Director of the Institute of Historical Sciences at the University of Eastern Sarajevo, Draga Mastilović, warned that Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently experiencing a manifestation of classical colonialism, which can historically be compared to what occurred in this region during the Austro-Hungarian occupation.
“Back then, just as today, political representatives of the Serb people were judged solely because they were Serbs and wished for freedom for themselves and their people. Teaching Serb history was prohibited because it did not align with the political goals of colonial rulers, and foreigners dominated this land, just as they do today,” said Mastilović to SRNA ahead of tomorrow’s continuation of the judicial farce being held against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the acting director of the Official Gazette, Miloš Lukić.
Mastilović emphasized that for a historian studying these processes, it all appears as if there has been an entire century of “empty historical movement.”
“Is there anywhere in the world today where a foreigner can make and change laws as they please and legally judge the democratically elected political representatives of a nation? There is not!” stressed Mastilović.
He assessed that this is a legacy of colonialism and that Bosnia and Herzegovina, unfortunately, represents a textbook example of neocolonialism today.
“Therefore, such decisions should be ignored, not enforced, and we must fight for the decolonization of this country,” said Mastilović.
On the other hand, Mastilović noted that Bosniak politicians, with the help of the international factor, are playing a very dangerous political game, attempting to exclude representatives of the Serb people from the decision-making process in Bosnia and Herzegovina, just as was done in the 1990s.
“The best example of this is the fact that there are no representatives of the Serb people in the (illegitimate) Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but there are foreigners who, along with the Bosniaks, want to make decisions, even about what Serbian children should learn from history textbooks,” said Mastilović.
“If someone in Sarajevo has forgotten that the attempt to strip the Serb people of their political and national rights in the 1990s and making decisions without the legitimate representatives of the Serbs led this country to catastrophe, then they should finally learn at least those lessons from history.”
“Above all, they should stop raising entire generations in hatred towards their first neighbors based on false historical myths, such as the one about the aggressor and the victim,” concluded Mastilović.
Source: RTRS
