nermin Niksic, stated[Sr] that if he is asked to resign, he will do so.
Yet, this is not the end, but only the beginning.




Although it
was expected that after the January 7 riots, protests would calm down during
the weekend, protesters across the country continue to gather in front of
government buildings. The organised and unorganised, formal and informal groups
continue to assemble, demanding more resignations and tangible changes. 






COMMENT:







Who is behind the game of protest is simple.
It is a dual work of Israel's Mossad and Russia. if any doubt then ask your
investigative Journalists to fan out and find out the truth if what is stated
is correct or otherwise. This stupid Israeli intelligence unit Mossad has
created a horrendous affairs throughout the Muslim world in collusion with
Russia with the aims and objective of ultimately stabbing US at the back. None
would believe now even US but after the facts gets revealed in future which is bound to happen then US will
lament.




What happened to Egypt is also the doing of Israel
see previously mentioned comments about it as to how many times the same was mentioned,
time and again that Russia get in because of Israel's activities and now,  Egypt did slip into Russian lap meaning
the Russian block. Cannot deny can any son of a real father? Believing this son
of an unknown father would finally have to pay  a
a heavy dividend much worse than this.




Turkey’s problem is also the creation of
Mossad and Russia. With Bangladesh the countries involved are Israel, India and
Russia ask your investigative Journalist to ascertain the truth about all these stated cases
facts if any doubt. ..








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