By: Esad Durakovic

Yesterday we heard an ominous echo of the news that French president Emmanuel Macron stated that there are no problems in the Balkans but only in BiH which is allegedly crowded with jihadists and as such presents a time bomb.

Although inaccurate and without basis in reality, his statement, however, creates a sociopolitical context rather unfavorable for BiH considering its very uncertain future. The statement comes as a terrific argument for those in the neighborhood but also some in BiH who have been slandering us for a while now in the international institutions, that we are a security threat, amid the islamophobia thriving on both global and national levels. It ranges from national and international literary awards (for a small and ideologically dirty text which perceives threat in Bosnian mosques) to the statements by Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic.

Dodik's and Covic's divisive policies derive a strong argument from Macron's statement; it is authoritative, perfectly timed and contextualized, as it arrives straight from the top of a very important and strong European country (the same one that in the nineties did everything in favor of Serb aggression on BiH; thus the statement is essentially a continuity of Mitterrand's policy from the nineties towards Muslims/Bosniaks). Something to be worried about.

Let's look at the context, even in its sketchy form, and what Bosniaks have done about it, if anything, to thwart that negative context.

I have written on several occasions about the sale of large amounts of land to the foreigners with whom we do not have established reciprocity in that regard. It is one of the long-term fatal mistakes, deadly for the interests of BiH citizens, especially Bosniaks.

There's one other topic I have written about a few times, of exceptional importance for sociopolitical context in BiH, and it concerns the migrant crisis that we have been exposed to as a huge threat. Piling up of migrants, tens of thousands of them, in a conflictuous country divided by religion and ethnicity, marked by legal, economic and political disorder, presents a horrific threat to the security of its citizens, and even the survival of the country as such.

The reaction by our government has been utterly inadequate. Instead of redirecting the problem to Europe on daily basis, they have been concerned about where and how to move the refugee camps around the Federation (but not the RS!); they even let the European bureaucrats to preach here in BiH about humanity while the same European bureaucrats and hypocrites hedge their countries with wire against migrants.

I regret to say that the reaction by the Islamic community BiH was equally inadequate. They appealed for a human approach to the migrants on several occasions, each time denying any political connotation of the crisis, which is both wrong and inaccurate... because the crisis has been from the beginning to its end, primarily POLITICAL, while its human aspect remains of secondary importance.

I'm also one of those who advocate for human approach to all those troubled of any kind, but these BH institutions – which rightly underline the need for a human approach towards the needy – should direct their message about the humanity towards the EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS AND CITIZENS, and not Bosnians who do not carry the blame for the crisis but will in the end pay the price.

Calling upon the humanity, here's what those institutions should be saying instead:

European gentlemen, show your humanity to the miserables because it is the humanity that you swear on. European gentlemen, you were watching with your arms crossed the destruction of our country and our society in the nineties, and you even gave the territory on which the genocide was committed to the perpetrators. Is that your sense of humanity?!

European gentlemen, you feeble humanists who kept the countries (that the migrants came from) colonized for hundreds of years; you were destroying those countries and societies in the 20th century, making them miserable in every possible way; today you blame them for Islam that you fear without justification and which you ardently satanize, and now you erect the barbed wire to the face of those poor people, sending your armies to your borders to fight them, all the while telling us stories about the need of humanity.  

You've become the kingdom of hypocrisy! The culmination of your hypocrisy is in transforming BiH into a large refugee camp, BiH that is already left in ruins by others, even by yourselves. By doing so, and Macron's statement is the best example, you hand in the key argument to our aggressive neighbors and local separatists. That's how you continue to multiply and perfect the misery.

I'll take the liberty to say that the appeals for humanity from BiH do not go to the right addresses, au contraire. This is, without any doubt – a project, or a mechanism devised to detach Herzeg-Bosnia and the RS, and for Bosniaks to remain in their Gaza on the small territory of the current BiH.

Do appeal for humanity, gentlemen from Europe and from the religious and political institutions of BiH, but direct your appeals at the right addresses and not at the Bosniaks that the migrant destiny does not depend on in any way – instead of bringing them with your incorrectly addresses appeals into a state of numbness of their sociopolitical consciousness and perspective.