1. The University of Tuzla
Faculty of Philosophy
Department of English Language and Literature
Tackling Youth Unemployment in Bosnia and Herzegovina:
My Generation's View
Student: Mitra Jakovljević

2. Bratunac, March 2014
Introduction
ESTRAGON:
(giving up again) “Nothing to be done.‘‘
VLADIMIR:
(advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart). I’m beginning to come round to that
opinion. All my life I’ve tried to put it from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven’t
yet tried everything. And i resumed the struggle. ( He broods, musing on the struggle. Turning
to Estragon.) So there you are again.
ESTRAGON:
Am I
VLADIMIR:
I’m glad to see you back. I thought you were gone forever.
ESTRAGON:
Me too..1
‘‘SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina - A BOY, his voice heavy with embarrassment and
regret, was performing Samuel Beckett in Serbo-Croatian. ‘‘Mr Godot,‘‘ he said, ‘‘ told me to
tell you that he won’t come this evening, but surely tomorrow.‘‘2
When tackling the issue of unemplyment in Bosnia and Herzegovina one can not help but to
immerse into the notion of existentialism which leads on to a maze of questions that even
experts find it hard to elaborate on. Opening this topic with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot,
somehow announces a solemn, nihilistic topic, but it is just seemingly so.
The dialogue between Estragon and Vladimir somehow resembles trubled state of mind of the
Bosnian unemployed, discouraged youth. This state of mind and attitude is accepted as the
status quo and it represents a bigger problem than the unemployment itself. If one sees this
1
Samuel Beckett ''Waiting for Godot''
2
''Godot Arrives in Sarajevo’’, Srecko Horvat, February 18,2014
New York Times

3. problem from the existentialist point of view, the logical conclusion is that pesimistic
thoughts are not the proper armour to fight this increasing problem.
Notion of Optimism
It is not easy to preach about optimism in Bosnia. If one dares to do so, then that individual
should be ready to receive a lot of suspicious, jealous or even surprized looks gazing from the
crowd and that brave individual should have all the necessary convincing arguments.
Due to mass corruption, materialism and capitalism reign in Bosnia the very air we breathe
became thick and the people stand still in anticipation and doubt. A lot of young people are
critically and creatively expressing themselves but this ultimatelly lead to a major brain-drain
which resulted in depopulation of our state. The process of brain-drain is a progressive and
continous one in these post-war decades and now it is reaching a critical point.
My generation is the one of 1989 and the famous event related to this year is the fall of the
Berlin Wall which was seen as a sign of reunification in Germany while in Bosnia the sounds
of ethnic division and poverty could clearly be heard. The 89-90s generation is the one that
was given a chance for higher education more then the previous ones and it resulted in
increasing the number of academics in various fields which is impressive for a relatively
small country. Despite the financial difficulties most of them struggled to graduate hoping
that swift graduation is a way to a job position, but unofortunately vast majority was mistaken
and are still fighting to accept the cruel reality. Most of the young people reaching their mid
twenties are big patriots but at the same time they show interest in leaving their country which
may seem contradictory but it has become a common practice precisely because of this huge
struggle for survival and life affirmation that is ever lacking in Bosnia.

4. The notion of ‘‘Yugo nostalgia‘‘
As decades go by people seem to recall more and more of the highly respected and productive
comunistic era that used to unify Yugoslavian people. People who still remember this era are
now trying to transmit and retell fragments of those stories to their children and grandchildren
but they find it hard to believe and to them these stories simply seem far-fetched. Since my
‘‘Berlinian‘‘ generation cannot remember comunism era, nor we managed to enjoy it, some of
us are simply trying to improve our survival skills in Bosnia, while others are turning to the
expatriate side. It seems that neither of these things are a matter of choice but a matter of
neccessity and most of Bosnian youth percieves it as such.
The lucky ones
Not everything is so gloomy after all. There is a minority of us who are fortunate to be
employed in a right position at the right time and in a proper manner. This unusual and
endemic appearance in Bosnia is just another proof that strange things do occur, even in the
most difficult and unexpected surroundings. People who managed to get a job in Bosnia find
it tolerable and acceptable to live in their country, while others feel socialy excluded
sometimes by those same people. This is also seen from a perspective of my generation where
the unfortunate ones feel this exclusion on a daily basis and it certainly contributes to the
status quo that was mentioned above. These cases are so few that exemplification is almost
impossible but it leaves a reasonably big space for future generations and their fight for the
better.
Suggestions and plausible solutions
One of the noticeable flaws of the current practices is the lack of investing into social
entrepreneurship. The very term is unfamiliar to the wider population and it is not only a point

5. of interest but it is an obvious need. This suggestion includes more interculturality, free or
affordable training for young people, innovative trainers and a promotive, open space for
foreign people. This stands for a stimuli that will encourage productivity and ultimately bear
fruit. Ways to prevent brain-drain in precisely giving more free opportunities for
implementing projects that educated Bosnian youth surely has and the decrasing of the
general attitude of futility. One of the biggest problems that surely regresss Bosnia is the
disbalance between prices and salaries that leaves many in need when it comes to the basic
necessities. To resolve this problem, youth has to reach the decision makers and ways to do so
are various. One of the actions that young people already started is the formation of city
plenums which is a semi democratic, semi comunistic device that proved to be efficient in the
past. On these plenums everyone has the right to make a suggestion and there is only a
conducter but not a supreme member of it which can serve as a huge encouragement for the
people.
‘‘Around the country, protesters are not just occupying streets and public squares but
organizing plenums to create alternative government. In Sarajevo, one such assebly was
taking place in the youth center, which before wars of the 1990s was one of the most popular
Western-style clubs in Yugoslavia............
Now I watched as more than 1,000 people-mothers without jobs, former soldiers, professors,
students, desperate unpaid workers-gathered here to discuss the future of the country‘‘3
Oppresion of the middle and lower class voices is a standing-still problem that can only be
solved through the mentioned devices and it has to be massive and continuous. Since the
government official’s salaries are ridiculously high, youth and the general population should
take democratic actions towards their decreasing and by doing so increasing the state’s
budget, that would surely open new working places. Due to corruption there are a lot of
unqualified people taking positions from those who are more than competent, so actions have
to be done and the people should adress to the root of the problem, investigate and at least
3
''Godot Arrives in Sarajevo’’, Srecko Horvat, February 18,2014
New York Times

6. have all the necessary arguments when fighting against. The problems are serious, numerious
and therefore the actions of preventing inquire wise, doable actions from the Bosnian’s
citizens.
We need a plan
In the present state of confusion and the apparent helplessness there is still a chance for a
revolution and there must be a space for something new to emerge. Thus far, the people who
had performed revolutionary actions were characterized as being destructive. It is the nature
of man to be destructive and especially when you want something better to be created. My
generation supports ‘’constructive deconstruction’’ and surely has ideas that can be brought to
reality. Revolution is tightly connected to optimism and the revolutionaries have to have a
very reliable, logic plan and a promise that will bring support and trust from people that are to
follow.
‘’ An idea is like a play. It needs a good producer and a good promoter even if it’s a master
piece. Otherwise the play may never open; or it may open but, for a lack of an audience, close
after a week. Similarly, an idea will not move from the fringes to the mainstream simply
because it is good; it must be skillfully marketed before it will actually shift people’s
perception and behavior.’’4
Reality check
Most of the people in Bosnia are employed in a private company where they work overtime
and for low wages. Even though this situation is shameful, those same people who are treated
like scum are happy that they even have a job. As soon as the society is contented with so
little, it does not take a genius to see that something is terribly wrong. The first step of
‘’healing’’ such humidity of Bosnian people is raising the moral by giving live examples of
improvement. One such tool would be de-privatizing of the companies, in other words
4
David Bornstein; How to change a World; Social Entrepreneurship and the power of New Ideas
5th
February 2004, Oxford University Press, USA

7. conversion to the state’s ownership and at the same time decreasing of the national debts. In
this way the privilege of a state’s job could be enjoyed by a wide scope of people which
would naturally create a sense of security and faith.
Another suggestion would be the decreasing of the goods import and increasing of the export
by which we could use what was geographically given to us. In order for the state’s economy
to recover and improve, we must be fully aware what we have and how to make use of it.
Therefore, the state should invest more into quality production for the EU market, ecology,
tourism and various other fields. Young people are more than interested to be promoters of
their own country and they do not lack ideas but financial encouragement, in the words means
of implementing innovative ideas.
Conclusion
Words may be just an expressed thought, something abstract and untouchable, but it is also a
stimuli and through history they proved as a crafty device when used on a proper manner.
Somebody has make a start on the unemployment issue, and those initiators should be young
people, the ones that have not yet made their lives or settled down but also those who have
and whose future is uncertain. A way to do this is to start from your own community, one one
that we know best.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina the psychology of the masses proved to be predictable and the
people of this state shift and alter their opinion according to who did something good and who
was talking in vain, at least when it comes to the decision-makers, who are nonetheless the
essential components in improving the unemployment issue. Going back to the beggining and
the plenum suggestion, it is even now visible that those non-violent movements and
organisations are supported and hailed by large masses of people, those who could reach the
government and head to resolving or decreasing of this problematics.

8. When talking about my own community, for which I feel most obliged to, I could see that the
change would be slow but it is also possible. The people from my community are not well
informed about their own power and rights but it is visible that many non-governmental
organisations try to change this and reshape such inert consciousness by organising
workshops, making stret actions which are mostly not disregared. The employment functions
on ethnicities mixing which is becoming more and more accepted and it contributes to the
improvement on the narrow post-war counsciousness.
‘‘Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future
can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.‘‘5
My generation is heading towards a better future, the one that will look ahead and not with
eyes fixed on the past, which thus far proved to be a regressing factor. As the education level
increases, one thing that is becoming more and more visible amongst young people and that is
the zest for entrepreneurship and implementing knowledge. The path towards a better future
should be through unification, entrepreneurship, liberalism, innovation, clear thought and
righteous representatives.
5
Noam Chomsky quote

9. Work cited:
• Samuel Becket; Waiting for Godot; published on 9th October 1948-29 January 1949,
Paris, France
• David Bornstein; How to change a World; Social Entrepreneurship and the power of
New Ideas. Published: 5th February 2004; Oxford University Press; USA
• ‘‘Godot Arrives in Sarajevo‘‘, Srecko Horvat, February 18.2014, New York Times
• Noam Chomsky quote

10. Work cited:
• Samuel Becket; Waiting for Godot; published on 9th October 1948-29 January 1949,
Paris, France
• David Bornstein; How to change a World; Social Entrepreneurship and the power of
New Ideas. Published: 5th February 2004; Oxford University Press; USA
• ‘‘Godot Arrives in Sarajevo‘‘, Srecko Horvat, February 18.2014, New York Times
• Noam Chomsky quote