WHEN THE TRUMPETS FALL SILENT Dubioza kolektiv – Rebels or paid musicians of the imposed system?

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

Fadile, f*** yourself and the Government of the Federation… You are familiar with these lyrics, aren't you? They were sung by those who performed at the New Year's Eve celebration in the center of Sarajevo as a broken transistor. Or, if you prefer, in line with the band's name - Dubioza kolektiv.

They were once the ever-present guardians of society and Bosnia and Herzegovina. And they weren't the first; music's resistance as art against politics and power is not an unknown phenomenon. Many genres originated from this resistance.

However, Dubioza kolektiv's resistance and their "service" to the interests of citizens and society as a whole is not a continuity worth praising. From today's perspective, the songs they wrote between '14 and '22 could mislead many into thinking that Dubioza kolektiv is a band that fights bad policies through music, for the rights of workers, pensioners, miners, and so on.

But, have you heard any Dubioza kolektiv hits directed against the government and politics in the last two years? You haven't! But you hear news and information daily about the 'dubioza' (dilemma/trouble) that the current government is pushing us into. And you haven't just heard it, you've felt it.

You went to the Health Center and had to wait, because medical workers are protesting and demanding their rights from the street, or there simply isn't a specialist doctor who can see you. Since June, Trojka's KS Government has been stringing them along in negotiations, and even with the claim that there is money, they refuse to meet their demands. These are not big demands, but Nihad Uk's government doesn't have money even for small ones.

You asked your children where they were all day and heard the answer at the protest in front of the KS Government, which has shortchanged them by about half of their subsidy. Then Nihad Uk told them to their faces that there would be no money, even though the KS Assembly voted that there must be.

You went to a parent-teacher meeting and were met with a paper titled "consent." The KS Trojka Government is asking for your consent to create a file on your children just because they need to go to the toilet or say something that the feudal minister of education doesn't like. With their policies, they are making fools of you, and your children into criminals or whatever else.

You write books, so you went to the National and University Library for that essential number, but you were met with locked doors. There's no money even for libraries, but be patient, go to those free Wi-Fi locations and listen to "Ante, leave me alone" because they paid Severina, Sara Jo, and the New Year's party 800,000 KM with your money.

You think it will get better. Now the imposed Federation government will increase salaries, but nothing. There are no higher salaries, and many are wondering if they will even receive their earned wages. Because those who once sang with Dubioza broke 200, then 500 million KM, and no one knows how much they indebted themselves for all of this.

Just when you think it will get better, you turn on the TV and see pensioners in front of the FBiH Government. They are demanding pensions, increases, because they were promised, but they also leave empty-handed. And then you remember that the rulers of the Federation have squandered money on vehicles, on cronies in Roads of FBiH and other institutions.

For all of this, you have to take some good sedative, and have another ready in your hand, because the screen shows Dodik and Čović stealing the last thing you have - the state. And Trojka, in whom you believed as hope, allows it.

And you remember that Dubioza kolektiv is a band that sings against the government. You go to YouTube and search, search, search… But nothing! No "Nermina, f*** yourself," no "brain drain," because Nihad Uk doesn't give money to young people… Nothing!

But Dino Merlin pops up with "Everything is a lie, just an empty lie." Then you realize that Dubioza kolektiv was and remains just a propaganda tool of foreign powers and domestic outsiders in their campaign to destroy everything that resembled Bosnia and Herzegovina and contained at least a little good, preserved dignity… You sigh and conclude: F*** Dubioza, along with the imposed Government of the Federation!