Fire has already blackened the regional government building in Tuzla, in Bosnia. Now, the empty windows look at yet another protest march. One of many in Bosnia-Herzegovina nowadays. Is it a “political spring”? This is where it all started. Middle-class families march alongside students and the unemployed. The protests against unemployment, graft and political inertia have already toppled four out of ten regional governments.
Damir Arsenijevic, a protest leader, explained: “Corrupt privatisation. Political parties controlling the judiciary, controlling the police, promoting terror in everyday life and that’s the worst thing: that they have actually stolen the money from the people and they have got richer.”
Emin Eminagic, an activist in Tuzla said: “We have been lied to for 20 years. We have been oppressed for 20 years, people are hungry, people are starving. We do not have job perspectives here, we will not have a future here unless we change something.”
In early February, government buildings were set alight in Sarajevo, Zenica and Tuzla. It was the worst violence since the end of the war in 1995. But even after the violence, all over the country the protests continue. Peacefully this time.
Tuzla is the regional capital. In the job centre they tell us that this region has 100,000 unemployed people and only 80,000 people in work. Less than four million people live in Bosnia. Depending on which statistics you use, 25-45% of them are without an official work contract. The “grey economy” governs all social and political relations in the country.
Aldin triggered the protests and in the resulting turmoil, dozens of ministers lost their jobs. Aldin received threats but doesn’t regret exposing the corruption experienced by he and his wife: “The Minister of Social Service in the government tells her: if you want to work in healthcare, you need to pay 25,000 Bosnian marks [approximately 13,000 euros] to the director of that institution. I got a job in the Telecom of Bosnia: regularly, through a competition. I was working over there for three months, after three months my supervisor said: hey, you did not pay 25,000 to get employed here, so if you do not pay, you will get fired and my cousin will come here to work here.”
Bosnia looses an estimated 800 million euros a year due to manipulated public tenders. State budgets are low while public expenditure and debt are climbing to vertiginous heights.
Emir Dikic chairs the board of the Bosnian branch of the anti-corruption NGO “Transparency International”. He said: “The reform of the judiciary system has failed. Basically, the judiciary system is still under high political pressure and we have a country that is corrupted by the six or seven most powerful persons in the country: those guys are the presidents of the leading political parties.”
There used to be several factories here, employing around 3,000 people, including Sakib Kopic, who worked in the chemical plant for 33 years. Now he is one of the protesters and says people want to be governed by experts. Laid-off workers use the expression “mafia privatisation”. Why?
Sakib Kopic says: “Someone comes to buy a company for almost nothing, they get one, two three bank loans then they destroy the company, they close it down, and the privatisation-mafia put the money into their own pockets. The people who invented these privatisation schemes should be sent to prison where they should crush stones with a rubber mallet.”
In Zenica, the heartland of Bosnian steel production, the people here have also toppled the regional government. All over Bosnia “citizens’ assemblies” are pushing for transparency on public spending and the abolition of privileges for politicians.
Aldin and Mustafa call themselves “change-makers” launching flash-mobs against air-pollution and taking part in citizens’ assemblies. Aldin said: “The State structure is too complicated. In Bosnia-Herzegovina we have 13 regional governments, more than 130 ministries and ministers, and on the top of that we have 5 presidents. We have a whole bunch of leaders but they don’t lead.”
We move on to the capital, Sarajevo where workers are repairing government buildings burnt by protesters a few days ago.
Many people point the finger at the “Dayton Agreement”. The deal ended war, but by dividing power in order to stop fighting between Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks it created a dysfunctional system unable to steer Bosnia through economic transition.
We asked one diplomat for his opinion on how to move forward. Valentin Inzko, High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said: “I appeal to the governing decision-makers: do not be afraid of the population. Listen to the requests of the citizens. And I appeal to the public prosecutors too. Do not be afraid to do your jobs!”
Will the country join the EU one day? For the moment failure to reform the constitution has frozen Bosnia’s bid for EU accession. Nevertheless, the European U
