Tvrdava

It never ceases to amaze me how often people are utterly incapable of viewing things outside of their own little boxes. Bosnia, of course, is no exception to the rule. The more I think about it, though, we, in fact, seem to be the exception to most rules. We here in the lovely Balkans are all a bit mental. Heck, even Sigmund Freud concocted the concept of psycho analysis driving along the road from Dubrovnik to Mostar. Something in the air here either stirs the genius or idiot in us. I'm afraid the latter applies to most of the government of BiH. Let me tell you why. Listen.

The stabbing death of 17 year-old Denis was the proverbial straw that broke the proverbial camels back. It snapped in half rather briskly one might say. And it was a long time coming. People here are so incredibly drained by the endurance of our 'leaders' to mock, cheat, lie, steal and be the most arrogant and incompetent groups of schmuck's this place has ever seen. And no, I'm not exaggerating...it is that bad.

Now Denis' death finally gave some people the kick in the ass we've needed since, let's say, 1995. We have been sleeping for a long time. The silence like a cancer grew, so say Simon and Garfunkel. And it's killing us. It's already killed Denis. But let's move on to the point.

The protests and the hype around them continues to swirl, dive, and jump off the lips of most people - particularly the media's. It has stirred dialog. Good thing. The bad thing is the dialog itself. It's friggin unbelievable. To listen to Samir Silajdzic, the governor of Canton Sarajevo , belch and scream in a frenzied panic attack at the organizers of the protest was almost like watching American soldiers wailing at soon-to-be Guantanamo inmates as they were tied up like wild boar in Kabul. His appearance later on national television sealed that opinion of him. He is ranting, arrogant, deep-in-the-box, sort of guy. He disgusted the country.

That was nothing, though, compared to our Premiere, Nedzad Brankovic, who made an appearance on FTV's Posteno (Honest) with Duska Jurisic. Talk about thinking in a box. This guy is beyond any creative words that I can muster....shit, he'd even challenge Bill Maher or Kurt Vonnegut to find adequate words for this baboon. Not only is Brankovic arrogant and stupid...he's downright cruel. He lashed out insults, lied, made outrageously absurd accusations, lied again, and basically laid it on the line for us all.

HE is in the TVRDAVA. WE are outside of it. HE calls the shots. WE are his peons. HE can do what he wants. WE simply have to put up with it. OUR voices are not necessary...being that WE elected the mother fucker. He basically told 'his' people, 'FUCK OFF, MY SHOW...DEAL WITH IT!' Does this sound familiar to anybody? Can anyone say George Bombya Bush?

The thing is the only perspective most of these politicians have is from their TVRDAVA. They can't see us through the walls of their political palaces. They are too high. We are too low. Out of sight, out of mind as they say. Whoever they are. The thing is their walls are both physical and mental. Brankovic, for example, just before the conflict of interest laws were put into force, made millions. He feels neither guilty nor responsible for that, he said so on national television. He built his tvrdava as did many of his cronies. Most of them have big walls surrounding their even bigger homes. They think it's so we can't look in, but it's really because they don't want to see out.

They go from one tvrdava to the next. Walled homes to walled offices. They are not responsible for anything that happens in between these two tvrdava's. They are blind to it. Or at least seeing impaired. They lined up for the media to let us know how concerned they were about the situation that has brought thousands of the people they represent to the street:

"I am not responsible for this."

"I do not have any jurisdiction in this matter."

"I can not feel responsible for what is happening in our country."

"I have no legal mandate to do anything about anything."

"It's your responsibility, not mine!"

"I am not....I am not....I am not...RESPONSIBLE.

OK, so we heard you. They're not responsible for anything that happens in this country. They're not responsible for anything at all. Fair enough. So my question is....why should war criminals be held responsible then? Why should delinquent teenagers be responsible? Why should drug dealers be responsible? Human traffickers? Tax evaders? Well, they shouldn't, should they? We should embrace our anarchy with open arms and stop hiding behind the false mask our politicians like to call democracy. I must say though, I find anarchists to be much more civilised than most 'democrats' these days. My apologies to the anarchists.

It is said that any government is merely a reflection of the people. It's a harsh and brutal look in the mirror. I can't say i disagree. The thing is...if they are simply a mirror, then we can smash that mirror, n'est pas? We can throw a stone in the still lake. We can tear down the emotional walls that have locked us in for so long. We can take back our lives and our communities.

They will resist, fear not. They are scared...that's why they are lashing out. I have been to dozens of peaceful protests. Hundreds of thousands of us can peacefully march and there will always be a small handful who will throw a rock or punch. We know what will be reported on CNN and BBC. But the one thing they can never take from us is the truth. They can frame us. They can accuse us of manipulating youth, the media, the masses. And of course they think that way, because that is exactly what THEY do - day in and day out.

Their walls will come down only when ours do my friends. We must not only talk the talk, but be ready to walk the walk. We must understand that there is no ONE right way to go about this. Some will protest loudly from the crowd. Some will write. Some will lobby. Some will make music. Some will be angry. Some sad. The recipe is simple....all of our frustrations that we project outwards are a mere mirror. We are the solution as well as the problem. They are us.

The TVRDAVA's must be brought down. But don't forget, there is more than one way to do so. I understand the urge for violence. It is in our nature. But who was more successful, Che and Arafat or Gandhi and Mandela? Full respect to Che....but....

They will continue to ignore our cries, have no doubt my friends. But we must learn to hit them where it matters most to them. And that is two places. The pocket and the ego. The pocket is easy - boycott. I'll talk more about that in my next blog. The second is easy too. Sending them home (or preferably to jail) will deflate the largest of ego's. You voted them in. Vote them the fuck out! They are willing to go as far as they need to to reach their goals. Are you? Are we as committed to a democratic society as they are to fortifying their Tvrdava's?

Gil Scott Heron once said....'no one can do everything, but everyone can do something. Gotta work for peace. Gotta work.'

peace