Mostar Slap to Wake Up SDP

Written by: Ernad Metaj

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The elections for the mayor of Mostar are over. The noise surrounding them was of no use, nor will the aftermath be, which suits best those who have turned politics here into wallowing in the mud. Bosnia and Herzegovina needs a strong civic alternative to the ruling nationalists, but also to liberal capitalists, and there is none—it is disappearing and being suffocated. The reason is not that citizens do not want it; the problem lies in what is being offered to them, and in my opinion, the greatest responsibility for this lies with the SDP BiH. From the Mostar slap, those who have not and will not stop dreaming of a civic BiH can draw a lesson.

To be precise, people say that something came "like a slap to a fool"; well, after this one, stronger than before, it is time for the SDP to shake their heads and finally come to their senses. In Mostar, the SDP has started rubbing its sleepy eyes, but to open them wide, much more will be needed than the symbolic appointment of Bogić Bogićević as mayor of Sarajevo. It is also important, useful, and necessary for the idea of BiH to affirm the blurred values of social democracy through Bogićević, and even more important to restore honesty, knowledge, and consistency as principles on which politics can and should be conducted. Unfortunately, Bogićević, as a human and intellectual giant, is the personification of everything the SDP lacks today, just like the understanding that BiH is not defended exclusively in Sarajevo.

The SDP must first not allow the position of mayor of Sarajevo to be reduced to a ceremonial one, which it formally is, but essentially, although without great executive power, it can strengthen the function of the capital city and also underline the state that is constantly being called into question. After Mostar, the SDP must urgently review and redefine its position within the Quartet, where they have, consciously or not, agreed to be reduced to an ikebana that partners use as decoration. The president of the SDP cannot and must not stand on the sidelines or behind the backs of his partners at joint press conferences. And let those who draw their strength mainly from Sarajevo have the final say.

The vice-president of the SDP, Vojin Mijatović, is right when he says that Sarajevo is not BiH and that coalition partners should not abuse the SDP's stumble in this city by trying to transfer the image of the balance of power to the rest of BiH. It is important to be politically correct, but no one should allow anyone to use that virtue against them. Perhaps I am wrong, but it seems to me that in Sarajevo, coalition partners are hindering Minister Adnan Šteta because he has shown in a short time that many good things can be done. Therefore, for the salvation of the SDP, it will not be enough just to appoint Bogić Bogićević; behind him, brave, uncompromising, and intelligent people must stand, who must know how to capitalize on the return of the political bard.

I liked the photograph of Mijatović and Bogićević with the message "we are Serbs, but not by profession." The same sentence, we recall, Bogićević said at the session of the Presidency of the SFRY in 1991, when a decision was sought to introduce a state of emergency in Yugoslavia and raise the combat readiness of the JNA. The then pro-Milošević members of the Presidency of the SFRY counted on his vote as a Serb, but to their surprise, Bogićević was and remained faithful to the interests of BiH. That strength today is objectively possessed by no one in the ranks of the SDP's coalition partners. Their actions have shown this, which do not follow the well-conceived promotional campaigns that serve nothing other than to deceive the observer.

It is time for someone in the SDP, no matter how primitive it may look, to finally slam their fist on the table and gather capable people who exist in and around the SDP. Perhaps I am wrong, but only a strong team has a chance of victory; everything else is political pettiness in micro-environments from which only a narrow circle of people benefits. The SDP, by idea, is and must again become a state party, ready to fight against growing inequality in society. Salon social democracy cannot survive; the SDP must turn to workers, peasants, healthcare workers, police officers, everyone whose material and symbolic position in society is threatened. Otherwise, every social democrat in their soul has the right to renounce such a party and such people. Enough of ideological wandering; the SDP must not be anyone's appendage—not the SDA's, not the HDZ's, nor even those who would gladly reduce the Quartet to a duo, and perhaps completely privatize it. The SDP needs its own policy, just, clearly articulated, brave, a policy of compromise that will never again stifle its own identity. Such an SDP can again ignite the flame that still smolders in the hearts of many Bosnians and Herzegovinians. It's up to politics.