TROLL OF THE MONTH: Chairman of the Assembly of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Džafer Alić

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkans region.

During an interview with Džafer Alić, Chairman of the Assembly of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, BIR TV journalist asked him if “we are tenants in our own country”. Alić, a member of the largest Bosniak party in BiH (the Party of Democratic Action), replied by saying “I think that we are the owners of this land and that we have unpleasant tenants behind whom we always have to clean, clean, repair, make, build, upgrade.”

This statement, declaring one group as “owners” and others as “unpleasant tenants” reinforces division and discrimination. Alić’s Deputy Chairman at the Assembly, Tomislav Martinović, coming from the largest Croat party in the country (the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina) criticised his statement saying “Before his scandalous statement that one ethnic group, the Bosniaks, is the owner in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the other two, the Croats and the Serbs, are just unpleasant tenants, if he looked at any property register in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he would have seen that neither the Croats nor the Serbs are tenants, but “their own peoples on their own land”, peoples who have lived here for centuries.” The Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina punished the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) for spreading hate speech. The SDA received a fine of 18.000 KM (around 9.200 euros) because of Alić’s statement.

However, this was not the only case of hate speech during the election campaign for local elections on October 6th, 2024. The elections were for mayors and assemblies in over a hundred municipalities and towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Among other cases, the Commission also fined the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), the largest Serb party in BiH, and its member and President of the Assembly of the City of Banja Luka, Ljubo Ninković, for his homophobic and sexist statements, for a total of 12.000 KM (nearly 6.150 euros). The Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) was  also fined 30.000 KM (roughly 15.300 euros), in response to political posters near the town of Posušje, featuring the slogan “Za dom spremni” (“For our homeland, ready”). This slogan was a greeting used by the Ustasha movement – a far-right, ultranationalist group that came to power in Croatia during World War II under the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a Nazi-aligned puppet state. “Za dom spremni” was used by the Ustasha as a phrase and slogan to promote their loyalty to a vision of a nationalist Croatian state. This phrase remains deeply controversial and problematic due to its association with the violent and oppressive policies of the Ustasha regime; nonetheless, it continues to be used by nationalist groups across the region. The Central Election Commission also discussed cancelling the certification for participating in the elections for that party entirely but refrained from doing so.