(Un)academic attack on BiH, associations for treating egos

By Ernad Metaj

After yesterday's vote by the SDA in the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, which saved the HDZ Minister of Justice Josip Grubeša from dismissal, it is completely clear that any well-intentioned intellectual should not participate in projects that can devalue the significance of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH. This would only give wind to the sails of those who, wherever they can, undermine the foundations of this country's statehood. It doesn't take much intelligence to see that Grubeša is a blatant example of those who, by abusing their position, work against the state from which they nevertheless receive a salary. Yesterday, the SDA directly gave wind to the mockery of the decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH by supporting a minister who persistently obstructs the registration of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH (ANU) in the register of legal entities.

For years, such an SDA has left ANU BiH to the (in)mercy of politics, proving that, apart from honorable exceptions, political elites favor quasi-intellectuals and scientific charlatans who, out of their own greed and ambition, are willing to rent themselves out for daily political purposes.

Just like the SDA's vote in the BiH Parliament, any association of those who have not yet achieved their ambition to become academics by bypassing ANU BiH is equally dangerous for BiH. Such intellectuals, just like Grubeša, are undermining the foundations of BiH, of which ANU BiH should be an inseparable part.

After the private Bosniak Academy of Sciences and Arts (BANU), which, as expected, became too small for the personal egos of the intellectuals united within it, the formation of two new scientific academies is now being announced, or to be more precise, associations of citizens that unjustly claim to be what they cannot be. 

-    Associations of citizens are part of fundamental freedoms and are thus a prominent phenomenon everywhere in the world. In that sense, there would be nothing to criticize regarding individuals' ambitions to associate if, due to the specific nature of BiH society, it did not cause different connotations. In that context, all those who wish to legitimize themselves as scientific academies influence the wrong perception of citizens and act as an attack on ANU BiH, and thus on the foundations of BiH. In that regard, there is no difference between national, Bosnian European, or those who wish to name themselves King Tvrtko, says academician Slavo Kukić.

According to Patria's findings, Doctor Asim Kurjak wants to establish the Academy of Sciences and Arts King Tvrtko. The nature of this project is best illustrated by the information that Kurjak immediately parted ways with Professor Suad Kurtćehajić, with whom he shared membership in the private BANU, which is suspected of being under the patronage of the Serbian intelligence service.

Well-informed sources of Patria claim that a group of intellectuals, mostly Croats, who want to form an association of citizens with Kurjak, did not want the name to include "Bosnian," which Kurtćehajić insisted on. On the other hand, it is an open secret that Asim Kurjak wanted to become a member of ANU BiH, which would have been granted, but not in the form of a regular domestic member for which there is a clearly prescribed procedure.

According to it, Kurjak could have been a corresponding member, and after a certain number of years, a regular member. The formation of this association, which could also include people who have politically undermined the foundations of BiH, is planned for the middle of the year, and it seems that Kurjak, due to his long stay in Croatia, has lost sight of all the specifics of BiH.

An association with the prefix of a Bosnian academy was already ready, but a part of the intellectuals wavered, realizing that they were entering the circle of those who are not much different from Grubeša and his ilk. The problem with this association in academic circles is the profiling of a Greater-Bosniak project, which is no less dangerous for the statehood of BiH than Serbian and Croatian nationalism.

Objectively, as such, regardless of the Bosnian prefix, it can hardly unite people of different nationalities, especially since it harbors the intention of writing a new constitution for BiH without a clear assessment of whether this idea would provoke a new conflict among the peoples.

ANU BiH, regardless of justified and unjustified remarks about its work, should be protected because it has managed to escape political influences all these years and remain the independent intellect that a society needs. Its greatness is also reflected in the fact that it has not allowed the achievements of ZAVNOBIH to be forgotten. Its critics must not reduce it to daily political events because, as a scientific institution, ANU BiH cannot and must not turn into a daily commentator on events in BiH.

No matter how unattainable it is for individuals who forcefully want to be called academics, they should, if they have any common sense, urgently stop going in a direction that undermines the significance of ANU BiH in society.

The SDA, which claims to be the protector of state interests, should reconsider its own policies that, through their cantonal representatives in HNK, have enabled the creation of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, backed by the University of Mostar.

Another association of those who would gladly give themselves the title of academic among Croats is not even worth commenting on because it has no social legitimacy. Therefore, all sincere friends of BiH as a unified state should treat every new attempt by interest groups to self-proclaim themselves as academics exclusively as non-governmental organizations that are no more significant than, for example, associations of beekeepers, hunters, or fishermen.

In fact, there is a difference: society can benefit from the last-mentioned, while self-proclaimed academics can only give us a headache.