oiip

Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina quite often take their demands to the streets. It might be unusual, but nevertheless understandable given the mounting political, social and economic problems that the country has been facing ever since the end of the war in 1995. Some of the most prominent recent protests to emerge have been concerned with environmental issues, primarily the destruction of Bosnian rivers or horrific air pollution in Bosnian cities. One of the most prominent protests in recent years was titled ‘The Brave Women of Kruščica’. During 2017 a number of women from the small Bosnian village of Kruščica organised themselves and went on duty for more than 500 days, blocking the local bridge, preventing the passage of excavators and thus the construction of mini hydropower plants on the river which would produce negative environmental impacts. Despite the authorities having decided to send in police forces that were accustomed to using brutal physical force against activists, these courageous women eventually succeeded with the Cantonal Court in the city of Novi Travnik annulling construction and urbanist permits, thereby halting the construction of two planned mini hydropower plants. This fight inspired a group of young activists in the city of Jajce to organise large-scale protests against investors in small hydropower plants on the beautiful Pliva River. The plan by investors and local political authorities to build two small hydropower plants only a few hundred metres from the world-famous Pliva Waterfall in Jajce was seen as a direct attack on the local community and natural resources.