Bosnia helps itself to a slice of Spring

by Rhodri C. Williams

There has been a lot written about the current ‘Baby-Lution’ in Bosnia by people with  far more current insight than me about what it is all about. For some good examples, see Igor Štiks in Open Democracy here, Florian Bieber here, or Eric Gordy here. And of course, if you want to take a bath in it, there is always the #JMBG hashtag in Twitter.

So at the risk of simply repeating what many others have stated earlier and more eloquently, what a breath of fresh air. What a relief to see before me a line that the old dinosaurs and their inat-politics could no longer cross without provoking an elemental thirst for ordinary politics and ordinary life. Real systemic change may still be a long way off, but a lot of Bosnians have now made a move from thought to action and that is both significant and irrevocable.

For me personally, the current images coming out of Sarajevo and Banja Luka represent a long overdue alignment between the Bosnia I know and the image it projects in the international media. And I find it deeply moving. So let me end by challenging anybody who ever worked and lived in Bosnia not to get a little misty-eyed watching this wonderful clip.