Nationalizing reality: Part I. A Prostitution Ring, a Minister, and Another Sorry Tale of Nationalism.

While living in Bosnia I have realized the extent to which nationalism has infected the perception of reality itself. The coexistence of equally provable but mutually exclusive truths—all of which feel they have been wronged but undefeated in the recent war—has made interpretation of daily events, from the most banal to most consequential, impossible through the lens of objectivity. I will illustrate this argument by analyzing several recent events in the country, starting with the Srebrenica/Bratunac prostitution affair. I will discuss other events in following posts.

Last week the country was shocked by the news that the police of Republika Srpska (RS, the Serbian entity) raided several high profile institutions in the towns of Srebrenica (the place of the 1995 genocide) and Bratunac, arresting more than a dozen of public figures, accusing them of their involvement in prostitution, trafficking, and sexual exploitation of a minor. Almost simultaneously, officials from the Ministry of Interior were interviewing Bosnia’s Minister of Security (akin to US’ Homeland Security Chief) Ahmetovic for his supposed involvement in the aforementioned activities. The whole action was carried out in front of cameras with all the major channels replaying the images of people being hauled into police vans by ski-mask wearing SWAT teams. From the little information the RS Ministry released one could piece together the tragic preface to the dramatic culmination: a 15 year old Roma girl from Srebrenica had been lured into prostitution by her own grandmother and serviced (often under the influence of cocaine) the local elites, including the town’s imam (Muslim priest), her school’s principal, a professor, and—most shockingly—the Minister of Security of Bosnia, Ahmetovic, who at the time was a Srebrenica official. He had just been recently appointed to the highly sensitive security post. The girl was found drugged and placed into protective custody when she (supposedly) revealed the names of the people who were later arrested and questioned (in the case of Ahmetovic). I, like anyone with any sense of decency, reacted to the news with fury, hoping all of those involved would be punished to the full extent of the law. I was especially depressed by the fact that one of the country’s high-profile ministers, and the one I had thought was fairly efficient and non-corrupt, Ahmetovic had been intimately involved in the graphic affair. As it turned out however, the Bosnian reality was much more complicated than the Hollywood-like story the RS Ministry of Interior told the public.

On the day of the raids, the visibly upset Ahmetovic came in front of TV cameras and swore his innocence, claiming that he was being set up by his political enemies in the Serbian entity. Coincidentally or not, the whole sting operation had been carried out by a Bosnian Serb official who had been involved in another affair that Ahmetovic was investigating. The affair centered around the release by the Bosnian Serb police of a list of 45 Bosnian humanitarian organizations—mostly Muslim—suspected of terrorism. The list, leaked to the UN Security Council turned out to be a forgery and Ahmetovic threatened on TV to carry out a full investigation and punish those responsible for denigrating the work of many humanitarian organizations—who had nothing to do with terrorism—and exposing them to retaliatory action from the US who was monitoring these lists. Again, coincidentally or not, Ahmetovic made the promise to investigate the “list of 45 affair” THE NIGHT BEFORE the prostitution sting unfolded. Ahmetovic explained that the only contact he had had with the Roma girl was when he awarded her a scholarship to help her complete high school since her family was destitute. He professed his belief in God and his own innocence and continued to carry out his daily duties. Keep in mind, this is the post akin to US’ Homeland Security Chief. So, a day after he was interrogated for his involvement in the affair of prostitution of a minor, Ahmetovic was meeting with EU security officials to talk about Bosnia’s path to the EU integration!

The story had another twist. The day after the highly publicized raids, all but two of the people arrested were released due to the “lack of evidence.”! My question immediately was: then why the hell were they arrested in the first place?! For the most part, these were people with public profiles—a teacher, an imam, a professor—and their reputation suffered a terrible blow. The only two people who continued to be imprisoned were girl’s grandmother and her high school principal. I thought to myself: “Ok, they are probably the ring-leaders and they are co-operating.” I was wrong. Two days later, the two remaining “suspects” were released! There was absolutely no explanation from the relevant courts, judge(s), or the Bosnian Serb police. Nothing. The dust settled as fast as it had been thrown into the eyes of the Bosnian public.

The story had yet another twist. A day or so after the incident, a Bosnian weekly magazine suggested that the Bosnian Minister of Security Ahmetovic was not as innocent as he appeared. The magazine—without any evidence whatsoever—implied that Ahmetovic had a dark past and that the Bosnian Serb police orchestrated the raid as a warning to him not to meddle in anything that might disturb the status quo which was enriching a lot of people within the Serbian entity in Bosnia. It is also important to note, that this is an election year in Bosnia and the whole affair was interpreted—almost by everyone—as a complicated political game ahead of the October elections.

The affair divided the Bosnian public fairly predictably. The Bosnian Muslim officials—including religious figures—immediately compared the Serbian raid to a second Srebrenica genocide (obnoxiously invoking the memory of the 1995 genocide repeatedly!) and expressed unequivocal support for “their” Minister Ahmetovic. Thus, disregarding the fact that Ahmetovic was a minister of all Bosnians, including the Serbs. The Serbian officials pointed to the Muslim reaction as evidence that Bosnia’s jurisprudence was not working, that there was no trust in the Serb part of the country, and that the whole Bosnian project may not be working. The Croats issued muted statements about the need to let the system do its job, but for the most part, observed the whole spectacle with amused exhaustion.

The most devastating consequence of the publicized affair was the moronic, if not criminal, decision by many Bosnia’s newspapers and magazines to publish the picture of the underage Roma girl who was the only true victim in this story. Her picture plastered all over the front pages of many of the newspapers not only exposed the girl to further public shame, ridicule, or even threats, intimidation or worse from her old “customers,” but it also violated the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, which prohibits minors in these kinds of cases from being named, let alone from having their picture plastered on the news.

I consider myself a well informed resident (I am not sure if I am still a citizen) of this country. I read two daily newspapers, two main weeklies (well one since I no longer buy the one that published the picture of the Roma girl), and follow internet portals. I also watch the evening news and most of the main political talk shows (yes, I have no social life). I also consider myself fairly anational, if not anti-national, in the context of Bosnia, which is to say I don’t think I have any of my “favorites” among the country’s ethnic groups. And yet, I have no idea what the true story is in this messy case. The way the events played out, were interpreted, and re-interpreted, and the way it impacted people split so neatly along national lines that it is impossible for anyone concerned with truth to come anywhere near it. So, how can people make informed choices about their leaders, about the events that surround them in this nationalism-polluted environment? The obsession with national identity has truly flooded every aspect of reality, infecting the very interpretation of it. No wonder conspiracy theories find such fertile ground here!

Next post: the case of Ejup Ganic.