Sidran's 'All-Bosnian Assembly' is a voice of reason, the battle for BiH is a battle against fascism

By Ernad Metaj

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We are living in an anti-Bosnian era in which its natural multi-ethnic being is constantly attacked, so from that perspective, academician Abdulah Sidran's call for the formation of an "All-Bosnian Assembly" is understandable and urgently needed. Sidran precisely identifies that politics lacks the capacity to solve the accumulated problems of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sidran's idea is to gather top intellectuals capable of rising above individual ethnic issues to focus on the survival of BiH. Sidran precisely named the BiH intellectuals Senad Lavić, Esad Duraković, Muharem Cero... who also advocate such a stance.

The gathering of an "All-Bosnian Assembly" is not a new idea; the need for it has existed for a long time, but no one has had the strength and will to turn verbalization into practical action. What is important at this moment is that the Serb Civic Council, the Croatian National Council, and the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals seem ready for it. Parliamentarians from the 1992-95 period are also ready for such an undertaking. Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks would be there. All those who want a normal life, which cannot exist as long as destructive policies exist in BiH, would gather there. The "All-Bosnian Assembly" would also be a strong response to the international community, which includes forces that want to give the disappearance of BiH the appearance of inevitability.

Ethnic divisions in BiH are imposed and maintained by current policies. It is wrong to shift all blame to Greater Serbian nationalism, which is currently the most aggressive in appearance, and for years, and now even more so, it has been accompanied by the ideology of a joint criminal enterprise based on the idea of blood and soil, pursued by the HDZ. A disintegrating factor is also part of the Bosniak policy, which, as Sidran says, agreed with Belgrade on the territorial realization of national sovereignty even before the war! This means the creation of national territories, and they have brought no good to anyone. As Professor Nerzuk Ćurak of the Faculty of Political Sciences recently said, by allowing the political organization of mono-ethnic parties, BiH has dug its own grave and halted progress.

The "All-Bosnian Assembly" is necessary in the fight to prevent the promises of democracy from being violated, as well as the European Charter of Civil Rights. It is the last line of defense against forcing BiH into being a micro-replica of the Third Reich in this historical period, where "coexistence" has been turned into a dangerous word. Sidran rightly noted that coexistence in BiH has become a parallel to fascism.

There are still enough people in BiH who do not want to live fascism. Despite the structure that demands internal division, people connect horizontally, live their authentic lives, aware of their plural identities. Ordinary people do not allow BiH to be killed; they are the hope that Sidran is on the right path; they could be the strength of the "All-Bosnian Assembly." In the future, stories like the one from Banja Luka, where a Serb at a wedding greets a Bosniak friend who was on the opposite side during the war, must not go unnoticed. It is time for the applause that speech received to be heard. That is why Sidran is right, with the caveat that action must begin because the forces that are killing BiH and its multi-ethnic being do not rest.