The Height of Political Stupidity

For anyone who’s been following me, you know I’m an activist passionate about positive changes in the world, and especially in Bosnia.

https://www.tango.care/projects/phoenix-anthology-of-citizen-voices

https://www.tango.care/projects/how-not-to-end-a-war-dayton-peace-agreement-in-spotlight

As you can see, I am really passionate about democracy, listening to people, trusting that the people know what’s best for their country.

02nd of October 2022 we had general elections in Bosnia. I went to vote really early. My mum was ready to go even before me. Emotions were sky high. The voice of citizens in Bosnia is only a third of a real vote. It is a chaos we hope to show in our documentary about Dayton Peace Agreement. The chaos cannot be described in an article.

I came to the polling station, and happened to meet a young man who asked “Street?” and then told us which way to go. While I waited I looked around at the people who were waiting with me for their turn to vote. They looked like they came to a funeral – somber, desperate, hopeless, yet filled with love, passion and desire. I felt so sorry for them.

We were there for hardly ten minutes when it became obvious that there were problems with how the rooms were organized – the whole area was told to come to this school to vote, and then people had to find their street in a subgroup, yet they didn’t bother to put up a list showing which streets belong in which subgroup so that people knew which room they should go to. Apparently, this was published somewhere online. Most people there were pensioners who do not use the internet. They were going from one door to the next asking where they should stand in line.

Then we had a problem with the voting papers. We got 4 papers: one for president, one for cantonal level, one for entity level, one for national level. People were trying to make sure their vote is not deleted by making sure they fill it in correctly, and that’s not easy. However, I still think everyone knows what they need to do. The problem is that we end up with a huge amount of deleted or invalid votes each election. We know that those who count the votes sometimes add a little x anywhere and they make the ballot invalid. Hence, deleting the vote. And even though this has become common knowledge, people still spent a long time carefully reading the instructions, and then filling in the four pieces of paper, one was A2 (four times A4) size.

I short, in Bosnia you have to be a genius just cast your vote. And people still get it right too many times that the officials must use corruption to invalidate their vote.

As the day went on I was watching how many people voted. I’ve asked everyone I know. My whole team has asked everyone they know. Together we’ve spoken to about 3000 citizens and only 15 did not vote. So, our estimate was that at least 80% of the people in Bosnia voted. Official figures say 50%. This is because there are fewer voters in reality than they claim in these official institutions. Why do they blow up these numbers?

We’ve known this problem for years because dead people are on the lists. In fact, there’s a joke: A guy was sitting at a polling station all day. Eventually someone came up to him and asked why he’s sitting there, and he said “Apparently, my father, who’s been dead for 10 years comes and votes every election, so I’m waiting for him to ask why doesn’t he come to see us”.

We got the news that the polling stations are closed. I’m shaking, counting the minutes to first results. And then we get hit by the worst news we could have received at the time. The High Representative in Bosnia, chosen by the EU, decides to force changes to the Election Law, changes that we, the people of Bosnia have already opposed. In fact, Mr Schmidt said “I didn’t know people were so against these changes”. He chose that moment to just inflict this on us. I was furious. We all were. We were fuming.

These changes serve only Ustasa – fascistic movement from Croatia. Their lobby team has brainwashed the international community and a handful of locals into believing that this is the only way to unblock the country – Croats, who should have practically no power in Bosnia, have been blocking the whole country, and they said that if they are given more power they will stop blocking the country.

This is like having a spoiled child, and you’ve already given them too much, and then they do stuff that could cost you your home, yet your neighbour helps them destroy your home because the child said they will stop doing that naughty thing. Can you believe that Western politicians are doing this?

Mr Schmidt proved that he is a Croat player. That he does not give a damn for Bosnia, for people of Bosnia, or security of Bosnia. We, rightly, call him the German Dictator. However, Bosnia must have political independence. Dayton Peace Agreement guarantees it.

His move has made the Dayton Peace Agreement dead, because Dayton Peace Agreement guarantees Bosnia Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity, and Political Independence. With this pathetic and stupid move, Schmidt has damage all three guarantees of Dayton Peace Agreement. Problems with this have been present for years, but never as bad as this. Schmidt has crossed all lines.

To make matters worse, people of Bosnia have elected a Croat. But he is not the type of Croat Croatia likes. And, Croatia complained why we are voting for a Croat. Apparently we should not be allowed to vote for a Croat. As I said, the chaos cannot be explained in an article.

Now that Dayton Peace Agreement is DEAD, what do we need to do? International community needs to butt out of our affairs, that’s for sure. They’ve been acting against Bosnia for decades, behaving like they have no live brain cells in their heads. At one point they created something called: two schools under one roof; i.e. they divided children and called it a good idea. They were very proud of that idea; gave a lot of money for it. And don’t even get me started on Srebrenica – if the international community wasn’t so stupid, a genocide could have been prevented.

So, we, the citizens of Bosnia need to take our country back from these vultures. Now that Dayton Peace Agreement is DEAD, the only document we have available is the constitution from before the 1992-95 war. Change from one to the other is not easy, but Bosnia can do it. However, that document is no longer suitable. It needs to be update. So even that document we could use for a short time now that Dayton Peace Agreement is dead.

Luckily, people have vote out the most stupid individuals on our political arena. With the team we have now, this change is possible. But it is still shocking. It’s just unbelievable that a High Representative could be so stupid and cold.

As I write this, I am filled with anger. I’ve spent many years trying to get the international community to just listen to the citizens of Bosnia. It was a complete waste of time. This could be a huge hindrance because the people of Bosnia are tired, annoyed and very, very angry. Asking to be heard isn’t a big ask, yet they’ve never had it from the international community.

Can the people of Bosnia hold on a little longer, and persist in taking their country back no matter how much the international community wants to cash in on their country for their personal benefit?

I believe the revolution is upon us. And I still believe we have many friends around the world who will offer a helping hand, but this revolution will be peaceful, because Bosnians are a peace-loving bunch, and that means it will take time. So, dear friends, arm yourself with patience.