Filip Andronik Case: An Attempt to RTRS-ize Sarajevo

When a group of bandits and opportunists killed the journalists of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015 because they published a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, the holy of holies among Muslim sanctities, the esteemed Sarajevo professor Fikret Karčić, whose main academic interest is the study of, among other things, reformist movements in Islam, explained it this way: “...not to allow extremists to speak in the name of Muslims, from whose violence, otherwise, Muslims suffer the most. In this way, loyalty to the fundamental value of Islam, which is peace on earth, will be shown.” 

These days, the Sarajevo comic artist Filip Andronik is experiencing a sad, shameful, unnecessary stigmatization in his hometown because he published a caricature that is associated with the first president of the Presidency of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegović. Although the Prophet Muhammad is a universal value for Muslims worldwide, and Alija Izetbegović is a historical figure in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the learned professor Karčić teaches us that even in the case of the greatest blasphemy, such as insulting the Prophet, it is not wise to radically defend even values such as prophets, and consequently, from the professor's thoughts, one should probably not react to insults of President Izetbegović either, whose party has remained in power in the country for more than two decades, hiding behind the Islamic faith. 

In the controversial caricature, comic artist Andronik curses Alija from Kovač, and that caricature was also shown in a show on TVSA. Although the caricature is associated with, but does not necessarily mean, President Izetbegović, as Andronik himself later explained, the Supervisory Board and Management of TVSA publicly distanced themselves from the show and editor Enisa Skenderagić, “and sent a public apology to the Izetbegović family, citizens, and the entire BiH public”, “because the image and work of Alija Izetbegović were ridiculed in a disgusting manner”. 

The TVSA statement clarifies that the editor/offender of TVSA's review program, Enisa Skenderagić, ignored the Management's Decision that she must submit the names of guests for every show, so no one except her knew that comic artist Filip Andronik would be a guest on the show "Good Vibrations". 

Never mind that journalistic associations remind us that the “humorous and satirical genre” is protected by Article 10 of the European Convention, which allows for a “higher degree of exaggeration, even provocation”, never mind that media experts like Mehmed Halilović teach us that the reaction of the TVSA leadership is a disservice to media freedoms and a direct blow to the editorial policy of that media, which TVSA is also paid for by taxpayers who do not share sympathies, political and ideological values with SDA, the reaction of TVSA and that political party reveals the political matrix of their actions, and that is the RTRS-ization of the media space in Sarajevo, with which, judging by his earlier statements, Izetbegović himself would not agree if he were alive. 

It is worrying and deplorable that the voice of a small group of people from that television station and party is heard further, and leaves greater consequences for Sarajevo than the voice of all those who jumped to the defense of Andronik and Sarajevo's openness, which is what Sarajevo truly is. 

To avoid similar situations in the future, perhaps the solution could be to seek permission from SDA before using the name Alija in any context.