Why you must stand by the citizens of Bihać if you really want to help migrants

I do stand by the citizens of Bihać. My neighbours, friends, colleagues of more than 17 years. Bihać has been my home, by my own free choice, since Sept. 1^st, 2003, although I am still an Italian citizen. I am going nowhere from here and I have absolutely no doubt where I stand on this point.

Do you really think you are “helping” migrants and refugees if you support an act of unprecedented political brutality pushed by the EU Commission only because the IOM has catastrophically mismanaged this situation, in the last two years, in all possible ways?

YOU DO NOT FIX A CATASTROPHIC MISTAKE BY TRYING TO COVER IT UP WITH MORE CATASTROPHIC MISTAKES!

The catastrophic mistake: EXCLUDE THE CITIZENS FROM THE DECISION MAKING PROCESS!

You cannot, never ever, push choices behind citizens’ back, over their heads.

NEVER.

EVER.

“Bira” cannot be reopened as a migrants reception centre.

It’s over. 

You cannot force a destructive choice on this small community not even with all the might and power and money of the European Union (and allies).

You Can Not.

More than a thousand unhappy souls have been used as “human shields” in this disgusting pressure and smear campaign against Bihać, the Una Sana Canton, Bosnia.

Those people have been out in the cold and rain for 12 days now, kicked out ruthlessly on the road on Dec. 23^Rd, 2021.

By the IOM, the International Organization of Migrations of the United nations, which has a mandate and rich financing to take care of them.

They have been used to build an unprecedented international campaign of fake news.

IT IS NOT TRUE THAT THE REASON WAS THE LACK OF ELECTRIC POWER AND WATER.

THE REASON WAS: FORCE BIHAĆ AND THE UNA SANA CANTON INTO SURRENDER AT ALL COST, EVEN AT THE COST OF HUMAN LIVES.

Come on, we are talking about the same EU that is paying Libya to try and keep human beings in concentration camps, at the price of horrible tortures, just to keep them out of their territory.

We are talking about the same EU that has cancelled rescue missions at sea in the stupid hope that it will discourage people from trying to cross by sea.

We are talking about the same EU who is pretending not to see the horrid story of violent pushbacks in the forests.

Do YOU want to be citizens of THIS “europe”?

I do NOT. 

I am deeply ashamed. I am totally furious at THIS “europe”, I have been saying so loud and clear all the time.

THIS “europe” MUST NOT BE SUPPORTED INTO CRUSHING THE CITIZENS OF BIHAĆ!

To get what?

An ILLEGAL “official accommodation”, breaking all sanitary and security legal standards, keeping thousands of human beings in an industrial warehouse, because it is CHEAP?

Drop the mask!

Enough with this tragicomedy!

The people on whom you are shedding crocodile tears are coming to the EU, and there is no way for you to stop them, ever. 

Yes, some of them tragically die in the attempt (every human life lost is one too many!), but most of them make it. They are young and strong and determined.

Those people WILL NOT STAY IN A GODDAM “OFFICIAL ACCOMODATION” IN BOSNIA, BIRA OR NOT BIRA!

You have been comfortable for decades. Throwing a crust of bread to refugee camps in Africa and Asia, with millions and millions of people spending their lives there for generations. People who graciously stayed there and did not come to bother you, uninvited, in nice affluent Europe.

The comfort is over.

This is a different kind of migration.

You cannot go on playing the old confortable game, these people are not staying put.

You will not stop them by turning the lives of the people of Bihać, Krajina, Bosnia, into a mess to protect your own comfort.

All of you nice souls who want to “help”…. will you open your eyes once and for all?

HUMANITARIAN HELP IS NOT ENOUGH!

HUMANITARIAN HELP CAN MAKE THINGS WORSE, WHEN THERE IS NO POLITICAL ACTION TO CHANGE THE CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM!

This is why all MUST stand by the citizens of Bihać.

It is about stopping an old, unjust, unsustainable, colonialist way of doing things by a European Union that is not the European Union we want.

It is about curbing political bullying from above, and enforcing the principle that the institutions are at the service of the citizens, not the other way round.

The EU Commission MUST STOP BULLYING BIHAĆ AND KRAJINA (and Bosnia)!

The EU Commission must drop the pretension to get Bira back by force.

The EU Commission must stop being dishonest with the citizens of this country.

You want something from this country and its citizens?

Be HONEST about your real intentions, and ask with RESPECT.

I know the soul of the people I have been living with for more than 17 years.

They have been humiliated for nearly three years.

I feel doubly humiliated. Because Bihać is my home, and because I am the citizen of a country and a “union” that is behaving shamefully.

The EU must stop this suicidal rush to the abyss.

Give up Bira, NOW! Officially.

Get 256 living containers out of there and up to Lipa, IMMEDIATELY! Get those unlucky people out of the cold and rain IMMEDIATELY!

Open your rich purse, 26 MILLION EURO AVAILABLE NOW, start the works in Lipa IMMEDIATELY. Yes, it’s winter, and it’s folly. But it is all the fault of your obstructionism of three years.

There is NO OTHER WAY to start healing the wounds in the relations with the citizens of Bihać, if they can be healed at all after this disaster.

How can we ever go forward if we do not build TRUST?

The camp in Lipa is, again, just an emergency measure to get people out of the cold immediately. It is not “the solution”.

CAMPS ARE NOT, NEVER HAVE BEEN AND NEVER WILL BE, “THE SOLUTION”.

We need to drop this idea once and for all and talk about the REAL problem….. ARE YOU EVER LETTING THE “PEOPLE ON THE MOVE” INTO THE EUROPEAN UNION?

I know you would rather shoot them than let them in…. If you could get away with it.

Again, it is time to drop the masks and put your cards on the table.

The mass migrations, that are only just beginning, cannot be “solved” by turning Bihać, Krajina, the whole of Bosnia into a giant refugee camp. Better said, your dumping site for the human beings you do not want.

This is why whoever wants to “help” must stand by the citizens of Bihać, NOW!

There is no other way to stop the suicidal course of action of the EU and ask for REAL CHANGE!