The verdict against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, is clearly politically motivated, said Serbian-Canadian director, writer, political analyst, and activist Boris Malagurski during an appearance on ATV’s program U prvom planu.
— Regardless of what one thinks about the political landscape in Republika Srpska, it is absolutely clear that this is an attempt at colonial influence over the politics of Srpska. In reality, it’s the colonial administrator who decides which politics will be allowed in Srpska and which politicians will be permitted to participate — not the people of Srpska, who should be the ones making those decisions — Malagurski said.
He recalled that, in his documentary The Weight of Chains, filmed about fifteen years ago, he already pointed out that the entire former Yugoslav region had been colonized.
— That remains largely true to this day, because all those institutions — from the Office of the High Representative to many others — were established to maintain that colonial control, and they continue to function with that aim — he said.
Malagurski added that public resistance has grown significantly in recent years.
— There’s a much stronger resistance among the people to this colonial influence, and a greater awareness. In that sense, I believe citizens are now more conscious and politically mature than they were fifteen years ago — he said.
He emphasized that the Dayton Peace Agreement is a very important document that ended the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
— The Dayton Agreement ensured peace in BiH, but at the same time it stamped a form of colonial control. The point of the High Representative was supposed to be ensuring reconciliation and the reduction of tensions. But what we have seen is that every High Representative since then has done the opposite — stirring conflict instead of promoting peace. And when the peoples here did manage to reach agreements on their own, it was the High Representative who stepped in to disrupt that. The goal is to govern this space as long as possible. Because if Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks sit down and reach an agreement — as they have done when there was no foreign interference — they would eventually say: why do we need a High Representative or foreign administrators at all? Let us govern ourselves — Malagurski stated.
— One people has been overwhelmingly punished — 90% of the punitive measures have been aimed at the Serbs in BiH. Meanwhile, the Bošnjaks were granted privileges and the system was run in their favor — until recently, that is — he said.
He continued by saying that everything was done to prevent agreement between the peoples of BiH.
— Even the war in BiH would not have happened if Alija Izetbegović hadn’t withdrawn his signature from the Lisbon Agreement. The Americans told him, “If you don’t like what you signed, just withdraw it,” and he did. Imagine if, back then, someone had told the citizens of BiH that they would have a High Representative who could remove elected politicians, interfere in internal affairs, and that the Central Bank governor would not even be a citizen of BiH or any neighboring country. People would have said: “That’s pure colonial status — we won’t accept that.” — Malagurski emphasized.
He added that some nations still haven’t learned the lessons of what has happened. His criticism of his own people, he said, is that Serbs didn’t realize early enough how dramatically the geopolitical moment was shifting.
— I think today the Serb people understand this better than some of the others in the region. I don’t believe our neighboring nations have realized how rapidly the world is changing — and that this is happening right now — he said.
Malagurski concluded by stressing that it is a total undermining of democracy when a colonial administrator declares: “This politician, who was elected by the people and has democratic legitimacy, is irrelevant if he doesn’t obey my decisions.”
— No matter what anyone thinks about Milorad Dodik’s politics — whether you support him or not — surely we can all see and admit something as obvious as this — Malagurski concluded.
Source: Atv
