(Mu)scandal and at(mos)phere

By Edin Urjan Kukavica

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And now we are surprised as if by a miracle... This is not new, nor is it the first time, nor is it the only case... only that all previous ones – unlike this one – were of the male gender: this is the only scandal; until now, everything was fine!

The problem is not one unemployed woman and her husband ready to do anything just to employ his wife, the problem is not one politician prone to anything and everything to create prerequisites for anything and everything, the problem is not the one who didn't mind any of it as long as it suited him and was needed... the problem is not ten or a hundred such people.

The problem is that all of this together has become a principle, a rule, the only way to get a job, regardless of whether that job is a septic tank cleaner, director of border police, or member of the Presidency of the state. The problem is that for existence, you have to sell your soul to the devil, the problem is that tens, hundreds, and thousands of young, smart, and professional people decide on bread and milk based on a handful of those kinds of people, without scruples, without shame, without faith and morals, a handful of any kind who, for a handful of party silver coins, the benevolent smile of a leader, and the gentle pat of a high-ranking, omnipresent, all-influential dominatrix, are ready to sell God and the people and the state and the young and the old and the pensioners and the parents...

The problem is not that sacred national affiliation can be changed during a break, nor that in one term one can be a Serb, in the second a Croat, and if God wills, in the third, one could be a Bosniak. Fortunately, the legal provision on gender equality is not yet respected, otherwise, a pride parade could become a vital national interest...
Perhaps the problem is not a religion teacher in culture, nor in the position of assistant minister for culture where a pensioner sits with a part-time contract... But, the problem is unqualified kindergarten teachers and educators, uneducated and unread primary school teachers, teachers who organize children's trips to concerts by 'aca lukas'...

The problem is the curricula and programs that are made to fit the available teaching staff, not according to the demands of the time and students who know more than their teachers... the problem is religious teachers without faith and doctors without ethics in politics, the problem is non-specialist specialists, the problem is police officers who cannot find the killer of their colleagues, the problem is prosecutors who do (not) prosecute, lawyers who do (not) defend, judges who do (not) judge... the problem is institutions full of such employed people who matter, who decide on the country, on the people, on the state, on law and justice, on God and canon law, on the small, the large, and the too large... whom you can neither dismiss nor replace, and who are accountable to no one and for nothing.

The problem is that parliamentarians are not representatives of voters, that ministers are not servants of the people, that prime ministers are not first among equals who form governments by choosing the best among at least three candidates delegated by their parties for each ministerial position, wanting good for the peoples, the country, and the state... The problem is politicians without a profession who are only interested in an easy life; with such (mu)scandals, they have created an at(mos)phere of injustice, hopelessness, and futility in which affiliation is more important than education, expertise, and knowledge... The problem is not one exposed and dismissed "asim" but hundreds of "asims" and "spasims" who crouch at the feet in the shadows of their principals, waiting for their master's "cue"...

Perhaps the problem is not that the president of the state has no problem with all of the above and incomparably more that is not listed, but it is certainly that those who have established all of this as a principle, tenet, and rule will have no problem... The problem is to whom the newly appointed cantonal and state officials, and to whom the yet-to-be-appointed federal ministers, are indebted... I say, this is not new, nor is it the first time, nor is it the only case... The problem is that this (mu)scandal has become a scandal only because it became known, the problem is that we only found out about one, and we will never find out about the others, and if and when we do, it will be too late and it won't matter because... the problem is that we – all of us – have known all of this for a long time and it is not a problem for us at all.