Bosnia and Herzegovina: 100 Years of Collectivity
Croatia: A Ship without a Captain
Kosovo: Comment from Mitrovica
Serbia: … a summer that never was
Bosnia and Herzegovina: 100 Years of Collectivity
Sitting down to write this text on the social context in Bosnia and Herzegovina, I realised I was facing a problem in terms of selecting the events to mention. Choosing priorities in a country confronted with deep-seated ethnic rifts, economic collapse, the brutal transition race for money and power, and the consequent loss of trust in the state and in democracy is quite a challenge.
2014 was a an interesting year on account of various events of relevance for citizens of BiH, events that impacted the political environment and the continuation of social and ideological stratification. Although the scope and issues at the centre of these events seemed very serious, it is doubtful whether they would start healing processes for the fundamental wounds of this society.
The government crisis has been constant since 2010, with a series of changing coalitions. The governments are still quite unstable and have not managed to initiate the necessary reforms, while passing new legislation in the previous period has been a struggle. The causes for this are numerous, but primary among them are the conflicts between the major parties over domination in their flocks, as well as “old” problems related to poor relations between ethnicities. This has resulted in blocking any significant progress. In that sense, 2014 was nothing new.
Parliamentary elections are coming up in mid-October and the election campaigns are dominated by social topics, and to a lesser degree “patriotic”/national topics. Still, there are fragments such as the campaign on national unity, Putin on posters of certain Serb parties, intensive socialising with Turkish investors and officials on the part of Bosniak parties, etc. The “safe space” of nationalism, along with the corresponding slogans, serves some parties as good election marketing, because there are quite of few people who live this type of ideology.
The novelty is that more and more people are recognising these pre-election “tricks” and radicalisations for what they are, at least judging by the reaction of people seen in the media.
It is interesting that most politicians have stressed that resolving social and economic problems, developing the education and health systems are priorities in this society. However, due to previous bad experiences, it is difficult to recognise a new political force as a viable alternative. Or to hope that existing parties will fundamentally change their approaches and start genuinely and honestly responding to the needs of society. Abandoning their current practice of doing one thing, saying another, and thinking God knows what.
At the same time, nationalism in a new transition form reigns supreme over our public space. Sometimes concealed, sometimes brutally apparent. As an acquaintance put it, “We don’t have a problem with nationalism, we’re champions there, it’s other things we know nothing about. “
An important event took place in February. There were mass protests, mainly by young people that quickly spread to a number of cities. Although cantonal government buildings were set on fire and damaged in a number of cities, as well as the state presidency building, one cannot help sympathising and supporting the explosion of revolt on a large part of the society that has been suffering the injustice of political structures for years. The injustice consists of corruption, ineptitude, nepotism, incompetence and irresponsibility in almost all state institutions.
The protests erupted on 7 February. An “avalanche” of rebellion started in the Tuzla Canton where peaceful union protests had been going on for a while in support of demands of workers from individual state-owned enterprises. Next came street barricades and in larger cities, public forums – plenums of citizens – were organised and turned out to be an interesting combination of articulating citizens’ demands, constant pressure and public presence. As could be heard at the protests and plenums in Tuzla, Sarajevo, Zenica, Bihać, Mostar, etc., the main messages dealt with social problems and bad policies, and there were no national-patriotic slogans common to BiH society.
People justifiably rebelled against piled-up social problems that those in office keep sweeping under the rug, not resolving them, and sometimes even producing them.
It seems that the primary reason for the eruption of popular dissatisfaction was not so much the prevalent poverty as the absence of prospects, unequal opportunity and ubiquitous corruption.
Public opinion on the protests was divided. The range of reactions spanned from absolute support, support of the protests but condemnation of torching and barricades, to open opposition and hostility towards the protesters.
Political parties mutually accused each other of standing behind this “attack” against the state, although the messages heard from the people at the protests and plenums clearly showed that anger was directed at all those in power equally, whatever their party affiliation and level of government.
In contrast to last-year’s protests, the so-called “babylution”, this time the protests drew larger numbers, they were continuous and had clearer messages accompanied by direct warnings to political structures that they have to take their job seriously. Truth be told, the torching of institutions was not a negligible factor in calling for an awakening, but is ethically not recommended as a general doctrine. Still, we can hope that this is a clear sign to people with political ambitions or those already mired deep within it that public office is serious and responsible work that must not produce injustice either through corruption, inadequate action or passivity. It is clear that these protests can be repeated if visible progress is not seen in the work of all levels of government.
The protests were very important for our society, because they awakened a spirit of rebellion, abandoning apathy, but most of all because they interrupted a long-standing passivity and inaction caused by fear of political violence and instability present along the margins of ethnic divisions.
Although Republika Srpska did not see mass protests, messages of support and solidarity did come from there as well, which indicates that it should be possible to mount a joint resistance to common injustices sometime in the future.
That solidarity across ethnic demarcation lines is not impossible was shown by the catastrophic floods in May. The floods affected almost a quarter of BiH territory, 23 people were killed, and thousands of buildings in a number of cities were destroyed. The floods also hit parts of Croatia and Serbia. The state of emergency went on for days and many people were evacuated from the affected areas. Apart from the floods, there were also numerous landslides in residential areas that destroyed many houses. This disaster pushed us even further into dependence on external financial aid, and rehabilitation will take years.
It gave rise to the pressing need for mutual solidarity and assistance to affected populations that local people responded to mostly en masse. Volunteering was organised, as well as assistance in foodstuffs, sanitary supplies, accommodation, etc.
It is particularly notable that the solidarity traversed ethnic demarcation lines because neighbours from neighbouring ethnic communities answered the call for help in the most difficult moments.
Do we really need natural disasters to remind us of the humanity that has been silenced by the past of war and by nationalism?
A series of public events in Sarajevo marked the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War. The marking of this event, despite its international character, once again reminded us of the divisions present in our society, especially when it comes to interpreting history.
Joint events that would involve institutions from both entities could not be organised. While in Federal Sarajevo, with the participation of international institutions, the anniversary of the assassination was marked by, among other things, returning the statue of Franz Joseph to the City Hall (Vijećnica), in Istočno Sarajevo, a monument to Gavrilo Princip was unveiled. Instead of the desirable multi-perspectivity of memory, on the symbolic level, these different approaches remain in conflict, marked by the usual spite and contention of different interpretations of history. This time, it was in the shadow of an event that was meant to send a message to humanity to finally in the 21st century, as opposed to the brutal 20th century, it should turn to peace.
It became apparent this time around as well that time, in the absence of a constructive approach, is not enough to bring about a different attitude towards a violent past and that it is necessary to seek new views and ways of doing things.
Being reminded that we live in a city that is a symbol of at least two wars is not easy to take. Though, it is not bad for tourism, at least.
The same City Hall (Vijećnica) that was burned down in the war was finally re-opened after years of slow-paced reconstruction works. However, after a spectacular opening ceremony, it was once again temporarily closed to complete the last touches of renovation, so there is now a new opportunity for another spectacular opening. The memorial plaque put up during the war, with its problematic inscription, was retained despite initiatives to replace it. It seems we are not prepared to take a different view of that part of our past and that it is still important that there is a sign saying it was the Serbs that torched the Vijećnica, not members of the VRS or some other politically correct designation. But, in any case, these designations are still used synonymously. Just as the Army of BiH means Muslims/Bosniaks and HVO stands for Croats, so people do not see a problem with plaques displayed on public buildings and memorial sites saying that “the destruction” was committed by a constitutive people of BiH. Some hope is provided by the fact that this was cause for debate and dialogue, even if a new solutions was not found.
Recently, in a number of cities in BiH some 15 people were arrested on charges of recruiting fighters for Syria and cooperating with the infamous ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). According to some estimates, some 300 people from BiH have gone to fight in the Middle East. One of the few laws that did manage to get adopted in the previous period is the law prohibiting participation in foreign conflicts that foresees as a sanction a prison sentence of up to 10 years. However, potential fighters need not “despair” because foreign battle-grounds will probably become available to them legally as part of a state-approved mission: Through the “Stability Pact” BiH is part of the global coalition in the fight against ISIS. As are other countries of the region.
The phenomenon of Islamist groups in BiH is controversial with smaller groups of radicals taking their cue from foreign power centres and not the local Islamic community. In the past few years, there have been a number of terrorist attacks against returnees, as well as institutions by individuals recognised in the public arena (and also in court proceedings) as Islamist radicals. Most Muslims in BiH do not support Islamist military formations in the Middle East, but given the sensitive relations between ethnicities and religions in the country, such phenomena frighten people and remind them of recent, domestic conflicts.
The wars currently under way in Ukraine and the Middle East echo in this region in various ways for various peoples, and often become the tools of pre-election “shenanigans”. Because it is “normal” here for Serbs to support the Russians, for Bosniaks to support various groups of Muslims, and the Croats have been NATO members since forever, anyway. The only thing that has not yet become normal is for us to lend a hand to “enemies of all creeds”. That’s what we’ve been waiting for, and there’s no lack of opportunity. Even if it includes massive flooding with the “water up to here”.
There are good things happening in various areas, both commercial and sports-related. There are developments conducive to reconciliation. For example:
A study[1] conducted in BiH revealed that support for reconciliation and trust-building exists throughout the population and that over 75 per cent of the respondents believe that serious attempts to build up trust and reconciliation would have an impact on the future of BiH.
The Imam of Srebrenica refused to travel to England in solidarity with an orthodox cleric who was denied a visa.
The father of a young hooligan in Prijedor publicly apologised for his son’s desecration of a local mosque.
There are more such examples and it seems there is a need to hear more about the good things and our better side. And that is precisely what is often missing.
Let me quote an activist from Banja Luka:
“When such a human story goes public, when attention is given to the authentic good in us, that still exists, then we are all surprised, we are simple incredulous that something like this could happen. That begs the question, what sort of society do we live in if goodness and humanity surprise us.”
There is room for change, but starting from yourself seems to be most difficult. Because as they say: “The people make the government in their image”.
Adnan Hasanbegović
Croatia: A Ship without a Captain
It has been one year since Croatia joined the European Union. We had an opportunity to see how this impacted the internal political situation (among other things, through the adoption of a new Labour Law that is completely in compliance with the requirements of the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission[2]) and the absence of any meaningful foreign policy. Croatia has no clear views on the Middle East peace process or the situation in Gaza (unless confirming the view of the EU counts), just like it has no view on the sanctions against Russia, it plays the active role of observer in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, as if its own war were some ancient and unrelated coincidence that no lessons can be learned from or solutions proposed on the basis of first-hand experience[3].
And this is important, among other things because of the divided sympathies of the Balkan countries towards the different sides in the conflict. Who could possibly take on such a task in Croatian society remains unclear. The insular attitude of Croatia towards its Western Balkan neighbours is manifest in the hard-line “victory” narrative that precludes any constructive dialogue that would have Croatia deal with its own role in the war, in the first place, within its internal political space. It is becoming increasingly difficult to re-examine this narrative as if the very survival of the country and of Croats themselves depended on it.
Without an active state policy, the Government has descended into lifestyle conflicts in Croatian society. Namely, in the past year, the Church has imposed itself as an important political force in Croatian society. It’s potential representatives at the elections will probably be determined by the “success” of the most recent in a series of referendums, the referendum on changes to the law on elections. If successful, the referendum would enable people outside existing party bases (party lists) to participate in the government as directly elected by the citizens. This is another initiative by the conservative association “U ime obitelji” [“In the name of family”] significantly aided by the Church. They already won one referendum, the referendum on the constitutional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman. The majority of citizens that voted in the referendum selected this definition of marriage. Although the government failed to politically and institutionally act to prevent this referendum in the first place, the Croatian Parliament adopted the Law on Life Partnership on 15 July 2014. This Law provides for the right of LGBT persons and their families to family pensions, health insurance via a life partner, the right and obligation of providing for the life partner, equality in terms of housing and tax cuts, as well as a number of other rights that otherwise stem from marriage[4].
The referendum Pandora’s box has also brought us the petition for the “anti-Cyrillic” referendum[5]. The situation in Vukovar started heating up a year ago with the destruction of bilingual Latin-Cyrillic signs on official state and city institutions. Right before the parliamentary debate on this referendum, a call for a boycott of shops, businesses and goods owned or traded by Vukovar Serbs made the rounds on social networks with a list of addresses of these companies and traders. The Constitutional Court had the final word, proclaiming the “anti-Cyrillic” referendum issue unconstitutional, so there will be no referendum “against the Cyrillic alphabet”. However, the necessary number of signatures for a referendum was collected[6], which just goes to show the prevailing climate, both in the city and the whole country. This social fact cannot be resolved merely by decree, as the Constitutional Court tried to do, ordering the city council of Vukovar to designate the Vukovar neighbourhoods where ‘bilingual’ signs should be put up taking into account “the needs of the majority Croat population that stem from still vivid consequences of the Greater Serbia aggression from the early 1990s, and the necessity of a just and proper treatment of the Serb national minority in the City of Vukovar[7]“.
The people of Vukovar, the Croats as much as the Serbs, need much more than populism and lip-service from the government, they need to be given an opportunity to start healing their war wounds in a constructive manner. No government has shown any understanding for their troubles, and it is uncertain that such a development might be expected any time soon.
As circumstance would have it, due to the floods that hit Croatia twice this year in just a few months, it became clear that Croatia shares with the neighbouring BiH and Serbia a fundamentally non-functioning relief system for natural disasters, if they really cannot be prevented (embankments are built in the wrong places, canals are not maintained, the alert system does not function). The only good thing to come out of all this was the (a)risen solidarity that wiped away the borders between the three countries. They were soon re-established, but it is important to know that we still carry within us that potential, that we have a different memory, one that is constructive, not merely destructive.
The latter is, unfortunately, much tougher. This is also evident from the mutual genocide charges between Croatia and Serbia, a process that can have no winners. The fundamental determinant of this process, on the Croat side, are the legal interpretations of the conflict that seek to avoid any link with the past. One gets the impression that war starts and ends on a specific date, and the court is to decide whose date is more important[8].
The extent to which facts determined in this way are accepted depends on whether they are in “our” favour. The welcome of the convicted war criminal Dario Kordić at the Zagreb airport produced a public controversy since two activists from BiH dared to brave the frenzied masses in order to shout “Murderer!” at a man proven to be guilty of the brutal murder of 116 civilians, including women and children, in the village of Ahmići in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mons. Vlado Košić, the Bishop of Sisak, an important figure in church hierarchy held a mass in honour of this “Croat martyr”, and the church leadership not only failed to see anything problematic in this gesture, but went as far as to support its bishop who was allegedly “exposed to undue harshness and unjust accusations stemming from a resistance to truth-seeking and an attempt to deprive the Church of its voice advocating the purification of the memory of the past that still burdens Croatia’s present[9]“.
This “purification” has been embodied, already from the time Franjo Tuđman envisioned it, in the idea of “reconciliation” between the Ustashas and the Partisans (as long as both are Croats), so that this year saw a monument go up in Split in honour of the 9th HOS Battalion. It is cynical that a monument to members of Croatian paramilitary forces from the Homeland War, that are not distinguishable from the Ustasha units of NDH in the Second World War, not even by a single letter in their acronym[10] (nor do they shy away from this historical alignment, calling themselves the Battalion of Knight Rafael Boban, an Ustasha war criminal), was unveiled on the Day of Anti-fascist Struggle or Victory in Europe Day. Just a few months later, the Split City Council refused to name a street after the First Partisan Detachment from Split to commemorate the 21 natives of Split killed in a joint Italian-Ustasha ambush in 1941.
After a year like this one, the impression that Croatia has lost its way historically, closed up around its internal conflicts, without a clear aim or idea of the future towards which it is moving. It should therefore perhaps come as no surprise that at the height of a new war of international proportions, it joined the “wide international coalition” to fight the Islamic State, without bothering to inform its own citizens about this. We found out about this decision from the American State Department. The repercussions of this act remain to be seen.
Davorka Turk
Kosovo: Comment from Mitrovica
The current political situation is suffocating this country. Elections were held in June, but a government has not yet[11] been established. The party that won the elections has not managed to garner the necessary parliamentary majority, while on the other hand, opposition parties have established the largest parliamentary group, wanting power at any price. The political parties are testing the patience of the people and the situation is descending into chaos! We will focus on a few events that can generally be said to be the most significant.
Freedom of movement There is almost no difference compared to last year. Or two years ago, for that matter. The focus has remained the same. The main bridge over the Ibar River. At one point, the barricade on this bridge was transformed into a unique “Peace Park”. This park is truly unique in the world. The barricades or Peace Park, the road and main bridge are still blocked for vehicles that require police “security”. This unique park caused a lot of dissatisfaction among Kosovar Albanians, and even protests were organised near the main bridge. After an intervention by the police, the protestors calmed down. Following the Peace Park, streets were also made to block free movement of citizens. The street names were very symbolic: “Tzar Lazar” Square, “OVK” Square, “Adem Jašari” square, etc.
Still, these squares and this Peace Park cannot prevent freedom of movement for pedestrians. The citizens of Mitrovica can freely move from one side of the city to the other. And I have personally seen Kosovar Albanians come to the northern part of the city (even for “just” a coffee or some shopping), and also Serbs from Kosovo come to the southern part of the city (for coffee, shopping, documents, etc.).
This proves that we have learned to live without each other, but we are used to working with each other (meaning Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo). In any case, the news is not good, but on a more positive note, two cultural events were very well received by the citizens. An artist, a photographer (born in Kosovo, Albanian by nationality), who lives and works in Switzerland, organised a solo exhibition in her yard in the Brdjani neighbourhood in North Mitrovica. This exhibition, under the title “Goddess”, brought together many art lovers from different communities. This rare initiative is valuable and should be acknowledged.
Another event on 6 October should provide a meeting place. At the Mitrovica Cultural Centre (located in the vicinity of the main bridge), a film festival will be held featuring films awarded at the local, regional and international level. This is the Bridge Film Fest that was organised for the first time in Mitrovica and its distinguishing feature is that it is organised by women. This is another rare initiative that overcomes difference between communities.
Media In developed countries, people trust state institutions. In “transition” countries, most people trust the media. The media have a place in every house in Kosovo. People believe them irrespective of whether the information is true. There are four or five national TV stations, the public TV broadcaster with 4 channels (including a special channel in the Serbian language), as well as hundreds of channels on cable networks. Apart from television, there are also the papers, and a few radio stations that remain in the shadow of TV stations. There are also various web portals that have the tendency to disseminate news quickly without doing proper verification as required by the code of ethics for reporting. In any case, the media enjoy more trust than state institutions.
Relations between communities There have been no major changes in this respect in the past two years. Non-governmental organisations have programmes that aim to improve relations between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo, as well as other minorities living in Kosovo such as the Bosniaks, Roma, Ashkali, Turks, Egyptians, etc. NGO programmes are attractive for social interactions that bring together different ethnicities, races and religions. However, NGO efforts are not enough and institutions must also become involved. They claim to be working on these issues, but their results have not been visible yet. Last year, the burning issues was the noise created by religious institutions. There was also a lot of talk about people going to fight in the Middle East. It is estimated that a few hundred people from Kosovo have gone to fight in wars as part of the so-called ISIS group. However, these problems have not significantly worsened relations between the communities.
Sports This year can be considered most successful in terms of sports results. After many attempts, FIFA has allowed international friendly matches (except with Balkan countries). When it comes to football, the Kosovo League will be getting a referee, a Serb from Kosovo who is being certified as a main referee and will be active in the Kosovo Super League. The handball national team has been internationally recognised with full rights. For the first time, a girl from Kosovo is defending her title as judo champion. This is Majlinda Keljmendi (52kg category) who is competing with partial rights in the judo association.
Lulzim Hakaj
Macedonia: No news, sorry!
The list of what has been ongoing for the past few months in Macedonia is long and overwhelming. One may get the illusion that it is a very vibrant society in motion. But it’s more like that good old French “The more things change the more they stay the same.” We had elections for instance, regular presidential and early parliamentarian elections. Result: we have the very same president and almost an identical government in place, only more powerful, with more seats in the parliament (the government I mean, the president continues to be pretty invisible).
The way things were unfolding, it was quite obvious that the ruling coalition was pretty certain that in case of early elections they would win and would further strengthen their position. Moreover they would get two additional years to stay in power. They found a lame excuse for calling for early elections. DUI, the Albanian party in power, in coalition with VMRO-DPMNE, requested for a so-called “consensual president”. In case the proposal was not accepted they “threatened” to call for early elections. Proposal rejected. Call for early elections filed in parliament.
NGOs that were monitoring elections reported upon tons of irregularities prior to/during/and after the period of election campaign as well as on the rounds of voting days: pressure, blackmailing, state institutions put to the service of parties in power, phantom voters, corruption scandals, vote buying etc… Mainly all the dirty work was done months ahead, with waves of intensification in between voting rounds.
Gjorgje Ivanov won the presidency. VMRO DPMNE won almost absolute majority in parliament. DUI won in the so called Albanian block. Afterwards opposition made allegations for election fraud and rejected their seats in Parliament. Except for the DPA, an Albanian opposition party, that won 7 seats only, they stayed in parliament. In spite of this, the president of the Parliament stated that “The work of the parliament must not be halted”. Since then, the parliament, usually through short procedure, with no public debate, and no opposition in parliament, passed and amended many laws, on a daily basis. At times, it was overwhelming to follow. After a fist fight between Albanian MPs from DUI and DPA in the midst of parliament, DPA also threatened to leave the parliament. But ultimately stayed, as a decoration, to show that there is a bit opposition in.
In a constellation like this, the government even proposed amendments to the Constitution. Among many which touch upon fiscal rules, budget deficit, public debt and the judiciary, it went on proposing that marriage and extra-marital union should be defined strictly as a union of a man and a woman. It is not the first time to suggest it. It’s the first time there were “appropriate” conditions to pass. The government has a legacy of interfering in people’s intimate relations and promotion of homophobic values. Last year, amid protests from feminist movements, they passed amendments to the Law of Abortion that curb women’s rights. This year, due to certain amended provisions we are in a situation in which a woman, with a dead fetus, cannot make an abortion before the legal “three days” after counseling have passed.
Changes in the Law on Primary and Secondary Education were proposed. The government, through shortened procedure wants to make changes in the part that regulates the right to strike. In prior consultation with the Mayor or the Minister of Education (depending whether it’s primary or secondary) the changes in law would allow the directors of schools to “temporarily” hire substitute-teachers for the ones that would strike. The government was in a hurry to pass these changes before the announced General Strike that was supposed to happen on September 29th. Low salaries, the process of external testing which tries to test/control/punish/reward teachers, bad working conditions were among the many reasons for striking. Union teachers were put under severe pressure. The minister of education announced that in case the strike takes place, parents that will not allow their children to go to school will be fined with 2000 Euros. Last minute, the strike was put on hold and the Union of Teachers and the Ministry of education are supposed to solve issues through “social dialogue”. Attempts for strikes have been curbed in other areas as well.
In terms of inter-ethnic relations, primarily between Macedonians and Albanians, we live in a constant crises and tension, with periodic eruptions. Depending upon party interests they’re at times fueled, at times calmed, by party officials. Politicians flirt with nationalism especially during election campaigns. We witnessed fights in buses, violent protests, rise of fear and insecurity when it comes to “the other”. Back in May, there was a murder of a Macedonian teenager, by an Albanian teenager in Gjorce Petrov, Skopje municipality. The reason was banal, a stolen bike. The murder as such, was not in focus, rather the ethnic identities of the victim and the perpetrator, were; as it is often the case that black chronicle is primarily interpreted through the ethnic prism. It fueled tensions, violent protests in which Albanian stores in Gjorce Petrov were broken. There was mobilization from both sides. The groups were, however, prevented from clashing.
A verdict on the ‘Monstrum’ case[12] (about the murder in the Smilkovsko lake, in 2012) was rendered end of June. Life-long sentences for six out of the seven convicted for murder. The way the media (in Albanian and Macedonian) reported upon it was dichotomous and public perception upon the case was relatively different. The predominant belief in the Albanian side(s) was that a life-long sentence is too much. People had issues with the manner in which the police investigation and the court process were conducted. It spurred massive protests in Skopje that lasted for weeks, and spread in other towns in Macedonia. Many protesters (all Albanian) were arrested and were sentenced three years in jail. This act only strengthened the overall position of a victim that predominantly Albanians feel and promote. Comparisons with protests in Gjorce Petrov were done. A perception of ethnic based double standards in terms of sentences was stressed.
In the meantime, while the Scotts were about to vote on a referendum to decide whether they’ll stay or leave the United Kingdom, a group of Albanians who believe that independence is the only way in which the Albanians will be granted full rights, declared the “Republic of Ilirida”. There is no wide support about this idea among Albanians. First thing that came to my mind when I read the news was a scene from the “Little Prince”, when he goes to one of the asteroids and meets the only person who lives there: a solitary king who has absolute power over everything.
‘Skopje 2014’ continues to be built, full speed. Statues pop up, in regular fashion, during the night or early dawn. Last year a statue of ‘Tzar Dushan’, a medieval Serbian king, was secretly set in one of the bridges. This act spurred revolt, due to Serbian Tsars being perceived as archetype enemies and occupiers in Albanian discourse. There were attempts to demolish it with a hammer. There were allegations that even MPs from DUI were part of the crowd. DUI refused to give explicit answer to journalists whether that information is true. The Serbian community was offended by the treatment that Serbian statues get, even though there are so few of them. The statue was protected by special police forces for a while. The public never found out which institution ordered it, paid for it, and set it up. Ping-pong games were played and neither the Municipality of Centar, nor the City of Skopje, nor the Ministry of Culture took responsibility for it. This year on the Day of Macedonia’s Independence five new statues appeared. There’s total lack of transparency how much they cost and who exactly pays for them. Allegedly, two were “generous donations” of the sculptor that modeled ‘The warrior on horse’, the rest were donations from NGOs for which the public hears for the first time.
The judiciary, media, parliament are controlled by the government. Whoever dares to talk against the government gets a charge for slander. The head of the secret services is quite good at that. He just won a case against “Fokus” a critical media. The “generous soul” will donate the money to an orphanage. The prime minister filed charges for slander against the head of the opposition and stated in court that he had to endure “emotional pain” because his reputation was at risk. The “slander” was related to press conferences in which the leader of the opposition accused the prime minister for taking a bribe of 1.5 million Euros corruption deal. The opposition filed criminal charges and presented evidence (an audio recording and other documentation), but the public prosecutor, rejected most of the evidence and the possibility of a main witness to address the court. He stated that there are no legal grounds to start an investigation upon the case, since more than ten years have passed.
In the meantime, wages are the lowest in the entire region; many people leave the country; the ones that are left are considering ways of how to leave… I can’t tell you precise figures though, approximate either. We haven’t had a census since 2002!
Albulena Karaga
Serbia: … a summer that never was.
Without diminishing the importance of the dialogue and negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo conducted in Brussels, which did yield some results of relevance for the everyday life of people in Kosovo, the citizens of Serbia are still owed an explanation of the direction, objectives, the very purpose of the talks and what they hope to achieve. This sort of information is generally missing from Serbia’s foreign policy when it comes to neighbouring countries. For example, if on the one hand the first official visit of Premier Aleksandar Vučić to BiH is a visit to official Sarajevo, and not Banja Luka, this can also be interpreted as a message to the authorities of Republika Srpska, and pointing out that the visit was “friendly” symbolically marks a change in the rhetoric and view of relations within BiH entities. Then again, the message is not quite clear, especially since the visit is followed by numerous meetings with RS leadership and statements given at the time: “I do not see BiH as a country where RS will permanently remain, like it or not, this is the basic feeling of RS citizens,” Milorad Dodik said, for example, on the occasion of a meeting with Vučić. Relations with Croatia can also be viewed in light of the position “why did we let whatever it was come between us?” whereby all the uncomfortable elements of the recent past would gladly be swept under the rug in the interest of a common future in the EU, while on both sides, citizens need to find their missing loved ones, see perpetrators of war crimes prosecuted, regain their property and find an explanation, however incomplete, for why all that suffering was necessary.
The strategy of the government in Serbia is never to take a clear or precise position on anything in order to leave itself enough room for manoeuvre should it be required. Deliberately or coincidentally, the president and premier give contradictory statements, as do even ministers within the same government. Perhaps “over there somewhere” it makes no difference, but “here” these are literally matters of life and death: thus, the minister for traffic (former minister for energy) says in September that Serbia is facing an energy crisis in the winter. Serbia had been subject to sanctions for almost ten years and everyone still remembers vividly what that was like: power cuts, living between two cuts, buying petrol on the street in plastic two-litre bottles, buying coal by the bucket, cutting down trees in parks for firewood, etc. After her, the minister for energy (former minister for traffic) responds saying that “power cuts have not been foreseen, but save energy”. This is just one example. Without going into the internal organisation and relations between political parties, information coming from officials only adds to the confusion of citizens who are already frightened by each new day bringing new problems. The advice to save energy is cynical because electricity is so expensive and the policy to disconnect those who fail to pay their bills so rigorously enforced that everyone in Serbia is trying to save energy. Thus for example, at the end of September, the whole of Niš was left without street lighting due to unpaid electricity bills.
All of this was preceded by the destructive floods in May and September that caused extensive damages and casualties (officially 25 people lost their lives in the floods in Serbia, 4 are still considered missing)[13]. The floods affected not just Serbia, but also Croatia and BiH, so that the response to a common disaster connected and united people who selflessly and despite the usually present divisions helped each other, sent aid, showed solidarity and did everything they could to prevent and repair the damages. For the first time since the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the spirit of togetherness and solidarity could be felt through the genuine desire to save people and their property from the flood waters wherever they may be from. For a few days, the borders and divisions ceased to exist, and once the flood waters retreated, the walls of strife built over the previous decades were seen to be cracked.
Poverty, barely making ends meet, and most often living beneath the poverty line is a cohesion factor among people because they are connected by their misfortune. In Serbia, the difficult economic situation, high rate of debt, the underdeveloped economy unable to respond to the demands of a multi-corporative global market contributes to a feeling among the population of all being in the same boat, that whatever misfortune has struck someone may come knocking on your door tomorrow. Thus, we have increasingly public fund raising to help individuals, be they children in need of expensive medical treatment abroad, people left without their property, people beset by severe misfortune, etc. Although some previous actions had shaken the citizens’ trust in institutions and individuals, there is still a desire to help others and to show compassion and solidarity. This role may also be played by a feeling of guilt because for years the whole of society, but also individuals within it, had a guilty conscience over may evils, and in almost every person there is a genuine desire to do good and to be recognised with the community for it and to thus be accepted and appreciated.
Driven by the desire to express a view or send a message, small but significant civic actions cropped up to pressure the authorities to do something when they drag their feet or are not thorough. Unfortunately, these mostly pertain to children who tragically lost their lives under uncertain circumstances (the cases of Tijana Jurić and Luka Jovanović), but there were also significant protests over the intention of the government and the Serb Orthodox Church to move the urn containing the ashes of Nikola Tesla from the museum to the Temple of St. Sava. Although the government, under public pressure, postponed making this idea a reality, it seems that, again under public pressure, it will entirely give up on the idea. The very fact that there are more and more such protests and actions is encouraging as is the fact that they are spreading to various areas of social life, while they were previously focused exclusively on socio-economic rights such as strikes by workers, farmers, raspberry farmers, etc.
The whole atmosphere with on the one side, the government wanting to keep up with European trends and show the EU that Serbia is a democratic country and loud citizens demanding respect for minorities, on the other, resulted in the first Pride Parade without serious incidents. On the one hand, the government claims that there were no incidents at all, while on the other, various ultra-right groups under the leadership of the Serb Orthodox Church organised protests the night before and on the day of the Parade, the centre of Belgrade was cut off, thousands of police were in the streets to protect a little over one thousand protesters. An important message was sent in any case, the Parade was held and both the powers that be, the government and the organisers now have until the next parade to do what they have not managed to achieve during more than a decade of attempts to have the parade take place: namely, to explain to the citizens what it represents, why it is significant and why respecting the rights of one minority will not bring into question any of the various majorities in Serbia.
In everything that is happening, an important role could, and by definition should be played by the media whose responsibility would have to correspond to their role in society. However, the media have become tabloids to such an extent that no one trusts them any more, or else they believe everything they read, but once a person is dragged through sensationalist headlines, however untrue, that person loses their hard-earned credibility. Investigative reporting has been reduced to a single show – “Insajder” whose author Brankica Stanković has been living with round-the-clock police protection for years now because of threats to her life. And even that one show, created under such conditions – how free and independent can a reporter living with a police escort really be? In the new business and political circumstances, it is always uncertain how much longer the show will be broadcast. Almost all independent political programming has been taken off the air under various excuses. The government has been suppressing all criticism in various ways: through penalties (“Danas”, the only independent daily newspaper was made to pay a large monetary fine for violating a provision of the Law on Employment of Persons with Disabilities that has since been repealed), editorial policy (“Problem”, a show by Studio B), or under unclear circumstances justified by being in the interest of capital (“Utisak nedelje” by Olja Bećković). In the age of the Internet, such suppression is increasingly more difficult because there are various ways of transmitting information and views via social networks, nonetheless the traditional media in Serbia still have the largest audience. This audience is left with soaps, music and reality shows, without any serious content in either social or political terms. However, it seems that in light of the new international role that Serbia is taking on (the West to the East, the East to the West, without clear determination or direction or any indication of what it all means), no one seems interested: the OSCE reacted to direct hacking of some web portals (“Peščanik”), and the Premier demanded an apology from the OSCE.
We have a long winter ahead of us, after a summer that never was. (This is not the weather forecast. This is a metaphor about life in Serbia in the past 25 years.)
Katarina Milićević
At the time of designing layout for this Annual Report, on 14 October 2014, a football match between Serbia and Albania being played at the stadium in Belgrade was interrupted after a series of incidents and violence (difficult to even enumerate, let alone place in chronological order). It is impossible to analyse everything that happened before, during and after the match without getting caught up in the universal cycle of violence: from “who started it” to “…and what they did to us”.
In just a few moments, the infirmity of peace in the region became apparent. The violence spread out from the stadium for days: houses and cars belonging to Serbs in Kosove were razed, as were bakeries and cafes owned by Albanians in Vojvodina. The media reported of violence also in the south of Serbia, in Macedonia, Greece, Montenegro… The authorities and state institutions (both in Serbia, and in Albania, and in Kosovo) did nothing to prevent the incidents, their reactions were belated, they condemned the consequences, not the causes, and their inappropriate statements only exacerbated the situation. The previously announced visit of the Albanian Premier Edi Rama to Belgrade was postponed.
Everything that has been going on in the past year (once again) revealed how much tension, accumulated hatred and violence there is, and how it takes just a small spark to start the fire. A fire that is difficult to put out and that spreads like wildfire. There is no doubt that immediately, not sometimes in the future, we have to work on reconciliation and dispelling hatred in the region, and that these processes will have to cover everyone, that everyone – starting from parents and going all the way up to presidents and premiers – will have to bear their portion of responsibility.
[1] study by the University of Edinburgh and CEIR
[2] The new Labour Law legalises the already present changes in labour relations – making labour relations more flexible (part-time employment, part-time working hours, working through agencies), making working hours more flexible (to suit the needs of the employer), making lay-offs easier (shortening notice periods, reducing severance pay), making union organising more difficult, limiting the right to strike, and legalising the possibility of being let go upon return from maternity leave.
[3]These shortcomings have led to a situation where Croatian weapons, as the international media revealed, found their way into the hands of ISIS members, but also the hands of their adversaries, the Iraqi Kurds. (http://www.novossti.com/2014/08/hrvatska-puska-s-obje-strane-bliskoistocnog-fronta/)
[4] http://www.lupiga.com/vijesti/le-zbor-video-sve-obitelji-su-napokon-jednake-i-pred-zakonom
[5]An informal group of citizens, the “Headquarters for the Defence of Croat Vukovar” proposed a referendum question to raise the percentage of the minority population required for the application of the constitutional Law on National Minorities (providing for the use of language and alphabet) in some areas to 50%, instead of the currently applicable 30%. Adding this provision would effectively abolish this Law.
[6] Almost 600 000 signatures were collected. http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/prikupljen-dovoljan-broj-potpisa-za-referendum-o-cirilici/757838.aspx
[8] http://justiceinconflict.org/2014/04/01/a-futile-endeavour-croatia-v-serbia-at-the-icj/
[9] http://www.zg-nadbiskupija.hr/dokumenti/aktualnosti/priopcenje-s-dvadeset-i-prve-sjednice-biskupa-zagrebacke-crkvene-pokrajine#.U7VDy2rAm71.twitter
[10] Croat Armed Forces — the name of the armed forces of NDH, Croat Armed Forces — organised paramilitary units in the Homeland War
[11] beginning of October, at the time of writing
[12] In April, 2012, four young Macedonians (17-21 years old) and a 45 year old fisherman were killed by the Smilkovsko lake, in the suburbs of Skopje. The massacre was conducted the night before “Big Friday” three days ahead of Orthodox Christmas. In May, a sensationalist arrest of about 20 people, in front of cameras, was done by the police; after which the Minister of Interior Affairs, stated in a press conference that the offenders have been caught.
[13]http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/9/Politika/1610037/Vu%C4%8Di%C4%87%3A+25+%C5%BErtava+nevremena.html