Defending Bosnian Multi-Ethnicity (Or Welcome to Sarajevo’s BBI Centre)

Srecko Latal

 This piece of “news”, which in fact proved to be a prank perpetrated by an unknown author, quickly circulated the Bosnian capital today. It also persuaded me to finally write a blog about the ongoing controversy over the BBI.

Since its grand opening exactly two weeks ago, the Bosnia Bank International centre has become one of the most visited places in town. It is estimated that some 200,000 people – about half of the city’s population – have visited the centre.

The interest is still very much there two weeks later, evident in the sight of the huge crowds patiently waiting in line for the few operating lifts and escalators.

Despite the fact that only a few people carry bags as evidence that some shopping has actually taken place, most people still look very happy, sightseeing among the glittering shops or just sitting and sipping a drink in one of many cafés or restaurants in the complex.

But while at least half of the city seems perfectly happy to have this brand new luxurious complex in the very centre of the city, the mere existence of the BBI has also stirred controversy.

The main problem seems to be with the fact that the BBI centre was opened by a conglomerate of Islamic banks and operates in line with basic Islamic principles; no pork, alcohol or gambling on its premises.

This was and remains the cause of ongoing jokes, such as the one at the beginning of this text, but it has also prompted serious public debates involving some of the most advanced and respected thinkers, civic activists and media.

For some of them, the opening of the BBI centre is further proof that Bosnia and its capital, Sarajevo, have definitively lost their historic multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious (multi-vitamin and all other multi) attributes.

And so I went to the BBI centre today for umpteenth time to try to see this issue from all different perspectives and angles and form my own opinion on an issue that, for Bosnia and Herzegovina, has become so important.

When I turned the corner and came into the view of the BBI building and huge surrounding plaza, I was again pleasantly surprised to see such an architectural masterpiece sitting in the place of the probably the city’s ugliest communist-style building, the Sarajka shopping centre, which used to occupy the site until a few years ago.

Like most other state-owned companies, over the years the Sarajka slowly fell into ruin. It was eventually closed and its ugly cement-clad building became a temporary home for local drug-addicts and a makeshift toilet for those lacking the culture or bowel-control to wait until they’d found a proper restroom.

Instead of those ugly memories, the BBI welcomed me with beautiful external and internal architecture. Rich smells and aromas from the Lush and L’Occitane beauty shops mixed with the scent of foods from nearby restaurants, invading my nostrils and reminding me of similar shopping centres I had visited so many times in Washington, Vienna and other capitals.

After a good coffee and a great cake in the beautiful top-floor garden of the Torte i To patisserie, a friend and I decided to do a bit of research. Quick investigation proved that no alcohol and no pork were served or sold in any of restaurants and shops in the complex. Gambling parlours were nowhere to be seen. Yet that didn’t bother us, or seem to bother any of the other visitors.

I am a vegetarian and would not eat pork anyway. But I am also aware that there are not many joints left in Sarajevo that still serve pork these days.

Other customers also appeared happy and unperturbed by the fact that along with hot pizza they were indiscriminately forced to chug coke or a juice instead of a cold beer.

Later I came back to the BBI with my wife for a final test, to investigate reports that the security guards were preventing couples from hugging and kissing on the premises. We kissed and hugged repeatedly in front of a guard but he paid no attention whatsoever and eventually left.

And so I tried to understand why anybody would be bothered by the BBI.
I mean, as a vegetarian, where would I end up in the Balkans were I personally offended by every restaurant in town that dared to serve meat? I know meat is not good for me and my digestion, but imposing that knowledge on others would not be very democratic, would it?  

And what if I cannot have beer with my pizza and cannot buy my favourite bottle of red wine in this particular shop? There are other restaurants and shops just across the street where I can buy beer and wine if that is what I want.

Eventually, isn’t that what democracy and freedom is all about; acknowledging that different people have different choices and allowing them to make those choices, especially when they do not bother you?

If that concept is not acceptable, than who is the one to draw the line between what is acceptable and what is not? And where will that line be drawn? This is my opinion. But I like to think of myself as open to those who think differently, so I’m very interested to hear your opinions and views on this as well.