Circle 99: Slavo Kukić intimidates the public with the image of some kind of 'unitary' BiH, exhibiting extremely vile Islamophobia

(Patria) - The Association of Independent Intellectuals Circle 99, at its recent session titled "Without a Bosnian Nation, There is No Bosnian State," addressed attempts to deny the idea of a Bosnian nation, expressed in Slavo Kukić's book "People and Nation".

In this book, two members of Circle 99 - Senadin Lavić and Zlatko Hadžidedić are labeled as bearers of a "Greater Bosniak unitary project" and declared followers of Alija Izetbegović's pan-Islamist ideas.

In their presentations at the aforementioned session, as well as in previously published individual responses to these accusations, the two of them clearly demonstrated that Kukić's claims are completely absurd, and that no Greater State nationalism can be derived from pan-Islamist ideas because pan-Islamism is by definition a-national and trans-national.

"However, instead of facing reality and accepting the fact that the aforementioned members of Circle 99 cannot be countered with scientific argumentation, in his appearance on BN television, Kukić went even further, stating that the entire Circle 99 ceased to be independent long ago and turned into a 'firing post' of the mentioned 'Greater Bosniak unitary project', while our members were simultaneously declared 'ideologues in the service of Bakir Izetbegović'.

Therefore, Circle 99 has an obligation to clearly respond to these unsubstantiated claims, and thus protect its dignity and the dignity of its members.

On what basis does Kukić build his thesis that the struggle for the idea of a Bosnian nation is actually some kind of 'Greater Bosniak' project?

In the mentioned TV appearance, Kukić says that the Greater Serbian project entails 'Serbia from Karlobag, through Karlovac, to Virovitica', while the Greater Croatian project entails Croatia 'up to the Drina'.

Correct. And what borders did this alleged 'Greater Bosniak' project outline? Kukić doesn't even try to define its borders, but simply says - 'you know, it's all the same, just reversed'!? If Kukić doesn't know what those borders are, how can he know that such a project even exists?

As for the claim about 'unitarism', Kukić should know that states are classified as unitary, federal, and confederal. Due to the small number of federations and confederations, the vast majority of states in the world are unitary in nature. And that doesn't scare anyone.

Why then does Kukić intimidate the public with the image of some kind of 'unitary' Bosnia and Herzegovina, when such a state would be organized like most states in the world?

Intimidation with some alleged 'unitarism' aims to keep this country in its current, semi-collapsed state at all costs, so that Serbian and Croatian hegemonism can manipulate it.

Unitarism simply means that the idea of an ethno-federal organization, which would open the way to secession, will not pass.

However, if Slavo Kukić had stuck only to his pseudo-scientific constructs, we could ignore it, as something that does not deserve our reaction.

However, in his appearance, Kukić also ventured into the realm of absolute lies, accusing our members and presenters of claiming that Serbs and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina are 'not indigenous peoples at all', but rather 'immigrants from Serbia and Croatia', and who, accordingly, are 'intruders who should accept the rules of the indigenous people, or leave'.

If that were true, Circle 99 itself would clearly distance itself from such sick views.

However, this is Kukić's most audacious lie, and here we provide a link to the Circle 99 session whose topic was the Bosnian nation, so that everyone can see for themselves that nothing similar was said by our presenters and members. On the contrary!

Those who watch the entire session and others will be able to see for themselves that at Circle 99, there is always talk about equal status and rights for all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which do not infringe upon anyone's ethnic, religious, or any other identity.

However, it is also discussed that the current terminology, which contains the narrative of 'three constituent nations', necessarily leads to the formation of three separate nation-states and the disintegration of the existing state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first step towards this is, of course, the ethno-federalization of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In addition to falsehoods, Kukić also shamelessly resorts to provincial vulgarities, calling one of our presenters a 'barker', and saying that only 'thugs, village idiots' can do that.

Nevertheless, Kukić is careful not to mention his name, thus protecting himself from possible legal consequences. And what the 'barking' of our presenter looks like, and what his 'village idiot' language looks like, let the readers of this statement judge for themselves.

Here we can best see what bothers Kukić so much, leading him to use such inappropriate, folkloric expressions: a member of Circle 99 (Zlatko Hadžidedić) has clearly and unequivocally proven that Kukić has not even read the books he supposedly quotes, let alone understood their content, nor does he know, let alone understand, modern social science terminology. And at the same time, he has ambitions to play the role of a respectable scientist in the public sphere!?

In addition to the aforementioned falsehoods, Kukić also exhibits extremely vile Islamophobia. He accuses members and presenters of Circle 99 of being 'Bakir's ideologues', for whom the narrative of a civic society and a Bosnian nation serves only to establish the rule of a certain ethnic majority.

And the problem for Kukić arises because the level of statistical majority can be reached by the Bosniak-Muslim element within a society constituted in the form of a single Bosnian nation.

No matter how much the promoters of this idea repeat that the ethnic majority must not be the basis on which any political rights are founded, in his ethno-paranoid vision, Kukić sees the core of the problem in the mere existence of some Bosniak-Muslim statistical majority.

Furthermore, where does Kukić get the right to reduce Bosnians as a nation to an ethnic minority of 1.5%? Are the French in France an ethnic minority, or Germans in Germany, Italians in Italy, or Americans in America?

Therefore, Kukić and those like him try by all means to prevent the Bosnian nation from being activated and realized as a political, social, and legal fact. Because, according to them, it must not be allowed to create a framework within which a Bosniak-Muslim statistical majority could even exist.

Sounds familiar? Yes, this is precisely what the ideologue whose strategy is being executed by various Kukićs planned, who try at all costs to compromise the idea of a Bosnian nation and thus prevent its official recognition as a permanent constitutional-legal category: 'Serbs have nothing more to seek in Bosnia if the Bosnian nation, Bosnians, is adopted and proclaimed. Our main priority is to prevent the official recognition of this Bosnian nation at all costs.' (Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1989.), announced Circle 99.