Adnadin Jašarević for NAP: Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country where even women without socks remain

Interviewer: Delvin Kovač

Adnadin Jašarević, Bosnian writer, painter, comic book artist, journalist, director of the Museum of the City of Zenica, in an extensive interview for the Patria News Agency, spoke about the state of Bosnian culture, the culprits for the lack of support from all levels of government, but also about the cultural (un)awareness of Bosnians and Herzegovinians.

He also presented his view on the battle culture is fighting with windmills, revealed where cultural workers get so much drive despite being underpaid for their work, and one of the questions we asked him was - how much does honor cost in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

What is the current state of Bosnian and Herzegovinian culture and cultural institutions, considering the long-standing neglect, indifference, and lack of material and all other forms of support from institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina at all levels of government?

Jašarević: In a country ruled by unfinished people for 30 years, it is difficult to talk about its state. In fact, we would have to change the second letter of the word to describe what we are talking about, T for R. I am talking about 30 years of survival on the margins of a society that has no developed cultural needs at all. Because, if this society, which governs the state, or should be so, recognized the need for art and heritage protection, we would not be discussing this topic at all.

Blinded by occasional spectacles like the Sarajevo Film Festival and the manifest display of artistic programs for Sarajevo Winter, Zenica Spring, Summer in Tuzla, and others, we often fail to see the real picture in cultural institutions, which are the bearers of such programs. The fact is that, apart from rare positive examples, such as the construction of new museum buildings in Zenica and Gorica near Livno, we are facing the torment of institutions and employees, for thirty years, in Sarajevo, because no one felt the need to take on the permanent financing of the National Museum and six other institutions in Sarajevo until 2024, which is more or less the case in other cities.

Of course, this is about the famous issue of the institution's founder, which is a burden for the executive authorities, as it implies the expenditure of budget funds for a purpose they do not understand. Cultural institutions are consumers, a burden for the government, they deal with something intangible, unnecessary in their opinion, and they constantly take money. And that money, even when distributed like alms, is scarce, barely enough for survival.

Institutions in BiH survive mainly thanks to international projects and the fact that employees in them perform several jobs. Civilized Europe and embassies of other countries, not only European ones, generously help our cultural institutions, and the international connections these institutions have established are the fruit of numerous excellent programs that the rest of humanity offers us to taste. Considering the Sisyphean task, which is the main characteristic of work in cultural institutions, which even psychiatrists could deal with, I must say that the STATE is good, actually excellent, considering the unhealthy environment in this uncivilized country.


Modern technologies are a formidable opponent

Who are the main culprits for this situation?

Jašarević: I already said - unfinished people. The time of the ugly and stupid, incompetent and illiterate, and hungry has come. Their hunger is insatiable. Personal enrichment through theft is the guiding thought in the minds of domestic politicians, which does not absolve those who voted for such people, because it turns out that the voters are worse than their leaders. The history of humanity does not know many such cases, cases like ours, where the worst among the worst in society organize themselves so well that they secure thirty years of power.

Of course, only culture suffers in such a situation. The senseless plunder of all state resources, the impoverishment of the population to the point of begging, means spiritual impoverishment at the same time. It is easy to rule only with such people, to keep them in captivity, in chains, isolated, with closed eyes and cut tongues. Free-thinking individuals, artists, and scientists, the voice of reason guided by the motto "The interest of the majority is more important than the interest of the individual," do not fit well into this picture. Which, again, is akin to sacrilege for these self-proclaimed rulers.

How culturally aware are Bosnians and Herzegovinians in general? In your opinion, do educational institutions, from kindergartens and primary schools onwards, do enough to broaden the cultural horizons of today's youth? What could be improved in this regard?

Jašarević: Cultural awareness is at a low level, as evidenced by the poor book circulation, library memberships, museum, and even theater attendance. Support for education is weak, individualized, dependent on the occasional initiative of educational institution leaders and staff, rather than on systematic efforts to educate new generations. Most of the population survives in the domain of three basic life cycles - eating, digesting, and excreting. And the cultural vacuum has been filled by the turbo-folk counter-revolution, Latin American soap operas, Farm, TikTok.

The content offered in museums and libraries requires intellectual engagement, which is a problem for our average fellow citizen. Obviously, it won't happen willingly. Mandating the consumption of programs and content of this kind in schools, as well as a more agile approach from cultural institutions, adopting new work methods and presentation, in line with the demands of modern society, would be enough to start.

How can culture combat the scourges of modern society, primarily reflected in modern technologies, computers, mobile phones, Instagram, TikTok...?

Jašarević: Modern technologies are a formidable opponent. But also an advantage. Cultural institutions must modernize, get used to this unfamiliar terrain for them, terra incognita, and conquer space for themselves. Experiences from the pandemic era show that museums, libraries, and theaters can also function as virtual content. We must adopt a new language, a new way of presentation, use the advantages of technology. We, for example, activated a digital salon within the "Planet Europa" project, which allows any content, artistic or scientific, from any destination, to be presented on screens. Such an exhibition salon not only erases the distances between museums and galleries thousands of kilometers apart but, in the spirit of the new era, acts as an intermediary, which becomes a necessary evil for people who cannot experience any content directly, without the help of a phone or television.

Given the insufficient and irregular income for employees in the field of culture, the lack of funds for new projects, etc., how do you explain that their enthusiasm for what they do does not wane?

Jašarević: We love our job, simply put. To engage in the protection and promotion of art and heritage. This is difficult to explain to materialistic people, but yes, love for beauty, all the beautiful things that our society inherits and produces, that is what gives us strength in our fight with windmills. And, perhaps, perhaps we consider ourselves much better people than our unfinished compatriots, perhaps we feel like nobles, so much so that we arrogantly agree to starve in order to achieve our goals, and those goals are actually ours, culture that should belong to everyone.


There is no such self-destructive nation on this planet

What is the state of freedom of speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina and how important is it for a democratic society? We often witness freedom of speech in public spaces turning into hate speech. How to stop this?

Jašarević: To be honest, some people in our country should shut up, because their language is made of murder, rape, and arson. This is a problem that is not easy to solve, because all this hatred is based on otherness, intolerance of anything different. Of course, it is mostly characteristic of dirty nationalists who must wrap their emptiness in the colorful colors of some flag to have any pathetic identity.

A nationalist is a simple creature driven by ignorance and dogma. And dangerous, because they are ready not only to bark but also to destroy everything they do not understand without remorse. And freedom of speech, faced with mafia clans in power, who are also very sensitive, easily offended, and a population that will consider a free-thinking person a weirdo at best, if not crucify and kill them, lock them up in a psychiatric hospital to lobotomize them, well, that's a utopia for us. The right to freedom of speech is mostly exercised by bullies, the word of the wise is not heard far.

Among our high-ranking officials, the awareness that citizens elected them and that they should be accountable to them for their actions (or inactions) is still not developed. None of them even consider looking up to their Western counterparts and offering their resignation after a mistake. How much does honor actually cost in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Jašarević: Our officials are actually the real carriers, they carry money from the budget everywhere, they live like counts at the expense of the people, and no one dares to criticize them for multi-million dollar frauds, failed investments and projects, incompetence. There are numerous examples of economic destruction for personal gain of a few million, with collateral damage of several hundred million. The latest concern Elektroprivreda BiH.

Finally, this country is unique in that a factory for women's stockings and tobacco products has failed, which economists and common sense claim is impossible. Why then talk about our destroyed metal, wood, footwear and clothing, food industries...

There is no such self-destructive nation on this planet, or at least not one that will allow itself to be led by criminals ready to do anything in the name of national and God knows what other God-given interests. For someone here to resign because they burned hundreds of millions? Why would they, when no one will even criticize them, let alone imprison them? In our country, people are alpha male swindlers, idiots, and murderers, not decent people of science and diligence. Bosnia and Herzegovina often reminds me of the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," as if the entire country is a large psychiatric institution...