Maida Šljivić Mahovkić

(Patria) -

Professor Maida Šljivić Mahovkić from the Faculty of Philosophy in Tuzla

SPEECH FOR CIVIL PROTESTS: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA WILL NOT FALL SILENTLY!

Dear citizens, patriots, friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

Today we stand here because our homeland is at a moment we can call the culmination of a political state of siege. As we bid farewell to the current High Representative, we must be aware that Bosnia and Herzegovina today is not under siege by tanks and artillery, but it is under siege by policies that seek to complete what the war failed to do: the destruction of the state, the annulment of its sovereignty, and the transformation of state territory into a permanently divided space of ethnic fiefdoms.

The arrival of the new High Representative is a matter of the future of this country. We send a message to the international community: we do not need a High Representative who will receive instructions from Belgrade, Zagreb, or Moscow, nor one who will be a mercenary of lobbying firms. We need someone with human and moral credibility who will support a pro-European, civic policy, and not further strengthen ethnonational divisions.

We strongly oppose any attempt to weaken the powers of the OHR or to relocate it from Sarajevo. Certain power centers within the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) are dangerously announcing a reduction of these powers precisely at a time when separatism and ethnoterritorial divisions are at their most aggressive since the end of the war. We are not in favor of the OHR's survival because it is an ideal solution, but because it is currently a guarantor of peace and the only institution for action in extraordinary circumstances.

The issue of state property is our red line! State property is not and cannot be subject to the political "carving up" of administrative units. The territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been unique and indivisible for ten centuries. The Dayton entities did not bring any territory into the state; they were created in violently occupied areas, as confirmed by The Hague verdicts.

We warn: any classification of territory into a category of "property" that can be traded is a secessionist demand. If the state is deprived of or divided over territory, it ceases to exist in the form in which it is recognized in the UN. We will not allow any other "nation-state" to be formed on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Our demands are clear and we will not deviate from them:

1. We demand the establishment of functional mechanisms for the protection of the state, even if that is through the powers of the High Representative.

2. We demand unconditional respect and implementation of all decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. No political option may relativize these decisions.

3. We clearly oppose any territorial division or transfer of competencies from the state to the entities.

If the OHR leaves Bosnia and Herzegovina without removing the constitutional blockades that are the result of ethnic cleansing and genocide, we will consider that the Dayton Agreement has officially ceased to be valid. In that case, legally speaking, the only path is a return to the previous state – the Constitution of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

We call on all pro-Bosnian political actors, both in power and in opposition: stop all calculations! Do not be passive observers of your own future. Mobilize your membership and put yourselves in the service of defending the state.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA WAS, IS, AND WILL BE A STATE OF EQUAL CITIZENS!