From: malenovi@plains.NoDak.edu (Malenovic Nikola V.)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.yugoslavia
Subject: Life as in Books: "Bosnia-Herzegovina Between War and Peace" ( VREME NDA 8 Sep 1992 )
Date: 9 Sep 92 00:36:22 GMT
Article-I.D.: plains.20227
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network


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     "Vreme" News Digest No. 50                           September 7, 1992
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    Life as in Books: "Bosnia-Herzegovina Between War and Peace"
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                           A REGION AS A CONCESSION


           Will it ever again be possible in Bosnia and Herzegovina
           for Serbs,  Croats and Moslems to  live together as they
           did before  this war? Is the  normalization of relations
           and any  form of cooperation possible  between the parts
           of the  former Yugoslavia? Are  there any prospects  for
           the  Europeanization  of  the  Balkans,  or  will Europe
                itself fall under the weight of Balkan passion?

    These  are only  some of  the questions  put forward  in the publication
    "Bosnia and Hercegovina Between War  and Peace", which recently appeared
    in an edition of the Forum for Ethnic Relations.

    A group of authors has brought  together facts, analyses and projections
    of future relations  on the territory of the state  now divided by force
    and  destroyed by  war,  though  internationally recognized,  which even
    before  the  outbreak  of  tribal  conflict,  were  being  worked  on by
    theoreticians  of   various  profile  from  the   whole  of  the  former
    Yugoslavia,  in an  effort to  prevent the  retrograde events.  The most
    indicative are the last three chapters  in which the authors work on the
    questions of the possibility of moving from a state of war to a state of
    peace and the restoration of democratic mechanisms for the protection of
    human rights. Particularly because no-one there bothers much about this.

    And despite a certain dose of  pessimism that the offered solutions will
    be able to be realized in the  near future, most of the authors consider
    that today, maybe  even more than when they  were initiated, they should
    be respected.  This particularly applies to  the "Model of a  Charter of
    Freedom  and Rights"  and the  "Idea for  a Model  Constitution for  the
    Republic  of  Bosnia  and   Hercegovina",  whose  authors  are  Jasminka
    Hasanbegovic, Zdravko Grebo, Ph.D., and Branislava Jojic, Ph.D..

    Work on both  projects was begun when Yugoslavia  and the possibility of
    its reorganization and Europeanization as a whole could still be counted
    on,  but  according  to  Mrs.  Jojic,  they  are  now,  after  the legal
    establishment of Slovenia and Croatia,  even more important. At the same
    time,  both Europe  and the   world, after  involvement in  the Yugoslav
    crisis  on  the  principle  "bit  by  bit",  which  has produced new and
    different,  far   more  serious  disturbances,   are  now  morally   and
    politically compelled to influence the  democratic formation of a whole,
    adds  Hasanbegovic.   She  also  points   out  that  the   processes  of
    transformation of the Yugoslav authoritative socialist system, which has
    been   broken  into   pieces,  are   not  going   in  the  direction  of
    democratization,  but  towards  the  establishment  of  a  new  type  of
    authoritarianism,  this   time  with  all  the   signs  of  nationalism,
    chauvinism and even  fascism. On the question of  the possibility of the
    Europeanization of the Balkans, she  emphasizes the necessity of all six
    former  republics'  influence  and  impact  on  the area, stressing that
    authoritarianism, like  the water level  in adjacent receptacles,  pours
    over, supports, provokes  and outlasts. The priority given  to the right
    for self-determination  in her opinion  endangers all other  rights, and
    therefore democracy itself in the most universal sense.

    In  Bosnia  and  Hercegovina,  in  many  ways  a  paradigm, or miniature
    Yugoslavia, as some  liked to say, all three  ruling nationalist parties
    have  become bogged  down in  the trap  of self-determination rights, as
    well as  the right to statehood  of nations, pulling with  them into the
    abyss  of civil  war the  pseudo middle-class  parties whose members and
    leaders  are guided  by this  or that  national interest. Naturally, all
    with the support of the  more nationally homogeneous "headquarters". The
    fact that Moslems in this area have no headquarters only became clear to
    some retroactively, after the sacrifice of thousands of dead and wounded
    and hundreds of thousands of exiled and evacuated. Because of this there
    can only be a theoretical answer to the question of whether there is any
    sense in  pleading for an  ethnically undivided Bosnia  and Hercegovina,
    which  was put  forward last  week in  London by  a team  of experts and
    representatives of the by-national government, led by Alija Izetbegovic,
    in  which there  was not  even one  "honest" Serb.  And the  discrepancy
    between theory  and practice in this  part of the world  has always been
    the  basis  of  every  discipline  in  social  sciences,  from  the long
    proscribed  sociology  to  the  highly  esteemed  law which, as everyone
    knows, can always be adapted to existing circumstances.

    Considering that the authors of both models are lawyers, and that Serbs,
    Croats and  Moslems are constitutional nations  within the republic, the
    acceptance of regionalization  can be understood in two  ways: as a mode
    of survival and as a mode of adaptation. In both cases it is a matter of
    accepting, for the time being, a fait accompli.

    "The regions  won't be absolutely  clean, as would  be cantons, and  the
    autonomy in them  will not be identical to  the structure of government;
    the rights of the individual, and not the collective, will be taken into
    account", says Branislava Jojic.

    What, according to this project,  would the regions represent? Certainly
    not what is  understood by Radovan Karadzic (leader,  Bosnian Serbs) and
    Mate Boban (leader, Bosnian Croats),  i.e. Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo
    Tudjman.  But  neither  that  which  Bosnia-Herzegovina  President Alija
    Izetbegovic is prepared to accept. The ultimatums of Europe and the rest
    of the world obviously don't take into account the circumstances arising
    under  the  name  of  pluralism   and  the  introduction  of  democratic
    standards,  which   are  founded  on   the  most  retrograde   forms  of
    Balkanization  with  a  tendency  towards  the  Balkanization of Europe.
    Discussions about who is the bearer of sovereignty, nation or territory,
    and  the  adoption  of  the  right  to  represent  national interests by
    individuals  or  groups  with  pretensions  of  legality, while ignoring
    legitimacy or  vice versa (which  at international promotions  of former
    states  as present  ones, to  the shame  of still  normal people and 5.5
    percent  of Yugoslavs,  takes the  form of  everyone taking  along their
    musicians,  tailors and  bodyguards), as  well as  the apparent  or real
    anger of leaders  about the lies concerning the  causes and consequences
    for the victims, does not give Europe  and the world the right either to
    hold on to non-existent unity, or to divide what cannot be divided.

    The  months-long  blockade  of   Sarajevo  as  a  commercial,  cultural,
    political  and   communications  center  is  not   accidental.  In  this
    administrative center of the Republic at the moment, through no fault of
    their  own, those  who are  not  Moslem  are guilty  for everything.  In
    Sarajevo and  its surrounds it  is the owners  and tenants of  illegally
    built  houses  who  are  fighting,  and  they  prove their righteousness
    through a readiness to fire  at unidentified objects. The identification
    of every  Svetozar, Ibrahim or  Stjepan (a Serbian,  Moslem and Croatian
    typical  name -  respectively) with  the aggressors  or defenders of the
    city  is  the  most  drastic  proof  that  the  wheel of civilization is
    relentlessly rolling backwards, at least two centuries.

    Therefore, is there any point  in printing and publishing blueprints and
    models of legal  projects of European provenance relating  to Bosnia and
    Hercegovina?
                                                           Vlatka Krsmanovic


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     "Vreme" News Digest No. 50                           September 7, 1992
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