Gentlemen, either left or not at all

Representatives of the so-called political left in Bosnia and Herzegovina identify themselves more by how nationalists or the so-called political right see them, than by what it ideologically means to be left. I deliberately use the term so-called, because nationalist political parties are not the political right.

A review of the founding documents of these parties can only say that they are exclusive in relation to the identity they prefer. In a reduced framework, nationalists declaratively advocate for leftist concepts.

However, in conditions where identities exist that are in a dynamic relationship of power struggle, active mutual distrust and presumed hegemony, nationalism materializes in a negative form and tends to provoke conflict. This is especially true when profiled nationalist aspirations are not territorially rounded off.

Long-term exposure to national turmoil without a final solution, i.e., rounding off the national territory, inevitably causes radicalization of national politics that turns into Nazism, and the party that has imposed itself as the leading one becomes fascist and imitates the state regardless of the fact that the actual territory does not exist. On the other hand, leftist political options should not agree to exclusive reductionist matrices; on the contrary, they must insist on generalizing an identity that is "comfortable" for all members of the community and that allows them to exist as subjects with multiple identities.

The problem in BiH is conditioned by accepting identifications taken out of historical context. One such, very dangerous, is the way we understand what it means to be politically right and left. According to this understanding, right means being a believer and adhering to emotional constructs visible in the political vocabulary of nationalist parties, which is very similar to religious vocabulary. Being left means being a communist, i.e., a non-believer.

Every leftist has an obligation to fight against such interpretations.

First, communists were leftists only declaratively, just as nationalists are only declaratively believers. In both cases, there is a substitution of arguments. In every period and within every ideology, there have been interest groups that have adapted the generally accepted ideology for easier maintenance of power. Such an approach always implies the existence of an active enemy that threatens the survival of the generally accepted identity. Such a state existed in the SFRY, and such a state exists in BiH.

The ideology of the left implies a fight against the existence of groups that, through exploitation of community members and resources, acquire material goods and rights that cannot belong to them.

In the left ideological spectrum, the state is not a bureaucratic oppressive apparatus, but a support mechanism for the development of society based on the ideas of science, philosophy, art and religion, with the aim of achieving a higher standard of living, utilizing intellectual potentials and raising the level of spirituality that is immanent to every human being. In this sense, formal laws are a guide, not a shackle, because the meaning of the law is not in prohibition but in recommendation. In no sense can the form be a hindering factor, but only a facilitating one.

If someone claims to be of left political orientation, then they should also respect certain traditions and properly mark important dates. One such date is May Day.

May Day is a day of mourning and paying tribute to the victims who fell in the revolutionary struggle for justice and dignity.

In the world, this date is marked by organizing demonstrations; here, by drinking and singing, where both those who are supposedly leftists and those who are supposedly rightists sing embraced.

Gentlemen, either left or not at all.