I really think it must be hard to be a rebel here in this part of the Balkans. I really do. The peer pressure that’s so evident stifles the will of most young people to want to do much in the way of progression (apart from run away to another country where they think the streets are “paved with gold”). They simply don’t want to see that it’s “Same Shit, Different Location”

Being an immigrant is cool.

Yeah right!

Together with the schadenfreude that is expressed almost on a daily basis here, the recipe for disaster especially for civil society lurks and looms over the shoulder every single day.

Why this depressive tone you may well ask.

These past few days, I have spent some time at “Demofest”, a local indie/rock band competition organised for groups based in the region. It’s well put together and has managed to get the financial support of a Serbian brewery to cover the costs.

The reason for attending the event was that, together with two local girls, I had the crazy idea of seeing if using simple equipment and free social media tools and platforms, we could provide some alternative coverage of the event and have fun. The experience would be useful even if it all went wrong. It was self funded so what the heck! Maybe someone would ask us to cover their event.

Our initial experiment can be seen HERE

You will come up with your own comments and criticisms (please make then constructive?) I am sure, but during the course of gathering content I found out two rather disturbing facets surrounding Demofest.

The first was a response from someone in the audience when I asked about how events like this are funded. It seems that the local/regional/entity/national government are not too interested any more in stumping up cash and so the commercial sector has to be approached. That’s normal actually as I still believe hard earned taxes shouldn’t be spent on raves or “headbanger gatherings”. Funding hospitals etc is FAR MORE important.

Pause here. OK Bosnians aren’t too keen on paying taxes but you get the drift?

The local brewery, “Nektar” had funded the first few Demofests, and, allegedly, once they found they were the most recognised beer brand in the area, ceased to sponsor any further as “well we are the top so what’s the point”. Now I say allegedly. I haven’t checked the facts in any way whatsoever, and to be frank am not going to bother, but the perception on the streets is powerful. The perception is that a major local business doesn’t care about promoting anything youthful. If the big players don’t care it won’t say much for the small ones. As I say, perceptions.

The current sponsor “Jelen” is a Serbian brewery, no local connection there at all.

The next concerning strand was that during interviewing some of the festivals’ organisation it seemed that Banja Luka youth don’t want (or don’t see the point) of paying to attend these types of festivals etc. Demofest hadn’t sold too many tickets preferring to allocate various media outlets with competition give-aways.

Pause again.

The “urban” youth of the region aspire to be at the cutting edge of entertainment, technology, fashion and sport. To a greater degree they are doing extremely well in all of the above, but when it comes to pay to see something that’s professionally organised there’s a “push back”. It’s certainly strange to see why.

Bringing good quality acts and performances that are seen across Europe don’t come cheap. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Sponsorships are a contribution towards operational expenses NOT the funds that will totally pay for an event.

On Day 1 at this years Demofest, there were numerous local bands to see, Kelis was the major attraction and the after party was Ian Pooley. Now argue if you want about the standard of the artists I mentioned, but for 10 BAM (the local currency) = £4.50 = 5.12 Euro = $US 7.40 to see all that is the bargain of a lifetime.

So what is causing young people to complain, to baulk at paying such a small amount?

Maybe they prefer to spend what little money they have on drinking coffee in coffee bars. Maybe “smokes” are better value for money. Maybe the “dependence” culture that the International Community so successful cultivated here both during and post conflict in the late ‘90’s and early 2000’s is now maturing.

I don’t know the answer. I am not that clever.

What I do know is that slowly sponsorships wont be including quasi free entrance to events. If the youth of Bosnia and Hercegovnia don’t start to place some value on their cultural and social activities, then international performers wont come and possibly unscrupulous political concerns will fill the void to manipulate with their own twisted perceptions.

God help us all if the “Turbo” world fills the void.

Well the Sarajevo “Arches” has some 18,750 likes on their Facebook Fan Page as at 19 July, so the “Games afoot”.

Menu is: BigMac, Royal, Cheeseburger, Nuggets, Pomfrit, McSundae, McFlurry, Happy meal s poklon igračkom, McCafe sa izvanrednom ponudom različitih vrsta kafa i kolača

NO “Turbo-Mac” YET!

My holiday “read” this summer has been “The Dark Tourist” by Dom Joly.

For me it was a book that showed the human, more personal life of Dom, who is famous for his off the wall and cutting comedy on TV. You can get the book and read it for yourself if you are weirdly interested in what a “Dark Tourist” does, but Dom said something that struck me in regards to Bosnia and Hercegovina where I now live.

“Spotting your first Starbucks or McDonald’s in any travel destination is such a depressing experience”.

Well, in the next few weeks McDonald’s will finally arrive in Bosnia. The first store will open in Sarajevo followed by Banja Luka. Banja Luka authorities are still to give planning consent for the outlet.

How successful will the “Golden Arches” be in a business sense?, we’ll have to wait and see.

“Maccy Dees” will be setting up in direct competition with the quintessential Cevapcinica that are plentiful across the country.

Initial reactions from people are:
that its a western fad and wont last long, that the cevap is made from high quality ingredients that McD’s cant deliver, that no one will want to go there at all.

Whilst I am an avid supporter of the small restaurants that sell the culturally incorruptible cevap and šiš, I can’t help but think that the underground “new urbanites” will simply be ecstatic at Bosnia taking another positive step towards both Europe and wider international integration. That they will be able to enjoy a burger (and apparently eating a Big Mac can be enjoyable) in their own country rather than travelling to Croatia, Serbia or Macedonia (where the nearst arches are).

The presence of a McDonald’s seems to be widely associated with “normality”.

McDonald’s do have high standards, everyone knows that and the design of the restaurants will be corporate, the packaging corporate, in fact there won’t be much that’s culturally Bosnian, except the language on printed products.

So can McDonald’s do what the International Representatives here have failed to do?

Can they bring a powerful and successful business model into a country where local politicians and criminals think that they set the commercial agenda?

I mean, you need a bucket load of cash to sue McDonald’s and McDonald’s profits are way way way in excess of the entire GDP of Bosnia and Hercegovina.

No Contest.

My Fear is that McDonald’s allow a concession to Bosnia and launch the “Turbo-Mac” complete with sponsor credits from Jelena Karleuša!

Walking around my local town of Laktasi and the city of Banja Luka some 25kms away, in this glorious summer weather, there is, I feel, something missing that’s so evident in other countries across Europe and in fact, the world. 

What’s missing?

Tourists.

Well there may well be the odd one or two, but as you walk around this beautiful country you very rarely hear a non Balkans accent or language being spoken.

Why?

Maybe the events of the “terrible nineties” that occurred in the region especially here in Bosnia and Hercegovina, still linger prominently in peoples minds. I say this as some of my friends still ask if they need a steel helmet and body armour when invited to come and visit. Weird and stupid maybe but a fact.

Bosnia has been looking at developing their tourism for years now, but it seems to be amazingly slow in developing.

This country now boasts quality venues for certain extreme sports, has some of the most stunning landscapes in the world, the only “jungle” left in Europe, food and drink to die for and hospitality that’s certainly second to none.

If you are reading this, then think about changing the venue for your next break away. Oh by the way its sooo cheap here as well!!

Where to stay?

There are hotels from International 5 star standard down and also high quality hostels at 22km a night (that’s 10GBP). One such hostel in Banja Luka can be found HERE.

I have no contact with any tourism element for Bosnia and Hercegovina so I am not selling anything other than a tip for a great place to visit.

I am now settling into my new, “slower”, lifestyle here in north west Bosnia.

Living in a very rural environment does takes some time to get used to. Firstly, I am a city boy who was born in London and I have never sat comfortably with gardening and traditional ways of doing things and secondly, the pace of life for me has always been hectic to break point, maybe that’s why I still expect to be jumping on a plane very soon.

Of course that’s not the plan.

What is the plan however, is for me to slow down and not to focus on tasks and jobs that would take me away from my new “home” for anything longer than 4 weeks at a time (with long breaks in between).

I have designed and put together a really superb working environment just a few steps from my front door (bliss) and can work, rest, whatever I please, when I please.

I know!

It’s what most of us dream of. Right?

But these life changes are taking time. Changes do, after all, require time.

I have been, for a while, considering a potential project to follow and document (utilising social media tools) some part of Balkan culture or lifestyle.

It looks very much as if I have found my “hook” and will very shortly start to document the activities of a local ethno music group, based in the local town of Laktasi, called “Trag”.

I had my first meeting with 3 members of the group last night sat outside a coffee bar in Banja Luka. As well as discussing what could be achieved etc, we talked about the changes that this part of Bosnia has undergone.

I was very keen to describe my observations from the past 13 years, about the cleaner streets, more professional looking police force, better road and other civic infrastructure, the border crossing even looking a bit tidier at Gradiska!.

How things had changed and for the better!

The response to my observations was that they hadn’t thought things had changed that much, but now that I had mentioned it in the way I saw progress, yes, things were changing. It seemed that because they didn’t travel outside the country as much as I had these past years, their perceptions were of a much much slower progress.

Bosnia is moving forward. Well in this part of the country it is. It’s no way democratic (as northern or western Europeans would perceive democracy) in fact its just as autocratic as in the days of the late Josip Broz (Tito), where loyalty to the party over-ruled loyalty to civil society, but things are moving, slowly, towards a pluralistic environment. And that’s got to be good for everyone.

To help with speeding up change, more people from Bosnia, especially younger people, need to travel abroad, experience new lifestyles, see how others with similar problems resolve and improve situations and then come back and implement change.

A dream too far from a foreigners mind?

Maybe.

But whatever happens, you can’t get away from what Bob Dylan sang back in 1964 “The Times They Are a-Changin”