Išerić: How low have you fallen, my Nenad!?

Written by: Enver Išerić, president of the Association Guardians of Bosnia and doctor of legal sciences

Nenad Kecmanović, once a respected professor and dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo and rector of the University of Sarajevo, and even a member of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (albeit very briefly), has fallen so low that one begins to lose faith in the reputation of some university professors, as well as the scientific titles and knowledge they possess.

When we look at things a little more carefully and seriously, we Bosniaks/Bosnians/Herzegovinians have gotten off well and are "holding up" well, because we were taught at universities and "knowledge was passed on to us" by either complete ignoramuses or nationalists who subordinated all scientific achievements they had attained to the realization of nationalist and fascist goals.

Why am I saying and claiming this?

Because Nenad Kecmanović stated in his interview, carried by Slobodna Bosna, that Bosnia will never be multi-ethnic or civic, "it could not be so under the dictatorship of the proletariat, nor will it be under the dictatorship of the protectorate."

If Nenad Kecmanović had any regard for the science he "passed on" to his students, he would never have said this.

Especially would this not have crossed his mind if he knew and respected international law and the basic documents of the United Nations that guarantee and protect human rights throughout the world.

Well, look here, Professor Kecmanović, Bosnia and Herzegovina has always been and will always be multi-ethnic. Why? Simply, Professor, because in Bosnia (of course I also mean Herzegovina, because those of us who love it speak fondly of our Bosnia and Herzegovina) various ethnic groups, peoples and national minorities have lived since ancient times and still live today, and therefore it is multi-ethnic.

So your claim that Bosnia has never been multi-ethnic is incorrect. And all those "multi-ethnic" citizens make up the Bosnian nation, my professor and former rector of the University of Sarajevo. And within that multi-ethnicity and the Bosnian nation are also Bosnian Serbs, and so it will always be. So that first premise about multi-ethnicity that you stated is incorrect.

The second premise, Professor, in which you claim that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not and never will be a civic state is completely incorrect. You, Professor, and those like you, accuse Bosniaks/Bosnians/Herzegovinians of advocating for a civic state. But Bosnia and Herzegovina is a civic state. That is what you taught students and your colleagues. Because a civic state is a state in which citizens elect their representatives. And is that not the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina? Who elects the members of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly, the National Assembly of the entity of Republika Srpska, or the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina? Citizens, Professor, citizens elect their representatives to those bodies. So then Bosnia and Herzegovina is a civic state. And it will be so until Judgment Day, or if you understand better, until the end of the world.

And the fact that in that and such our Bosnia and Herzegovina the collective rights of peoples and national minorities will also be respected to the extent that the state is not endangered does not mean that Bosnia is not civic. If it is not civic, it is not monkey-like or tribal. And you would have it be anything but civic, i.e., a normal state.

Kecmanović says: "At the future conference on the organization of a multipolar world, the discussion on BiH will start from the Dayton Agreement, because it is the only internationally valid document." Well, there we are close in opinions. I also advocate for a new conference. And it will be either our national – Bosnian or international. But not a conference where a discussion about the partition of Bosnia would be held, as Kecmanović and Aleksandar Vučić wish.

It could be a conference at which the entities would be abolished because they are an obstacle to building a modern state with the highest degree of respect for human rights and efficient state institutions. And then it will be clear to you that Bosnia and Herzegovina is not, as you claim, an "internationally recognized fiction" or an "impossible state."

Until then, you live in the fiction of Greater Serbia and the Serbian world.