Kulenović: Political emancipation of youth is of crucial importance for the future of BiH

(Patria) - "Political emancipation, capacity and connection of youth in the country and diaspora", is the topic of today's regular session of Krug 99.

Speakers include Ernad-Deni Čomaga (Germany), Teufika Šabanović (Sweden), Elvis Hairlahović (Germany) and the president of the Youth Forum of Krug 99, Rijad Ahmetović.

The president of Krug 99, Adil Kulenović, says that today's topic is one that deserves attention from time to time, more for political correctness than for its content.

However, based on experience and looking back, young people always come to the forefront of attention in difficult and pivotal historical times. We fear that this is still the case today.

- The very structure of the speakers speaks of a unique but also scattered whole. In itself, this is a reason for sadness and that fine, genuine longing.

But also for rational joy, with how much richness present-day Bosnia can be and already is adorned. That Bosnia which, through centuries, sometimes isolated itself for survival, and even more often was pushed into isolation.

Isolationism has followed it throughout history, just as it pushes us away from modern times and the standards of the democratic world today. And isolationism, as devastating for every individual, is even more devastating for social communities, especially states.

Therefore, in current times, the issue of political emancipation of youth, and not just them, unfortunately, is not just a rhetorical question, nor a decoration in the title. In the current Bosnian context, it is of crucial importance.

Will the mentality of "my worry, pass it on to someone else", "don't rock the boat", obsessed with idols of "bread and circuses", prevail, while stormy times inevitably approach? Or will the drive for political emancipation, without which no community can survive, prevail in the majority?

Political emancipation that transcends the specificity of interests, aspirations, ambitions, group, club, tribal, regional, religious, ethnic identities towards a self-aware national, state, state-building political being", Kulenović emphasized.

According to him, the phenomenon of masses and young people mobilizing in political solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinian people and the genocide in Gaza, from the smallest town to the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is commendable. As are the protests of young people fighting for their lucrative rights and interests.

- But the devastating fact is the absence of this determination among young people, this most important potential, and the most important capacity for the survival or disappearance of the Bosnian state, in the face of daily humiliation by the powerful in BiH and beyond, in the face of insensitivity to resist, endure, and ruin the Bosnian nation, a member of the United Nations, a state of all its citizens.

The path to that emancipation, political emancipation, is the path of personal freedoms of all kinds, and the support of personal freedoms in the country or abroad, it doesn't matter. The clouds of the right wing looming over Europe, the messages to migrants and those of other origins, are clouds of neo-fascism, intolerance towards the other and the different.

Regardless, the state of BiH is a safe haven in all challenges that will never fail. The threads that can, should, and must connect young people in the country and diaspora in an organized manner are multi-layered and infinitely important. In the interest of both.

The successes of young people in education, science, technology, economy, art, sports, and politics in their home countries of life and work are an expression of their persistence, ability, and dedication. It brings honor as much to them as it does to their homeland.

The culture of political freedoms and personal courage, the degree of integration into nations of which they are not native, the absorption of knowledge and skills, the agility to survive in competition with potentially preferred strata in those countries, must also be transferred to young people in BiH.

Closer cooperation and exchange of experiences is a key factor not only for emotional Bosnian identity, but also for the stable position and success of both - states Kulenović.

He emphasizes that Bosnia is in a position where it cannot be defended only in Baščaršija, but wherever true, rational argumentation based on democratic standards can find potential allies and friends. In the public or in centers of power, it doesn't matter.

- Based on these foundations, the Youth Forum of Krug 99 was formed, whose fundamental intellectual and moral basis is not reconciliation with the existing state of a captured state and a destroyed society. Its initial results in this direction are worthy of attention and their effort.

Resistance to the destruction of the state and the ruin of society is a transparent and practical expression of this. Connecting young people in the country and diaspora is not just an expression of goodwill, but a necessary expression of a free BiH - concludes Kulenović.