A common future cannot be built with either Dodik or Stanivuković

By: A. Vrabac 

On the day when force was demonstrated in Banja Luka on the occasion of the unconstitutional Day of RS, with a parade of armed police forces of the MUP RS, Milorad Dodik and Draško Stanivuković, in the break between church and parade, grudgingly issued a so-called condemnation or attempt at an apology for the insults against Bosniaks in returnee settlements in RS several nights in a row, including on Orthodox Christmas. These were forced condemnations, and they contain no sincerity nor can they offer any comfort or hope to any Bosniak or returnee that such vile threats and intimidation will not be repeated.

Besides both of them pretending to be confused as if they had not heard about the shooting near the mosque in Janja, the rampage in Prijedor, Brčko, and even Priboj, although it is a different country, Stanivuković went a step further and added a new threat to his “condemnation”.

“Coexistence is an imperative, just as it is an imperative that the RS exists. It is unquestionable and permanent. Let no one touch the RS, and it will not be questionable that we live together, help each other, and celebrate all holidays,” said Stanivuković.

What Stanivuković meant by that, he did not explain. But he does not need to. It is enough that he does not recognize the Srebrenica genocide and that in the middle of Banja Luka he unveiled a plaque to Major Milan Tepić (JNA), who in 1991, when Stanivuković was not even born, blew up the barracks near Bjelovar, killing 11 soldiers and wounding 100 people. This move by Stanivuković drew condemnation from neighboring Croatia, where they stated that the idea of a Greater Serbia is clearly still alive.  

If anyone thought that Stanivuković could be some new force with which a brighter future in BiH could be built, Davor Dragičević's claim that he would be 100,000 times worse than Dodik seems increasingly accurate. Today, while Dragičević was on Krajina Square holding a banner "Justice for David" seeking the truth about his child's murder, surrounded by MUP RS police officers, he was not supported by Stanivuković, Jelena Trivić, or the leaders of the so-called opposition Branislav Borenović, Mirko Šarović, or any other opposition figures. They were busy proving who loves the RS more.

As long as condemnation and apology to Bosniaks are tied to an “but” and some condition, one cannot believe in the sincere intentions of either Stanivuković or anyone else in political life.

Neither Stanivuković nor Dodik said a single word calling on RS citizens to stop the threats; they only stated that such things should be legally sanctioned. And there are hundreds of examples where there is no sanction at all, and the threats continue. 

We can build a brighter future with each other, and it is perfectly normal to want that, but with full respect for all the rights that belong to us as citizens, without more or fewer rights, and with sincere acceptance of the truth about the events of the 1992-1995 period based on the verdicts of international courts, and without threats of new crimes and repeating history. Because how can you build any future if you fear someone or do not trust them. 

A new future can be built with people like Vojin Mijatović, Dragan Bursać, Aleksandar Trifunović, Srđan Šušnica, Srđan Puhalo, Miodrag Živanović, Tanja Topić, but not with those whose idols are Radovan Karadžić, Momčilo Krajišnik, Biljana Plavšić, Slobodan Milošević, and not war criminals.