Originally published in our sold-out first issue all about Sarajevo, Jasmin Brutus talks about why he checks the "Other" box on official documents as a form of protest, and shares his beautiful photos of the Bosnian Roma people.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina you can be one of four things: Serb, Croat, Bosniak, or one of the Others.
I belong to the Others.
We are made up of Jews, Roma, Germans, Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians, and even Eskimos. Though we may be born and raised in Bosnia and Herzegovina, speak the local language as our mother tongue, and practice traditional customs, a pointless bureaucratic mechanism demands we fall into the Others category, and as such do not have equal rights.
In 2010, two men, Dervo Sejdic, a Roma, and Jakov Finci, Jewish, sued the state of Bosnia for breaching human rights. It reached the Strasbourg Court. According to Bosnian state constitution, only a citizen of Serbian, Croatian or Bosniak nationality could become a candidate for the BH presidency. Sejdic and Finci wanted to compete democratically with colleagues of other nationalities but there was no legal basis for them to stand.
Incredibly, the court ruled that it was absolutely necessary to enable everyone to have the same rights in that regard. Outside the European Courts, a celebratory Mr. Finci said: "Those who encourage national divisions say that they are doing that to protect their people, but to put it in other words - if you had a toothache you would look for the best dentist not for the dentist of your nationality, because you are looking for an expert not for a member of a certain nation."
The ruling, however, was not applied and a new president was elected without consideration of candidates from other backgrounds.
It is not easy being one of the Others. Discrimination doesn't just affect life at a political strata, it filters down to every level of society.
When the war was over, politicians talked about reconciliation and equal rights, but little has changed for the ordinary man.
In many villages and cities, school classrooms are segregated between students of different nationalities and religions. Mixed marriages have been demonized. What is a regular and unremarkable practice in other democratic countries is broadly condemned in the media here as unacceptable, against "the law of God."
Of all the Others, Roma people are singled out for the worst discrimination. Constantly derided, and left with almost no employment prospects, the financial aid they should be entitled to is diverted to other people. The following essay is made up of photos I have taken in and around Sarajevo. It documents the lives of some of the Roma people in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I tick the Other box out of choice and protest. It is my message to the government. The politicians will not succeed in repressing the spirit of those who believe in equality.
We are all Herzegovinians and Bosnians.
Words and photos by Jasmin Brutus
