“WHY is there no sex in state firms and government offices?” demands a Bosnian protester in a clip that has gone viral. The answer: rampant nepotism means everyone is related. Protests that began in the northern city of Tuzla on February 4th have spread across the country. They may fizzle, but they might just signal the beginning of the end of Bosnia’s post-war system of governance.The protests in Tuzla were started by workers from five privatised companies that went bust after they had been stripped of their assets. By February 8th the protests had spread and violence had broken out. Several government offices, including the presidential building in Sarajevo, were set on fire. The violence and beatings by the police were widely condemned. But as Damir Arsenijevic, an activist in Tuzla, comments: “Tough luck.” The damage caused is nothing, he says, compared with the “billions stolen from people”, by Bosnia’s politicians. In Tuzla and three other regions the leadership has quit.It is not surprising that Bosnians are angry. Eighteen years after the end of the war the people are poor, the politicians are rich and corruption is rife. To get a job as a…
