Interview with Zorana Mališević

Zorana Mališević is a representative of the Youth Council of Republika Srpska, which is an umbrella organisation based in the ethnically Serb Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Stefan: Hello, Zorana, and thank you very much for joining us at DD Geopolitics for this interview! Now, to begin with, a bit about yourself and your background. You are a representative of the Youth Council of Republika Srpska. What is the Youth Council all about and why is it so important not just for the Serb youth, but for all Serbs in Republika Srpska and the wider Bosnian region?

Zorana: Thank you for having me. It’s an honor to speak on behalf of the Youth Council of Republika Srpska. The Youth Council is the umbrella organization that brings together youth organizations from across Republika Srpska, aiming to amplify the voice of young people in social, cultural and political life. It is important because it provides a structured platform through which the youth can be heard, not only by institutions, but by society as a whole. In a time when many young people are leaving their homeland in search of better opportunities, the Youth Council serves as a reminder that we are not powerless. We have ideas, strength and a deep love for our roots. Our goal is to empower young people to stay, create and contribute to the development of Republika Srpska and the entire region. This mission is not limited to the Serb youth only, but to all who feel this land as their own. What unites us is not only identity, but shared challenges and hopes for the future. Through unity, service and vision, we try to turn despair into action, and fear into courage.

Stefan: The socio-economic situation in Republika Srpska is difficult, to say the least, and has been for decades, since the Bosnian War of the 1990s. What do you believe are the main obstacles preventing Republika Srpska from becoming more prosperous?

Zorana: The wounds of war may have faded from the streets, but not from the hearts. Our greatest obstacle is not only economic hardship or political dependency – it is the quiet loss of hope that many carry inside. We are a people who have survived bombs, exile and humiliation, but now we face something more invisible: the emigration of our youth, the silence of our classrooms, the fatigue of our families. Universities stand half-empty and villages echo with the absence of children. But I do not believe we are defeated, only tired. What we need is not just reform, but renewal. Not just plans, but vision. A nation cannot rise without love, and we must learn to love this land again, to stay, to build and to believe. I want my children one day to grow up here, not in fear or poverty, but in dignity. That is the future I pray for.

Stefan: Onto the more political matters, starting with domestic affairs. There has been increasing pressure from the West against the Serb government of Republika Srpska and President Milorad Dodik. Despite the Serb people of the region having never initiated any harm against the Western powers, why do you believe that the West continues to antagonise the Serb people, especially the Serbs of Republika Srpska?

Zorana: The answer lies not only in politics, but in perception. The West often views the Balkans through the lens of its own interests, rarely pausing to truly understand the people who live here. For decades, the Serb people have been painted with a broad and unfair brush, judged not by their virtues or suffering, but by a narrative imposed from the outside. We, the Serbs of Republika Srpska, are a people of peace, faith and deep endurance. We sing in the same churches our ancestors built while under foreign rule. We bury our dead with prayers of forgiveness. And yet we are constantly pressured, sanctioned and blamed, not for what we do, but for who we are. This persistent antagonism may stem from the fact that we have preserved our identity, that we still value things which much of the modern world has abandoned: faith, family, history, dignity. Perhaps that is what confuses those who cannot control us. But we are not against anyone. We do not ask for conflict. Only for space to exist with respect and freedom. That is not too much to ask. It is the right of every people under Heaven.

Stefan: It has been exactly 30 years since the end of Bosnian War and the signing of the Dayton Agreement, yet Bosnia continues to be, for lack of a better term, ruled by the High Representative, Christian Schmidt, who is a German. After 30 years, why does the country continue to have a foreign politician at the helm, especially one from a nation which has traditionally been so hostile against Serbs?

Zorana: This question touches a deep wound. It is not easy to explain to young people that, three decades after the war, we are still not fully sovereign. The presence of a foreign High Representative – especially one not elected by our people – feels like a shadow cast over every decision we try to make for ourselves. It sends a message that we are not trusted, that we are not mature enough, not capable enough, to govern our own destiny. Mr. Schmidt represents not just one man, but a system in which the will of the people is often secondary to the will of foreign powers. The irony is painful: the West speaks so often of democracy, yet imposes undemocratic mechanisms on us. And when that representative comes from a country that has, historically, held animosity towards the Serbs, it only deepens the distrust. We want peace, yes, but peace cannot exist without dignity. Supervision is not peace. Peace must grow from trust, mutual respect and the right of every people to shape their own future without fear. Bosnia and Herzegovina deserves that chance. Republika Srpska deserves that chance. Our youth deserve that chance.

Stefan: What role do you believe that the Serb people in the wider Balkan region could do in order to further support the Serbs of Republika Srpska?

Zorana: The Serbs across the Balkans carry a shared memory of faith, of sacrifice, of survival. To support the people of Republika Srpska means, first and foremost, to remember us. Not just in times of crisis, but always. Let the bridges between us be built on more than just politics. Let them be built on shared liturgies, school exchanges, youth gatherings and cultural co-operation. We need one another, not to speak the same slogans, but to strengthen one another’s hearts. Let us not look at borders as walls, but as callings, invitations to visit, to help, to connect. When you support Republika Srpska, you are supporting your own reflection, your own roots. This is not just about territory. It is about the soul of a people. And that soul is one.

Stefan: By extension, what role do you believe that the Serb diaspora worldwide could do in order to further support the Serbs of Republika Srpska? Many Serbs of the diaspora and their families themselves hail from Bosnia originally.

Zorana: The Serb diaspora is not far from us – it is just scattered hearts beating for the same homeland. Many of you were born far away, but your grandparents whispered lullabies from these mountains. You carry our memory, even if you were never told the full story. The greatest support you can give is not only financial, though that is appreciated. It is presence. Speak when we are silenced, write when our history is rewritten, pray when our churches are in danger. Visit us. Work with us. Dream with us. Teach your children the language, the faith, the names of their great-grandparents. Let them know that they come from a people who loved even in exile, who forgave even after war, who survived with dignity. If you truly love Republika Srpska, help make it a place your children would want to return to. Not because they must, but because their soul calls them home.

Stefan: To touch upon some matters more personal to you, you are also a singer of religious songs and hymns, and have sung numerous times in various Serb Orthodox churches and monasteries. Unlike many nations in the West, religion and spirituality remain a strong part of the identity of the Serb nation, with the overwhelming majority of Serbs belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Christian faith. Why do you believe that the nations of the Balkans and Eastern Europe remain so firmly devoted to their faiths, but the nations of the West seem to abandoning their centuries-long traditional faiths?

Zorana: In the Balkans and Eastern Europe, faith was never a matter of comfort – it was a matter of survival. While the West may have built cathedrals in times of wealth, we built our churches in times of war, exile and silence. Our faith did not rise from privilege, but from pain. That is why it remains alive. To us, Orthodoxy is not a weekend ritual. It is woven into the way we bury our dead, kiss our children and begin each day. It lives in the songs our grandmothers sang, in the incense that clings to monastery walls and in the tears that fall silently before icons. The West, perhaps, has traded mystery for machinery, the soul for efficiency, but when everything is fast, shiny and shallow, the heart begins to starve. That is why so many there now look East, searching not for answers, but for meaning. We, the youth who still chant in candlelight, who kneel before centuries-old frescoes, carry something the world has forgotten: a living God, a suffering Christ and a hope that cannot be digitized. That is our greatest wealth.

Stefan: Of course, no interview with a Serb would be complete without mentioning Kosovo & Metohija. As most of us who were alive at the time remember, the 2004 anti-Serb pogroms in Kosovo, by the hand of Albanian extremists, led to the damage and destruction of so many Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries across the province. Despite the threat of ongoing and future persecutions against the native Serbs of Kosovo by the Albanians, why is the international community – outside of the Serbs’ traditional allies, such as Russia, China, Greece, Romania, Armenia, etc. – so silent on the issue?

Zorana: The silence of the international community on the suffering of Serbs in Kosovo & Metohija is not accidental. It is deliberate. Our pain does not fit the convenient political narratives of the West. Serbs are too often portrayed as the aggressors of history, and so our wounds are ignored, even when they bleed in broad daylight. The pogrom of 2004 was not just an attack on buildings – it was an assault on memory, faith and identity. Ancient monasteries were set on fire, holy relics desecrated and people forced from the land their ancestors had sanctified with both blood and prayer. Yet the world said little. That silence echoes louder than any bullet. But we must never become silent ourselves. Every time we sing in a ruined church, every time we return to light a candle where others would extinguish it, we are resisting. The world may look away, but God sees, and history remembers. Kosovo is not a line on a map – it is a heartbeat, a covenant. We do not defend it out of politics, but out of love.

Stefan: Do you believe that it is only a matter of time before action by the Serbian Government is taken in order to finally help the Serbs of Kosovo, or are you more pessimistic on the matter?

Zorana: I don’t pretend to know the exact time or form such action might take. But I do believe that no government can forever ignore the cry of its own people, especially not the cry that comes from Kosovo & Metohija. That cry is not only political – it is sacred. It is the cry of saints, of ancestors, of children who still pray in ruins. I am neither naive nor pessimistic. I believe in persistence; I believe in memory; I believe in the strength of silent endurance. History has shown us that even when truth is silenced, it continues to speak, through songs, through graves, through the faith of those who refuse to forget. Serbia may be tired, even wounded, but love for Kosovo has not died. It lives quietly in the soul of every Serb who still calls it home. And one day, whether through political will, or the force of justice, or the hand of God, that love will answer.

Stefan: And finally, what is your own personal message to the Serb youth specifically, both in the Balkans and among the diaspora worldwide?

Zorana: To every young Serb, whether you walk the hills of the Balkans or the avenues of distant cities, remember: You are the prayer of your ancestors. You were not born to be rootless. You carry within you a name, a Cross and a calling. Do not let the world make you small. Learn languages, build careers, explore, but never let go of the thread that ties you to your people. You are not just individuals chasing success. You are the living continuation of a nation that has walked through fire and still sings. Return, not just physically, but spiritually. Visit the land of your parents and grandparents; listen to your elders; walk into the monasteries; light a candle for those who never made it back; fight, not with anger, but with truth, with dignity and with love. And above all, do not be ashamed. The world may not understand us. That’s alright. We are not here to be understood. We are here to endure, to shine quietly and to remain whole. You are waited for. You are needed. Come home, in your heart, in your work, in your witness. The soul of a people does not live in flags or borders, but in its youth. Be that soul. As for me, I wish to remain here. I want to be a mother one day – a mother who will raise her child in the land of her forefathers, with faith, dignity and peace. I want my child to know who they are, where they come from and what it means to love your people – with open arms and an unshaken heart.

Stefan: Zorana, thank you so much for this interview, and we very much look forward to seeing where your role and work take you and the Serb people of Republika Srpska in the future.

Zorana: Finally, I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to speak for this platform, not in my own name, but on behalf of all the young people who carry faith, identity and love for their people. Thank you for giving space to a voice that is often left in silence. I hope these words reach someone, encourage someone and remind us all who we are and what is worth preserving.