Komšić reminded of ZAVNOBIH's values: Armed struggle for state and freedom

(Patria) - Chairman and member of the BiH Presidency Željko Komšić and Denis Bećirović hosted a reception tonight at the collective head of state's building on the occasion of November 25, Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Komšić addressed the attendees, whose speech can be read in full below:

Dear citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, dear friends...

It is with particular pleasure that I wish you a happy November 25, Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a permanent reminder of the historic day of November 25, 1943, when the First Session of the State Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ZAVNOBIH) began in Mrkonjić Grad.

With the ZAVNOBIH session in difficult wartime circumstances of fascist occupation, the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina was renewed, its continuity, independence, and equality of all its citizens were outlined.

Actors with not only different national, but also political and ideological affiliations participated in this process, but they were united by one principle - the principle of freedom.

The ZAVNOBIH session, which was also the highest political body of the National Liberation Movement at that time, was preceded by a decisive and brave struggle for freedom and the state.

The decisions adopted at the First, then the Second and Third sessions of ZAVNOBIH were merely an expression of that military and political struggle.

To fully understand the historical significance of ZAVNOBIH today, in a kind of centennial historical register, it is necessary to recall the fact that as many as four states have existed on the territory of our country in the last hundred years.

Two of these states, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the Independent State of Croatia, did not count on the existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a state at all and suppressed every identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Their Greater Serbian and Greater Croatian hegemonic character fundamentally sought to negate everything Bosnian, both in terms of statehood and identity.

The other two states, or rather republics, the socialist one that emerged from ZAVNOBIH and the independent Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed after the independence referendum, were created precisely on opposite foundations, on the foundations of Bosnian statehood and the struggle for freedom, despite the aforementioned hegemonic aspirations that were accompanied by the most severe forms of war crimes against the citizens and peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We, as Bosnians and Herzegovinians, have never felt the states and state forms imposed on us without being asked about them as our own, and we were not asked about them precisely and only in those periods when we were not organized politically or militarily.

In those moments, when there was no clear Bosnian force, the rule and domination of neighboring countries were imposed on us in our own.

ZAVNOBIH, as a precedent in Bosnian-Herzegovinian history, is not only proof of the continuity of Bosnia and Herzegovina's statehood but also a break in the continuity of alienation of the country and the formation of foreign administration.

Photo: Patria

Besides anti-fascism, that is its greatest value. However much it may sound to some, history relentlessly teaches us the following.

Both times in the last hundred years when we fought for the state with weapons, we defended it, and both times when that was not the case, we lost it.

However, neither the first nor the second republic won because of weapons, which they had in significantly smaller quantities compared to their enemies anyway, but they won thanks to the principle of freedom that guided them and their dedication to the freedom they fought for, both as members of the National Liberation Movement and as members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The only thing more important than what you fight with is what you fight for. It is difficult to survive without resources and means, but without a sense of commitment to justice and freedom, almost every struggle is doomed to failure.

Today, exactly 80 years after ZAVNOBIH and just over 30 years after the independence referendum, when we look around us and reflect on events in both the East and the West, we can clearly see that the freedom we live and enjoy in our homeland is not to be underestimated, but it is neither forever given nor guaranteed.

The society we live in, despite all the difficulties present, is not a society without freedom and without prospects.

In its essence and character, it is democratic, although democracy is often denied to us. True, this unfortunately cannot be said for those parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina where policies that reject the freedom-loving values of ZAVNOBIH dominate, but the most vital part of Bosnia and Herzegovina is democratic and free.

Sometimes it seems that our virtue is also our weakness, but when it is realized that the survival and continuous struggle for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina depend on those who possess strength and are free in spirit and conviction, then it is not a weakness, but a necessary prerequisite for preserving the hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will one day become a normal and stable country.

It is true that we as a state and as citizens must be aware of where we are, what surrounds us, on whom we depend, and what we are committed to. But we should also know that no one else but ourselves is the guarantor of the survival and development of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We respect the strength and significance of the international associations we strive to join because it is in our interest, but we should not and are not obliged to blindly equate the existence of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the fate of these associations. After all, Bosnia and Herzegovina is our lasting value, and interests are changeable.

May optimism and fighting spirit guide us in these uncertain times, and may the memory of our past inspire us to build a future in which Bosnia and Herzegovina will be a country of peace, stability, and prosperity for all its citizens.

And may our strength lie in unity and dedication to the idea of freedom – that is the foundation on which we should build our tomorrow.

Dear women and men of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when we talk about the future of our homeland, essentially, it all comes down to the freedom of us citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to our will and desire to preserve the freedom won and defended, but also to defend it if necessary!

Happy Statehood Day!