“If anyone ever even touched a hair from a Montenegrin’s moustache, they would be liable to lose their head. Birth and procreation is the only salvation for this people…”
(The day when dealing with peace started causing me too much distress, I abruptly stopped being an activist and became an advisor for tourism and sustainable development (it’s not for nothing that they say “tourism is the passport of peace”, eh!). If this does not bother you, please continue reading my report on Montenegro, a tourist destination. Still, as soon as I decided what I would write about, I felt an ache in my stomach.)
Who (is allowed) to engage in politics?
During a recent training I was conducting, I had the opportunity to ask about 60 people in Montenegro whether they were engaged in politics. Only one of them said yes, and he was a member of a political party. Even the young woman who was a member of a working group developing a law said she was not interested in politics and had nothing to do with it. At a purely technical meeting, after mentioning “improvements to agricultural policy” I was asked “not to use that word”. A few years ago at a workshop, the trainer asked for an example of a right that was most endangered in Montenegro (the question was meant to elicit easy examples, none of those present were involved with human rights or anything along those lines). Three quarters of the responses were identical and when we “disclosed” our notes where we had written down the first thing that popped into our heads, I was shocked to find it was: the right to freedom of speech/expression (?!). We have long known that when you use this right to criticise any phenomenon in society, yourself included, you automatically become an enemy of the state. Apart from that, the government often calls out non-governmental organisations for dealing in politics, or rather for “doing the same as the opposition”. After that, all political parties call upon citizens to turn out for elections, just that, they (the parties) will take care of the rest… those 60 people that changed their minds and are now proud to be doing important things for their country, contributing to improving social, economic, environmental, youth and other policies.
This year we mark 200 years since the birth of Petar II Petrović Njegoš, and his birthday on 13 November will be a new national holiday — Montenegrin Culture Day. This decision was challenged by representatives of the Bosniak party who believe Njegoš inspired hatred towards the world of Islam and that “some of the ideas from his work, interpreted literally, formed the concept and justification for the crimes and genocide against the Muslim population in the 19th and 20th centuries in Montenegro and the region.” Furthermore, Bosniaks believe that at least school textbooks should be purged from contents insulting to Muslims. On the other hand, most admirers of Njegoš say it is necessary to understand the context of his life and work, before we can judge them. During the many months marking the 200th anniversary of his birth, much was said about Njegoš. Excerpts from his life and works are countless and it is just a matter of whether a person/society wants to view them individually or as a whole.
Who is endangered?
As for inequality in society, until recently it was mostly related to gender inequality. However, the list goes on: people on welfare, single parents/mothers, pregnant women and mothers (whose labour rights are endangered), orphans, the long-term unemployed, people from rural areas and the periphery, Roma and Egyptians, displaced persons and refugees, persons with disabilities, LGBT persons… If we were to get into the details, we would have to mention reporters who are definitely a vulnerable group, albeit depending on who they write/speak about and how. Moustachioed Montenegrins are also endangered, and by the LGBT population no less, because the organisers of the Pride Parade chose for their logo — the moustache, the traditional symbol of honour and heroism! The list is not exhaustive, so if you are also endangered, don’t mind, just add yourself to the list!
Why?
Lately, the global economic crisis has been used to explain every problem, so I feel I must point out that the majority of cases of unequal opportunities arose out of the values, attitudes and behaviours in society, and not due to a lack of funds. For example, a number of factors affect the decision of women (not) to enter into politics: influence of the community, historical context and tradition: “a woman’s place is not in politics”; the small number of women in politics and their considerably narrower opportunities for advancement; insufficient moral and practical support from the community; childcare and household work; economic dependence and insufficient female solidarity among women politicians. Individual factors that depend on the women themselves are that they often consider politics a dirty business and are unprepared to put their entire past professional career and integrity on the line. On the other hand, citizens of Montenegro have quite strong preconceptions about women/men in politics, that is to say, the electorate is quite specific and patriarchal. Surveys have shown that half the female respondents believe men would be more successful than women in high level official positions, while only 13-19% of women (depending on the position) believe women would be more successful.
One survey found that the main reason behind unequal employment opportunities for young people is nepotism, but that’s not the end of the story. Nepotism is almost unavoidable in our small country, but real problems arise when you have a host of cousins and friends you’d like to see employed that you simple don’t know where to start, or when you promise both them and their friends jobs right after the next elections and then face a new problem — there are simply not enough jobs to go around.
Lately, I have been extremely irritated by plans of the opposition telling people what they stand to gain if they vote for them, and these are projects they could implement even if they are not in power. Thus we have another vulnerable group — the opposition, who would do anything for Montenegro, we just can’t seem to vote them into office! Either way, both the position and the opposition are prone to scandals, though the “third” (NGO) option is not much better. It seems the current “Recording”[1] scandal will have no end. For me personally it ended when I heard a government representative with a smile (publicly) telling an opposition representative, “Admit it, you’d do the same if you were us”.
The EU is sacrosanct, or the family is sacrosanct, or both(neither)?
I’ve noticed that everything coming from the EU is the best solution for Montenegro. If a solution will help us approximate the EU, it is the right solution. If it has nothing to do with the EU, we’ll smuggle our ideas in as “European”. Thus a few years ago, out of all the recipes from Europe, we decided to adopt the so-called European working hours. In practice, this decision has turned Montenegrin families into ticking time bombs; parents are still unable to match their working hours with daycare and school schedules. Instead of the “old-fashioned” return from work for lunch at 3 p.m., lunch now takes place at fast food grills, children are upset with parents who have no time for them, parents are frustrated for not being able to find the time, space or money for their families. Someone will doubtless say that today’s children are raised by the street, which is true, but it’s also so “European”!
As for the European Union, I admit it’s fortunate to have at least one entity we don’t spin conspiracy theories about when they criticise us. Of course, there are always exceptions.
Interesting for the region: Gay is OK?
If Europe says so – of course it is! Good news: two pride parades were held in Montenegro! One more and one less successful. The first was organised in Budva where about a thousand people (which is a large number for such a small place) attacked the participants in the parade with words, stones, bottles and other objects, and the town’s cafe owners hosted a priest who consecrated their establishments as the parade had marched through the square in front. Public opinion was divided — some felt enraged and endangered by the parade, others by the false morality of those who “mind the parade but don’t mind the corruption, organised crime and illegal construction”. I’d really like to know how the latter affects traditional Montenegrin values. Some twenty people were detained, and the organisers were evacuated from the shore to prevent further incidents.
Two months later, the first pride parade in Podgorica was organised, again with ample participation of hooligans, most of them young. This one was successfully implemented, albeit with the inevitable attacks and arrests.
I found it interesting that the vast majority of political parties sent women to support the parade (although it was known they would most likely be exposed to physical violence), and before that the male politicians predominantly identified themselves as not being ‘gay’ or as not being able to picture themselves at ‘such’ parades, but that human rights should be respected, especially since this was important for EU accession (?!). Whatever the reason, the state organised to stand on the side of justice and protected the participants in the parade, both by organising police protection and by sending representatives to support the parade. On the other hand, the Youth Network of an opposition coalition named the “Serb List” called on the citizens of Montenegro to protest, and a representative of New Serb Democracy truthfully said, “We are a conservative Christian party that fosters traditional values. Let the government waving its democracy and European standards support them.” Even the Association of War Veterans from 1990 chimed in saying they “saw it as a provocation” that the date selected for the event was 20 October, “one of the most important dates of the People’s Liberation Struggle when in 1944 the joint forces of the Yugoslav partisans and the Red Army liberated Belgrade from Hitler’s fascists”. On this occasion, the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Amfilohije organised a ceremonial liturgy to “purge the sins the city had been polluted with”. At the solemn academy on the occasion of the consecration of the Cathedral that “this house of worship is a call to forgiveness and reconciliation in Montenegro,” which apparently did not apply to him since he spent days calling for hatred and resistance to the “shameless parade proclaiming sin to be a virtue and misanthropy to be philanthropy.” Citizens interviewed on the street parroted his words about how we were created to procreate and how the family must be defended from those that would destroy it, and they were particularly angered by the (above mentioned) moustache.
The magnitude of the violence and hatred issuing from the young people who made up the majority of the assembled hooligans, a third of them under-age, was shocking. One boy from Podgorica suffered third-degree burns from an explosive device he had made himself following a “recipe” from the internet and planned to activate at the parade.
At the end, let us return to my profession (tourism!) in the context of LGBT rights. Only a few days after the Pride Parade in Budva, exactly 30 km away, at Kotor, 2.800 homosexuals disembarked from a cruiser:
The Director of the local tourism organisation Mirza Krcić, who we found in the town, told the “News” that everything was going smoothly, there were no problems, and that the people of Kotor showed themselves to be dignified.
“Everyone should express their opinions and choices, and people should respect that. The citizens of Kotor have proven their dignity and that they respect differences and that everything would be fine. Everyone is welcome in Kotor, everyone whose freedoms that do not endanger others, and in my opinion, it’s all legitimate. We should let people think and feel however they want to think and feel, and that should be respected, everyone’s opinion and choice. This is normal everywhere in the world. Yesterday, they visited Dubrovnik, and the people of Dubrovnik say they’re big spenders,” Krcić said, noting that he was personally more interested and concerned about what would happen with the Montenegro budget or the Aluminium Conglomerate (which is being shut down) than about having 2800 gay people in Kotor.
Lidija Brnović
[1] Audio recordings have been leaked to the public from a meeting of the ruling Montenegrin party DPS where its representatives openly discuss employment along party lines, changes to the voters list, and directors of state companies that work exclusively in the interests of the party.