I feel nothing
Balkan-watchers here in DC are getting inquiries about “the monument,” a substantial, seemingly stone object erected in November to honor fighters of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja (usually UCPMB, I think) in downtown Presevo, a majority-Albanian area in southern Serbia. UCPMB was a guerrilla group that fought Serbian security forces, 1999-2001. Belgrade regards it as a terrorist organization. According to Balkan Insight:
It was disarmed in 2001 following an internationally brokered peace deal, after which the Yugoslav Army re-entered the demilitarized area near the border with Kosovo with the approval of NATO.
After the conflict ended in South Serbia, the authorities signed the Amnesty Law, which freed all armed men who had participated in the conflict from the threat of prosecution.
The law applies to all those accused of terrorism or joint criminal enterprises in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja in relation to acts carried out between January 1999 and May 2001.
So the monument is apparently to honor dead people whose living comrades in arms were amnestied years ago.
Along with complaints about the monument come complaints about Albanian flags flying in the Albanian-majority areas of southern Serbia. Interior Minister Dacic has pledged to remove the monument by January 17.
What do I feel about all this? Like Morales in Chorus Line, I feel nothing:. I need more details. Are the flags flying on private property or public buildings? Are there laws in Serbia regulating what flags can be flown? Is the monument on private or public property? Who put it up? To whom does it belong? Is there also a monument to Serbs?
Dacic seems very sure the flags represent the Republic of Albania. Perhaps they do, but the flag in question is also the flag of ethnic Albanians, wherever they live. In many democratic societies, the display of such symbols would be regarded as freedom of speech, though in some places (Nazi symbols in Germany, for example) specific items might be prohibited. Certainly in the United States the flags of other countries are routinely displayed on private property, and quite often on public property as well, presumably based on a decision of a properly constituted authority. The Ohrid framework agreement, which stopped a war not far from Presevo, allows explicitly for the flying of flags of the local majority community, along with the Macedonian flag, on local public buildings:
With respect to emblems, next to the emblem of the Republic of Macedonia, local authorities will be free to place on front of local public buildings emblems marking the identity of the community in the majority in the municipality, respecting international rules and usages [my bolding].
But Macedonia is not Serbia, and I don’t know the laws in Serbia. Nor do I hear the Interior Minister citing laws, but maybe that reflects more on the journalism than on him.
As for the monument, the same questions arise. Is it on private or public property? Who put it up? On what authority? What laws exist against it? What authority is there to destroy it? What is likely to be the reaction if it is destroyed?
Some will answer: UCPMB were terrorists who killed police and army officers. How can they be commemorated this way?
I ask much the same question every time I travel past the Potomac river, which lies just a couple of miles to the west. In Virginia and other states that joined the rebellion of 1861-65, they routinely fly the Confederate flag, which I regard as a symbol not only of traitorous behavior but also of slavery, segregation and brutal human rights violations. I don’t like the Confederate flag, but there isn’t much I can do about.
One more thing: when I passed through Strpce, a majority-Serb community in southern Kosovo, last summer not only was the state flag of Serbia flying but there was a big sign painted on a rock-face: “Kosovo is Serbia,” it read, in English.
Would monuments and flags of this sort cause problems in the United States? You bet they would. Building an Islamic community center blocks from “ground zero” caused a big debate in this country, one that so far as I know is still unresolved. But no one would appeal to Presevo for advice.
Sometimes, it is best to feel nothing. It’s a trick Mr. Dacic might also want to learn.
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Let me tell you a sentence from a fantasy land of mine. That monument ought to be erected as a symbol against some, previous, oppressive government all democrats ought to admire. That’s not the case on both sides.
Please delete the previous, badly formatted one.
So, here is a bit of info for you. Here is how it looks, it seems it was raised on November 16th, and it celebrates the “Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja”. Feel free to call it the “Liberation army of three villages”.
So, to answer your questions, it’s on a public square in the middle of, Presevo, and apart from some talk in the news about “not having the papers”, that some authority for whatever would never give a permit, it’s also basically the equivalent of a monument to the 19 Al Kaida marturs in the middle of New York, not equivalent to a mere islamic centre (no matter who is building it). In the Presevo case, it’s closer to 50 marturs from the year 2000-2001… We were democrats then, I guess it was OK to crush them.
Forget the monument though. Look behind the monument:
http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/ci/story/1/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0/1239518/%D0%A3%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%9B%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BE+%D1%81%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA%2C+%D1%82%D0%BE+%D1%98%D0%B5+%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8.html
You’ll see two flags. The left one if the flag of the Russian Federation on the half of the spear, and the second, red one is the Albanian flag. Whoops, sorry, that is the Serbian flag upside down, those two are very similar, so I tend to mistake them when some funny folks turn them upside down. That is the municipality building, or something similar…
Forget the monument, it’s going down one way or the other, this is the real reason why they should be pummeled (it’s against the law, on it in a bit).
Regarding flags, we are a multicultural society, with an autonomous province in the north, and, well, an autonomous province in the south as well, though lets cut that story.
Generally speaking, I know for a fact that you were able to show the flag of Vojvodina until it was pronounced unconstitutional, and that was happening up until June:
http://static.rtv.rs/slike/2012/11/11/lsv-protest-zastava-vojvodine%20vojvodjanska_520x400.jpg
(this is actually a picture from a protest because of the decision of the constitutional (supreme) court to declare it unconstitutional)
Anyway, checking out the Serbian Law on the appearance and usage of the coat of arms, the flag and the hymn of the Republic of Serbia (this law builds upon the constitution) yields the answer as to why you can’t put up a flag of another country (Albania) wherever you want to (and it is the flag of Albania, not merely the flag of “Albanians”, but those are “details”, those guys even celebrate the Albanian flag day there, inside Serbia, not that I mind). Pragraph 8 of the law states that coat of arms and flags of other countries can only be placed together with the Serbian flag, and paragraph 3 states that they the flag of Serbia holds a honorary spot in such a case (ussually, the flagpole is a centimeter or two higher…).
So, the law pretty much says you can’t do this and make threats at the same time:
http://www.kurir-info.rs/albanska-zastava-vijori-se-u-dobrosinu-clanak-589273
Anyway, your good friends in the state department/Amembassy Belgrade are thinking with their senses, discorauging the threats of terrorists agains the Serbian PM as they should:
“We condemn such threats, for which there is no place in democratic society. Political disagreements should be handled through dialogue, not with threats of the use of force”.
http://www.kurir-info.rs/skupstina-srbije-ukloniti-albansku-provokaciju-clanak-580775
We can I tell you, we are a “democracy” right now. Freedom fighters can’t take root…
My take on the situation? The whole deal is not particularily important, though it could be that this is just politics because of the way Surgeon General Thaci behaves in Kosovo. Not too important though.
Iredentism should not be supported anywhere, which is what you are doing (and not, at the same time, when it comes to the North… but that’s OK, we’re used to that).
Would be funny having two official languages in Serbia (Serbian and Albanian). It might just be able to end the whole thing, but probably not. Iredentism…
So, if you ignore my pokes, this should pretty much explain the situation. This “liberators” link as well, just a little bit of history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_Army_of_Pre%C5%A1evo,_Medve%C4%91a_and_Bujanovac
“Sometimes, it is best to feel nothing. It’s a trick Mr. Dacic might also want to learn.”
You obviously are not faced with running for Prime Minister in the next few months. The “Progressives” are hinting that they want to take advantage of their current popularity and hold early elections to increase their control over the government, at all levels. (They’ve already managed to encourage enough party-switches at the municipal level to gain control of cities that voted for other parties). So Dacic (Prime Minister, but not a Progressive) is just doing the sort of thing he did before the last election, when he started arresting any Albanian from Kosovo on a warrant dating from the war years he could get his hands on. Beating up on the Albanians and their symbols is always a popular move. (It’s been less than 25 years since the fighting there, not 150 as with our Civil War. The comparison to 9/11 might be the better one.)
The talk of elections in the spring or fall also seems to be aimed at pressuring the EU – if Serbia doesn’t get a date to start talks in March, the current government will hold elections, and let the EU deal with a more unified nationalist government. Maybe the EU should consider a period of benign neglect for Serbia while it deals with countries that unambiguously want to join it. As long as the borders are open and citizens can make their own choices, does it make any sense to try to reform a country from outside?
I think that the talks about new elections are more overblown then people think.
Doing a shuffle like that is going to seriously strain the relations between current government parties to the point of being doubtful whether SNS will enter into parliament again.
If SNS does it, it’s almost suicide for them, if one of the other parties does it it’s automated suicide.
No idea why the Democratic Party hopes for new elections. Could be just hot air. With a Berlusconi type figure leading them, they will be lucky to get half of what they had in the last election, their hopes for another election are therefore suicidal as well, compared to the current situation anyway.
Additional gains by SNS are theoretical at best (there is no way they’ll get 40% of the vote, they’ll be lucky for 35% from the current 24%).
It’s a lose situation for everybody except SNS if elections happen again, and SNS can’t get enough to consider forming the government themselves, they’ll be stuck with the same partners again (they’ll need two again), and the pairlament votes 100% party line, so 5% more parliamentarians is useless.
While it’s possible that EU will do something stupid, and theoretically cause elections, the current government is nationalistic enough that it probably won’t matter, they’ll be able to distance themselves via the Kosovo or similar rhetoric easily.
The pipedream of the EU carrot is slowely but surely dissapearing, we understand that we are in Turkey’s position and will remain so for quite some time.
European Economic Area is most probably quite achievable even without european political assertion, we hardly need much more then that, we are perfectly capable of harmonizing our laws with the EU without official blessing.
In any case, the talks of political instability are probably grisly exaggerated by wishful thinkers and people that would like to not find themselves behind bars (that Berlusconi guy I mentioned earlier, he did a few stupid things with the city’s public transport as the capitols mayor).
I could be wrong, of course, but in that case, some politician would have to think with his ass instead of his brain, and that is probably a hard thing to happen.
All of the non-SNS members of the government are strenuously denying the possibility of new elections, since they probably can’t see any advantage to themselves (although they talk about how the country can’t afford another round right now).
Vucic however probably would like to be PM, and given his current level of popularity – based so far on promises about fighting corruption – he won’t want to wait too long to make his move. If the economy sees a small uptick in the economy, that and the promises to take on the tycoons might be enough to increase the SNS share of the vote. The way they’ve moved against the other parties on the local level means they’ll have more support than before and the likelihood of jobs and favors to pass out after the next election, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go for it – before everything has a chance to blow up in their faces. (Nothing particular about SNS, it’s just the way the world tends to work. But we’ve seen how outside courts react to the level of proof provided by Serbian prosecutors, and it’s possible the government will overreach in embarrassing fashion. )
If Dacic is expecting early elections it could account for his reaction to the memorial. Or it could simply be a matter of generally staying on the good side of the nationalist voters, like not allowing the Pride Parade, knowing there will always be another election, sometime.