KORDIĆ'S HYPOCRISY While fan scarves are counted, HDZ's years of injustice are silenced!

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Mario Kordić's statement about the "shame" because the president of the Mostar City Council, Đani Rahimić, wears symbols of Crystal Palace F.C., in a city that hosts European matches of HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, opens a much broader question than mere fan taste.

Perhaps it is a shame for someone. Perhaps it is inappropriate for a city official to publicly wear symbols of a rival club at a time when a Mostar club is making history on the European stage.

But before we start measuring 'patriotism' by the scarf around someone's neck, it would be fair to remind ourselves of shames that are far more serious and long-lasting, and which do not stem from fan passion, but from politics.

Because Mostar has much deeper wounds than a scarf.

The city remembers how the stadium of FK Velež Mostar was taken away from the club that had been a symbol of the city and all its citizens for decades. It also remembers the selective nurturing of identity, in which one club and one political option are presented as the "only authentic ones", while others are pushed to the margins. If we are to talk about shame, then it is time to talk about institutional injustice, double standards, and the systemic favoritism of "our own".

Mostar has been held hostage for years by the politics led by the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Dragan Čović, supported by official Zagreb. In municipalities and cantons where they rule sovereignly, non-Croats often witness employment along party and ethnic lines, closed circles of power, and the feeling that they are not equal citizens. These are topics that should be discussed louder than the color of someone's scarf.

And when performers like Marko Perković Thompson are promoted as cultural and political symbols, whose songs and performances deeply divide the public and evoke painful associations, then it is hypocritical to lecture about a "free Mostar" and dignity.

Mostar will not be a free city because everyone cheers for the same club. It will be free when every citizen, regardless of their name, faith, or the club they support, has an equal chance, equal respect, and equal institutional support.

Therefore, before individuals are singled out for fan symbols, perhaps it would be more useful to confront the political legacy that has made Mostar a deeply divided city. Because the real shame is not in the scarf, but in the divisions that have lasted for decades.