Why are you pitting Alija and Tito against each other when both were anti-fascists?

The SDP BiH Youth Forum and the Cantonal Committee of the Democratic Front Sarajevo reacted to the statement of Stari Grad Municipal Council member Tarik Dautović of the Party of Democratic Action, who announced that Marshal Tito Street would soon be renamed to Alija Izetbegović Street, reports the Patria agency.

From the SDP BiH Youth Forum, they said "how happy this city is if Tito is the only problem."

- The SDP BiH Youth Forum strongly condemns the renewed attack on the anti-fascist achievements of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the name of Josip Broz Tito, the most deserving individual from the National Liberation Struggle, which brought the liberation of our country from fascism in 1945 and gave the state its current borders.

Today's statement by the young SDA council member Tarik Dautović is a clear indicator of the revisionist attitude of young nationalists, who follow their party colleagues who led this country into war, but also shows that they are following the global trend of rising fascism. 

With his statement: „The main Sarajevo street will not bear the name of that criminal, dictator, leader of a totalitarian-communist-criminal-atheistic system that eradicated every seed of Muslim, Bosniak intellect. It will be called Alije Izetbegovića. And we will not justify ourselves or adapt to anyone“ he clearly shows his personal ignorance of the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina or merely demonstrates a skilful instruction from older party colleagues that fascism works better when facts are changed.

It is only right to teach the young quasi-politician a few facts from the recent and distant history of BiH.

Let him remember that during Tito's time, the Constitution of the SFRY was amended, specifically in 1974, thereby granting Muslims the right to declare themselves as an equal people with all the peoples and nationalities of the then state, but also that very responsible positions in that system were held precisely by members of the Islamic faith - Muslims.

We will also remind the young council member to visit the Vraca Memorial Park and read the names of the national heroes and fighters who gave their lives for this city in World War II. We believe he will find members of the same ethnic corpus as himself.

With these facts alone, the thesis about the „eradication of Bosniak intellect“ collapses and cannot be taken as a serious assessment - it was stated by the SDP BiH Youth Forum.

Regarding the aforementioned statement, the President of the SDP BiH Youth Forum, Damir Filipović, also spoke out.

- I am sorry for your way of thinking, but it is no better than that of your older party colleagues. It would be better if you changed the economic situation in BiH, changed the way of thinking, worked on creating a better living environment and more prosperous investment, preventing the departure of young people, water supply in the Sarajevo Canton, etc. If Tito is the only problem in this country, then we are doing great. The situation of a people will never change until the people themselves change. When Josip Broz Tito is mentioned, you should stand up, because all of us, even today, live off what he built and no one else. It would be better if you started adapting to civilization.

Also, let us remind him that his colleagues tried to do the same thing in 2004 and failed. The citizens of the City of Sarajevo proudly said no with their signatures, during the SDP's months-long campaign against the renaming of this street.

And let us remind him of one more thing, the Commission for Naming Streets and Squares of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly did not make a decision at that time to name a part of the current Tito Street after Alija Izetbegović, the former President of the Presidency of BiH and the first president of post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The SDP BiH and the Youth Forum clearly and loudly tell the young council member and the SDA as a whole: WE WILL NOT GIVE UP TITO STREET.

The Democratic Front wonders why certain individuals persistently pit Alija and Tito against each other, when it is well known that both were anti-fascists.

- Persistent agitation to change the name of Marshal Tito Street has turned into a fatalistic struggle by SDA cadres, who persistently want to erase the brilliant history of our country and capital city.

Guided by history, and also by the fact that the agitators ignore it, we hereby inform them that this part of the street bore the name of dictators and conquerors during their lifetime, while today the street is named after a liberator and proven anti-fascist, of whom everyone in our country can be proud, regardless of national and religious affiliation.

We do not understand the need of the uninformed, limited and intoxicated youth wing of the Party of Democratic Action, supported by the party propaganda machinery, in their attempt to bring two proven anti-fascists, Mr. Alija Izetbegović and Comrade Josip Broz Tito, into conflict.

We ask these agitators: could the first President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina have changed or initiated a change of the street name when it was easiest to do so!? We ask you why neither he nor his closest associates did so!? In the end, we ask ourselves who the SDA's „golden youth“ is emulating?

Does the answer perhaps lie in the example of the Ustasha initiatives from Zagreb, which aim to dispute anti-fascism and erase their bright history?

We call on the SDA youth not to find their idols among the followers and ideologues of fascism, and the citizens of Sarajevo to proudly defend what they defended in the most difficult times and to protect their anti-fascist heritage - stated the Democratic Front.