Political and social contexts in which we live
September 2020 – September 2021
Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Dusk of Civilisation
On 23 July 2021, the High Representative in BiH Valentin Inzko used his Bonn powers to impose changes to the BiH Criminal Code which prohibit genocide denial and foresee sanctions. Amendments to the BiH Criminal Code that prohibit genocide denial and foresee sanctions have entered into force on an interim basis until such time as the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopts them in due form, without amendment and with no conditions attached.
“Whoever publicly condones, denies, grossly trivializes or tries to justify a crime of genocide, crimes against humanity or a war crime established by a final adjudication pursuant to the Charter of the International Military Tribunal appended to the London Agreement of 8 August 1945 or by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or the International Criminal Court or a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina, directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin, when the conduct is carried out in a manner likely to incite to violence or hatred against such a group or a member of such a group, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term between six months and five years.”
Following Valentin Inzko’s decision, enacted in the final weeks of his mandate, Bosnian-Herzegovinian public opinion became divided along ethnic lines between accepting and rejecting this decision. When we start reading the decision, it becomes clear that it does not only pertain to denial of the Srebrenica genocide. It clearly states that any glorification of an adjudicated war crime shall be prohibited. In practice, this would mean renaming Rasim Delić Street in Bihać, for instance. Rasim Delić is a member of the Army of BiH convicted of war crimes by the ICTY. Reading further still, we would see that Mile Budak Street in Mostar would also need to be renamed. The fact is that people seldom read and even when they do, they seldom understand what they have read.
In the RS public arena, all events in Srebrenica are routinely denied, despite ample documents, judgements and research. Not only are convictions of war criminals negated, they are themselves celebrated and glorified as heroes. The central mythomaniacal figure of complete denial is Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the Presidency of BiH, who has warned the international community that its time for revoking decisions not to his liking is running out, but that once they do so, he will decide on the next steps.
It is rather presumptuous of the international community to expect the imposed legal provision to momentarily influence attitudes towards the war and reconciliation, halting the denial of crimes and insults to victims overnight. Above all, BiH is a country where systemic dealing with the past has never started and where the war of words has never stopped, with the local motto of the peace being: “Shush, it’s fine, as long as there’s no shooting.” It would, of course, be good to have an understanding that accepting judgements of international tribunals would be a civilisational step forward for all three communities in BiH. Non-acceptance, rejection and denial of international judgements is a path towards the dusk of civilisation. Reconciliation.
Bread on the Table
Local elections were organised in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of 2020 and they were everything but local. Larger local communities in Bosnia-Herzegovinian society defied the Gordian knot of unsightly mythomanias and opted out of the “lamb and pork barbecue”. Namely, in a speech at the Republika Srpska National Assembly, Milorad Dodik called on people to come out and vote, enticing them with meat. We did then understand that we were wretchedly poor, but that we don’t want to be robbed or humiliated. We wanted changes, cleaned-up parks and benches, functioning street lighting, buses, trolleybuses, trams that work, and enough bins along boulevards and promenades. Changes did take place in the biggest and most important cities of BiH, in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar. The opposition was on the rise.
“The citizens of Sarajevo have said, loud and clear, that we want to live in a BiH where we will not be divided along ethnic lines,” said Predrag Kojović, president of Naša stranka, when the opposition won in Sarajevo. Beautiful words are apt to change the ugliest reality. The victory speech of Naša stranka in Sarajevo invoked revolution, democracy, respect for human rights. Where are we after a year of revolution? To be honest, we haven’t even moved. Predrag Kojović has resigned.
The previous local elections in Mostar were held in 2008. It was only when the Central Elections Commission of BiH set the Mostar City Council elections for 20 December 2020 that the citizens of Mostar, and the whole of BiH, could let themselves believe that elections would truly be held. It took a native of Mostar, Irma Baralija, a philosophy and sociology professor with an MA in political science, suing Bosnia and Herzegovina before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The European Court found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (general prohibition of discrimination) because of a legal void that had resulted from the failure of the authorities to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court on the provision regulating the local elections in Mostar. That Irma Baralija is such a tattle-tale.
Mostar is a city where symbolism matters more than bread on the table because it maintains the boundaries, divisions and psychological wounds that have been left to fester for decades. These elections seemed to indicate change, resistance, because the issue of who would be mayor in the “ailing city” was a question of survival for the citizens of Mostar. And after 12 years of waiting for local elections to be held, “for democracy to arrive”, did we get anything new? Following negotiations, the political parties that formed the majority after the elections chose a Croat, Mario Kordić (no, not that Kordić), to be mayor. It was the first time since the war that Serb parties from RS showed a detectable level of interest for Mostar. Working together with the Church, they formed a list for the elections and managed to have one representative elected to the City Council. The Bosniaks remained attached to their traditional choice as before, to SDA. Meanwhile, the Left remained at its standard dishevelled number. That was it, after 12 years of waiting for “democracy to arrive”, the Mostar City Council ended up ruled by the HDZ BiH and SDA coalition, just like before.
Still, it is best to be cautious when analysing and expecting change, and give a reasonable assessment, taking into account that nothing in politics happens overnight and that obstacles are resolved step by step, sometimes even by resorting to cynicism, pretence, grovelling and subservience, and this cannot be wrong somehow, at least judging by the political practice in BiH to date.
An Empty Cinema
Following the “Malina” scandal involving the procurement of one hundred ventilators by the Government of the Federation of BiH, costing 10.5 million BAM, slowly but surely, we rolled into 2021, conscious of the fact that the ventilators don’t work and that the coronavirus pandemic kills. And no, it was not just the useless ventilators that caused problems. The real problem arose when the Bosnian-Herzegovinian government was meant to procure vaccines for its citizens. On one day in March 2021, the number of new cases in Bosnia and Herzegovina exceeded 1000 and the number of fatalities reached 100. It was like a movie screening in an empty cinema. The authorities did nothing to change the situation, resorting to excuses ranging from the fact that the vaccines had been paid for already in 2020, but the market could not meet the demand, to slinging mud at the EU vaccine procurement mechanism and blaming the EU for our own ineptitude.
With the Bosnian-Herzegovinian authorities being too incompetent to protect their citizens, in comes Aleksandar Vučić, president of Serbia, “protector of citizens”, with an open call for citizens of BiH and North Macedonia to come get vaccinated in Serbia. Over a period of some ten days at the end of March 2021, as many as 25,000 citizens of BiH were vaccinated against COVID-19 in Serbia. The queues in front of vaccination halls stretched for miles, just like in 2005 when the Hipodrom hosted roughly the same number of people for the Bijelo dugme concert. Yugoslavia.
Not only did Aleksandar Vučić as protector of citizens invite people to come and get vaccinated, he even donated to BiH its first 10,000 vaccines. We thank him for that. Finally, a few months after the third wave of infections that we saw in March and April, we’re still getting vaccines drop by drop, waiting for another donation.
Primary School
Life must go on. This is what I said after I saw the film Quo Vadis, Aida?, directed by Jasmila Žbanić. The film is about life in Srebrenica during the war, right before the genocide and expulsion of the population. I expected a documentary or a scientific film study that we usually see on the topic of the war in BiH. Quo Vadis, Aida? is a film about relationships between individuals, families, friends, neighbours, colleagues and enemies. It is part of the culture of memory in BiH.
In addition to the lives and deaths of the people of Srebrenica, the film also features other aspects of the war that should be noted and that are also related to how the film was made. Part of it was filmed at the Primary School in Potoci near Mostar. In 1993 and 1994, the school building was used as a site of detention under the control of the Army of RBiH for Croats from Mostar. Men and women, mostly civilians, were held there under harsh conditions and subjected to beatings and forced labour. At least three of the prisoners died as a result of the forced labour, while the female prisoners were subjected to sexual abuse. The school is one of many sites of suffering in BiH that remain unmarked, with no sign to indicate what took place there. In a way, Jasmila has woven the school in Potoci into filmic culture of memory. Ultimately, at the Academy Awards, Quo Vadis, Aida? did not receive the Oscar for best foreign language film, but the whole world did get to see a story about Srebrenica. A legacy was thus created for future generations to ensure this never happens again.
Life Sentence Upheld
When we talk about Srebrenica and sites of suffering, about creating a culture of memory, we must also mention the ICTY judgement upholding a life sentence. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia raised the indictment against Ratko Mladić on 24 July 1995. After almost 16 years on the run, Mladić first appeared before the Tribunal in July 2011. On 22 November 2017, the ICTY convicted General Ratko Mladić, who was the Commander of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995, in the first instance and sentenced him to life in prison for the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity. The life sentence was upheld on 8 June 2021. It’s easier to breathe 26 years after the war in BiH.
I will not write about justice and fairness and their various interpretations following the verdict. Although, it is important that there are interpretations and that justice and fairness are sought. What I see as a source of relief is that a legal process has definitively come to an end, we can now put a face to the crimes, we can say who is guilty.
Reconciliation is not grandiose, it does not come as a big event that takes up the stage, and it is not something that should happen on a predetermined date. Reconciliation in our region requires each of us to take individual steps, including the courts and prosecutors’ offices, as well as the politicians among our ethnic elites. This year, leading up to 11 July, the media often quoted the words of Dragan Čavić from 2004, when he was the president of Republika Srpska: “Above all as a man and a Serb, and then as a father, brother and son, and only then as the president of Republika Srpska, I must say that these nine days of July marking the Srebrenica tragedy are a black page in the history of the Serb people. Those who took part in this crime can have no justification before anyone or anything. Whoever committed this crime while also invoking the people to whom he belonged by his name, he has also committed a crime against his own people.” To date, no Serb politician has said anything of greater importance for the future and for reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Domestic political elites do not engage in dealing with the past and reconciliation processes. Except when they have an interest in using this to manipulate and create rifts in society or within one of the three communities. In this, we are all victims, lambs for the slaughter, indoctrinated with hatred towards the other. The political elites continue the conflict at sites of suffering and atrocities. Monuments and memorials call for new battles, because that is their primary purpose. Somewhere far in the future, I see these same monuments as places where suffering, forgiveness, freedom and reconciliation shall meet. I believe that shared suffering binds stronger than shared happiness. Remorse carries greater value than victory, because it imposes the obligation, the responsibility to undertake join efforts towards reconciliation. That step will be an act of humanity, however much each of us can do individually.
Heritage
General elections in BiH are scheduled for next year and they include electing the members of the Presidency, three ethnic representatives. What is currently making the news and may change the entire organisation of the state are political clashes that always resemble well-known conflicts that are on the brink of boiling over. Bosnian-Herzegovinian society is still traumatised, and there is no other way to view the threats issued by Dragan Čović, leader of HDZ BiH, that he will halt this ridiculous round of elections. Namely, political negotiations and dealings are currently under way regarding changes to the Election Law of BiH between Dragan Čović, leader of HDZ BiH, and Bakir Izetbegović, leader of SDA, under the watchful eye of the international community. Twenty-five years after the Dayton Agreement, changes to the Election Law place a focus on the political interests of HDZ BiH and the issue at stake is framed as being central to the identity of Bosnian-Herzegovinian Croats. The aim of Dragan Čović, which has the support of Croatian President Zoran Milanović and Croatian Prime MInister Andrej Plenković, is to insist on a legitimate “representative of the Croat people”, meaning a “representative of the political parties of Croats in BiH” who would be elected to the Presidency of BiH by citizens of Croat ethnicity. Changing the Dayton Peace Agreement is no easy task and cannot be accomplished overnight, for it is the legacy of “stopping the war” left to us by Izetbegović (Senior), Milošević and Tuđman. However, if we take the meetings between Čović and Izetbegović (Junior) seriously, this would result in certain constitutional reforms at the state level, or more precisely, it would necessitate the implementation of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the cases of: Sejdić-Finci; Azra Zornić, Ilijas Pilav, Samir Šlaku and Svetozar Pudarić, as well as all final and binding judgements of the Constitutional Court of BiH (Ljubić, Komšić etc.) and the Constitutional Court of the Federation of BiH. This would be great, wouldn’t it? We would have a high level of democracy in electing those to lead us towards the EU.
Still, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because our ethno-national political representatives are by no means naive, they are quite deliberately maintaining the status quo while making promises to the international community. This whole hypocritical status keeps us up at night, always caught up in a conflict between two political concepts. The first advocates exclusivity of status and primacy of ethnic groups, the so-called constitutive peoples, in political representation, while the second, the civic option, gives primacy to Art. 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a document that, to make the paradox complete, forms an integral part of the Constitution of BiH.
Croatia: Return of the Supreme Leader
Kolinda, come back?
I still think last year’s presence of Prime Minister Plenković at the commemoration for Serb civilians killed in Varivode, and of Veterans’ Affairs Minister Medved in Grubori was important for the welfare of Croatian society as a whole. The coming years will show whether this will constitute a turning point. For now, it can serve as a fairly accurate marker to determine the pulse of the right wing. We have learnt how to do this from President Milanović. This Zagreb golden boy[1], elected by left(ish) votes, now evidently kicking off his campaign for a second mandate, has decided to go for the sure thing – nationalism, relativising war crimes and mocking victims throughout the region.
Instead of opening dialogue and looking for constructive solutions in relations with neighbours, ZM has opted for bullying, threats and blackmail. To the host of insults he had already flung at BiH, we can add the one accusing BiH of “robbing” Croats, even though HDZ BiH controls the customs, state finances and borders, while through his indisputable alliance with Milorad Dodik, Dragan Čović has the whole of the BiH energy sector in his grip. These economic crimes, however, become imperceptible when political representation is made to be the issue at stake. To be clear, the election of Željko Komšić as the Croat member of the Presidency of BiH with Bosniak votes is a first-rate political snafu that puts a dire strain on Croat-Bosniak relations in the Federation of BiH. However, though Croatia does not have international support for its concept of reorganising the election legislation so as to prop up the principle of “legitimate political representation”, hopes have been stirred up that an agreement on the election law may yet be reached. In comes Milanović and abuses this situation, not out of any particular concern for BiH Croats, but instead as an argument in his clash with the government, causing immeasurable harm to both Croatia and BiH along the way. He has also supported Čović’s clientelism of Dodik with formal gestures, such as when he invited the “leader of the Serb people”(?!) to Zagreb for talks about “the situation in BiH and its Euro-Atlantic prospects, problems in implementing the Dayton Agreement, and the position and rights of all three constitutive peoples” in September 2020. For the above reasons, he decided to exclude Bosniak political representatives from talks on these prospects. Lest we have any doubts about his commitment to permanent destabilisation of BiH, this year he decided to tour Herceg-Bosna, and he decided to do this on the anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, no less. It has been a long time since something so vulgar and shameful has tainted official relations between Sarajevo and Zagreb. This was perfectly suited to Dodik’s taste, we would say.
Seeing how well he was doing with “protecting the few” in the neighbouring country, he decided to bring it home. As if being a political dilettante was not enough, he also became an internet troll who uses his “private”[2] Facebook account to send offensive and incendiary messages into our political space and to denigrate his political opponents, those who disagree with him, citizens who criticise him, and – perhaps with the greatest delight – women. The arrest of Dragan Kovačević, former head of the Janafa oil pipeline in the Adriatic, and a dozen others accused of favouritism, trading in influence, giving and receiving bribes, revealed that President Milanović, along with HDZ ministers and other political “dignitaries” was a regular guest at Kovačević’s notorious club at No. 9 Slovenska Street. When several female MPs called him and the HDZ ministers to account for this, he became so enraged that he called them “obsessive smug wailers”. When activists of the B.a.b.e. association reacted to his calling the regional #MeToo campaign against sexual abuse of women a campaign of “spoiled celebrities”, he called the name of their association a “stupid and unfunny acronym” and characterised them as dogmatic petty-political opportunists[3]. The human rights defender for gender equality was compelled to respond, so she also got her share of . Incredible as it may sound, but true nonetheless, the long-time human rights activist Sanja Sarnavka said we would end up “missing the days of Grabar-Kitarović because at least she was entertaining”.
Everything came crashing down
Between Christmas and New Year’s, the ground literally shook beneath our feet. On 29 December 2020, at nineteen minutes past noon, seismographers recorded a destructive quake whose epicentre was 5 km south-west of Petrinja. Its magnitude was 6.2 on the Richter scale. Seven people were killed, dozens were injured, many houses were severely damaged, as was a lot of the infrastructure around Petrinja, Sisak, Glina and Hrvatska Kostajnica, and damage to structures was also recorded in several other counties and in the city of Zagreb. The prevailing lack of confidence in the state and its disaster relief mechanisms inspired a mass mobilisation of ordinary people who came in droves from all parts of Croatia, as well as the region and the world, to try and somehow help the disaster-struck people of Petrinja. The impression that the state responded with too little too late still lingers. Much like any catastrophe, the earthquake revealed everything that had been swept under the rug and even forgotten for years – houses built after the war under the Reconstruction Act came toppling down like houses of cards. These houses were destroyed by corruption – the state, that is, the designers, supervisory engineers and contractors it authorised – reconstructed these houses without concrete or reinforcements, thereby robbing not only their tenants, but all of us taxpayers who financed the reconstruction. The authorities were quick to remind us that the statute of limitations had expired on such actions and they could no longer be prosecuted. It was only later that we remembered how this “area of special state concern”, meaning the parts of Croatia affected by the war, is populated by a considerable number of the habitually neglected Croatian Serbs. Those were the inhabitants of villages that rescuers had to scramble to reach due to the lack of any kind of infrastructure worthy of an EU member state. These are the people who have had to struggle to get a road, lighting and electricity, except we didn’t know this, or we did, but we just didn’t care. The deputy mayor of Glina said in a statement at the end of August that the state has yet to build a single house in Glina after the earthquake. Meanwhile, donations of ordinary people(!) have ensured the construction of 36 buildings there. The citizens of Zabreb are still waiting for the start of reconstruction after the 2020 earthquake. It took a year just to adopt the Earthquake Reconstruction Act, despite funds being allocated from the EU Solidarity Fund.
Milan Bandić, who had been the mayor of Zabreb for decades, died in February 2021. He ruled the city through clientelism and autocracy and he died before any of the corruption cases that followed him for years had been adjudicated in court. And before the local elections that he would most certainly have finally lost. The nationalist tone, directed by the right wing and embodied primarily in the Homeland Movement and their candidates for the mayors of Zagreb (Miroslav Škoro) and Vukovar (Ivan Penava, who defected from HDZ) defined this election campaign too as an open call for intimidation and hatred. Still, we noted a change of government in the Zagreb City Assembly and the overwhelming victory of Tomislav Tomašević in the Zagreb mayoral elections. HDZ proclaimed its victory even though they would not be participating in the governments of larger cities such as Zagreb, Split and Vukovar. The eastern part of Croatia slipped through their fingers with the appearance of some nominally greater nationalists, while the south was whisked away by independent candidates who managed to secure broader support.
The overwhelming victory of Možemo! in Zabreb opens a new chapter in national politics. Their success at the local level comes as no surprise (they also had big wins in Istria, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Split and Dubrovnik, as well as some smaller cities, thanks to their long-standing activism and familiarity with local community issues. It was a good test run for strengthening Možemo! at the national level and preparing for parliamentary elections. However, even though they have made strides in proposing innovative economic and governance policies, the parliamentary elections will require grappling with issues that they have so far more or less avoided – such as nationalism, war crimes and memory policy. Apart from Tomašević attending this year’s event marking Operation Storm, and Deputy Mayor Luka Korlaet laying a wreath at the grave of Franjo Tuđman on the same occasion, representatives of this coalition have not spoken out in particular when the president restored military honours to Branimir Glavaš, or when he awarded medals to the HVO special police unit that committed crimes in Central Bosnia.
“Za dom spreman”, though in not so many words
Namely, President Milanović restored military honours and the rank of Major General to Branimir Glavaš after the Constitutional Court overturned the final judgement and the Supreme Court the first-instance judgement in the “garage” and “Sellotape” cases, ordering a retrial. The president did so at Glavaš’s request, because “for five years now, he has formally been a non-convicted person, just like me”. Apart from being a travesty of justice, this means nothing and is not a requirement for the president to withdraw or restore honours, that decision being solely at his discretion. The facts about these crimes have been ascertained beyond reasonable doubt and most of those convicted have already served their sentences. The president, however, having in the meantime declared himself the “protector of Serbs in Croatia” in order to continue settling accounts with his favourite target, the president of SDSS Milorad Popovac, sees no discrepancy between his proclamations and his concrete actions.
So, let us continue with the actions. In early May, he received an official visit from Tihomir Blaškić who has been convicted of war crimes in BiH. He has given himself the authority to assess who is the greater and who the lesser war criminal, and to interpret some judgements, such as the one against Blaškić, as “political”. He feels the same about the judgement against Milivoj Petković who he will also be receiving, he said, once he’s released from prison (?!). It’s not just that Zoran Milanović does not consider someone sentenced by the ICTY to twenty years in prison a war criminal, it is that as president, his statements go against international and Croatian law. It will be interesting to view his conduct in light of Inzko’s Law prohibiting the denial of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, though it is as yet unclear who could possibly do this.
With his presence and speech at the presentation of the monograph on the GROM Special Unit, Milanović showed support for its former member and war criminal Mihajlo Hrastov, deeming it unfair that the Republic of Croatia wanted to retroactively impose reparations to Hrastov’s victims. He called this “abuse”. The Croatian justice system became markedly compromised in the 23 years it took to pass seven judgement against the same man for the same crime, overturn them, only to finally convict him as a war criminal. Milanović may try to make him into a victim, conveniently failing to mention that Hrastov was ultimately sentenced to four(!) years in prison for the death of 13 and wounding of two prisoners of war at the Koranski Bridge in Karlovac in 1991.
Furthermore, Milanović also continued the practice of disputed honours again this year. Zlatan Mijo Jelić, indicted in BiH for ethnic cleansing, unlawful detention, forced labour and the killing and wounding of at least 40 prisoners of war during the conflict in Mostar in 1993, received a medal in Knin last year on behalf of the Special Unit of the Ministry of Interior of Herceg-Bosna. It seems he has found sanctuary in Croatia from criminal prosecution. This year in Knin, the president decorated the HVO Military Police, as well as Special Unit “Ludvig Pavlović”. The HVO Military Police had a very important role in the joint criminal enterprise. The head of the HVO Military Police Administration Valentin Ćorić was one of the accused in the ICTY case of Prlić and others, and was sentenced to 16 years in prison, alongside Berislav Pušić who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The “Ludvig Pavlović” unit was involved in war crimes in the area of Čapljina, as well as the war crimes committed in Doljani and Sovići near Jablanica in April 1993. By his own account, President Milanović decorated these units for their military actions. Nevermind that this amounts to the legitimising of the very units that committed brutal crimes and were commanded by war criminals and that by doing so, the head of an EU Member State is negating judgements and adjudicated facts, thereby symbolically continuing the wartime politics of the 1990s and falsifying history.
However, worst of all is this complete lack of respect for victims, especially those “from the other side”. Speaking in Knin, he told us that he does not hold that every victim is equal. That is why he has promised to protect Croatian war commanders from accusations for “unproven or fictitious acts”, as he calls the accusations coming from BiH, including those related to war crimes committed in Operation Flash. The fact that he promised that “these people will not be tried in Croatia” does not mean that the crimes did not happen. Threatening BiH because of the existence of war crimes indictments does not mean the crimes will be forgotten or that we will be silent about them.
There are those among his voters who justify such words and decisions with the fact that he is the commander of the Armed Forces, and that militarism comes with the job. In the environment created by these supportive voters, it is possible to separate state-sponsored ethnic cleansing from Operation Storm, militant patriotism (nationalism?) can coexist with gay pride, a commitment to Europe with negation of victims, and the office of president with “bully boy” rhetoric. They will say that ZM is a macho-liberal, and not a right-winger. We should be concerned that according to the latest public opinion polls, he is still supported by a significant portion of SDP voters, as well as Možemo!. What should come as no surprise, however, is that he is equally supported by Most voters and by one out of two HDZ voters. Žarko Puhovski was not far off when he called him the “illegitimate political son of Franjo Tuđman”.
And ultimately, it is no wonder that we have precisely HDZ to thank for the law on civilian victims being finally passed. The rights of civilian victims had previously been regulated under the Law on the Protection of Military and Civilian Persons with Disabilities, which was adopted in 1992. Despite many amendments, this law still did not cover all civilian victims and the benefits were not suited to their needs. The new law was adopted seven years after veterans’ associations spent 555 days protesting in front of a tent set up in Savska Street to block the entrance to the Veterans’ Ministry of Milanović’s government, in an attempt to stop and practically ban public debate and the passing of this law. At that time, they claimed that the new law would equate the aggressor with the victim because it treated civilian victims equally irrespective of their nationality. Once again, the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs, but this time with Tomo Medved, a protestor from the tent, at its helm, proposed the Law on Civilian Victims of the Homeland War. Tomo Medved defended the proposed law in Parliament, as once his political opponents Predrag Matić Fred and Bojan Glavašević did. But this time, HDZ used its influence to reign in the veterans and only those somewhat to the right of HDZ protested.
This is a big step for Croatia, but no one should be amnestied for its tardiness, not the SDP government that, despite the protests, had enough votes to push the law through Parliament back in 2014, or HDZ for blocking the law at the time in order to topple the SDP coalition government from power. Between Zoran Milanović and HDZ, we are left to put our hopes in Možemo! who intend to first grapple with the administration and everyday concerns of citizens. Sounds promising, but we’ll withhold our assessment until HDZ becomes their opposition, then we’ll see.
Serbia: Contamination
Today, on the morning of 26 August 2021, as I start writing this text, my two air quality applications are showing me that the air quality in Belgrade is good. I note down the date, because it is rare that the air we breathe is of good quality. At the beginning of this month, the fire that broke out at the landfill in Vinča caused extreme levels of air pollution. At the same time, many present and future polluters – such as Rio Tinto which is buying land in western Serbia to exploit lithium deposits, or the Ziđin factory in Bor making the city uninhabitable – are doing exactly nothing and facing no pressures from state regulators. The most citizens can hope for is to be pacified, such as when the Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesić tells them, “The Vinča landfill did suffocate, but it did not poison citizens.”[5] When you suffocate, you won’t particularly care whether you were also poisoned at the same time or not.
The contamination of water, air, food, rivers, the environment is visible and measurable, it can be measured and controlled, further contamination can be prevented by appropriate action. More dangerous in Serbia is the kind of contamination for which there are no units of measurement, noinstitute to control it and no regulations on how to reduce it: our society has become toxic. In all fields and in almost every respect. Masks are of no use.
Inward
It is enough for you to post a tweet that is not to the liking of the ruling party and you will be torn apart by the tabloids and the party’s living bots – employed in public enterprises and given regular salaries to praise President Vučić online – or even by the president himself during one of his interminable interviews on a government-controlled TV network. The media onslaught is followed by formal hordes used to intimidate the regime’s opponents: either someone from a right-wing organisation will physically attack the individual who spoke out on the street, or the state will launch an investigation and financial intimidation of organisations and individuals, such as those who found themselves on the list of the Administration for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing. The list included 20 individuals and 37 nongovernmental organisations, every single one flagged by the government as an enemy because they have published and publicly spoken facts that are not in the government’s favour. It also included independent reporters and news desk staff whose work is not controlled by the system in power.
There have been signals of resistance. There are independent media, in contrast to those under direct regime control, and their work is invaluable, but unfortunately, their reach is very limited: the government controls all television stations with national coverage, all newspapers, save a handful of weeklies, as well as the national telephone and internet operator with its monopoly position. The reality is the same, but the perception of people being informed from independent sources is completely different from the perception of people informed by the government through its channels (including both numerous TV channels as well as YouTube channels designed to spread fake information). One group thinks the fire at the landfill was caused by negligence, while others blame the opposition. One group thinks that the clashes of crime groups and numerous deaths are caused by government complicity and organised crime, while others watch the president display bloody photos and believe he is fighting the criminals, even though these are the very same people the regime had employed against its political opponents (at the demonstrations in July last year, when citizens protested the inauguration, at sports matches where fans booed the president, etc.) One group is looking for ways to stop the epidemic, the other uses it for political and personal gain (organising elections, sports matches, celebrations, rallies in support of the president, etc.). We live these disparate realities that are set against each other. I fear an escalation of this conflict, because it doesn’t seem like dialogue can help us find a way out of this situation. Dialogue requires two sides that want the dialogue to happen.
In order to have sound information about what is going on, you have to go out of your way: you have to choose the internet and TV news sources that are targeted by government campaigns on a daily basis, their owners, reporters and editors treated to torrents of lies and monstrous manipulation by the regime’s tabloids, endangering not just their work, but also their lives.
Serbia’s parliament is currently (following the elections that were boycotted by the opposition) made up of 180 deputies from the Serbian Progressive Party, 24 from the Socialist Party of Serbia, while 46 seats went to minority parties or parties that had already been in power (PUPS, for instance). The ruling party controls more than a two-thirds majority, enough to change the Constitution. Which is something they often bring up, as threat or blackmail. They are literally in such a position of power that they could secure a vote to say that the year will have 11 months and anyone opposed to it would be proclaimed to be against Serbia’s progress and betterment. That is why it is so dangerous to be on their radar, for whatever reason. Or on the radar of one of the right-wing organisations that the government uses for physical reckonings with its opponents. These organisations use various attacks, including public defamation through social media, as well as beatings and trespassing, often with the police standing idly by or even tacitly approving the attack.[6]
These same, or very similar organisations are also behind the murals depicting war criminals in public spaces in our cities. Thus, for example, when the judgement confirming the life sentence for Ratko Mladić, the former general of the Army of Republika Srpska convicted for genocide in Srebrenica, persecuting Bosniaks and Croats, terrorising the citizens of Sarajevo and taking UN soldiers hostage, was delivered, his face was painted on a mural in Belgrade. For a large portion of the public, this criminal is a hero – except for the anonymous activist who made sure his hands on the mural were covered in blood. Serbia is still a safe haven for war criminals. The convicted war criminal Captain Dragan, found guilty of war crimes in Croatia, was given offices by the city authorities of Subotica to house his foundation, while in Belgrade he was handing out T-shirts with the image of the convicted murderer of prime minister Zoran Đinđić in 2003. Duško Kornjača, the wartime commander in the municipality of Čajniče who has been accused of war crimes, is not hiding in Novi Sad but living a normal life. During the whole of 2020, at total of seven indictments were raised before the War Crimes Court, but five were transferred from BiH, which essentially means that only two new indictments were raised during the whole year. I fear the final tally will be much the same this year, if not worse.
The Covid-19 pandemic is being used in various ways to either keep citizens under lockdown or blackmail them with freedoms, or to create the “economic miracle” of the only country apparently experiencing economic improvement during the pandemic. This, of course, is just another in a host of lies, including lies about the number of deaths in the pandemic (which Serbia “successfully defeated” already in the spring of 2020). In fact, it is in 5th place globally in terms of “excess mortality”: there is a considerable difference between the number of deaths from April 2020 to the end of June this year and the number of deaths reported as being due to Covid-19: 7030 deaths were reported as being due to Covid, but there were in actuality 30210 more deaths than the average from previous
Outward
The face of the Serbian regime is friendly, gentle and smiling when talking with foreigners. Except when talking with Kosovar Albanians – Vučić and Rama message each other and chat, while at the same time, there is no dialogue with Kosovo’s Prime Minister .[8] This is illustrative of both diplomacy and statesmanship skills – Vučić does only what he likes and what brings him (not society) concrete benefits, either material or populist.
Inseparable from Dodik, it seems he is doing everything in his might to become the president of All Serbian Lands – the unchallenged ruler and leader of Serbia and Serbs abroad. To that end, and unbeknownst to the general public, a new holiday was instituted last year – Day of National Unity, 15th of September. A symbolic date was chosen, the day of the Salonica Front breakthrough in the First World War, and it is marked by the Republic of Serbia and Republika Srpska. This year, the assemblies of both republics will enact a law on the protection of the Serbian language and Cyrillic script. Who exactly is attacking the Serbian language that the two of them must protect us with laws no less remains unclear. There had never been any discussion in public of this as a general national threat. Still, leave it to them to invent both an event and an enemy for sheer populism and for fortifying their positions of power.
There is also a clear desire to control processes within Montenegro. At the end of summer last year, the government that had been in power for decades was replaced and Vučić is not happy that the Montenegrin politicians are not pandering to him like Dodik. Relations became even frostier when a few months ago Montenegro’s Parliament adopted the Resolution on Srebrenica, something that Vučić characterised as violating the “vital interests of the Serbian people” and accompanied with the message of “Good riddance.”
Good Things Happen
Still, there were a few good things and gestures, populist of course, but we should welcome the fact that sufficient vaccine doses of all producers on the market were secured for citizens in Serbia and that when interest for vaccination in Serbia declined, citizens from the region were invited to come and get vaccinated in Serbia. It is true that tens of thousands of people from the neighbourhood were vaccinated in Serbia before vaccination had even started in their countries. Serbia also donated a large number of vaccines to neighbouring countries.
At the start of summer, roaming charges were abolished between Western Balkan countries so that citizens of Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, BiH, Kosovo and Albania can now communicate without additional costs. And this is really working in practice, even though we were all sceptical to begin with because we are not accustomed to the governments of these countries doing anything that will benefit their citizens.
The Serbian Orthodox Church had been wholly unprepared for the Covid-19 pandemic and its incompetence and isolation from reality cost many believers their lives, but also Patriarch Irinej and Bishop Artemije. Changes at the helm of the Serbian Orthodox Church were God’s will, but by the will of the bishops, Porfirije Perić, hitherto the metropolitan bishop of Zagreb and Ljubljana, became the new patriarch. His rhetoric, messages and conduct are completely different from the Church’s mainstream. The expectation is that he will be supportive of reconciliation, cooperation and understanding.
At the start of the year, Serbia saw a revolution of abused women. In a series of separate cases, but with mutual solidarity, they went public with details of what they had suffered at the hands of powerful men. The wave they started can never be pushed back again. Even though thousands of abusers will remain unrevealed and unpunished (such as politicians in power, including Dragan Marković Palma), a change has taken place nonetheless – victims have a voice, abusers are at least publicly condemned, but I sincerely hope they will also be convicted by courts for their wrongdoings.
A host of small protests by environmental groups took place and some are still ongoing. They are responding to local problems of pollution and destruction of natural resources, rivers, forests, mountains. These movements arose spontaneously, because basic human rights were threatened, but paradoxically, they have their opponents – there are government supporters attacking citizens who want clean water, for instance, in Zrenjanin. They, these opponents, don’t need clean drinking water that the city has lacked for 17 years already? Impossible. More likely, they have been instructed to attack the protestors, because every protest is seen as an attack against the government.
In brief: (contami)nation.
North Macedonia: Bulgaria is the New Greece
Short-term memory is a national sport in Macedonia. The government is becoming what it used to fight against. Not so long ago, they organised protests under the slogan: “We deserve better”, but evidently, we have different ideas of who we are and what it is we deserve.
This year, Bulgaria vetoed the start of negotiations for us to join the European Union. The disappointment was sweeping. This, I hope only temporarily, takes away our European future. No accession funds, no European education, no joining others from Europe, no free movement across borders. The veto is a problem, but more concerning is that this ruling elite, as well as any future elite, will always have someone else to blame for their own failures, as they had Greece for decades. Now, Bulgaria is the new Greece, albeit much more irrational and counter-European.
Corruption is a constant problem in the country. There are laws, but the authorities usually prosecute only their critics and petty criminals. Relevant domestic and international organisations have registered a worsening on the corruption perception index as a result of insufficient government efforts to counter corruption and conflict of interest in public administration. Those in power keep trying to persuade us that directors and ministers are not corrupt, just their staff. The government would have us believe that it is being transparent by publishing budgets and various documents on official websites. This, of course, does not make them transparent, or available to the public. On the contrary. They remain more difficult to understand and control. This allows the authorities to show what they want and conceal everything else. And the people are falling for this. For instance, there was corruption involved in the government procuring some software. When this came to light, the government said that there must be a reason why it was procured, but that they do not know what that reason is at the moment. So, they did not procure something that is needed, something that can be put to use, but just something that is there, just for show. And that’s how it goes.
Disasters have always been and remain the best weapons that parties use to shoot cannonballs depending on what side of the front the enemy is located. The opponent is first blackened and proclaimed an enemy and traitor of state and national interests. The pandemic and fires in combination with poverty have become the best topics for the pre-election campaign.
For years, those currently in government fought the illegal zoning plans that VMRO-DPMNE was adopting – but now they’ve given in. Only months before the local elections, the mayor of the Centar Municipality approved the construction of one of three new controversial twenty-storey buildings near the Holiday Inn. A new law on illegal construction was similarly adopted and will enable the legalisation of construction in national parks and protected zones around drinking water sources.
The stage has been set for a political reckoning that is to take place at the 2021 local elections. The parties continue to tailor mayoral candidates. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party has decided to form a coalition with the Albanian opposition, the Alliance for Albanians and Alternativa, while SDSM and DUI will be running for elections together in some municipalities. Though they will not publicly acknowledge this, it is clear that all parties are experiencing internal conflicts over candidates for mayors and municipal councillors. DUI’s political trick of an “Albanian prime minister” has been long forgotten, but DUI has a new trick for the local elections. It has decided to become a green party and launch a new policy for environmental protection and quality with its green agenda. Evidently, DUI was not far off the mark before, so now it has decided to try again, seeing as it has nothing to lose.
As opposed to all the other elections to date, it is interesting that in the run-up to these elections, we are seeing canvassing for signatures for many independent lists, and this is encouraging for democracy. People are starting to organise. The politicians in the parties they voted for previously did not deliver, so now people want to take things into their own hands. Almost no one expects these independent lists to take power in the municipalities, but everyone expects them to be a different voice opposing the commands from party headquarters.
As of this school year, first and fourth grade pupils are to start learning in an interesting, dynamic, fun, but also effective way. Though most cannot believe this, a new Concept for primary education was adopted in March after months of debate and reactions. Although there was some public dissatisfaction and even protests against the Concept, the majority of experts supported it. I personal think this is very good news and gives hope to future generations after many ill-suited education reforms. We are finally getting digitalisation in schooling and forward-looking changes that will support scientific learning.
This year, we are marking an anniversary: twenty years of celebrating and criticising the Ohrid Framework Agreement. For Albanians, it represents a good idea and positive compromise, while for most Macedonians, the Framework Agreement was a bad idea from the very start and not something they can identify with. Instead, they blame it for all the negative developments that followed its signing and probably for any that will follow in the future.
All other events in 2021 can be summed up in one sentence: “Something always lacking and late!” We lack passports and licence plates, pupils lack certificates, the insulin shipment is late, the birth registry is not issuing certificates. Planning is non-existent. We are not making use of the little resources we have. And it is in these conditions that we plan to conduct a population census (which has not been conducted for 20 years).
(Un)Accountability!
Forests take years to grow and only a moment to go up in flames. Once they’re gone, those that should be held accountable keep trying to persuade those of us calling for accountability that we are ignorant, while they are smart, they did their best, like generals after a lost battle, but somehow the forest burnt down. And not just one, but hundreds of forests. At the end, they told us we were all responsible, which means that no one is responsible. When the temperatures exceed 40 degrees and we’re all desperately seeking shade to cool off, in order to protect the forests from fire, the authorities have come up with an ingenious idea – to ban all access to forests.
Lake Ohrid, the oldest lake in Europe and one of the oldest in the world, has been the site of excessive tourism projects and lack of environmental protection, which have made it a candidate for the list of World Natural and Cultural Heritage in Danger. And guess what: everyone, meaning no one, is responsible! This should come as no surprise. Research has shown that 55% of heads of institutions, such as agencies, administrations, enterprises and branches of Ministries, that are appointed by the government have only the minimum competencies in the field in which they work, while 45% have none at all.
Discrimination
The Covid19 pandemic has disrupted normal functioning around the world and restrictive measures have become an integral part of responding to the health crisis. Freedom of movement has been curtailed and other human rights have been endangered. The virus does not discriminate, but members of marginalised groups, which are traditionally discriminated, are having a much tougher time dealing with the new situation. There is real fear of the virus, but also of draconian sanctions, making everyone give up their rights easily, as well as any control over the state apparatus.
A parallel pandemic of fake news and misleading information poses a serious threat to public health. Fake news is spreading faster than the virus. Citizens often get their information from dubious sources that are not based on scientific data or recommendations, and they are quick to accept information based on lies and conspiracy theories. Although vaccination coverage has been increasing lately, the numbers still show that the country is far behind the European average.
Hate Speech
Nongovernmental organisations have steadily recorded large numbers of hate speech incidents on social networks. Most of the reported incidents concern hate speech based on ethnicity. Negative rhetoric is also used in the context of preparations for the population census, with frequent attacks and insults directed at the ethnic Roma community. There has also been a drastic increase in homophobia, with hate speech used as a means to insult and degrade individuals while also attacking an entire protected group of people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Homophobic insults intensified especially in relation to content published for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. We have already gotten used to every Pride Parade having its counter-parade. Graffiti inciting and spreading hate speech on ethnic and national grounds often “decorate” our streets.
As the world’s democracies stand in solidarity with the humanitarian crisis gripping Afghanistan, our country has, albeit humbly, decided to show solidarity by temporarily hosting civilians fleeing Afghanistan. This led to a rapid increase in hate speech against refugees. It is interesting that the people currently fleeing Afghanistan are not thieves or thugs or religious fanatics. They are intellectuals, free-thinking and emancipated people. But it seems those are precisely the kind of people we in Macedonia fear the most.
Instead of a Conclusion
We are definitely facing many challenges and problems. The EU, the US and anyone else will have to come to our aid. Unfortunately, those that have been and remain in power are often criminally incompetent. Only we can remove them from power. If we want to. But by all accounts, they suit us just fine.
Luan Imeri
Montenegro: Montenegro’s 6th of October?
It has been almost a year since the “historical” change of government in Montenegro. It seems the new ruling majority is still getting used to being in power. The main features of their one year in office have seen them seemingly disoriented in time and space, uninterested in their own jobs, exhibiting a chronic lack of any concrete plan or strategy, on top of an acute lack of qualified and experienced staff. In parallel, the new opposition does not seem to be doing much better in its oppositional role. The long years of corruptive conformism and all-around arrogance, maintaining the state only by maintaining personal, profitable privileges, lying about caring for society, for all its citizens – all of these seem to blunt the edge of oppositional action.
Taken together, this has resulted in a year where we have not seen the promised social and economic reforms or dialogue on national and religious issues; there has been no inkling of finally doing away with clientelism and employment along party lines, of liberating institutions – especially the judiciary and prosecutors, or of protecting reporters, providing for an independent public broadcaster and making genuine and planned steps to calm tensions and move towards reconciliation. The tremendous energy of change and hope for a more just society, set in motion last year, seems to be slowly turning into another lost opportunity.
The initial enthusiasm and eagerness were quickly replaced by distrust and disbelief of increasing numbers of citizens, culminating in the salvos of insults and accusations between members of the Democratic Front (DF) and Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, and the maliciousness and political profiteering of the new opposition as it delights in maintaining and fuelling national divisions. It all started unexpectedly early, as soon as the prime minister had announced that the new government would be one of experts, meaning that DF would be left without important offices. Demands to replace the government and the prime minister continued, with even protests being announced for September. The prime minister, on the other hand, kept insisting that he would not resign of his own accord and invited DF parliamentary representatives to initiate a vote of no confidence in the government. Are we in danger of repeating the 6th of October again?
Who is more numerous?
The long awaited and promised population census in Montenegro is slowly turning into a never-ending saga, but it is also, in effect, a prime indicator of a democratically underdeveloped society, a society lacking institutions. The census planned for April 2021 was postponed for the autumn due to the failure to adopt a budget and on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. How did a simple statistical operation – that also happens to be extremely useful for better planning, because it determines the population size and distribution, age structure, real property ownership, level of education, etc. – get so easily transformed into an event to rival the elections, if not outstrip them in importance?
Citizens declaring their national and religious belonging is always the most important issue, because the census is seen not just as a statistical, but also as a political exercise. Of course, the problem is not these two questions in and of themselves (most EU countries, as well as the US do not gather data on national or religious belonging, or make such questions optional), but the way they are perceived as questions of life and death, with the whole census being reduced to just them. The two questions, nationality and religion, are actually just one: Who is more numerous? Serbs or Montenegrins? While the answer to that question will signal loss and defeat for some, for others it will blow fresh wind into their sails, because the results of the counting have a direct bearing on the “correctness” of political decisions, both past and future. The census is an instrument of counting and measuring. By this distorted logic, those found to be more numerous will have more rights and the power to decide on who else should be given which rights. Essentially, the more numerous will be in power, they will have justification for all political decisions, for they are stronger and better.
Inauguration
Another event that was meant to be ceremonial in nature seriously threatened to turn into a somewhat different, but much more dangerous form of counting and dividing. An event that was merely meant to confirm what had already been decided and known developed into a new opportunity to throw divisions into sharp relief, underscore differences and deepen hatred, looming with much worse consequences, practically threatening to start a civil war.
Bishop Joanikije replaced the departed Amfilohije as Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral. Patriarch Porfirije of the Serb Orthodox Church attended the inauguration ceremony of the new Montenegrin Metropolitan on 5 September in Cetinje. Tensions that had been building for weeks in advance of the inauguration culminated with protests in Cetinje, roads into the city being blocked with barricades, burning tires and clashes with the police. After a blockade that lasted for hours, the police finally broke down the barricades, using tear gas and mechanisation, and opened the roads into the city. The final balance is 60 injured citizens and police officers, but luckily no one sustained serious injuries. The Cetinje monastery, cordoned off with fences and police troops, as well as heavily armed anti-terrorist units, resembled a fortress more than a monastery.
The protest was attended by the entirety of the Montenegrin opposition, deputies and councillors of the Cetinje Parliament, under the leadership of Milo Đukanović, president of Montenegro. The protest was also marked by attempts of his security advisor and long-time absolute head of security structures Veselin Veljović to sway the police. First, a few days before the inauguration, he published a text calling on police officers to “refuse orders that are contrary to the Montenegrin Constitution”, and then at the protest itself, he attacked the police forces providing security. He was arrested, but then released pending trial. The former head of the police was not going to receive any favours from current police officers.
Metropolitan Joanikije and Patriarch Porfirije were flown in by a helicopter of the Montenegrin Armed Forces to the monastery in Cetinje. The inauguration was conducted in the absence of other guests and officials, and they left the monastery and Cetinje in the same helicopter.
At first glance, everyone was a winner, those who wanted the inauguration to take place, as well as those who wanted their protest to be heard. Ultimately, however, we all lost at Cetinje that day. First, for Milo Đukanović, the president of Montenegro, it is clear from these events and his attempt to destabilise society in a show of power only demonstrated that his power is gone, or at least considerably reduced compared to all these past years. Second, Joanikije, the new Metropolitan of Montenegro, was inaugurated in such a way that it will prevent him from putting into practice what he preaches – overcoming divisions and reconciliation. Montenegro also lost, the Montenegro that is home to both Montenegrins and Serbs, as well as Croats and Bosniaks and Albanians and Muslims, to white and green, and red and black, the colourful and the colourless, the Montenegro that is in such dire need of a different, a better world, one that is “neither the world of Milo Đukanović nor the Serbian world”.
Freedom of Speech
The spiral of threats and attacks on reporters in Montenegro has continued to raise concerns in 2021. Up until September this year, there have been 14 threats and attacks, the most recent being an attack on a TV News crew reporting from the protests against the inauguration of the Metropolitan in Cetinje and an attack on CIN-CG director Milka Tadić-Mijović.
This is nothing new in a society where attacks on reporters have practically been encouraged all these years by the former government which made sure the relevant institutions never took much trouble to find the attackers or those at whose behest they were carried out. Namely, the previous government never got around to ensuring the full professional functioning of institutions needed for a systemic reckoning with abusers and criminals, one that would entail all available legal instruments, including maximum sentences foreseen by law or harsher sanctions for those found guilty of attacking reporters. So far, the new majority has been following in the footsteps of the old majority. There is still no serious response to a host of initiatives from reporters’ and other NGOs calling for better quality and more professionalism in protecting reporters. They are probably too busy dealing with nationality and staffing issues.
A new director general was appointed at Radio Television Montenegro, the Montenegrin public broadcaster, one Boris Raonić, a long-time activist who used to head the Civic Alliance of Montenegro. The fact that the new director comes from the NGO world, that he is not a member of any political party, gives hope that the Public Broadcasting Service will finally become worthy of its name, a genuine “service to the public”. Namely, up to now, the Montenegrin public broadcaster was mostly known for trimming information, usually with political motives and tendentious decontextualization; denigrating persons and their work; warmongering; deliberate and cynical propagation of divisions; hate speech. The Montenegrin public broadcasting service was independent and free of everything, except for the government, its own fear of the government, the lies and deception that followed, its unprofessionalism, and the conformism of its leading figures. Devoid of investigative reporting, of the truth, or at least of seeking it, the public broadcasting service was also devoid of autonomy, freedom and accountability.
We remain hopeful that the new director will manage to introduce changes that will make the public broadcasting service a place of constant public debate on all issues of concern for Montenegrin society, where different opinions and ideas will be presented by free and independent people, sending critical messages of togetherness and peace, especially as we face the various crises pressing down on Montenegro these past few years.
A Few Good Things
We should certainly highlight a few good things that happened in the past year. Montenegro’s parliament adopted a set of social laws. These introduced children’s benefits, free textbooks, increases of the minimum wage and the old age pension, and reduced electricity bills. Additionally, long-standing injustices against the Islamic Community were remedied (its ownership over buildings was restored), the old Prosecutorial Council was disbanded and it seems the time has come for a new one, there are indications that a serious reckoning with organised crime is afoot, etc.
The first same-sex marriage was concluded in Montenegro after the Law on Life Partnership entered into force on 15 July this year. Although the Law itself has many shortcomings, including in terms of the requirements for its full application, its adoption and the first marriage concluded under it mean that more concrete legal protections and a more equal and secure existence will finally be provided to LGBTQ persons.
Montenegro’s parliament adopted the Resolution on Srebrenica “condemning the Srebrenica genocide” and “recognising that genocide was committed on European soil after the Second World War with the killing of over 8000 Bosniak civilians”. The Resolution also “condemns attempts to ascribe responsibility or blame for genocide, crimes against humanity or other crimes to the Serb, Bosniak, Croat or any other people, because responsibility can only be individual, and no people can be characterised as genocidal or criminal”. The document supports proclaiming 11 July Srebrenica Memorial Day in memory of the victims of Srebrenica, and state institutions are called upon to “conduct investigations and prosecute those accused of the genocide in Srebrenica, war crimes and crimes against humanity”. According to one of the proposers of the Resolution, Ervin Ibrahimović, a deputy from the Bosniak Party, the document aims to democratise Montenegrin society and achieve reconciliation in the region, to prohibit public denial of the Srebrenica genocide and carry the message that the Resolution is not directed against any single people. The question remains of why the Resolution is only now being proposed, as if there hadn’t been time for it while his party was sharing power with DPS.
In parallel with the adoption of the resolution, the majority of Montenegrin MPs also supported the initiative of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić to replace the Minister of Justice, Human Rights and Minority Rights Vladimir Leposavić. The prime minister initiated his replacement after the parliament session where the now already former minister of justice said he was “prepared to recognise that what happened in Srebrenica was genocide once this is unequivocally determined”. Part of the ruling coalition that was against replacing Leposavić is now boycotting parliament. A rare but correct action of Prime Minister Krivokapić who expressed readiness to take responsibility for his own and the actions of the government he leads, which is not something we are used to seeing often.
Ossified Divisions
While some claim that it is finally time to organise a census without fear, where for the first time in history people will have the right to freely declare their belonging without assimilationist pressures by either the communists or the Montenegrins, others see the census as an opportunity for spreading the Serbian world in Montenegro by raising the vampires of policies from the 1990s; and while some see the inauguration of the Metropolitan as a natural part of the right to freedom of religion, supported by more than 90% of the Christian Orthodox population, others see it as an occupation of Montenegro in the name of Greater Serbia, so while some see the mission of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral as spiritual and Christian, others see it as political, ideological and assimilationist; and while some see the Srebrenica Resolution as an opportunity for reconciliation and continuing coexistence, others see it as stigmatising and threatening.
As long as things continue like this, we will not be rid of the old mantra whereby the others are fascists in our antifascist eyes, the others are traitors to our patriotic hearts, the others are occupation forces of our dignity and freedom, the others remain the bad guys to our good guys, the others remain forever othered and remote.
As long as this lasts, corrupt officials of the defeated or the new regime will continue to hold important high offices, and their corruption and nepotism, under the guise of “effectiveness”, will still be seen as a value and not the plague that it is. And as long as things continue like this, divisions along national and religious fault lines will continue to increase in prominence, tensions in society will be on the brink of breaking it apart, the judiciary and prosecutors will remain far from independent, civil unrest will be more imminent than ever, the social and economic situation will remain dismal, the situation in healthcare deeply concerning despite the sacrifice of healthcare workers, and on and on it goes.
It seems like everything is stagnating, locked in ice, unchanging, inactive. Only the roles have changed, but Montenegro remains a never-ending political crisis, ossified and confined by self-imposed restrictions and divisions.
[1] Euphemism for socially privileged Zagreb youth with above-average starting positions, habitually landing their first jobs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Another such example is Prime Minister Plenković.
[2] Milanović’s Facebook account can by no means be private, given that as president he has both exceptional power and immunity from criminal prosecution, and as such, he can attack anyone without restraint, and even without proof or sound argument.
[3] To recall, the action initiated by Belgrade actresses quickly received a Croatian epilogue with thousands of horrifying stories coming to light from women of all walks of life about the sexual violence they suffered and that, had it not been for the global movement and its regional iteration, would have remained unspoken. For more, see: https://www.nisamtrazila.org/ B.a.b.e. is an acronym of the slogan “Be active. Be emancipated.”
[4] https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/izvukli-smo-izjave-milanovica-o-zlostavljanju-podrzavate-li-njega-ili-zene/2253381.aspx
[5] https://www.istinomer.rs/izjava/deponija-u-vinci-jeste-gusila-ali-nije-trovala-gradjane/
[6] http://www.glassumadije.rs/levijatan-pokusao-da-prekine-skup-marinike-tepic-video/
[8]https://kossev.info/vucic-sa-kurtijem-najlakse-da-se-razgovara-i-najneprijatnije-sa-ostalima-teze-ali-manje-neprijatno/